The Cunning

29

Most people had left the house by six in the morning. Jase was shuffling around, tossing empty beer bottles in a black bag. Once the kitchen had been cleared, he lit a cigarette and stood in the doorway of the living room. Janine was asleep, her head resting on Sam's lap, his hand placed affectionately on her hair. Madison was at the other end of the sofa, also asleep. She'd pulled the sleeves of her knitted jumper over her hands and curled up into a ball. He stood watching them for a minute before he called her name quietly, his throat was rough and dry from chainsmoking in the kitchen for five hours with Tommy and a few others.

"Madison." She hummed in reply. "Go to bed." Gradually, Madison managed to hoist herself off the sofa. Jase then woke Sam and Janine. When they'd all gone, he laid down, finishing his cigarette and eventually drifting into a dreamless sleep.

"I think we're going tonight. I'll ask Jase when he wakes up," Adam said. The sound of cans being crushed and bottles clinking against each other disturbed Jase from his slumber. The noise wasn't helping his hangover.

"Going where?" he mumbled, removing his arm from over his face. The living room was now awash with a grey daylight. Rain tapped on the window by the table. Fat drops merged into fatter drops, racing down the glass.

"We know where Mitch is. He hangs around in The Leather Boot. It's about a half-hour away," Adam replied. Jase's head continued to thump. His eyes stung. Sleeping on the sofa after a night of drinking and cocaine had left him feeling dry and gross. He wasn't in the mood to go straight there.

"You reckon he'll be there tonight?" he asked. Adam laughed,

"He'll be there in a few hours I reckon. Look alive, sunshine." Jase was the principal negotiator where Ramon's business was concerned. He carried out most of the dirty work. It allowed him a more significant chunk of money than the others. Undertaking the odd job here and there, such as meeting with people that were tampering with the way things worked and offering outsiders jobs, was something he was accustomed to.

Ramon made it his mission to have anyone that was anyone in his pocket. If this Mitch McKinney had any sense about him, he'd jump at the chance to work with them rather than against them.

"Alright, I'll be ready in a couple of hours," Jase huffed, rubbing his eyes.

Madison rolled over on the bed when Jase walked in. His hair was still wet from his shower. Beads of water dripped from his curls onto his bare shoulders as he rummaged through his wardrobe for a t-shirt.

"My lip hurts," she said.

"You probably chewed them last night. Coke will make you do that." He pulled a black t-shirt from the hangers.

"I don't think I want to do cocaine ever again." She was dehydrated. Her body felt as though it had a mild vibration running through it.

"That's a comedown. You'll be alright in a few hours," Jase assured, turning to face her as he pulled the t-shirt on.

"Where are you going?" She didn't expect an answer. Their conversation last night had been a byproduct of drugs and alcohol. That's the only reason Jase had spoken to her with such little concern for the order of things. And if drugs and alcohol weren't the cause for his chattiness, there were likely ulterior motives.

Madison wouldn't take his honesty at face value, he was better than that.

"Out," he replied stiffly, now rummaging through the drawer beside her head. "Where did you disappear off to last night?" He hadn't seen her since the second time they'd gone upstairs.

"I spent my night with Janine. And Sam," Madison replied. She tried to gauge his reaction but he offered nothing more than a disinterested twitch of his brows. Madison continued. "Are they like, a thing?" Jase took a fresh packet of cigarettes from the bedside drawer.

"Don't let me hear you say anything like that again," he said. She took the warning and didn't bother pressing on anymore. She had observed Sam and Janine for herself, she didn't need confirmation from him that there was something going on between them. Yet no one had said anything so it was no secret. Madison could only assume Jase meant Benny, the only person that wasn't present that would have mattered.

Jase was different around Benny. More serious, far more dangerous. It was like he had a point to prove. The dynamic was strange. It always seemed like Jase was the boss. He was well put together, clean, assertive and intelligent. But everyone answered to Benny, ultimately. Which begged the question, what loyalty did Jase owe Benny as to why he stuck around for four years and did she have what it would take to manipulate Jase into completely breaking it? Or was it not loyalty that kept him around but the money and the lucrativeness? If so, there were no doubt strings her dad could pull to get him further.

She needed more information about him. People didn't just end up working in places like these, and they were rarely born like Jase. This wasn't nature. Once she found out where he had come from, it would be much easier to determine where he intended on going.

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What's your thoughts on Jase being in this kind of business, what do you think led him to working in the house? Leave your comments down below and drop us a lil vote while you're at it x