The Cunning

34

Jase woke up when he felt the weight beside him shift. He opened his eyes just enough to see Madison sitting up, yawning. He and Sam had gone to bed after their cigarettes. He'd managed to get in a decent five and a half hours.

"Is the door unlocked?" she asked. He closed his eyes again and hummed a confirmation. A few minutes later, the boiler kicked up as the shower turned on. A low hum rumbled through the house and assured him he was not returning to the dream Madison had played a lead role in.

Rolling onto his back, he let his arm drop out from beneath the duvet, blindly patting around for his jeans, pulling his phone and cigarettes from the pocket. He frowned at the message flashing up on the screen from Benny. Jase was to meet the guy that had paid them to get Madison later at the club. Of course, Benny hadn't told him the decision made concerning her age. That's what the meeting was for.

Benny was technically the boss, he'd been the one with all the contacts originally. When Jase first started working for him, he was selling Class A's and renting rooms by the hour for the local red light district girls. Then he'd taken the leap into trafficking guns and girls and they needed more help in the house, so Jase had recruited Sam and Adam.

Everything in the three years following had been a blur. A constant flow of cash, guns, drugs, and girls exchanging hands. Jase was Benny's right-hand man, overseeing everything. He was who Benny trusted most. Because of this, he got a larger cut of the profit. There was a lot more money in Jase's possession than he let on, most of it was cleaned through a friend's car workshop. He wasn't much of a flexer, never wanting to attract the attention of the authorities. He was smart.

Jase handled everything from the day to day running of the house to the negotiations with Ramon and people like Mitch. He wouldn't let his temper get ahead of him like Benny did, making it easier for everyone if he dealt with all the communications. He messaged back, asking what time.

When Madison returned from the bathroom, Jase was still lying on the bed. The room smelled of smoke. Her skin pimpled where the cold air caressed her bare shoulder. She sat with her back to him, pulling underwear up under the towel. She let it drop slightly to clip her bra.

"Is Benny back today?" she asked, shaking out a white t-shirt from the drawer. Jase nodded.

"Yes, so no funny business," he mumbled, looking over to her once she dressed her upper half. It was once again a piece of his clothing hanging off her curvy frame.

"I was just trying to help out last night," she replied, crawling back onto the bed and looking up at him with doe eyes. They gave her an innocent aura but he wouldn't be so easily deceived, there was a dark, conniving shadow behind them somewhere, ready to jump out and slit his throat when she saw fit.

He followed her from the corner of his eyes, briefly allowing them to flicker over her bare legs. They were runners' legs, long and toned, which made sense considering how fast she could move. His lungs had been close to giving out when he had chased her and he did twenty minutes of cardio every gym session.

He didn't reply. Her attention snapped to the window as birds sang. A heavy sadness collected in her chest as she tried to remember what it was like to hear them from the outside. To see more than what she could see from the window.

"Where does Benny go when he isn't here?" she asked, distracting herself from the solemn reminiscing. It would do her no good to sink into a state of depression now that she had started putting her plan into action. Feeling sorry for herself would only hold her back. She needed to exude confidence. Enough to keep Jase's curiosity and caution piqued but not too much, he still needed to feel as though she were under his thumb. That he had total control of the situation. Which, of course, he didn't, not quite. She was using Adam to make sure of that.

"Home," Jase replied, taking a drag on his second cigarette of the day.

"He doesn't live here?" He shook his head. "Then who does?" she asked.

"Me and Sam." Madison continued to stare up at him, her cinnamon eyes filled with curiosity. About what, he didn't bother asking, nor did he particularly care. He wasn't inviting her in for a conversation. The only thing he cared about today was killing time before the meeting later. He didn't need Madison getting in his head beforehand.

After finishing his cigarette, Jase got dressed and headed to the gym with Sam. The bench press bar came down with a metallic thunk. Jase ducked under it as he sat up, grabbing his water bottle having finished his set.

"Is she buying it?" Sam asked, switching places with Jase. They were talking about the progress his plan was making with Madison.

"She's figured out if she cooperates, I won't make her situation worse than it is, look at last night." He didn't directly answer the question because, truth be told, he wasn't sure if she was buying his plan or if she had one of her own.

"You mean about her talking to the new birds?" Sam's voice was strained as he lifted the bar, bringing it down to his chest. "Adam was pissed about that." Jase shrugged, looking around the gym. It was a Friday, half one in the dim-lit, wooden-floored basement. Grunts and clinks played as a soundtrack to their workout. It smelled of stale sweat and protein powder. There were only four other people there, spread out on the equipment. No women though, it wasn't the kind of gym women joined.

"Let him be pissed. Frankly, his temper is getting on my tits," Jase said. Sam went on to finish his set before replying.

"It's cocaine. He's been railing it day and night." Jase hummed disapprovingly. He was partial to a bit of sniff, but what Adam had was a problem, and it was causing tension in the house.

"Just keep an eye on him," he said, resuming his place on the bench. "I don't want him becoming too much to handle."