The Cunning (18+)

36

Madison didn't see much of Jase over the following week. He was blowing a little hot and cold. Madison was sure he was avoiding her after their pizza night, not sleeping in the room with her or delivering her food or inviting her downstairs like he had been. She knew why. They had flown too close to the sun. The  next time they spoke was in the early hours of the following Tuesday morning.

"Fuck sake," Jase growled, waking her up as he threw himself out of bed. Immediately, her ears were assaulted by the sounds often followed by violence. It took a few seconds for Madison to deduce the screaming girl and the shouting men. She sunk into the covers, trying to get away from the sudden hostility that had ripped her from sleep.

"What's going on?" she asked. Jase ignored her question.

"Stay here," he ordered. She did as he said, having no desire to leave the safety of the bedroom.

The shouting stopped abruptly. And then picked up with the same suddenness, growing louder and louder. Madison squeezed her eyes shut as the voices became enraged. Sounds of a scuffle and furniture being knocked about ensued.

She couldn't decipher any real words through the cacophony but the sound that silenced it all shook her to her core. The gunshot worked like a vacuum, sucking the house into a muted abyss.

It was still ringing in Madison's ears when footsteps thundered up the stairs. She yelped when the door ricocheted off the wall as Jase burst in. His jaw clenched, fists curled and knuckles bloody. Her attention was immediately drawn to his torso. His skin smeared with blood, the gun tucked into his waistband. She went to speak but Jase was staring at her so intensely she thought better of it.

"No questions, not right now," he said, his voice gruff from the shouting. He grabbed a hoodie and left with no further explanation.

*

Jase's heart beat steadily, his breathing followed the same pattern. Madison listened, her eyes grazing over the bed as the autumn sun cast shadows across the sheets. She wished she could stay in those first five seconds when she woke up. The five seconds when everything was hazy and soft. The five seconds when her reality was out of reach. In those five seconds, her consciousness lagged. Everything that was going on around her felt like a distant dream that couldn't hurt her.

But five seconds was all she ever got.

The gunshot resounded in her ears once more, and the room was no longer painted in pastel watercolours. The sun disappeared behind a cloud, washing the room in a rainy-day grey too depressing for her eyes. She closed them again as Jase's breathing pattern changed. He had one arm around her. They hadn't fallen asleep like that; Madison couldn't even recall him getting back, he'd been gone for hours and she had eventually passed out.

Jase reached for his cigarettes, careful not to move too much, unsure whether she was awake or not. The only sounds he made were the zipping sound of the lighter and the hiss when he inhaled from the cigarette.

"Are the other girls okay?" Madison asked, her voice rinsing away the remnants of Jase's own five seconds. He moved his hand, brushing her temple with his knuckles before stopping himself. She looked up to see he was watching her through his lashes. When he didn't say anything, Madison knew she had asked one of those questions she didn't want to know the answer to.

Annabelle came to mind. She had done well to avoid thoughts of her. She knew Annabelle was dead. No one had seen or spoken about her since the night Madison had tried to escape. That meant two girls had been murdered in her short time at the house. It was a sobering reminder of the value her life held in the eyes of these men.

Another imaginary gunshot in her head propelled Madison to sit up. If one of the girls was dead and Jase had used his gun...

"Did you...?" She couldn't finish the sentence, but he shook his head.

"No. It wasn't me." She didn't ask any more questions, unsure if he would even answer her. He finished his cigarette and closed his eyes again. Madison returned to his side.

"When I do have to start working," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, "can you make sure that man isn't one of my customers?"

Jase was quiet for a while.

"You don't need to worry about him," he finally replied. Though he couldn't decide if the only reason she didn't need to worry about him was because he was now sitting in a barrel of lye solution.