The Cunning

36

"What did he say?" Benny asked when Jase got back to the house. He shed his jacket, hanging it before dropping down on the sofa.

"He doesn't know if he's going to be able to fork out another ten bags, but he is desperate enough to pay double when she does turn eighteen," he replied. Benny nodded approvingly,

"Good, he can have a couple of sessions with her and then we can get rid. There's no need to keep her here longer than we need to." Jase didn't say anything. He was too busy dancing around Madison in the present to think that far into the future. He fixed the girls some food, taking up bland plates of chicken and rice.

Madison was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He was surprised she hadn't gone completely stir crazy. It wasn't often they had a girl there for longer than two weeks. Girls were like liquid in the house, flowing in and out on rotation.

Annabelle had been there longer than she should have because Adam kept marking her up. Janine was an exception. She had been there so long her room had accumulated a collection of personal items to keep her entertained when she wasn't working and Sam paid her enough attention to keep her satiated. But Madison had nothing to do. Nothing to do besides think.

And thinking was something she did plenty of, more than aware of how delicate the infrastructure was in the house so long as she was there, especially if she continued to vex Adam the way she did. She spent her days scheming meticulously, hoping and praying that chance worked in her favour with each move she made. Because if it didn't, death was always a possible consequence.

She took in what Jase was wearing. He was dressed smarter than usual, his hair freshly washed and neater than his typical stylishly rugged look. She could also pick up some cologne, a masculine scent with vanilla undertones.

"Have you been on a date?" she asked as he put her evening meal on the desk. The food was so cheap and tasteless that it didn't even emit a smell.

"Not exactly," Jase mumbled, shutting the door and proceeding to pull his ironed t-shirt off. For just a second, Madison admired his sculpted physique, particularly the deep valleys that ran diagonally down into his jeans. He had the body of a well-trained athlete, a perk in his line of work, she supposed. The men had to be able to handle themselves. And others.

Jase finished changing into more casual clothes before leaving her alone again. She had noticed the neatness in his appearance. He'd also caught her eyes locking onto the V's that had never failed to catch a girl's attention in the past. Madison may not like him but it was undeniable that she found him attractive and he would use this to his advantage. He intended on spoon-feeding, giving her his attention and then taking it away. It was a technique that had never failed him before.

He fixed a joint in the living room, watching Adam and Benny play on the Xbox. Sparking it up, Jase took a deep lungful and tipped his head back, slipping one hand in his jogger pocket. He let his mind drift as the high alleviated him from the stress of his day to day errands. It involuntarily settled on Madison, the first time he'd ever seen her, at the shop just after Peter had paid them the money.

Peter said she'd be on shift so they could get a look at her face, but her name tag hadn't read Madison so he'd assumed she was in the storeroom. Jase had made her nervous from the offset, which was partially planned.

The idea was to intimidate her into accepting a lift home, and they would be waiting outside her house. Madison bumping into Jase in the alley had sort of worked in their favour. She'd gotten into Peter's car sooner than they'd anticipated. When he'd let her go, his main concern was that she wasn't the one they were asked to bring in, so it wouldn't come back and bite him. He could afford to let her slip. That's what he thought at the time. Even then, it was stupid. She could easily recognise him from his features alone.

He recalled the heavy wave that came over him when he'd been summoned from his room to have a look at the Madison girl, only to find the girl he had let slip sat on the sofa. Of course, he knew it would be the same girl from the bus but up to that point, he'd been in denial. He had silently prayed that she wouldn't say anything, and for whatever reason, she hadn't. She hadn't even reported him after their brief encounter in the alleyway.

He concluded this was probably out of fear because he knew where she worked, which was a strange thing to consider now he thought about it. Surely she would have been more inclined to report him? She'd looked so helpless, hands bound, silently pleading with him using her eyes.

Why hadn't she said anything to Benny though?

It was as if she already knew it was going to be an important piece of information to hold back for later use. Jase couldn't wrap his head around why some random teenage girl like Madison was so readily equipped to handle a situation that would have most girls spilling their deepest secrets if they thought it would get them off lightly. There was this constant anxiety that she was miles ahead of them.

Madison piqued his curiosity in several ways, most of all with her thought process. That was something else. The other girls thought they would be let go and forgotten if they screamed and cried enough. They made threats, saying their families would look for them or they would be reported missing. It was rare they were, and even then, they were known for their line of work in transactional sex. The media didn't spend too much time on them. Until a body came up, prostitutes going missing were usually chalked up to running away from their pimps or overdosing in some dingy, run-down house they were using to shoot up.

But not Madison.

Madison hadn't said anything about anyone finding her. As far as they were aware, she had yet to be reported missing, and they checked papers regularly. There was something off about her and he couldn't place it.

She had made a break for it. She was the first girl that had made a genuine break for it, but she had failed. Then something changed. There was a sudden calmness - a willingness to cooperate. Yet, the way she did it felt deceiving. Madison was the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing among them.

Jase was high, the weed spiked his paranoia. Now he was giving her too much credit. He felt as though he was looking into it too much and shook her from his mind.

"Give me a go," he said, nodding at the Xbox controller and extending his hand to Adam. Madison was living in the house without earning her keep already, he couldn't let her live in his head rent free as well.