The Cunning

46

Madison was on the bed, her forehead resting on her knees. Every time she was uncomfortable, Jase noticed, she made herself smaller. As if she could disappear if she tried hard enough. He closed the door with a quiet click.

"That shouldn't have happened," he said.

Madison raised her head. The handprint was still glaringly bright. "You're not mad at me?" she replied.

His brows furrowed as he opened the bottles. "He shouldn't have hit you, even if you did something wrong." He handed her a drink and sat on the edge of the bed. Madison uncurled and shuffled to his side.

"What did you do?" she asked. Not long after she bolted upstairs, there was a smash.

"Don't worry about it," he mumbled.

"Are you going to get in trouble because of me?"

Jase scrunched his face up and laid on his back, hooking one arm beneath his head, his feet were still on the floor.

"Who am I going to get in trouble with?"

"Benny?" she said.

There was a small upwards twist at the corners of his lips

"I won't get in trouble with Benny. He can't tell me off."

Madison lay on her side, facing him.

"If Benny can't tell you off... why don't you want me saying anything about the time I got out, or when you let me go in the alleyway?"

Jase studied her. She was still wired but was definitely on her way to a comedown. He licked his lower lip, conscious that he was also still on a high. Regardless of the substances they had been abusing all evening, there was no denying something about the night had shifted their dynamic. There was something between them that was more than a side effect of cocaine and alcohol. He looked back up at the ceiling.

"If you'd have reported us and they were able to track me down, everyone here suffers. It was a sloppy mistake on my part."

"You're human too. You were bound to make a mistake eventually," she said.

Jase smiled at her innocence. "Madison," he sighed, "I can't put everyone here on the line like that. I owe it to Benny to handle shit properly."

"Why do you owe Benny?" She asked with an incredulous edge. She was pushing her luck, asking so many questions, but right now, neither of them felt like their normal selves. Usually, she would be digging for information. At that moment in time, she just wanted to revel in having a genuine conversation with him. She had learned more about him in the last half hour than she had the whole time she had been there. She'd seen a piece of who he could be, both the good and the bad.

"He took me in when I was eighteen, helped me get on my feet. Without this place, I'd have nothing," Jase replied. It struck Madison that Jase had a life before the house, before the drugs and girls. Maybe he hadn't exactly chosen this path for himself. Maybe he was pushed into it. She lifted her hand, removing a stray curl from his face.

"What happened?" she asked, unsure if she was ready to take the step with Jase that made him look like a human rather than an obstacle that required deceiving. She didn't know if she could handle seeing him as more than the animalistic misogynist she knew him as, it could interfere with her plans. The last thing she needed was an emotional attachment to such an unpredictable man.

He smiled a small, sombre smile.

"That's a story for another time. It's been a long night." It was the nicest way he'd refused to answer a question. Like Madison wasn't ready to hear it, Jase wasn't prepared to talk about it, so she didn't insist. Instead, she changed the subject. The underlying tones of their conversation had left a greyness between them. There had been so much insinuation yet so little said and she wanted to steer the energy back to something less heady.

"I don't think I can sleep yet," she said.

Jase chuckled, shaking his head, "I have something for that." He lifted a little, reaching into his infamous back pocket.

"Not more drugs," Madison whined. Jase rolled his eyes but there was an endearing bend to his lips. The eye-roll wasn't out of irritation.

"It's a Xanax. They're anti-anxiety meds. It's a downer. It'll kill your buzz gently and send you straight to sleep." She bit her lip, unsure if her system could handle anything else. "You don't have to, but you won't sleep for a good few hours," he informed. It was still dark out, but it wouldn't be long before the sky discarded the inky black night and Madison didn't want to welcome the morning in. The anxiety of the evening had both consumed and exhausted her. The cocaine continued to keep rest at bay.

"And it won't make me feel shit in the morning?" she asked. He shook his head, snapping a quarter of the white tablet. "And it's safe?"

"I wouldn't give you anything I wouldn't do myself," he assured. Which didn't quite answer her question but it would do. Hesitantly, she accepted, placing the small square on her tongue and washing it down. Jase got undressed, and Madison followed suit, their backs to each other before meeting face to face between the sheets.

"Are you not taking one?" she asked. Jase was sliding another cigarette out, shaking his head.

"I don't do Xans," he replied, watching from half-closed eyes as she reached for the cigarettes, taking one out for herself before he closed the packet and tossed them on the nightstand.

"Why not?" Jase didn't answer instantly, lighting the cigarette for her and then his own. He held the smoke in his lungs whilst he spoke.

"I don't like what they do to me."

Madison sat cross-legged, his black Armani t-shirt almost like a dress on her. Her brows knitted together in worry, discomfort ebbing into her already anxious and exhausted body.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll be fine," he assured. "That piece that I gave you will just send you to sleep, but I used to do them quite a bit, and they turn me into a proper cunt." Madison leaned across him, tapping her ash in the tray with a smirk.

"You mean more so than you already are?" she asked. Jase breathed a sleepy chuckle.

"Whatever."

Madison passed out half an hour after taking the Xanax. Her breathing was barely audible apart from the soft, deep inhale she took now and then, creating a quiet whistle through her nose. The handprint had faded, leaving faint yellow bruises in its place. She looked at peace now. Jase watched her sleep, a strange concoction of unfamiliar emotions swilling around inside.

He could have killed Mike for laying a hand on her. He knew he could kill him because he wanted to and Jase wasn't entirely sure what to do with that, he'd already reacted in ways he shouldn't.

Madison hummed in her sleep. Jase tilted his head, stopping himself from reaching out and brushing her cheek with his knuckles.

"What the fuck are you doing, Jase?" he sighed to himself, picking up his cigarettes from the bedside cabinet and lighting the third one since she'd fallen asleep.

*

Did Jase do the right thing or did he cross a line in the eyes of the others? How do you feel about the development between him and Madison? Let me know in the comments and please don't forget to give it a vote, thank you!