The Cunning (18+)

50

Jase received a message from Harvey a few days later. He rounded up the troops, and showered before heading downstairs. Adam, Harvey, Sam, Kieran, and Tommy were all waiting in the living room.

"You're sure it's his car?" Jase asked, sitting at the table, scrolling through his phone to find the contact that would supply him with what he needed.

"Yeah, I watched him get in it," Harvey replied. He was new to all of this side of the business and desperate to impress Jase and work his way up the ranks.

"That doesn't mean it's his car," Sam said.

"It is. I've seen him in it a few times now. I wouldn't tell you if I wasn't certain," Harvey assured. Jase hummed. His phone dinged with a reply. They had an explosive device, ready and waiting for Adam to pick it up.

"Kieran, you're going to install it. Harvey, you keep a lookout. I'm not putting you in the firing line yet-"

"Why not? Come on, Jase. I can handle this." Everyone sat still. Questioning Jase's decisions was unheard of. After a few seconds consideration, Jase caved, deciding today was as good a time as any to see what Harvey was made of.

"Fine, check for CCTV, cut it. Tommy, you can be on watch instead. You don't leave the site until McKinney is in the car and it's in flames. Understood?" They all nodded.

"What are we doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm going to let Ramon know what's going on, get him to secure an alibi for himself, then we're staying here until it's done," Jase replied. They'd done their time running around checking for CCTV when they were Harvey's age.

The explosive was going to be secured late that afternoon. Jase sent Harvey to tail McKinney, who he located an hour later at a warehouse with no working cameras and storage containers surrounding the area. Jase could only assume they were carrying out some sort of drug deal.

"Tommy, you're going to need to be there when they come out. I don't trust Harvey not to bolt if it gets too much." Jase said, turning to Kieran. "How long do you reckon it will take you to fit it?"

"About ten minutes, shouldn't be too long. It's piss," he said. If Jase didn't know Kieran like he did, it would be easy to believe he was too soft for the job, but Kieran had a talent for anything remotely scientific or technical. Sometimes, it wasn't about muscle, guns, and being mean. They needed brains. Explosives, computers, it was all a sixth sense to Kieran. He was excluded from school for hacking into the administration system and changing exam results. Not only that, but since working with Jase and the others, he had shut down several closed-circuit security systems, jailbroken any phones acquired dishonourably, and this was not the first explosive installation he had partaken in. The man was a genius, though his integrity was still intact, relative to Jase and Sam and the others. Kieran refused to have anything directly to do with the girls.

When Adam returned, Kieran left for the warehouse with Tommy. They had last had a confirmation that Mitch was still there fifteen minutes prior. Jase took food up to the girls to distract himself as they waited. Madison was waking up from a nap.

"Can I have a shower?" she asked, mid-yawn. The scruffy bun she'd wrapped her hair in fell to the side of her head in a mass of blonde knots.

"Go ahead," he said, not looking at her as he texted Harvey requesting another confirmation.

He was lying on the bed when she came back in her towel. He watched her open the wardrobe with her back to him.

"What were you and Janine talking about the other night?" he asked. He had stayed in the room with her that night, she thought. But hadn't been staying in there with her since, still keeping her at arms length.

"I can't remember," Madison replied absently, "I was high." It wasn't a total lie. There were blank spaces in her mind. It happened every time she smoked. She knew what was going on at the time, but it was never stored as a fully-fledged memory. More like a flipbook with pages ripped out. Jase didn't question her, he experienced this himself.

She reached up to the two boxes on the top shelf in the wardrobe, plucking out a pair of red lace underwear and pulling them on under her towel.

"You seem stressed," she said, letting the towel drop. Jase raised his brows. She still had her back to him and the wardrobe door remained open so he couldn't see her in the mirror, but it hardly left a lot to the imagination. As much time as they'd spent together, Madison had never been this close to naked in front of him.

"I am," he replied, staring at her body, from the dip of her waist at her hips to the cute heart-shaped birthmark on her bottom.

She looked over her shoulder. "You want to smoke?" Jase met her eyes and collected himself when she slipped one of his t-shirts on. She caught him watching her but didn't rush to cover up. Like she wanted him to see her, to fantasise about the silkiness of her skin and how parts of her would feel against his lips.

He didn't trust himself to spend the day with Madison half-dressed, smoking weed, regardless of how enticing the invite was. He couldn't afford the distraction. He couldn't afford to be around her like that again.

"I have things to do," he replied. She hummed her acceptance, though obviously disappointed, brushing off the rejection and closing the wardrobe doors.

"Fair enough." She crawled across the bed, reached over him, and took a cigarette from the packet on his bedside cabinet. Jase watched her every move. "What's keeping you so busy?" she asked.

"You know I'm not going to tell you that." He took a cigarette for himself. Madison didn't respond, laying on her back beside him, puffing smoke off to the side. It was worth a shot. "There's another party tomorrow night," Jase said, his tone transforming from bored and preoccupied to low and soft. Madison shifted her hips, thinking that if a voice could be touched, she would want to caress his. "Wear something nice again," he ordered. She smiled, bringing the cigarette to her lips. Her plan was proving too easy.

"So long as you make sure everyone keeps their hands off." Jase breathed a small laugh. He got up, not bothering to finish his cigarette as he stubbed the rest out. Madison pouted. "Where are you going?"

"Downstairs," he replied without looking back. She was proving too easy. It was time to put her through her paces.