The Cunning

74

A joint hung from Jase's lips, burning away when he walked into the room. Janine had left an hour earlier for a nap. There were no traces that she'd been there.

"You look pissed," Madison said as he laid down on his side of the bed, ignoring her. She frowned, reaching over to him and moving one of the curls so is was no longer out of place in the middle of his forehead. He watched her from the corner of his eyes, inhaling from the joint. "I've been thinking about some things," she said. He raised his brows, closing his eyes and tipping his head back, blowing smoke up at the ceiling. If he was honest, he didn't have the energy to play mind games with Madison this afternoon. Regardless, he wanted to know where she was going.

"Yeah? What things?"

"Well, if I'm off-limits because I'm..." she cleared her throat, "yours, then that can't be such a bad thing. Better to be owned by one man than seen as free game to all of them."

Jase scoffed, "You do realise that regardless of how agreeable you decide you're going to be from here on out, you're still working when you're eighteen." She brushed this off. He could believe what he wanted, so long as he believed her as well.

"I'm just trying to make the best out of a bad situation while I can." Jase didn't trust her. Making the best out of a bad situation was what she'd been doing before and it had made a bad situation worse.

There had been no open flirting last time, however. Madison had flashed him a total of zero sexy smirks, he'd bared witness to no seductive table top dancing and she had never asked if he was joining her in bed before. He squinted at her.

She's just playing another character, he told himself. And if she could play another character, so could he.

With a sleepy smile, he reached up, steering Madison's chin with his finger so she was looking at him.

"Something tells me you're not as pissed off about this as you thought you were." Madison's stomach flipped. He wasn't entirely wrong. It was like having a guaranteed safety net, and Jase had his moments. Though, those weren't the only reasons. The influx of hormones constantly flooding her system made being promiscuous dangerously easy. When he touched her, a snap of electricity warmed the area of contact. Playing the role was a breeze, not becoming the role would be the hard part.

Match him Janine's voice sounded in her head.

Madison shrugged her shoulders. "There are worse positions to be in."

He dropped his finger. "You're not wrong," he said, holding the joint out to her. "You can kill that. I'm going to sleep for a bit." With that, he put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes again.

When he opened them what felt like only minutes later, the room was dark. He could make out Madison's outline lying next to him. Her breathing was steady, shoulders lifting half an inch with each inhalation. He flicked the lamp on, picking up his cigarettes and taking his phone out of his back pocket as he lit one. Madison stirred, pouting and turning onto her side. Jase froze when she put her arm across his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.

He couldn't blame her for wanting out. Even he wanted out of the house and everything to do with it sometimes, and he truly was impressed by her efforts. So much so that he had to keep reminding himself he had a job to do, regardless of who suffered because of it. A gloomy weight nestled into Jase's heart. The house would be quiet without her and he'd return to a constant state of boredom.

"Why can't you be like everyone else?" he whispered, staring down at her as she squeezed him a little tighter in her sleep.

It was starting to dawn on him that maybe there was a little truth to the rumours. It didn't matter which way he turned, she was there, moulding into whatever she needed to be to keep her head afloat and his attention on her.