The Cunning

100

The house was packed, busier than it had been at any of their other parties, putting Jase on edge. It had started an hour ago and Madison still wasn't downstairs. She was in front of the mirror again when he went up to the bedroom.

"You not coming down?" he asked, taking in what she was wearing; his white t-shirt and a pair of joggers. That alone answered his question though he wasn't about to get on at her about looking nice tonight. This was about their appearance, not hers. Madison rolled her shoulders, unsure she wanted to be a part of it. "It'll be good for you to socialise a bit, take your mind off things." Her eyes flickered over to him, that absent look on her face, careless whether she was around or not. Jase tilted his head, waiting until she edged off the bed with a sigh, walking past him.

"You don't have to stay down for long," he assured, placing his hand on the small of her back, guiding her to the table. She sat next to him, pulling her knees up to her chest—looking every bit as miserable and uncomfortable as she felt.

Everyone was chewing their jaw, sweating against one another as they dipped into bags of white powder and talked incessantly over one another. Through the controlled chaos, Madison picked out one person in particular.

Charlie watched her, taking sips of his beer. She had completely forgotten about him, too preoccupied with everything else going on since their encounter in the first days of her captivity. Now, his presence was loud, blotting out all other possible dangers surrounding her.

Jase was dealing out of the tin on the table top. People came over, swapping money for cocaine and a few pills here and there. But Madison couldn't take her eyes off Charlie for long. He was unmoving, not even making a half-arsed attempt to conceal his disturbing observation. Jase nudged her.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded. The last thing she needed was him making a scene by roughing Charlie up for looking at her. Mitch didn't need any more ammunition. She'd embarrassed Charlie by busting his nose in front of everyone and now he was trying to intimidate her. It was nothing more than that, she told herself. So long as she was in the house, he couldn't touch her.

She still wanted to get out of his field of view. She wanted to sleep and clear her head and devise a plan. She wanted to do what she was good at.

She tapped Jase on the shoulder.

"I'm going back up. There's too many people down here and I'm pretty tired."

Jase smiled sympathetically.

"Okay. Do you want me to come?"

Madison pursed her lips, subconsciously glancing over to Charlie, but he was gone. No doubt thinking Madison had told Jase about him. She shook her head. If she didn't have to walk past Charlie there was no need for Jase to chaperone her.

"No, it's alright. Goodnight." She pecked his cheek and filtered through the gyrating bodies, stopping to use the toilet on her way to her safe haven.

The bedroom was dark, which was odd because she couldn't recall Jase turning the light off before following her down. She flicked the switch on and pulled her scrunchy from her ponytail as she crossed the room to close the curtain. The reflection in the window stopped her in her tracks. The air was sucked out of the room as Charlie closed the door, sliding the catch to lock it.

"Finally, some alone time," he sighed as she spun around to face him. He flashed his teeth in a sickening grin. Madison didn't speak, wasn't sure she even could. Charlie nodded to her face, "Adam got his hands on you in the end then," he said, referring to the bruises the concealer had failed to cover. Still, Madison was silent. He shrugged, unperturbed by the lack of response. "I'm assuming that's why he's not here right now? Can't see Jase taking to kindly to someone giving a couple of backhands to his precious little princess."

He took a step closer and Madison found her voice.

"Don't be stupid, Charlie," she warned, grateful to sound more in control than she felt. Charlie laughed.

"No one's scared of Jase anymore, love. Mitch has made sure of that. Everyone knows he has a soft spot for you, which is fucking hilarious, by the way. It does make him look pretty pathetic, though." He took another step. "The problem is, men like Jase only give a shit about girls like you providing no-one else has been all over it."

His hands pulled at his belt buckle as he spoke and the colour drained from Madison's face, her stomach twisting at his insinuation. Her heart clawed its way up her throat, choking out a weak;

"Don't touch me." She made the mistake of backing away, fuelling Charlie's sadistic amusement.

"Oh, I'm going to do more than touch you. I'm going to make it so Jase can't look at you without picturing me inside what's his. He needs to remember that you lot are here for one reason only."

"I swear to fucking God, if you-" Charlie didn't give her a chance to finish her threat, lunging forward and grabbing her wrists. Madison thrashed desperately as he restrained her. "Get the fuck off me!-" she demanded, clenching her teeth at the bolts of pain shooting up her arms as his grip on her wrists tightened, squeezing the cigarette burns.

"Stop squirming," he growled, letting go briefly to backhand her across the face. The blow stunned Madison, her vision pulsing, throwing her off balance long enough for Charlie to fling her effortlessly onto the bed.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed, her fight for survival swelling and anger boiling over. Charlie dodged her kicks.

"The more you struggle, the harder this is going to be for you," he said, grappling at the grey joggers they both knew wouldn't put up much resistance. "Or you can cry and scream if you want, I kind of like it."

"You sick son of a bitch," Madison snarled. Her heel connected with his chin, snapping his head back, giving her the opportunity to scramble backwards up the bed.

"You cunt!" Charlie roared, launching himself on top of her. He landed a jab under her ribs that knocked the wind from her lungs. Madison gasped for air, clutching her side, temporarily incapacitated and struggling to breathe. She stretched one arm above her head, patting around frantically for something - anything - she could use as a weapon. "Where's Jase when you need him, hey?" Charlie tormented, trying to hold her still with his thighs as he worked open his jeans button.

Madison rolled onto her side in a desperate attempt to ease the blunt throbbing above her left kidney, sacrificing the jogger bottoms in the process as Charlie tugged them down and off her ankles. Whilst he was distracted, she reached her hand under Jase's pillow, feeling something hard and familiar just as Charlie flipped her back over.

"I want to look you in the eyes when I fuck you," he told her, tucking his fingers into the band of her underwear, ready to rip them away when something hot and sticky engulfed his armpit. And he could no longer feel the lace in his hand.