The Cunning

38

The lamp was on in the bedroom when Jase returned. Madison stirred, semi-opening one eye as he climbed into bed.

"You smell like a bonfire," she mumbled. He didn't respond immediately, staring ahead and taking a long drag on a new cigarette. Now, they waited for McKinney's response. He would either retaliate or crumble. Jase hoped it was the latter. With walking the wire over everything surrounding Madison, he didn't need the headache. He wouldn't drag the drama out longer than necessary.

Madison had closed her eyes now. Jase wasn't sure whether she had returned to sleep or not, but he spoke anyway. The adrenalin in his system promised hours before he would be able to sleep and he needed something to do.

"We burned down a pub," he said. When he didn't say anything else, she pulled the sheets down from covering the lower half of her face.

"You're serious?"

He shrugged, "Why would I lie?" He had a point.

Madison stared at him for a second, her eyes flickering over his face to detect any sign as to why he was telling her this and what reaction he expected. He looked straight ahead again, taking another drag on his cigarette.

"Were there people in the building?" she asked. There was something different about him tonight. He was menacing. Her gut twisted at the vibrations he was emitting. This version of Jase leaned more towards the Jase Janine had warned her about, the one she needed to be careful of.

Jase rolled his shoulders. "I don't know," he said.

Madison sat up slowly. There was no reason she could think of for his to be telling her this.

"There could have been kids in there, Jase. The landlord could have had a family sleeping upstairs." He didn't so much as flinch at the thought, observing her from the corner of his eyes. She chewed the skin on her lips. Jase and the others didn't adhere to old-school rules. If women and civilians were on the menu, what stopped them from killing a few kids? But what kind of psycho sacrificed a child for gang warfare? She was beginning to heed Janine's warning with a newfound urgency. Her chest tightened.

Jase let Madison squirm for a little longer before her eyes welled up, and he decided not to let her think he was a total monster. She would no longer cooperate if she didn't think he had a slither of humanity to play on. He would stick to his initial plan of making her soften towards him. So far, it was working.

Jase didn't get the same kicks as Adam from scaring the girls with a violent personality. Madison's panicking made his shoulders sink. The tension he'd had in his muscles subsided. He got no joy out of torturing her with the impression he'd murdered kids. Even for him, it was too far. There were some things you just didn't do.

"There was no one inside," he said, putting her mind at ease. Madison looked at him. Her cheeks were rosy and there was a shiny layer of tears over her red eyes. She sniffed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

She hugged her knees to her chest. The tears stopped, the redness disappeared. He wondered whether he'd been too quick to reassure her.

"How?" she pushed. Jase poked his tongue in his cheek, contemplating how much he was willing to comfort her. She didn't trust him, and to an extent, he needed her to.

"Sam went inside, it was empty." Madison bobbed her head. All signs that she had been crying ceased to exist. Her voice lost the wobble, and Jase was sure she'd collected herself a little too fast-

"Promise?" Her question caught him off guard. She sounded so vulnerable. His stomach crumpled, a small crease settled between his brows as his own taste of distress consumed him.

His head was at war. On one hand, guilt wasn't a feeling he had been very familiar with over the years, but he was sure that's what he had experienced when he saw Madison cry.

On the other hand, she was manipulative and he couldn't tell if she was toying with him. Paranoia was a common side effect in his line of work, especially immediately after setting a building on fire. Besides, it had been such a long time since he had been upset about something, how did he know what the appropriate amount of crying was?

"Promise," he replied sincerely. Madison let out a breath. "I've done some fucked up shit in my time, but I'm above killing kids." Jase's voice was delicate. As if she were suddenly fragile.

Madison looked at the door. "Can I go splash my face?" she asked.

"It's unlocked." Jase watched as she crawled off the bed. His hoodie drowned her, the sleeves flopping over her hands. He didn't particularly like how seeing her cry had made him feel. Stubbing the cigarette out, he pulled the duvet up to his chest, switching the lamp off. It didn't take long for Madison to fall asleep, but Jase sat up until the sky lightened, trying to wrap his head around the foreign guilt that had chewed at him when he made her cry.