The Cunning

39

"You look like shit," Sam said as Jase trudged into the kitchen, pushing his curls out of his eyes.

"I feel like it," he mumbled, opening the cupboard and taking out the last of the paracetamol.

"What kept you up?" Jase considered telling him about the brief ordeal with Madison but decided against it. He could trust Sam, but he was still processing his thoughts.

"Just couldn't sleep," he replied. They were the only two in the house, besides the customer leaving after a session with Janine. Jase watched him hurry out the front door, hanging his head—a common occurrence. Sam kept his eyes steady on the newspaper in front of him. The fire was on page six.

"Is it alright if Janine comes down today?" Sam asked. Jase shrugged.

"Yeah, that's fine." Sam stood. "If you're going to get her now, open Madison's door as well," Jase ordered as Sam left the kitchen.

"Jase said you can come down," he said when Janine walked out of the shower. He'd already changed her sheets. He turned to walk to the end of the hallway, where Jase's room was.

"What are you doing?" Janine asked.

"He said to let her out as well." She narrowed her eyes, wondering what Jase's game was. There were never any good intentions where he was concerned.

Madison joined everyone in the living room shortly after. Janine looked up from where she was sitting on the floor, painting her nails. Her eyes followed Madison as she lowered herself opposite.

"Want me to paint your nails?" Janine asked, blowing on the tacky paint she'd coated on.

Madison shrugged, holding her hands out, "Sure." She was still sleepy, having not long woken up after Jase had left the room. Last night, she saw a look in his eyes she hadn't seen before. Regret.

The art of being able to stress herself into crying on cue had proven another valuable skill from her childhood. All she had to do was focus on something that tugged at her heartstrings, and once the tears were in her eyes, the rest usually worked itself out. And it had. He wasn't a total animal.

Naturally, the idea of Jase killing children, in a fire no less, had thrown her, but that wasn't what had encouraged her to cry. She had cried at the thought that all her work, in the hopes he possessed a conscience, was wasted. The panic that her plan had failed was enough to send her spiralling into a state of impending despair.

And then the idiot had reassured her, all because of a couple of tears.

After considering how he was towards her, and what Janine had said about him treating her differently, she wanted to put that to the test. See if his friendliness was legitimate. Before last night, it was unclear. But now, she was more than confident that, for whatever reason, Jase couldn't bring himself to upset her. He'd unintentionally shown a new layer.

"You have nice nails," Janine said, shaking the polish as she examined Madison's cuticles, pulling her from her thoughts. "Did you get them done before here?" Madison shook her head,

"No. I'm not exactly a girly girl. I leaned more towards sports and books." Janine unscrewed the lid, taking Madison's hand.

"No girly friends to do make-up with?" she asked. Madison smiled sadly,

"Not really." She had very few friendships in the past. People were not so easy to trust, not with her upbringing. There was always so much caution when it came to outsiders. There was caution when it came to insiders, too. The thing about having a hardened criminal for a dad meant that his paranoia became her paranoia. Janine pouted.

"Shame. Not such an issue now you're here, I suppose. Not like we're allowed sleepovers." Madison could tell what she was doing. Janine was trying to pump in as much normality as she could about their situation. It was a branch attached to the tree of denial.

"What about you?" Madison continued, playing along. It was nice to pretend. It unraveled the foreboding tightness in her chest. Janine arched her brows but remained focussed on Madison's nails.

"Me? I worked on the streets before I came here, so those girls were my only friends, not exactly a crowd I miss being a part of." She waved it off like coming to the house was as simple as switching the company she worked for because of bad management. Madison wondered whether that's how Janine saw it.

"Have any of the girls you used to work with been here?" Madison asked. Janine fidgeted, her eyes flickered over to Jase at the table. He stopped writing for a second, he was listening.

"Some of them," she said cautiously, waiting for him to say something. He'd thought about it, but he didn't. Madison picked up on this and didn't know what else to say, so she remained silent. She didn't want to get either of them in trouble for prying.