The Cunning

55

The girls were sent upstairs when the runners came back with the money.

"Oliver tried messaging me," Harvey said. Jase had predicted he would be the one to get a message. With Harvey being the youngest at only eighteen, Oliver would expect him to be easier to convince, or bully, into selling to him.

"I hope you told him to piss off," Jase replied, eyes on the television screen, only half listening to Harvey's recount.

"Of course I did. I can't see how someone can be so hooked on coke and have a kid. You'd think they'd sort their priorities out." Jase twitched his brows but said nothing. He didn't particularly care what their customers did in their spare time, not that he disagreed. He knew the toll it took on a kid's upbringing, having a parent that was a regular user.

It was late when the boys left, and Jase turned the Xbox off. He was re-joined by Sam who had gone for a nap with Janine a few hours prior.

"You alright to sit up and wait for Tia's last customer?" Jase asked, running his fingers through his curls. Sam nodded, dropping down on the sofa, his legs outstretched. The late-night customers were always the shadiest. The ones that crept out of their marriage beds in the middle of the night, leaving their families sleeping and none-the-wiser. Or they were drunk.

"What time is he coming?" Sam asked.

"In about an hour. If he isn't here by two, lock up and don't worry about it. He can come round some other time," Jase spoke as he walked out into the kitchen, making a tea for Madison and grabbing a beer for himself.

She was asleep when he entered the room.

He placed the drinks down on the bedside cabinet and took his top off before sitting on the bed beside her. The night was slowly becoming Jase's most welcome part of the day. The part where he could relax within the four walls and not have to deal with any of the commotion going on outside them. Where he could keep an eye on Madison, though whether it was for her safety or everyone else's was no longer clear.

He was playing a game on his phone when Madison reached over in her sleep, patting the space between them. She pouted when she couldn't feel him. For a second, he watched her curiously. There was an indescribable pull he felt towards her at that moment. A compelling need to touch her, to reassure her he was there. He reached out, brushing his fingers over her knuckles to make her aware of his presence.

Her eyes opened, first looking at her hand, and then up to his face.

Neither of them spoke, out of fear of what they would say.

*

Sorry for another short chapter, I remember why I reposted now haha