The Cunning

82

The party gradually died down; stragglers remained in the living room, refusing to let the night come to an end. Janine and Madison had sat back at the table shortly after Jase and Sam had kicked someone out, their buzz dissipating. Madison watched as Janine fell asleep with her head in her arms, unfazed by everything still going on around her. When she grew too bored to sit still, she went to see where the others had got to. She found Sam, Jase, Tommy and Kieran in the kitchen, surrounding a pile of money with playing cards in their hands. Jase looked up, taking a joint from his lips and blowing smoke to the side. The sweet tang of marijuana tainted the air, it's smell having a calming placebo effect.

"What are you doing?" she asked, leaning her shoulder on the doorframe.

"Playing poker," he replied. She walked further into the room, closer to Jase.

"Want to play?" Kieran offered.

"I don't know how," she replied, her eyes dancing over the crumpled twenties in the center of the table. There was at least a grand.

"I'll teach you," Jase said, sitting back in his chair and pulling her down to his lap. He put the joint between his lips, reaching his arms around her and lifting the corner of the two cards he had face down. "Look at them." She did, tilting her head to see an Ace and a Jack. "You're trying to get either a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind, a full house which is a pair and a three or flush," he explained. Madison lifted her thumb to her lips, keeping the tip between her teeth. Jase passed the joint to Sam.

"You're playing with real money," she said, a statement rather than a question.

"No point fucking around with chips," Tommy replied. Madison looked over her shoulder at Jase.

"I don't want to lose your money," she said. He smiled at her, his eyes flickering to Sam opposite, like they shared a secret.

"There's plenty of it," Sam responded. She faced the flop being laid out and wondered how much money they made if they were so casually throwing twenties into the pot. He had a nice car and his cologne didn't smell cheap but other than that, there were no dead giveaways that he was rolling in it.

"Your turn," Sam said to her. She looked at the three cards laid out - two aces and a two of hearts.

"What do I do?" she whispered to Jase over her shoulder.

"You can fold, which means you're out, or you can match him and put £40 in, or you can raise by however much you want," he explained. She nodded, putting her hand over his to get him to lift the cards again. She slid £60 into the middle. "Raise twenty," Jase spoke for her. Kieran matched, Sam folded, and everyone turned their cards over. Madison's looked at each hand, not entirely sure what she was looking for.

"Did we win?" she asked, looking back at Jase again. He lifted his chin so he could see over her, checking everyone's cards and nodding.

"Yeah, you got three of a kind." Madison grinned.

"This isn't that hard," she decided out loud. Jase smiled back sleepily.

"Get the money then." She leaned forward, scooping the loose notes over and arranging them in neat piles of five. There was £1,320 in cold hard cash in front of her and they were treating it like Monopoly money. Madison wondered what percentage of Peter's £20,000 went to Jase and quickly willed the thought out of her head.

"How do you make it look like all your money is legal? Like, how do you pay for your car and stuff?" she asked, watching Sam shuffle and deal the cards. He looked through his lashes at Madison, then to Jase behind her before replying.

"You mean how we launder it?" he questioned. She knew the terminology but after picking the lock and fixing the gun, she didn't want them questioning where she had acquired all this knowledge. Dumbing herself down to fit their idea of silly, little blonde girl would ensure they continued to underestimate her.

"Yeah."

"We're registered as scouts for a legitimate business," Jase replied.

"What, like talent scouts?" she asked, her brows furrowed. Tommy snickered.

"Yeah, and you're the talent," he mumbled. The boys laughed, and Madison blushed. Jase squeezed her side gently, an uncharacteristic reassurance but didn't dispute Tommy's joke.

"Something like that," he said.

Madison played a few more games before the suits started to blur in her vision. She turned side on to the table, swinging her legs over one of Jase's and resting her head on his shoulder. "If you're tired, go to bed," he said quietly, checking his cards.

"I'm not tired," she replied, her distant voice betraying her claim.

"That wasn't a question." She remained seated for a second before admitting defeat and standing up.

"Night," she mumbled.

"Night, Mads," Kieran replied. The others didn't say anything, all three of them staring at Kieran. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Night Mads," he mimicked in a stupid voice.

As the sky lightened, it was only Kieran and Jase left chain smoking in the kitchen.

"She seems like a nice girl, Madison," Kieran said. Jase pursed his lips, tapping ash in the tray.

"Remember what she's here for," he mumbled. Kieran curled his lip in dismissal.

"Yeah, but I mean, as far as the others that have come through here..." His sentence trailed off, unsure how to finish, or what he even meant by it.

"She has her moments," Jase admitted, sparing Kieran the discomfort of digging the hole deeper.

"She caused a bit of trouble when she first arrived, right? I heard something about her head-butting Charlie?"

Jase was visibility amused by the memory.

"He deserved it. You know what he's like. If it weren't for the fact that I had to stop him laying into her, I'd have probably laughed."

Kieran chuckled, picking up his beer bottle.

"She likes you," he said. Jase took a slow drag on his cigarette, watching Kieran from the corner of his eyes.

"What makes you say that?" he asked carefully.

"She just seems to like you. She looks at you how Janine looks at Sam." Jase rubbed his lips together, moistening them. The cold weather and the cocaine was doing them no favours. He considered what Kieran had said, trying to figure whether he'd seen it for himself. If Madison looked at him the way Janine looked at Sam it was because that's what she wanted people to see.

"Madison isn't stupid. She's just playing ball because it makes her life easier," he said.

"Have you slept with her?" Kieran questioned, finishing off his drink. Jase blew out the last lungful of smoke, shaking his head as he leaned across the table to put the cigarette out, speaking as he did so.

"She's seventeen."

"When is she eighteen?" Jase paused. He hadn't been thinking about it, they'd been so distracted by Mitch he hadn't paid much mind to the days creeping closer to Madison's eighteenth. They were a week into September.

"24th of October." The date dropped like a lead balloon in his stomach. Less than two months. He rubbed his forehead, willing the come down to hold off for a little while longer. It was pointless, the pounding behind his strained eyes had already begun. "I'm going up. There are more beers in the fridge. Help yourself." The first birds started to sing as Jase climbed the stairs.