The Cunning

89

"Look at the size difference between us for a start," he said.

"Haven't you learned not to underestimate me?" she asked menacingly. Jase poked his tongue in his cheek, unable to stop the giddy smile that spread across his face. It dawned on him that he'd never spent time with someone like this. He enjoyed teasing her playfully more than he enjoyed antagonising her in an attempt to get a genuine emotional rise.

"What is there to underestimate?"

Madison shrugged. "Who I am, what I'm capable of," she drawled. Jase licked his lips, placing his hands beneath his head and humouring her.

"And what exactly are you capable of, my little fireball?" He tensed at her response.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Jase swallowed the mounting frustration. Hearing Madison talk like this was surreal. She had surprised him in more ways than one over the last few months, even flirted with him, both subtly and obviously, but this was especially new. He was sure it was new to her, too.

"I would love to know, but you're all talk."

"What makes you so sure about that?" she questioned, cockiness and self assurance oozing from every word.

"Because you're a little girl in a big boys world, and all you can do is talk." In any other situation, Jase's condescending words would irk her but they both knew she wasn't this little girl he described her as.

"Is that all I've done so far? Talk?" she asked. The smile that followed her words frustrated him further. She was enjoying this, and he would have liked to enjoy it more himself. The tension building up in him, knowing he wouldn't be able to release it, only stressed him out. "So, give me a real reason I should be scared of you."

"Because of what I can do to you," Jase replied. She giggled. He was trying his hardest to remain where he was. Unable to even look directly at her out of fear of doing something stupid. He knew she wasn't all talk to a point, and he didn't want to mess with the fragility of their dynamic by approaching whatever it was she was doing the wrong way.

However, the option to avoid her was stripped away when she got brave enough to straddle him. Girls had made the first move with Jase before, it was no big deal and he never minded but none of those girls were Madison. None of them had tried to kill him, albeit the attempt was clumsy. None of them had spent months worming their way in with mind games and manipulation or power plays. None of them had given him reasons to look for underlying goals or meanings in their actions and words.

He couldn't read her, didn't know how far she was willing to take things or where the line was. One wrong move and the delicate foundations they'd painstakingly built could come crumbling down, taking him with it. His body stiffened as Madison leaned into his ear.

"It's not what you can do; it's what you will do."

All Jase's concerns went out of the window. He couldn't let her keep pushing, there was only so much he could take. He needed to regain control of the situation. In a second, he had flipped her onto her back, wrists pinned above her head. A shocked gasp slipped from her lips, and now it was his turn to smirk.

"Not so bad now, are you?" he teased, but the surprise of his actions quickly subsided as a seductive darkness collected in Madison's eyes. Their breathing was out of sync and heavy; Jase wasn't so sure this was just another one of Madison's mind games. His grip on her wrists loosened and Madison lifted her head, barely brushing his lips with hers.

"Try me," she whispered.

Jase succumbed to the kiss, freeing her wrists. Her nails grazed his sides, finding their way up into his thick curls. Everything around them melted away as she wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him closer. Their bodies pressed together, his muscles contorted against Madison's smaller frame with every move. Jase only stopped to release a deep breath after Madison had taken his lower lip between her teeth.

"You can't be doing things like that," he said, his eyes wild with need.

"Am I getting to you?" Madison tormented. Jase's lips split into a guilty grin, letting out an almost shaky laugh.

"Yes."

She smiled back, cupping his chin.

"Good." She pulled his face closer and kissed him again, this time, flicking her tongue across his lip and releasing a groan from Jase she hadn't heard before. Once again, he pulled back, this time shaking his head.

"I'm going to stop you there before I get carried away." Every fibre in his body was ecstatic, screaming at him to return to her pillowy lips, demanding he drink the brandy straight from her tongue. Madison was practically vibrating beneath him. A multitude of feelings coursing through her were now blotted out by a creeping anxiety. She unwrapped her legs from his waist, letting him sit back.

"Because of Peter?" she asked quietly, her heart sinking at the reminder of his existence. Jase looked at her in confusion.

"What? No. Fuck Peter." He pushed his hair back. "No, I'm stopping because you've had quite a bit to drink and smoke. I know my ethics are questionable but I'm not that guy. There are a lot of things I'm willing to do, like, an awful amount of things, but that ain't fucking one of them."

Madison's cheeks grew warm. She wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. It was endearing, sure, but the rejection felt embarrassing regardless of the good intentions and basic decency he'd been devoid of up to this point.

"Now, if you could do me a favour and- why do you look upset?" His rambling tapered and Madison let out a weak laugh. The confidence pouring from her just moments ago dissolved.

"I honestly don't know. I feel kind of stupid, I shouldn't have kissed you-"

Jase rolled his eyes.

"You have got to be the only girl on earth that gets upset when a guy doesn't take advantage of them." This drew out a more genuine laugh. "Madison, I am so unbelievably attracted to you, it feels like my dick is going to fall off but I don't want you doing something I don't think you'd do sober."

Her eyes flickered to his grey joggers, blushing at the clarification that he was indeed worked up. Strange how a hard-on could bring so much consolation. With this visual confirmation, she nodded.

"Okay," she replied, drying her eyes before any real tears escaped. Jase stared at her for a moment before breathing a laugh of disbelief.

"You're honestly such a head fuck," he mumbled, picking up his cigarettes and offering her one, which she declined. He propped himself up on the pillows and beckoned Madison over. She curled into him, her head in his lap, his hand in her hair.

He flicked the lighter on, trying to reign in his thoughts. Watching her only made this more difficult. His eyes trailed over her legs, her black underwear, all the way to the hair splayed out around her. He knew then that he was going to do some dumb shit because of her.