The Formidable

26

The sound of the key in the lock jolted Madison awake. She'd fallen asleep at the breakfast bar and it had done her neck no favours. She quickly wiped her chin for any drool and pushed her hair back as Jase walked in. His hands were dirty but there wasn't much else to tell where he'd been. Or what he'd done.

"Kieran came round with a travel cot. He said you'd told him to get one," Madison said, avoiding the elephant in the room. Jase nodded, putting his keys down on a small table beside the door and shedding his jacket. He'd changed at the garage and left the clothes there to be disposed of. His hair smelled enough without adding a bonfire to the mix.

"I'm going to get in the shower," he said, not waiting for a reply before disappearing to the bathroom.

He let the water run as he stripped, turning to the mirror and looking at the bullet wound scar. Greg's screams echoed in his head the whole drive home. The smell of burnt flesh lingered in his nostrils. The image of bubbling and blistering lip skin was etched into his mind. But the scar reminded him who he was doing it all for and the weight lifted. He'd blowtorch a thousand men's mouths shut before he let harm come to his girls.

It had been a long time since Jase had had to use force to get information out of someone. It wasn't a necessity once Benny was gone. There was nothing they needed to know that required torturing people for it. Jase couldn't remember it taking such a toll last time. Not that he felt sorry for Greg, he had it coming, but there was a swill of anxiety burrowing in his gut. He'd become familiar with the feeling during his six-month drug spree. The mental war he went through during that time frame changed him.

He didn't want more blood on his hands. Madison had been back less than a month and his body count was at one and a half if he counted Rebecca. It was only going to climb and Jase wasn't sure he had it in him to revert back to his old ways.

The water was hot, far hotter than Jase usually had it but he wanted to feel it scolding his skin, to feel an inkling of what Greg had experienced not two hours ago. He'd known something about Casper but his loyalties were strong, strong enough to withstand three fingers getting cut off and having his lips melted together.

Steam protruded off Jase's body when he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist. Now his skin was red raw, he had reached two conclusions; either Casper and Greg were lovers, which was a stretch but not unheard of, or he was family. They were the only things Jase could think of that would stop any man spilling his guts when a blowtorch is being to their face.

Once he was in fresh joggers, he left the bathroom, hanging the towel on the heated railing and combing his fingers through his hair. Madison hadn't moved, she was sat at the breakfast bar, bending her thumbnail back and forth until it snapped.

"What did he say?" she asked, finally addressing the evenings events.

"Nothing useful. I got more out of what he didn't say than what he did," he replied.

"What do you mean?"

Jase opened the cupboard behind Madison, taking out an unopened bottle of brandy and two tumbler glasses, pouring drinks. For a moment, he hesitated. Since Madison had returned, he'd drank and smoked again even though he'd vowed never to touch liquor after a series of violent outbursts at the house. The second thoughts didn't last long once he decided that tonight of all nights, he deserved something to help him sleep. He took the cigarettes Sam had let him keep from his pocket and slid one out for Madison and another for himself, tapping it on the breakfast bar as he leaned back against it.

"He wouldn't give Casper up but he didn't deny knowing him. I can't think of many people that..." he trailed off. He didn't want Madison to think about what he'd done, she didn't need to know.