19. Chapter 19

19

R ory tucked his nose under the sheet and breathed deep. He was half asleep and didn’t process what he’d done until he heard a soft laugh. He opened his eyes and saw Sebastian brushing his teeth by the sink.

“You slept on the top?” Rory whispered.

Sebastian leaned down to spit out the toothpaste. “Eventually.”

“Eventually?”

“I lay with you for a while.”

He’d been holding Rory; Rory knew that much but couldn’t remember the moment he’d drifted off. It hadn’t been long after they’d had sex, but even asleep, he’d felt Sebastian’s arms around him. He thought he’d be tormented by nightmares, but he hadn’t dreamt, or if he had, he couldn’t recall what they’d been about.

“There’s not enough room for both of us on the beds, not to sleep at least, and you looked too content to move you. I even tucked you in after I climbed out.”

“You didn’t.”

Sebastian shot him a soft smile. “I did.”

Rory pressed on his lips, feeling the slight puffiness.

Sebastian’s smile faded. “I got carried away last night. Once I was kissing you, it was near impossible to stop.”

“Thank you,” Rory whispered. “I…I needed it.”

Sebastian turned back to the sink and finished brushing his teeth.

“What’s happened since I was in solitary?”

“Pauly’s still not back on the wing. I heard you broke his nose…and suddenly there’s a lot less bandana-wearing inmates.”

“How’s Ollie been?”

“He’s eagerly waiting for your return.”

Rory scrubbed his hands over his face. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“But Green, Jack, and Teddy have been distracting him as best they can.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. He’s good at pool—the inmates have started betting on him.”

Rory sighed. “Good. And Captain?”

“He’s been asking about you too. He wanted to know what the fight was about.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing. It’s up to you if you want to talk about it or not.”

“And you?”

Sebastian turned towards him. “Against my better judgement, I have been worried about you and worried about what’ll happen on Friday.”

“Friday?”

“I get out of here, and I leave you behind.”

The lock clunked, and Sebastian flicked his gaze at the door. “Come on, time for breakfast.”

Ollie gave Rory a hug, then pulled him down on a chair. “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” Rory admitted.

“That girl—”

“I don’t want to talk about her.”

It felt cruel to say and Rory’s guts twisted, but he couldn’t talk about Erica. He’d built the dam back up while he slept, and he needed it to stay intact.

“What was solitary like?”

Rory glanced at his purple and blue hands. “Not fun.”

“You launched at Pauly like a flaming tiger.”

“Really?”

The incident was all a complete blur, a carousel of colour, sound, and sensation that made no sense.

“I don’t remember too much about it.”

Ollie allowed a cautious smile. “I don’t want to wrestle with you anymore. I’m too afraid I’ll unlock the beast.”

Rory laughed and shook his head. He looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“Can I sit?”

Rory nodded at Captain, and he placed his tray down on the table.

“You not getting yours?” Captain asked.

“I usually go at the end of the line.”

Ollie shook his head. “Not now you don’t, not after you smashed Pauly’s face.”

“I’ll go up in a minute.”

Captain gestured to Rory’s hands. “Have you had them looked at?”

“They’re only bruises.”

“Massive bruises.”

“I’m fine.”

Captain flared his nostrils, and Rory raised his hands.

“After breakfast, I’ll see if the doctor will take a look,” Rory amended.

“Good.”

Sebastian walked over to the table with two trays of breakfast. He slid one in front of Rory, then sat down with his own.

“You didn’t have to do that…” Rory murmured.

“Getting breakfast after a night of passion, it’s traditional, right?”

Rory blushed, then stirred his porridge.

“Your hands,” Sebastian muttered. “They’re worse than I thought.”

“I told him he should see the doctor,” Captain said.

Sebastian nodded. “And so he should.”

“After breakfast.”

Sebastian pulled the tray away. “They could be broken.”

“They’re not broken.”

“They’re black and blue.”

Ollie hummed. “I would’ve said mauve and mulberry.”

“What?”

“Shades of purple.”

Rory rolled his eyes. “The art police again.”

“Stop saying that,” Ollie hissed.

“You need to get your hands looked at,” Sebastian said firmly.

“Fine, I give in, I’ll ask to see the doctor.”

“Get a few spoonfuls of that down you first, though,” Captain said, pointing at the porridge.

Rory rolled his eyes but did as Captain told him.

Ollie chatted away normally, but Captain and Sebastian were both watching him with concern, like they could sense he was about to break at any moment.

Rory sagged in relief when the prison officer agreed to let him see the doctor on the medical wing. It got him away from Sebastian and Captain for a while, but Ollie watched him go like a lost puppy.

“Lie down,” Doctor Pichard said.

“I don’t need to lie down.”

“Just do it.”

Rory huffed, then lay down on the bed.

Pichard prodded Rory’s knuckles, and he hissed.

“That hurt?”

Rory frowned. “Yeah, I didn’t hiss for fun.”

“I can give you some painkillers, something to bring the swelling down. I don’t think anything’s broken, but if you’re still in a lot of pain in a few days, ask to see me, and I’ll sort out an X-ray.”

“Thank you,” Rory murmured.

“I’ll go get your medication now.”

Rory slipped off the bed. He glanced around at the other sick and injured inmates that had been assigned to the hospital wing.

“I heard you in the corridor.”

Rory stiffened, then turned towards the voice. He didn’t recognize Pauly at first. Half of his face was covered by bandages strapping his nose.

“What?”

“Well, technically, I didn’t hear you. Someone else did, and then they told me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“A police officer…here to spy on Sebastian.”

Coldness swept over Rory. “No—”

“Yes.”

His blood turned to ice, and he rubbed his hand over his heart to stop it from freezing over. Pauly smiled, and the bandages on his face rose, squishing his eyes.

“And I’m thinking to myself, Sebastian still doesn’t know, and he only has a week left. What will you do to make sure I keep your secret?”

Rory swallowed. “What do you want?”

“You broke my nose, and my ribs…”

“You want to break mine in return? Then fine. There’s no time like the present.”

“No, not at first. I don’t want blood getting in the way of us kissing.”

“Kissing?”

Pauly nodded and reached for Rory’s face. “Kissing…and the rest.”

“No.”

Pauly tutted. “Then I tell Sebastian, and I don’t think he’ll take it well. The last person who betrayed him got strangled, but I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.”

“I’m not going to have sex with you.”

“That’s your decision, and I’ve decided I’m not going to keep your secret.”

“You won’t have to keep it,” Rory snapped. “I’m going to tell him myself.”

Pauly lifted his eyebrows. “Are you crazy? He’ll kill you.”

“So what if he does?”

Pauly backed away. “You’re really going to tell him?”

“Yes,” Rory said through his teeth. “I’m sick of being blackmailed. I’m sick of having no control over any of this.”

“You’ve actually impressed me.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

Pauly smiled to himself. He flashed a look at the officer, who stepped forward. “Ready to go back on the wing?”

“Hell, yeah,” Pauly muttered, then he winked at Rory. “Don’t worry. I’ll get the conversation started with Sebastian, and you can come finish it off…”

Rory sprung forward, but the officer pushed him back. “Hey, I’ll take you back once Pichard’s got your pills.”

“I need to go now.”

“No. If you’re going to argue about it, I’ll take you back down to solitary.”

Rory rocked back on his heels, then spun around to find the doctor. When he next looked at the door, the officer and Pauly had gone.

“I need my medication,” Rory shouted.

“In a minute,” Pichard replied.

“No, now. Please. I need to get back.”

Pichard hurried over and shoved a clipboard under Rory’s nose. “Sign here.”

Rory scribbled in the boxes, snatched the pills from the doctor’s hand, then rushed to the gate.

“I need to go back on the wing!”

Rory’s heart pounded so hard he thought he could hear it. He stepped into the wing and whipped his head left and right, looking for Sebastian. He glanced up, like the first day he’d walked in there, and there Sebastian was, on the second landing, leaning over the railing, looking at Rory. At first, his expression was blank, and his eyes were ice, but then he smiled, and Rory smiled back, but in his peripheral, he spotted Pauly approaching Sebastian from the stairs.

Pauly’s smile wasn’t friendly, but cruel and twisted.

“No,” Rory whispered beneath his breath.

He ran to the stairs, tripped and hit his knee, earning him a cheer from the rowdy inmates around the pool table. Rory ignored them, pushed past people on his way up the stairs, all to get to the second floor, to stop Pauly from revealing his secret.

“I know something you don’t know,” Pauly said in a sing-song voice, loud enough that Rory heard it.

Sebastian folded his arms. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah!”

Rory brushed by Pauly and grabbed Sebastian’s arm. His heart drummed so hard he thought he might pass out from the force of it. He swayed on his feet and panted open-mouthed as his eyes stung.

“Easy, Rory,” Sebastian murmured. “What’s happened?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Pauly smirked. He’d stopped two metres away from them. “Don’t you want to know what I do? It’s a one-time offer. Hear it now…”

Sebastian tore his gaze from Rory. “What the hell are you on about?”

“Let’s go in the cell,” Rory begged. He squeezed Sebastian’s arm. “Please. I need…I need to talk to you.”

“In a minute.” Sebastian lifted his chin towards Pauly. “I want to hear what this arsehole’s got to say.”

Other inmates were looking their way, edging closer, eager to hear their conversation. Rory pulled at Sebastian’s arm, but he didn’t move. He had tunnel vision for Pauly. They squared off against each other.

Sebastian brushed Rory’s hand away and closed the gap between himself and Pauly until their chests collided. “Come on, out with it…”

Pauly raised his hands. “Okay, okay… Rory, your cellmate, the one you’ve been fucking for the past few months… He’s an undercover police officer.”

Rory couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, all he could do was watch emotions play out on Sebastian’s face. He turned to Rory, and Rory saw the disbelief in his eyes, and it made everything worse. He’d wanted anger, fury, betrayal, but not disbelief. Disbelief meant he trusted Rory.

“You’re lying…” Sebastian snapped.

“No, I’m not.” Pauly snorted. “He was here to get information on you, seduced his way into your bed so he could stab you in the back.”

Rory clutched the railing. So many eyes were on them, so many ears were listening. He couldn’t see Captain or Ollie and prayed they were somewhere else, in the gym or outside in the yard. That was not the way he wanted them to find out.

Sebastian looked at Rory again, fixed him with a cold stare, the one that could stop Rory’s heart, then his expression softened, and he shook his head.

“No.”

“Yes,” Pauly growled.

Sebastian chuckled, then clapped his hands in slow applause. “How long did it take you to come up with that?”

“What?”

“That bullshit, how long? Rory breaks your bones, so you make up some stupid story, so I’ll attack him. It’s not going to work. You’re not turning me against him.”

Rory’s fractured heart was being pushed down the hole of despair once again. He bowed over, put his hands on his knees and tried to breathe.

“He’s done you good.” Pauly smirked.

“Looking at that bandage on your face, I’d say he’s done you better .” Sebastian smiled. “The whole wing’s been talking about it, Rory beating you unconscious. Your little bandana-wearing friends denying they were behind you. Most of them were only pretending in the first place…for me.”

“Bullshit,” Pauly snarled.

“We laughed at you, you thinking you had some power in the prison, you thinking you might be able to take me on. I’m everywhere in this prison, and you were a fool to forget it.”

“Fuck you.”

Sebastian took a step closer to Pauly. “You’re nothing in here, and after I’m gone, someone else will take over the wing, and it won’t be you.”

Pauly roared and launched at Sebastian. The officers rushed up from the ground floor, shoving inmates aside, trying to get to the two men killing each other.

“Lock down!”

The siren started blaring, but no one moved.

They watched as Sebastian grabbed Pauly by the throat, pulsing his fingers around his windpipe like he’d done to Lester sixteen years before. Pauly struggled against the hold and flailed for breath.

His lips turned blue, and his eyes bulged from their sockets, then Sebastian let him go.

Pauly fell to his knee, spluttering and gasping, and Sebastian raised his hands in the air, ready for the officers to swoop on him.

“The rest of you, back to your cell!” one of the officers yelled.

They were restraining Sebastian, leading him away, and Rory knew he and Pauly were heading for solitary.

Rory let himself be manhandled by an officer and shoved in his cell.

The door slammed in Rory’s face.

He pressed his forehead to it and sunk down to the floor.