Page 26 of Rat

“Hey!” Captain shouted, getting to his feet. “Enough.”

Sebastian held up his hands. “Calm down. I’m not threatening, only stating facts.”

He turned around, then walked away.

“What the hell, Rory?” Ollie hissed. “You’ve got eight years in here.”

Rory shrugged. “So, he’d give me nine months protection, then what?”

A growl rumbled in Teddy’s throat, not angry, more of a considering mumble.

“Exactly,” Rory said, pointing to him. “I’m not going to be bullied to bring drugs in here.”

“Are you sure you were stabbed in the side?” Ollie asked.

“You know I was.”

“Only, I’m starting to wonder whether it went through your thick skull and cut out part of your brain instead.”

Ollie knocked his chair over as he stood up. He left the table with Teddy quick to follow.

“He’s worried about you,” Captain muttered.

“I know he is. I’m worried about me too, but I’m not going to be Sebastian’s mule.” He eyed Captain. “You’re not going to bitch at me for turning down Sebastian’s offer?”

Captain grinned. “Nope, you are your own man, own your choices, like I do.”

Rory nodded.

“Let’s just hope it was the right one,” Captain finished.

Rory spent most of the day sitting in Captain’s eyeline during association times.

In the gym, Captain taught Ollie defensive moves. The lesson seemed to be how to apprehend a man with a knife, but Captain drilled into Ollie that the first thing he should look to do in that situation was run away. Running wasn’t cowardly; it was the most practical way of staying alive.

When roll call arrived, Rory felt exhausted. He trudged after Captain and peeked a look inside his new cell. Single bed kept military tidy. Rory had expected nothing less. He had boots at the end of the bed, the ones he’d come in with, but he never wore them on the wing, he wore his prison-approved trainers instead.

“Come on.”

He jumped at Sebastian’s voice, then continued along the walkway to the last cell. As soon as he was inside, he pulled himself up onto the top bunk to allow Sebastian room.

“Have your balls shrivelled up again?” Sebastian smirked.

He yanked off his T-shirt and tossed it onto the bed. Rory looked away from Sebastian’s flat stomach and defined chest and opted to flip onto his back to stare at the ceiling.

“There’s not enough room for both of us,” he said.

“There’s plenty of room.”

Rory didn’t climb down from the bed, and after a long sigh from Sebastian, he began his nighttime routine of relieving himself, stripping off, washing his face and brushing his teeth. It didn’t matter how many times Rory had seen Sebastian shirtless; it still made his heart skip.

“Why are you scared of me?” Sebastian asked.

“I’m not.”

Sebastian smirked. He leaned against the bed, close to Rory’s head. “Is it because I’m a killer?”

“I’m sure there’s plenty of killers in here.”

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