Page 9 of Rat

On paper, it sounded simple—go into the prison, make friends with Sebastian, and over the course of a few months, he reveals all his secrets.

Job done.

But Sebastian didn’t want to speak with Rory, and the way his eyes narrowed and his lips twisted into a sinister grimace whenever he glanced Rory’s way set alarm bells off in Rory’s head.

There was real, unfiltered hatred in his eyes, and Rory had no idea how to fix it.

Captain looked worse than the day before, and his prediction had come true. The other inmates looked at him with a mixture of pity and fear. Captain’s cellmate serving breakfast couldn’t look him in the eye when he held out his tray.

It wasn’t the burned toast and watery eggs of the day before, but a thick, bland porridge that stuck Rory’s teeth together. He slapped his lips noisily as he ate, and his taste buds cried out for sugar.

Captain ate his, then tapped his spoon on his tray in a repetitive manner. “I woke you?”

Rory hesitated, but a glare from Captain made him tell the truth. He nodded before quickly adding, “But it’s not your fault—”

“Itismy fault; that’s the problem.” Captain dropped his spoon and pressed his forefinger to his temple. “I deserve to feel like this.”

“No, you don’t—”

“You don’t know the shit I did and didn’t do when I was serving overseas.”

Rory lowered his gaze. “I know I couldn’t have handled it.”

“Neither could I.”

Captain’s eyes were red and watery, and his huge body slumped forward, defeated by his nightmares. Ollie poked his head out of his cell, and Rory waved him over with a small smile. Ollie slipped into the chair opposite him, and Rory looked him up and down.

“Are you okay?”

Ollie hummed. “Yeah, Teddy didn’t try anything. How about Sebastian?”

“He clearly hates my guts but left me alone. Says if someone else maims me, he won’t give a shit.”

“Nice… Well, at least we survived the first night on the wing,” Ollie muttered.

Captain laughed. “You’ve only got thousands more to go.”

“Way to piss on my parade,” Ollie mumbled.

“We get an hour for breakfast before we’re banged up again.” Captain checked his watch. “If you hurry it up, we can get down to the gym and start training you up. I’ve heard it’s not as busy in the morning.”

Rory nodded. “Sounds good.”

“And youarelooking good, sweetheart!”

Rory dropped his gaze to the table and ignored Pauly’s taunt. He forced down the porridge, hoping his admirer would lose interest.

“Don’t pretend you can’t hear me…”

Captain breathed harshly through his nose, then turned around. “He can hear you, and he’s not interested.”

“How does he know he’s not interested? He’s not given me a chance; he needs to hear me out…”

Rory looked back. “Okay. What do you want?”

Pauly leaned back in his chair as he stroked a slow hand over his thinning hair. He wore the same T-shirt as the day before and had porridge on his chest.

“You.”

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