Page 111 of Rat

“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 Rorysmiled 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.

---