“You want to have sex with me that badly?” Jasper returned Roland’s smile as if he wasn’t concerned in the least.

Roland laughed softly. “Not me, no. If it were up to me, I’d beat you to a pulp and be done with it. I don’t swing that way. But I have a friend who’s expressed interest, and I don’t see why I should deny him. After all, it’s exactly what you deserve, and seeing you get what you deserve is the only reason I’m in this.”

Jasper knew the man Roland was referring to. Rufus Moreno had created a small gang he called his family. He had a regular partner. Jasper had seen them making out in the yard many times. But Rufus was by no means exclusive. He loved to check out what he called fresh meat. “So what’s your role? You’re just gonna watch?”

His teeth flashed as his smile widened. “I’m the one who’s going to hold you down.”

“You’re an animal.”

At this Roland’s laugh grew loud enough to echo through the cavernous building, which started all the men around them laughing, too. “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it? Is that it?”

Jasper began to pace. It wasn’t a wise reaction. No doubt Roland could read his anxiety, but Roland already knew he had Jasper running scared, or he would’ve backed off by now. Nothing slipped past the man. And he didn’t care about his own life, so that gave him an advantage over everyone who did. “I’ll fight back,” Jasper warned.

“You can try,” he responded with a shrug.

“What, are you going to let all your friends pile on? Is that why you’re so damn confident?”

“I’m not asking for any help. I won’t need it.”

“You think this is what Evelyn would want?” Jasper asked.

He bit off a hangnail and spat it on the floor. “I certainly don’t think she’d mind. Do you?”

“She’s not out for revenge. There’s something different about my brain. She’s hoping to study it.”

“Then I’ll save it for her—in a jar. It’ll probably be a moot point, anyway. I doubt Evelyn’s coming back, and if she doesn’t, it’s because of men like you.”

So that was it. He was angry that Evelyn was gone, and he was taking it out on Jasper.

Jasper stopped pacing and grabbed hold of the bars of his cell. “You’re a convicted murderer! You’re not some defender of the innocent.”

His eyebrows slid up at the outburst. “I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it. Can you say the same?”

Jasper couldn’t hold his temper any longer. He’d never been good at it in the first place. “I’m going to kill you!” he cried. “I’m going to kill you if it’s the last thing I do!”

“You’ll have the chance in a few minutes,” Roland said.

The mail cart arrived. Jasper was breathing so hard he could feel his chest rising and falling as he jerked the mail from the hand of the inmate who came around to deliver it.