“I’m gonna make this really simple for you, Pauly. Rory belongs to me. You touch him, you come so close you can smell him, or look at him in a manner I don’t like, I’ll make your life hell. I may have less than a year left in here, but I can make it feel like a lifetime for you. Understand me?”

A garbled sound bubbled up from Pauly’s throat. Sebastian scrunched his face. “Sorry, what was that?”

Pauly choked when he tried again, and his eyes streamed with pained tears.

“Sorry, didn’t quite catch that … wait … silly me, it’s my hand isn’t it, stopping you from talking?”

Pauly tried to nod and clawed desperately at the hand at his throat. Sebastian released his hold, and Pauly slid down the wall.

“Understand me?” Sebastian said.

“Yes.” Pauly wheezed.

“Good, now get out of here.”

Pauly struggled to his feet and bounced from one side of the corridor to the other as he rushed away.

“I’m not getting you drugs.” Rory blurted.

“That’s the thanks I get?”

“I mean it.”

“Relax. I heard you the first time.”

“Then … why?”

“Tell Captain you’re under my protection. No one will touch you. Get him to see the damn psychiatrist. Whatever the horrors in his past, he doesn’t deserve to suffer like that, night after night, and we all need a good sleep.”

Rory bit his lip, then murmured a thanks at Sebastian’s throat. He couldn’t raise his head high enough to look him in the eye.

“And I also claimed you because I couldn’t stand the thought of you moaning and groaning above me in pain.”

Rory looked up, touched by Sebastian’s words, then Sebastian barked a laugh, and clutched his stomach.

“No, don’t give me that grateful look,” Sebastian smirked, “I haven’t claimed you because I care about you in pain, or care that someone wants to hurt you. I can’t stand you tossing and turning all night, hissing and huffing. There’s two of us in that cell, and I’m fond of sleep. You under my protection, it’ll kill two birds with one stone so to speak.”

Rory tucked his chin down and sunk his teeth into his bottom lip. Embarrassed heat filled his cheeks, and he hated that Sebastian could see it.

“But that look was cute, you’re a good-looking guy … my type, in fact.”

Rory flinched at the first touch to his face. He slid along the wall, but Sebastian mimicked his slide, and Rory stopped trying to get away. He stayed perfectly still as Sebastian cupped his face. He used his thumb to tug Rory’s lip from his teeth, then rubbed the sensitive flesh, touch so slight, it was maddening.

“I can see why Pauly wants you.”