“He’s all I have.”

“Where are your parents?”

“My parents are dead.”

Sebastian nodded awkwardly, then mumbled, “That explains it.”

“My mum died when I was three, I can’t even remember her, and my dad died a few years ago.”

“Were you close to your dad?”

Rory picked at the sheet and didn’t look Sebastian in the eye. “Yeah. When people find out my mum died, they assume my childhood was terrible, but my dad made sure it wasn’t.”

“He was a good man?”

“A good man, and a great dad.”

“How’d he die?”

“Cancer, there wasn’t anything the doctors could’ve done.”

“I’m sorry.”

Rory sighed. “It’s not your fault.”

“Is that why you lost your way?”

“What?”

“After your dad passed, is that when you started with the drugs, dealing?”

Rory felt the stinging in his eyes, and quickly slapped his hands back over his face.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he murmured.

Sebastian tried to pry his hands away, but Rory didn’t let him.

“He’d be ashamed of me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“I’m an idiot, and a liar, and I’ve made a mess out of this.”

“Out of what?”

Rory shook his head. “My life.”

“We’re all in here because we’ve messed up, but most of us haven’t messed up our whole lives. You’ve got eight years, and then you can think of a way of turning it around, making your dad proud.”

He wanted that more than anything. His dad would want Rory to do the right thing, he’d want him to help bring Sebastian down before he could hurt anyone. Despite his heart and mind being tugged in all different directions, he knew what he had to do, he just hated the thought of doing it.

“And you’ve got your uncle, he visits like clockwork. Some of the guys in here have no one.”

“Sebastian…can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

Rory removed his hands from his face. “That phone…”

Sebastian checked behind himself, then came closer. “What about it?”

“Could I use it?”

Sebastian exhaled through his nose, and grimaced.

“Please.” Rory whispered.

“Okay … can’t stand you sounding so sad.” He bent down, tugged up his pants, and retrieved the phone from his sock. “Don’t worry, they’re a clean pair.”

Rory snorted, and took the phone. “Thank you.”

Sebastian tilted his head, then reached out and cupped Rory’s face.

He traced Rory’s cheekbone with his thumb, then mumbled, “No problem. I’ll stand watch outside, when I start coughing in a hysterical manner, it means you should hang up, hang up and come perform the Heimlich on me.”

Rory laughed, and Sebastian backed away. He pulled the door to as he left, and Rory turned his attention to the phone.