Rory’s blood turned to ice and he rubbed his hand over his heart to stop it from freezing over. Pauly smiled, and the bandages on his face rose, squishing his eyes.

“And I’m thinking to myself, Sebastian still doesn’t know, and he only has a week left, what will you do to make sure I keep your secret?”

“What do you want?”

“You broke my nose, and my ribs…”

“You wanna break mine in return?”

“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…”

“I’m not gonna sleep with you.”

“That’s your decision, and I’ve decided I’m not gonna keep your secret.”

“You won’t have to keep it,” Rory snapped. “I’m gonna 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 gonna tell him?”

“Yep. 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 backed away, smiling to himself. He flashed a look at the guard, 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…”

Rory sprung forward, but the guard pushed him back. “Hey, I’ll take you back once the doc’s got your pills.”

“I wanna go now.”

“No. If you’re gonna 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 guard and Pauly had gone.

“I need my medication.” Rory shouted.

“In a minute.”

“No, now.”

The doctor strode forward and shoved a clipboard under his nose. “Sign here.”

Rory scribbled in the boxes, snatched the pills from the doctor’s hand, then rushed to the door.

“I need to go back on the wing!”

****

Rory’s heart beat so hard he swore 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. He grinned, and Rory grinned back, then his eyes snapped to Pauly approaching. The grin on his face wasn’t friendly, but cruel and twisted.

Rory rushed to the stairs, tripped and hit his knee, earning him a cheer from the rowdy inmates below. He ignored them, pushed past people, all to get to the second floor, to stop Pauly revealing his secret.