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of any man trying to force me. But turns out that was only half the battle. You can only imagine fucking women for so long before your body needs relief. So I took a girl – Lonnie, the blond from the infirmary. You know him?”
    Cooper nodded.
    “Pretty lad. Brains of a gnat. I never did have him,” Gabriel said. “Was saving myself, don’t you know, like a good Catholic boy awaiting the altar. Awaiting a man who deserved what he got. So I could fuck him into next year and not give a damn what it did to him. And being the sterling judge of character I am,” Gabriel forced a laugh, “I picked the only innocent man this godforsaken place has ever seen.”
    Cooper’s gaze dropped. He hugged himself, trembling, fighting back more tears with all his strength.
    “Cooper. Joseph. Did – did I hurt you so bad?”
    The twist of those red lips was answer enough. Gabriel blew out a sigh. Of all the sins he’d committed, venal or mortal, when he was most ashamed, Gabriel remembered that duckling’s neck, crushed by a slamming door.
    “Fair enough. Joseph,” Gabriel said, wishing the other man would look at him. “Some wrongs can’t be undone. I wronged you in the showers. I know that now. I’ll never use you that way again. But we can start over as cellmates. I meant what I said about protecting you, Joseph. I—”
    “Joey.”
    “What?”
    “My name. It’s Joey.” The younger man let out another bitter laugh. “You’ve had everything else from me. Might as well have that, too. Everyone calls me Joey.”
    “Joey.” Before he knew he would do it, Gabriel tilted the other man’s chin up and pressed their closed lips together. It was just as he’d fantasized – an electric shock, a jolt from his mouth right to the tip of his cock. But the kiss was one-sided. Joey’s lips didn’t part. His whole body went rigid, eyes shut tight as if in pain.
    “Joey.” Gabriel pulled back. “Look at me.”
    Joey obeyed. Gabriel saw the other man’s eyes in the mirror-reflected light. They were blank with terror.
    “Joey,” Gabriel said again, trying to curtail the emotion in his voice. “What I did in the showers won’t happen again. I mean it. But the hard fact is, I’m only human. The price of protection is simple. You have to let me touch you. Kiss you. Not every time the lights go out. Not every night of the week. But – enough.”
    Joey didn’t react. Didn’t agree. Didn’t resist. Looking into those wide gray eyes, Gabriel had the sudden suspicion the other man was fading, slipping away.
    “Joey!” Gabriel shook the other man until he jerked free.
    “Stop!”
    “It’s no good if you go away inside.” Gabriel knew he had no right to be angry or frustrated, but he preferred both sensations to abject shame. “When I touch you, when I kiss you, you have to know it’s me.”
    Joey covered his face with his hands. He had nothing left to give, Gabriel realized. If he pushed any harder, the younger man might break altogether.
    “Away with you.”
    “W-what?” Joey asked, returning from far away.
    Gabriel pointed at the top bunk. “Tonight’s kiss is paid up. Away with you. And not another peep ’til morning.”

     
    * * *
     

     
    S ince his realization at age fifteen that he would be a physician, Joey Cooper had read everything he could get his hands on concerning anatomy, biology and pharmacology. But after his sentencing, he’d given away most of his possessions, including his science books. As for the prison library’s nonfiction stacks, he avoided them. Daily life held enough bitter reminders. But unable to survive without books, Joey had thrown himself headlong into fiction, choosing novels set in remote times or places. Within two weeks he’d read David Copperfield , The Last of the Mohicans , Cimarron , The Sea Hawk and The Good Earth .
    “Hard road for those Chinks,” Gabriel had commented when he saw Joey with The Good Earth . “My grandmother used to say it’s no life fit for pigs,