Page 18 of Oh, Sacred Dark
Something strange passed over Roman’s face, like a pained wince, but then it fell into the nothingness Tyler was familiar with. “Oh.”
Tyler stared at him for a long stretch. His heart was pounding with adrenaline. Was that why people had barely seen Roman?
Suddenly, something else Roman had said a few moments before struck him. ‘I ate something without your permission.’
“And you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. You’ve been going to meals, right? Or, like, eating?”
There was a long stretch of silence. “I’ve been having dinner,” Roman said eventually.
“And…?”
“And I had a hot chocolate and croissant at the bakery. I’m sorry.”
Why was Roman apologising?
What the fuck was going on?
Tyler was cut off by his phone buzzing to life, making both men jump. He looked at the screen. It was Connie.
“Shit,” Tyler cursed. “Just…” He picked up the phone. “Hey. Con. Let me call you in a sec.”
“But—” Connie’s voice cut off as Tyler hung up.
“Okay,” Tyler said, pressing a palm to his head. “I think there’s been some misunderstanding. You’re not in prison. I’m not your warden. You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t, you know, do any shady shit like hurt anybody. And you shoulddefinitelybe eating at least three times a day. You…” Another terrible thought dawned on him. “Those first days, before I made you go to dinner. Did you eat?”
Roman opened his mouth, but he appeared stuck, no noise coming out.
It was enough of an answer. “Fuck,” Tyler cursed, regretting it as soon as Roman flinched. “Not at you. I mean, I’m not mad at you or anything. I’m just…”
Tyler’s phone started buzzing again. He bit down a curse, declining the call.
“I—are you okay? You’re covered in dirt,” Tyler pointed out, at a loss for what to say.
Like a puppet being controlled, Roman brushed himself off with jerky movements. Tyler watched him, something like despair and a lot like guilt curdling in his stomach.
“Okay. I think there’s been a misunderstanding here somewhere. I didn’t mean to scare you. You just came out of the forest looking shifty and I just…I jumped to conclusions. I’m sorry.”
Roman shook his head vehemently.
Tyler sighed. He was getting the impression that his presence wasn’t doing Roman any good. “How about you go get cleaned up, and I’ll check on you in like twenty minutes, okay?”
Roman nodded and, after a second of hesitation, headed to the Main House.
Tyler had to take a moment to just stand there because…What the fuck.
What the fuck?
Tyler couldn’t banish the image of Roman falling to his knees like that. The way he’d beenshaking. It was such a departure from Roman’s usual demeanour that it already felt incredible, like someone else’s memory.
If all of that had been an act…
His instincts were telling him that had been real—a sub in distress. The logical part of him, though, pointed out how convenient that reaction had been to immediately throw Tyler off the scent.
He pressed his palms to his forehead. His insides were all scrambled up. It’d be impossible to sort through all of what he was feeling right now.
He focused on doing what Archie had requested—called Connie back and ignored her pissed-off attitude at his dropped calls to tell her he’d be coming over. Contacted Lark to see where Cross was. Found Cross in the dining room and asked him if he wanted to go to the farm.
By the time Cross had agreed, it’d nearly been twenty minutes.
