Page 23 of Oh, Sacred Dark
Roman, of course, agreed vacantly, bundling up at Tyler’s insistence, pale face and light curls a shocking contrast above the black collar of the coat Tyler had gotten him. The Dom had waited as long as he could for Roman to pull out his own outerwear only to learn he didn’t even have any—something Tyler had been more than happy to remedy.
Tyler took him to Lenny’s plot, which was usually pretty peaceful. Lenny himself was a big, burly sub with a heart of gold, slow-talking and with the ability to listen to someone with so much focus it’d make anyone feel whole.
A dog had gotten to the fence and broken it, and Lenny was fixing it methodically, on his haunches with his big, bald head turned down, light-brown skin gleaming in the sun. He stood up when Tyler made himself known with a greeting, a smile big on his face.
“Tyler,” he said happily, giving him a big hug and then peering at Roman. “Hello. I don’t think we’ve met.”
There was a pause for Roman to introduce himself, but of course he didn’t. Tyler jumped in for him, waving between them and trading names. Lenny nodded cheerfully, not making a move to touch Roman, for which Tyler was glad. He got the impression Roman wasn’t exactly a touchy-feely sort of person.
“What have you got for us?” Tyler asked.
“Can you sort the vegetables in those crates over there? Whitney and Moses brought them over today.”
“High, medium, and low quality, right?” Tyler checked even though he’d volunteered in some of the gardens before. His job kept him pretty busy, but most people in the coven liked to pitch in for communal services.
“Yep.”
“Sounds good.”
Roman followed and then stood silently as Tyler showed him examples of the three categories and which boxes they belonged in. “It’ll be pretty obvious once you get the hang of it. And don’t worry about the pace, you can take your time if you want.”
“Okay,” Roman agreed quietly.
Tyler pretended to be completely engrossed in the task even as he watched Roman from the corner of his eye. The sub was stiff, inspecting each vegetable with an intensity that was almost frightening.
Tyler didn’t try to make conversation. He just wanted to get Roman accustomed to his presence, see if he could prompt an authentic response, falling into the lull of the job.
It was only when they switched to the last batch of pumpkins that things got weird.
“Oh.” Tyler reached out a hand, stopping Roman from placing the orange monstrosity into the ‘high quality’ pile. “Sorry, this one’s actually not good. See how the leaves have this discolouration? Means it’ll go bad soon. Better put it in the medium pile.”
For a long, strange moment, Roman didn’t move. When he did, it was as if he’d been prodded by something sharp, movements jerky as he transferred the vegetable from one pile to the other.
In an instant, Roman tucked himself away. Tyler hadn’t even noticed that he’d opened up a little until that second, watching the sub press his arms close to his sides, chin lowering, shoulders hunching. He was staring straight ahead, but there was nothing in his eyes. It was as if he’d just…disappeared.
Tyler opened his mouth, but he had no idea how to react. Obviously, something was happening, but Tyler had no ideawhat. “It’s cool, easy mistake to make. Funny story—Archie loved Halloween when we were kids. I mean, he still loves it, but he used to beobsessed.”
Tyler resumed the task as he talked.
“Pumpkin carving was one of his favourite things, and he always dragged me into it. One time, we got some pumpkins, and around here they always keep the leaves on, and he picked one with these nasty-looking ones, and the thing was rotten two days later.”
Tyler flickered his gaze sideways. Roman still wasn’t moving, but that dead shadow was gone from his eyes.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever handled a rotting pumpkin,” Tyler went on, “but it isgross. It gets all soggy at the bottom, starts leaking.” He scrunched up his nose at the memory. “Anyway, yeah, most people cut the stems off, so it’s not common knowledge, but beware a pumpkin with nasty greens. That one over there looks good though—wanna pass it to me and I’ll put it on the high pile?”
Roman blinked at Tyler’s pointing finger and did as he was asked. On some base instinct, Tyler made sure their fingers didn’t brush.
With only a few seconds of hesitation, Roman began sorting again, even if his body remained uncomfortably tense.
So correcting Roman was a big deal, then, which was a pretty common thing for abused subs. Tyler felt a little shaky at the thought—more and more, it seemed his first impression of Roman had been incredibly wrong.
“Okay,” Tyler said when they finished. “You up to do some planting?” He walked towards another of the volunteers, down on her knees by one of the patches.
No part of Tyler expected Roman to refuse, so it was a surprise when he peered back and Roman was rooted to the spot.
Tyler stopped abruptly before turning. “Hey. You good? Not up for more?”
Roman opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Panic filled his eyes as if it were being poured into him. It was contagious, Tyler’s heart picking up speed in response.
