Page 5 of Four for a Boy

Chad resumed shoveling. Romeo’s eyes gleamed, unblinking as they stayed glued to Chad. He couldn’t dwell on what Romeo was thinking, it was too dark to see his expression and he was an expert at hiding his feelings outside of murder and love. Chad didn’t know if he even had any outside the two extremes.

“Do you think the predator you speak of would prefer fresh meat it catches in the moment or the old, forgotten meat it finds mashed up in the grass?”

“It would eat whatever was available to survive—”

“I wasn’t asking about survival, I was asking about preference.”

“Fine. The fresh meat.”

Romeo nodded. “As you said though, it would eat if it was hungry, and hope for a more satisfying kill later.”

More satisfying kill later.

Were the bodies in the ground only unsatisfying appetizers?

“Why are we talking about old and fresh meat?” Romeo asked. “Surely dinner wasn’t that bad.”

“No bias, that’s what you’ve always said.”

“I know, and I stick by it—”

“What happened then?”

“Nothing.”

“The monster went away.”Chad’s spade struck a rock.

The metallic ringing faded into silence.

They looked at each other.

Romeo dropped his spade and moved around the grave to get closer. “Chad…”

“What went wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You took forever to look at me—”

“Thirty seconds.”

“It felt like forever, and when you did the monster wasn’t there. It had gone.”

“I got preoccupied.”

“With what?”

“A thought. I promise there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

Romeo held out his hand.

Chad hesitated, before dropping his spade and linking their fingers. Romeo raised the back of Chad’s hand to his lips and gave it a lingering kiss.

“I’m sorry I let you down tonight.”

Chad scrunched up his face.

Romeo tilted his head. “I’m sorry I didn’t fuck you in the way you’ve been accustomed to after a kill.”

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