Page 8 of Grab The Bull
“A man can’t just think out loud?” He scoffed, putting his hands on his sides.
“Depends on what the whole ‘shame’ thing was about because the last thing I said was I was a big girl!” She cocked out a hip, fists resting against her belt with a righteous fury in her eyes. Ryzer’s eyes widened and mouth dropped open. Way to fuckin’ go!
“I wasn’t talkin’ about yous! I was just thinkin’ to myself. About the farm! Not about you. Why do you assume the stars rotate around you?” He snatched up the last two bags. He’d been so zoned out, watching Eddy, he’d forgotten that he’d offered to help her fill the tractor. They’d tilled the earth and if they were fast about it, they could seed now and have wheat early spring. Ryzer dropped them into the wheelbarrow. As if it could ever be a shame that yer a bigger girl. Taurian’s couldn’t blush on account of the fluff, but if he were down to his skin, he’d be red as a tomato.
Ryzer liked thicker partners. Liked them soft and cuddly and warm, didn’t much matter what gender they were so long as they enjoyed riding an old bull with an over abundant…She’s still staring.
He swallowed, peeking over his shoulder. Daisy stood firm, eyebrow raised.
With a sigh, he confessed, “I was thinkin’ it’s a shame that no one else will treat this farm like we will.”
“Why? You thinking of selling? Because you can’t do that until I’ve got the ship figured out.” She put up her palms like his selling a farm she’d only recently come to know was out of the question.
Ryzer scoffed, “No. I ain’t sellin’ the farm.”
Daisy made a face that said, ‘I’m just saying’, But didn’t actually say anything else.
Ryzer shook his head and picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow. “I’m just the last of the Bitterroots. Once I’m gone, this place goes to whoever can afford to take over.”
“Oh.” She blurted out, walking beside him as they started the trek out to the field from the barn. “You don’t have any other family?”
“Just me and Dee-Dee.” The sun was a little higher on the horizon. While the wind wasn’t as bitter, it was still chilly. Tiny clouds of air puffed around his muzzle when he huffed out his nose. “And I’m not exactly swimmin’ in heirs. My parents popped out just little ole’ me.”
“Pfft, speak for yourself. I have eight siblings. My aunt has seven kids. And my uncle? He’s got twelve. So that’s nineteen first cousins! Nineteen!” She threw her hands about as she talked. When she caught him eyeballing her out of the side of his face, she flushed again. Finally, it was her turn to sputter and try to explain. “Aquaterranians are just absurdly fertile—err, I didn’t mean like—look, my parents were really close? No…I mean, yes they were, but like when you live on a dusty rock with nothing to do, you tend to have a lot of babies around is all. I’m just used to a big family, I mean.”
Ryzer choked on his own tongue trying not to laugh and failing. “So, you have nineteen first cousins cause everyone on Aquaterra is bored?”
“Uh, let’s just forget I said anything,” she squeaked, glancing away quickly.
“I’m just wonderin’ if that’s why yous got to send so much money back, to pay for all the babies they keep makin’?”
She jabbed two gloved fingers in her finned ears and loudly sang, “La-la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you!”
He laughed harder, “What are you? Ten?”
“I can’t hear you over my mortification!” she yelled, jogging toward the tractor. He snorted, watching her race away from him. Well, at least she doesn’t think it’s a shame to be a bigger girl, because there ain’t no shame in those swaying hips…and if there is, I could fix that. What he wouldn’t do to see her bubblegum pink thighs wrapped around his head, to see if the tinsel on her head was the same color of her curls…to know if she tasted as sweet as she looked.
