Chapter 5
Daisy
After an hour of walking all the way out to the back field, and trying not to cry at the state of her ship— what ship?
There was a pile of parts. It looks so much bigger as chunks of metal than it ever did as a regular ship.
She stood under the front piece, avoiding the large slices of glass.
Her heart was a crumpled up wad of paper as she circled it to the backside.
The residue left from extinguishers—the kind made for sparking ships—left the edges all coated in a sticky blue residue.
But she was able to climb up into it and return to her captain’s quarters.
Two duffle bags later, she had all her clothes and her data pad in hand.
The only other thing worth money on the ship was likely the engine but if someone was capable of prying it out of the crunched belly of the ship, they could have it.
She found she didn’t actually want much out of the ship.
Most of the ship was just storage space, anyway.
A large cargo bay, the kind they could stuff full of freight but was thankfully empty when she hit the field.
At least she didn’t owe some company money for their ruined product.
Her clothes, her data pad, and the photo on the dash were the only things she needed.
She pried it out from the magnet frame her father used to keep it safe.
Daisy stared at a family portrait and tucked it away.
Thankfully, during the hour it took her to dig through rubble and ensure nothing important was lying around, Ryzer was quiet.
He sat on one of the seats that got ejected, drinking his coffee and watching.
She found he was either snarky, king of the judgement statements, or he was a quiet observer.
Daisy hated feeling like a bug under a microscope, but she hated the warble in her voice more.
So, when they walked back to the farm, her duffle bags slung over his shoulder, she appreciated he didn’t ask her anything.
Then when they got back to the main farmhouse, he stopped to set the bags down. “Why don’t you throw these in yer room reach quick and unpack? The boys are likely done with moving the herd and it’s time for breakfast.”
“Yeah, okay,” she muttered, ducking her head inside.
Dee-Dee, thankfully, was on a call with someone while in the midst of cooking.
She didn’t have a chance to ask Daisy why she was shuffling off to the room.
After a quick toss of her bags onto the bed, she went to work filling the dresser in the corner of the room with her minimal clothing.
Most of it was flight suits, which wouldn’t help her here.
A pair of knuckles knocked against the door frame.
She didn’t realize she’d stopped unpacking to stare at the photo she’d left on top of the dresser.
Ryzer stood in the doorway, the smell of freshly cooked bacon and buttery biscuits filling the air.
He didn’t say a word, but nodded his chin back out to the dining room.
Daisy followed him out to a room full of people in varying positions, all chewing happily on biscuits full of bacon, eggs, and cheese.
Ryzer gave her a plate with two biscuits already done up and a knew cup of coffee.
She sat down, squished between him and Dee-Dee at the table.
And so…here starts my new job. Ma’s gonna get a kick out of this. After she chews my head off for the ship and everything else, that is.
Strangely enough, that crushing weight that sat on her chest was lighter as she gobbled down breakfast with a newfound gusto.
“Alright and just grab the—watch it!” Ryzer jumped off the side of the tractor as she threw the tractor into the right gear.
An evil glee filled her as she raced down the hay field.
While it wasn’t a one to one with the ship, it was similar enough that after a few ‘this is this’ and ‘that is that’s, she had her bearings.
The gears were smoother than The Sturdy Bird, but the jerking as she switched into the next one?
That was familiar. She couldn’t help the smile as she dragged the rake attached to the back of her tractor up the line.
As they all came to clap for her at the other end, she followed their lead around the bend.
They guided her to the next spot, while Ryzer stayed at the other end of the field.
Like a little ant on a hill, he was so far away she could barely spot him if not for the fact he was massive with horns.
She’d come to know ‘the boys’ as four farm hands.
Eddy the kid, a green Scorpik, Dallen the rusty, jokester Taurian, Jones the older Capriconus with his curled ram’s horns and wispy beard, and Zeke, a human with a cybernetic left leg.
A grab bag of misfits if she’d ever seen one, but they didn’t bat an eye when Ryzer put her on the tractor.
Jones hopped up with his hooves onto the side of the tractor as she held the brake for a moment.
“Not bad for yer first time with this crotchety old thing. Now, don’t hit the gas too hard; while it’s fun to race, you’re here to till the field. Got it?”
“Aye-aye,” she laughed, giving him a two-finger salute.
“Cheeky motherfucker,” Jones snickered, ruffling her hair. He lept out of the tractor and slapped on the thick wheel before backing up. “Go on, get up there before boss man molts. Dinner’s soon, so you probably only got a couple more goes left before we pack up for the night.”
And he was right. Ryzer let her rip up the soil with a few more runs up and down the field.
With each pass she understood the machine better.
Then he jumped up onto the foot rail on the side of the machine and told her how to turn it off.
Daisy couldn’t stop smiling as she handed him the keys. “How was that?”
“Good,” he grunted with a single head nod.
“Does this mean I can work for you?” She arched a brow. While getting the ship off her conscious was priority number one, the second was her family. If Ryzer would allow her, she could work here, send part of her funds home, let him use the other part to steadily clean up the crash site.
“Yeah,” he laughed, rolling his eyes. “I would be a fool not to; we need the hands. The pays not great, but you won’t need to worry about food or room.”
“How much would you take out per pay period for the ship? I still gotta send stuff home,” her smile finally fell into a worried frown. He furrowed his brows.
“Right, you’d mentioned sending everything back home,” he leaned against the frame of the tractor, eyeing her up and down slowly.
It was the first time she felt heat rush through her body with Ryzer.
It was hard not to flush when his eyes were so stern, so analytical, she felt an intense urge to be worthy of his praise.
They’d been at odds the whole time, she wanted to be impressive.
Not just good with his tractors or machines, but she wanted him to loathe how much he liked her.
Woah there, Bessy, a little neurotic much?
She’d known the man a handful of hours, but between the searing hostility between them setting off misfires in her brain and the way he looked deliciously rusty with a head of salt and pepper hair?
It wasn’t surprising she’d taken some of that tension and made it sexual.
Not like there was any action on the ship.
Daisy was a woman who’d spent the last ten years locked at the hip with her father, enclosed in a floating tin-can.
There were no trysts with people she met at way stations.
There was no sneaking off at fuel pumps to find relief.
There was no roster of people at familiar stops she could pop by and ask for a quickie.
Daisy hadn’t realized—thanks to the grief, and the pressure to keep up the business—that she’d not even gone past kissing and heavy petting with anyone.
And in that moment, she wondered if it was the sudden fresh air putting lewd thoughts in her brain…
or if maybe Ryzer was also looking at her a little differently.
No longer with ire and frustration, but maybe interest?
Maybe he did find her impressive and even attractive?
What are you gonna do with a mountain-sized man you hardly know?
Her thighs clenched involuntarily. Am I a size kink person?
This is a terrible time to find out. It had to be the fresh farm air.
There was no other reason for why his simple gaze flustered her.
“That entirely depends on how fast you want to be free of me,” he answered, nodding toward the house. “Tell you want, come pay day, you’ll see what you make. You can decide then split. You got a ten thousand credit bill you gotta pay off, but I won’t charge interest.”
Up until that last part, she’d been right behind him, climbing out of the tractor.
Then he said ten thousand and she squawked, tripping over air.
He spun around, quick as could be but not fast enough to stop her from slamming her face into his arm.
Essentially throwing her to the side into the ground.
Daisy squawked from the tilled soil, “Ten thousand!?”
“That’s without interest,” he answered like it were a clarifying question. He offered a hand to her. “That covers removal and cleanup of all the spills and the fines from the Aviation Council.”
Oh, right. She grimaced, staring at his hand in despair.
Daisy was genuinely lucky it wasn’t more.
Ten thousand was relatively cheap considering she crash-landed a class 4 freighter into his field.
Swallowing, she glanced up to his face. “And…and if we sell off some of the parts? Like if we let scavengers come and pick it clean?”
His face softened as she wrapped her fingers around his hand. “Sweets, I’m not trying to make you sell off pieces of yer old man. Just pay for the tools and labor it’ll take to get all of what’s left of the rust bucket somewhere not the middle of my field.”
She opened her mouth, then promptly closed it. He’s not getting rid of it? Yet the only thing she could ask was, “Sweets?”
“Yeah,” he huffed with a non-committal shrug as he dropped the hand she didn’t realize till just that moment…he’d not let go of quite yet. “Ya know, on part yer hair’s the color of cotton candy. You’re practically made of bubblegum. Sour bubblegum, mean bubblegum, but bubblegum nonetheless.”
Her lips curled up into a sweet smile as he stomped away from her, twirling the keys with the same frustration that he flicked his tail.
Sweets? Daisy licked her lips nervously, checking to make sure no one was watching.
Behind Ryzer’s back, she spun in a giddy circle before quickly jogging after the fast retreating Taurian.