Page 8 of Moon Blind Hearts
Grinning, I flip to the next picture where he’s naked. “Yeah. He’s definitely blessed.”
Chapter 5
Sawyer
The sounds of the mountains in the fall are calming. The wind as it whistles through the trees reaches my ears and reminds me that the cows should be coming home soon from the cattle allotment. Udder Nonsense Farms doesn’t make money from cattle the same way some of the other ranches do, since we’re a dairy farm, but every summer, we send up the steers and the retired girls and let them enjoy their break. Every fall, they come meandering back to join the rest. It’s a tradition I didn’t think much of when we first bought this place and turned it into a dairy farm a few years ago. Now, it feels necessary. If anyone ever feels the soul of the Green River Basin, they’d understand.
The scent of the pine trees trail in on the breeze beside the clean rain scent of the Green River that runs through our ranch. I’ve always enjoyed the smell of this place even if I can’t see it anymore. There’s just something about the air here that makes me feel lighter.
“How’re your eyes?” Cash asks from beside me.
“Useless as always,” I mumble, crossing my arms. In the morning, it’s always worse, the blurriness so bad that I can’t see anything except for a few blurry shadows. By the evening, I can make out blurry shapes, but that’s the extent of it. Ever since I was diagnosed with Fuchs’ Dystrophy, I’ve rapidly gotten worse. It’s a rare case they say, less than one percent of people with the condition losing their vision before their forties, but here I am, thirty-five and legally blind. I ain’t no different from the horses out to pasture with cloudy eyes. Moon blind, we call ‘em. I’m just as much moon blind.
“I meant do they hurt right now,” Cash grunts, annoyed with me.
I don’t blame him. I certainly don’t make it easy for Cash and Oak to take care of me. I try to be as self-sufficient as possible, and mostly I am. It’s just every now and then, I might need a little help. Like right now.
“No, they don’t hurt. But it’s only shadows this morning.” I sigh. “Can you tell me what she looks like when she steps out?”
“I’ve got you,” Cash says, accompanied by the slight shuffle of fabric that tells me he nods his head.
When you lose one sense, the rest grow stronger. That’s what everyone says, and they’re not wrong. Of the three of us, I’m the best at knowing when one of the milking ladies is too agitated to let down. I’m also the best at making cheese because of my sense of taste. Cash used to tease me about it, saying I’d be able to scent something like a bloodhound. Now, he knows I actually can with some stuff. Not at the level of an actual dog, but still. I’m pretty damn good if I say so myself.
I hear the car pull up in the gravel driveway and tense, trying to look approachable but also sexy. What does one do to look sexy? Vanta Vyxxxen is a big deal and I’ve gone through her numbers. She is as big as we originally thought. The fact she agreed to be here is a huge fucking deal for us. If we weren’t doing okay before this collaboration, we’ll be way better after. This is only going to help us grow.
“Stop standing like that,” Cash hisses. “You look like you’re trying to hold in a fart.”
I swear under my breath. “How the fuck am I supposed to stand?”
“Like normal.” I move and he playfully punches my arm. “Bro, just stand naturally. Feet shoulder-width apart, arms crossed. Yeah. There you go. You look like a superhero now. Chicks love superheroes.”
God, I hope they do. Because this feels as unnatural as this whole situation does. It’s not every day you get to meet a big-time creator you’re probably going to fuck on camera. Hell, we’ve done collaborations before, but nothing like this. Usually just a one-off video or a few who happily volunteered and refused to take money for it. This feels different, classier, more prime time.
“Okay,” Cash starts. “She’s getting out of the car. Wait, no that’s not her. This woman is older, probably in her mid-fifties. Must be part of her team.”
“She said she has a team of four,” I remind him.
“Yeah, I know. Okay, passenger door is opening.”
We don’t know what her face looks like. Vanta Vyxxxen is a completely anonymous channel. Her face is always obscured by a mask or by cleverly shot angles. I almost expect Cash to say she’s wearing a mask now.
“Okay, wow,” Cash whistles under his breath. “She’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“Tell me,” I say, listening to the sounds of car doors opening and closing. “What’s she look like?”
“Alabaster skin, definitely fitting with the goth aesthetic. She’s covered in black tattoos like I told you from the photos. They go up her neck. She has the brightest purple and yellow hair I’ve ever seen and it’s kind of short, mostly shoulder length. She’s wearing black skinny jeans and combat boots, super hot ones by the way. She’s just wearing a black t-shirt with what looks like some sort of band. Can’t see which.” He leans closer to me. “Her face is fucking pristine. Angular, bright blue eyes I can see from here, and makeup perfectly applied. She looks like the edgy baddie of our dreams.”
Fuck. I’ve always loved edgy women. There’s just something that draws you in to a woman who isn’t afraid to dress how she wants. Thankfully, Cash is describing her in such detail that I can put an image together in my mind. It’d be a damn shame not to be able to imagine what she looks like right now.
“Okay, she’s opening the back door,” Cash continues. “Probably to help another team member out. She?—”
He cuts off so abruptly, I lean in closer to him and frown. “She what?”
Oak swears. “You didn’t tell me about this, Cash.”
“What? What is it?” I ask, confused.
“I didn’t know!” Cash defends.
