Page 7 of Nut Grabber
"Kym."
"I'm sorry, OK. Just...enjoy your pie." She talks to me over her shoulder as she fumbles with the lock then leaves just as suddenly as she appeared.
I let out a sigh and stare at the closed door, contemplating whether to go after her, or to give her some time to cool down.
Stumbling toward the sink, my decision is made for me when I spit out a red blob. I can't go racing after her with sore balls and a bleeding mouth. It'd be like a horror movie come to life and she'll never get over it. Heck, her brother would probably pull a shotgun on me and then I'd never get my chance.
No. The best thing for me to do is clean myself up and get some rest. My father always said that the road to love was never smooth, but as my tongue swells in my mouth, I never imagined it'd be dangerous too.
And as I sit down on my bed and eat small bites of homemade apple pie on the good side of my mouth, I let out a small chuckle because all pain aside, this girl, she's worth it. I know it in my bones. And pretty soon, she'll know it too. Kym Oliver is going to be mine.
KYM
“Um... Are you OK, Kym,” Regina asks when she finds me cleaning out the pen. Something I thought I’d do while the sheep are out in the fields eating fresh grass and soaking up the sun before they get inspected for sheering.
I've often thought it would be quite nice being a sheep—barely a thought between your ears and nothing to do but graze and wander most days. I could get used to that. It would sure beat shoveling shit while ruminating over what a disaster last night was. Hayes will probably never want to speak to me again. In fact, I wouldn't blame him if every time he saw me from now on he ran screaming in the other direction. I'm a menace to be around.
"I'm fine,” I say with a shrug, because what's the point of confiding in Regina? It won't change the fact that I messed up my chance with the first guy who genuinely seemed to like me out in the open.
"You sure about that?" she asks, moving so she's standing in front of me. "You've been staring at the sheering shed and holding that shovel full of dung for a solid fifteen minutes now. Did something happen with Hayes?"
"Josh didn't tell you?" I quickly turn and dump the contents of my shovel in the wheelbarrow.
She shrugs. "He said you needed ice, but he didn't know what it was for."
"It's too embarrassing to say out loud, Regina." I go back to mucking, needing to keep busy. She follows.
"I know a thing or two about embarrassment, Kym. If you remember, I was left at the altar before I moved out here and met your brother in yet another display of humiliation. But as mortified as I was, I know now it was all for the plot."
I pause and lean on the handle of my shovel. "The plot?"
"Yeah. To my life story. Sometimes things happen and they seem awful at the time, but when you look back, you realize it was all for the plot progression on the road to your happily ever after."
I let out a hollow laugh. "And how would you work crushing some guy's balls in your hand when you fall and use them as a life rope?"
Regina winces. "Is that why you needed the ice?"
My cheeks burn as I nod. "And then I stood up too fast and hit him in the jaw, so he bit his tongue too."
Now she's making a silentOhhhhhface. This isn't helping.
"See? It's fucked. It's all fucked up, and he's never gonna want to speak to me again."
"Kym, you have to give him some credit. He seemed completely infatuated with you at dinner last night. I'd be surprised if he's the type to scare easy."
"Any man with an ounce of sense would run for the hills and stay as far away from me as possible. I'm obviously a health hazard."
Regina's brows lift. "Do you like him, Kym?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm fucking everything up. I like himso much. Too much.And I know that’s dumb when he’s only going to be here for a couple of weeks. But when he gets close to me, I get all tingly and hyper and sweaty. Then nothing goes right."
"Well, damn. Maybe he feels the same way about you."
I shake my head. Because why would he? I'm nothing special. He's gorgeous and sweet and... flawless.
"Anything's possible. He's only known you for a day."
"My track record doesn't favor the idea of hope or happily ever after or whatever. The only boyfriend I had in high school hid our relationship from the whole school because he was embarrassed to be seen with the sheep girl. And since then, my luck hasn't been much better. I'm not skinny and cute, and I still smell like sheep dung, like ninety percent of the time."
