Hearing the heavy Southern drawl that followed the loaded shotgun, I felt my dread grow even more. And while I had no idea if regular bullets could kill me, I'd imagined that getting shot would be an unpleasant experience nonetheless.
So with deliberate care, I slowly raised my empty hands up in surrender while keeping the rest of my body stock still, "I judging by your tone I'd say you're a person with strong convections, which is why I hope you'll believe me when I say I got no relations with the people who gave you a reason to hold them at gun point."
For a moment, there was silence, then a single unimpressed grunt, "Hmph, I guess you don't look like those suits. But then again, that doesn't explain why yer' on my farm sluthing around!"
"I assure you I have a perfectly reasonable explanation that does not require you to practice your Second Amendment rights," I replied with a slow exhale, "Can I assume you're the owner of this farm?"
"Before I answer that, let me get a look at ya," My captor muttered, and I heard them heft the gun in their hands, "Turn around, nice and slowly. I don't need to tell you what will happen if you make any sudden movements."
"Yep, I get a hole big enough for a boot to fit through," I repeated the earlier threat as I stepped off the front steps and slowly turned around.
I didn't know what I expected to feel when I finally looked my captor in the eyes, but I wasn't expecting to find myself eye to eye with a woman who looked as dangerous as she was beautiful.
'Maybe this wasn't a bad choice after all.'
Surprisingly, my shotgun-wielding captor was only a few inches shorter than me, putting her at around six feet. However, despite her height, she was the furthest thing from slim.
Thanks to her painted on black leather pants, and cut off tank top exposing her stomach, her muscular physique was on full display, with well-toned arms, cutting abs, and shapely, powerful legs and glutes that made her look like she would have no problem leg pressing a barn. And while I didn't think the fullness of her chest was another sign of physical fitness, it was still imposing, pushing out her tank top so the hem hovered inches away from her skin.
And as if that weren't enough, she was absolutely stunning with platinum blond hair cut short with one side slightly longer, an angular face with high cheekbones and full lips, and a pair of ruby red eyes that seemed to burn with intensity.
"You got a good enough look yet, or should I keep quiet until you finish?"
I blinked, not realizing I had been staring for so long, though surprisingly, her callout was more annoyed than angry.
'Well, she's probably annoyed she just can't shoot my horny ass and be done with it,' I thought to myself before recovering with a cough, "Sorry, you just...weren't what I was expecting."
"Keep talking and I'll give you something you deserve," My captor threatened in response, and she thrust her gun at me for emphasis, "Now why are you here?"
"I came looking for produce." I answered straightforwardly, "I run a restaurant and I'm looking to put farm-to-table ingredients on my menu."
My captor let out a barking laugh before shaking her head like I had just said the darndest thing, "You came here for produce? Take a look around, do you see anything that would be worth taking a bite out of?"
"You know now that you mentioned it," I replied mockingly, only to drop my humor when my captor's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You just can't help tempting me, can you?"
"To give me a chance?" I asked cheesily with a smile to match.
"To put six rounds of buckshot in your teeth," My captor growled as her hands squeezed down on the shotgun and her finger moved to hover over the trigger.
I tensed for a brief moment, truly believing I had gone too far and was about to find out what shrapnel tasted like. But then a long sigh split the tension, and I watched as my captor's shoulders relaxed and she hefted the gun over her shoulder.
"You're lucky I ain't got the time or money to argue in court that I was in my right to split your body in two."
I let out a soft sigh and finally dropped my hands back down to my side, "I'm both sorry to hear that and infinitely glad."
"Hmm, I bet you are," She grunted before giving me a once-over, "What's your name, stranger?"
"It's Ramon," I replied, "Will you tell me yours?"
"My friends call me Elizabet, but you will call me Ashe," Ashe replied with a self-satisfied smile on her face at her joke.
"Alright, Ashe, can you tell me if there's anywhere I can get fresh produce?" I asked as Ashe walked past me and stepped onto the porch.
"Nope, this here is the only piece of farm land left in the area, or at least, it was." Ashe muttered, her voice dropping as she finished, "You're best bet is to lie to all your loyal customers. I bet 99% of them would never be able to tell the difference."
"Maybe, but I was also hoping to buy in bulk or something different from just going grocery shopping every day. There has to be something-" I started moving to follow Ashe, only for her to freeze and glare at me from over her shoulder.
"What don't you get? This old dust bowl hasn't grown a single thing green in over ten years. Besides, even if the land were fertile, do you know how much it takes to get a farm up and started?"
"Well," I started before turning around and casting my view out over the rolling hills of dried land, "I'd say you're working with about, roughly 150 acres. I heard you were in the apple orchard business, so assuming full-size trees, with an average spacing of 20 feet, you'd be looking in the ballpark of 45,000 trees at 300 per acre. On the low end, each tree will net you about 10 bushels a season, which at wholesale is about 45 dollars per bushel. So you're looking at a net profit 20,250,000 dollars so then applying the standard two percent profit margins for all agricultural business I'd say a farm of this size costs about 19,845,000 to run."
For a long moment Ashe just stared at me like I had grown a second head and she was deciding whether she wanted to shoot it off.
"I thought you said you owned a resturant?" Ashe muttered with a narrowed gaze as she stared at me guardedly.
"I do," I replied with a cocky self-assured smile, "But before that I was an accountant and I managed the books for several farms some of them even bigger than the impressive opperation you have here."
Ashe grunted seemingly unimpressed, "Well then, you of all people should know that raising that kind of money is impossible. This farm is dead and done for."
"Then why are you still here?" I countered all the humor dropping from my voice as I stared at Ashe, "I'd say as long as there's one person who cares about it nothing really dies."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Ashe growled, taking a menacing step towards me, but I didn't move an inch.
Instead, I shrugged and crossed my arms, "Of course I don't, I'm just a guy who saved countless businesses and enterprises from financial ruin."
Ashe stared at me for a moment longer before her glare softened and she chewed on the inside of her cheek in deep thought. A full five minutes passed before she scoffed and crossed her arms, "You really think you can pull this place out of the red?"
Looking around once more at the wasteland, I nodded once, "It ain't going to be easy or fun, but it's not impossible."
"Farm life is never either of those," Ashe drawled.
"I'm not done yet," I interrupted, holding up my hand, making Ashe frown, "You're also gonna need to trust me and trust I know what I'm doing."
"You earn trust, it ain't given," Ashe stated firmly, "I don't know you, you don't know me. And don't for a moment think that I need you more than I need a thorn up my ass. I'd rather kill us both and burn this farm to the ground than have you walking away thinking you got the better of me."
Taking her threat at face value, I only nodded before sticking out my hand, "Then give me a chance, let me earn that trust."
Ashe stared at my open hand like it was a snake poised to strike, but after a long moment, she reached out and shook it, "Alright then, Ramon, I guess that means we're partners...for now."