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Iva pointed us in the direction of the ticket booth, and we spent the next two hours trying all the games we could. I sucked at the shooting ducks. It wasn’t as easy as it looked. Those fuckers were fast—motorized, but fast. Ryzen, of course, was a pro at the beanbag toss. He landed almost every bag he threw in the hole. The highlight of the last few hours was me spending almost twenty tickets trying to sink a teenage boy in the dunk tank. You would think that with all that practice in the rage yard my aim would be better. But after try nineteen, I finally got him.
My leg was bothering me where the rope had tightened, and I rubbed it every time we stopped. It was getting dark, and everyone was heading over to the projector to watch the movie. The screen was enormous, over forty feet tall and wide, because of course it was. Everything was bigger in Texas, that was for sure.
As we got closer to the field, there was one last game set up with a small crowd of people standing around it. It was one of those strongman games, where you used a huge mallet to hit a lever with a puck that shot up and rang the bell, but only if you were strong enough.
The carnival attendant held the mallet out to some guys standing around, but they shied away and shook their heads.
“Come on, Ryzen, I have two tickets left. Let’s try it. Juliet will lose her shit if I bring her back that giant stuffed milkshake over there.” I pointed at the collection of stuffed animals hanging in the winner’s circle. There was a plushie shaped like a milkshake that was at least five feet tall, with rosy lips and long lashes.
Ryzen grabbed the tickets from my hand. “I’ll do it. You look tired. Wouldn’t want you to feel embarrassed.” He patted me on top of my head, and it took me a second to register what he had said. I bit the inside of my cheek and stared daggers into his back as he grabbed the mallet from the carnival attendant.
“Ladies and gentlemen, gather around and feast your eyes on the only man courageous enough to try to win the strongman!” the attendant boomed.
I rubbed my leg again, and when I stood back up, Cian was just a few short yards away, leaning against a tree. I followed his gaze to Ryzen, who was grinning and raising his hands in the air for people to cheer him on. Cian had a smirk on his face, as if he knew something the rest of us didn’t.
The crowd was gathered around, cheering Ryzen on as he let out a grunt and swung the mallet. My eyes widened as the puck shot up and only reached the seventy percent mark. The crowd let out a collective groan, and I squeezed my eyes shut. He would not be happy about that. Not one bit. I risked glancing at Cian, and the look on his face was one of pure delight.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that someone didn’t drink their milk today. Do we have any other takers?” The attendant looked around with his hand out.
Ryzen’s back tensed, and he glowered at the attendant. “The handle slipped. I’ll go again.”
He handed the attendant our last ticket and stood with his legs wide apart in front of the game. The crowd started cheering again, and when Ryzen lifted the mallet and swung at the lever, I almost didn’t want to look. The puck shot up and up, but only reached the same mark as last time. Seventy percent. I sighed and threw my head back, looking at the sky. Something told me he would make this my fault if he could.
“Nice try, sir, but it looks like you are not the strongman today!” The attendant grabbed the mallet from Ryzen’s hand.
Ryzen’s face was turning a shade of red, and he wiped the back of his hand against his forehead. To a man like Ryzen, who thought winning was everything, this had to hurt. He walked over and grabbed his drink from my hand.
“It’s OK, Ryzen. It’s just a stupid game. Probably rigged.” I tried to rub his arm, but he jerked it away.
“The handle was slippery. Itisprobably rigged.” He puffed his chest out and chugged the rest of his drink. “C’mon, let’s go watch the movie.”
We walked toward the pallets of cushioned seats and blankets, the sound of a “ding” making us both stop and turn around to look at the strongman game. Cian stood with the mallet in his hand. His grin spread from ear to ear as the crowd clapped in appreciation.
I risked a glance at Ryzen, his lips in a flat line. This seemed like the equivalent of a cock-measuring contest, and I didn’t think I had the energy to deal with the aftermath. I tugged on Ryzen’s sleeve. “Movie’s starting.”
There were pallets of cushion-lined seats and blankets spread across the field. We walked past a large firepit where some kids were roasting marshmallows and then stuffing them between graham crackers and chocolate. I grabbed a big bucket of popcorn and two waters and sat towards the back. I let out a sigh as I relaxed into the seat and handed Ryzen the popcorn. It had been a long-ass day, and if every day was going to be like this, I didn’t know how I would get through it. Being a fake fiancée was hard enough, but being around all these people with competitive and, let’s face it, greedy tendencies was enough to make me want to give up and crawl back home. I wouldn’t, of course. I would never let Juliet, Owen, and Thora down—not if I could help it, anyway.
Ryzen’s phone beeped, and he excused himself to take a call. I didn’t see Covington around, which meant the chances of Ryzen coming back were pretty slim. I wouldn’t go looking for him, either. Let him blow off steam and throw himself into his work for all I cared.
This would be a lot easier if Juliet were here. She always gave the best advice. Something was going on with her, though. Probably this new secret boyfriend she had. I didn’t know why she didn’t want to tell me. We told each other everything—at least I’d thought we did. She had a tendency to fall quick and fall hard. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t get hurt. But she would tell me when she was ready, and I would respect her privacy until then. Well, at least I would try my best not to get too nosy.
The movie was funny, and I didn’t even mind that Ryzen had basically ghosted me. I sank deep into the cushions and ate popcorn until my stomach objected. Heat from the fire pit wafted over to me and before I knew it, my eyes closed and I drowned out the noises from the movie and kids running and laughing around me.
A big booming sound had me jerking awake a while later. On the screen cartoon robots were taking over Earth, and most of the crowd was still entranced in the movie. There was a young girl sitting on the cushion next to me eating my popcorn, and that wasn’t the only thing out of the ordinary. There was a blanket covering my legs and in between me and the young girl was the giant milkshake plushie.
“My mom said I couldn’t have any more snacks, or I would be bouncing off the ceiling,” the girl, who looked about eight, said through a mouth full of popcorn. “Can you really bounce off the ceiling?”
“Um, well…” Shit, I didn’t want to lie to the poor kid. “No, you can’t. But, if you eat too much of it, you could turn into a giant popcorn.” She stopped mid-chew, her eyes growing big, and I giggled. “Just playing, hon, eat your heart out.”
I pulled the plushie from under the covers and inspected it. “Hey, kid, do you know where this came from?” I turned the milkshake in her direction and shook it.
She pointed in the direction of the golf cart with a fistful of popcorn. “That nice man put it there as a surprise.”
I looked in the direction she pointed, my eyes widening. Cian was leaning against one of the golf carts, his arms crossed against his chest. Hewie was talking to him, his arms waving around all over the place. I could only imagine what they were talking about—probably the benefits of using manure in your garden, since that was a hot topic for Hewie. I chuckled to myself, but stopped when Cian’s gaze met mine. He winked at me, then boarded the golf cart.
Great. What kind of game was he playing at now? Oh, there had to be a game or a trick involved. Because there was no way he would give me that plushie out of the goodness of his heart. He was up to something. But I would have to deal with that later.
A yawn escaped, and I reached my arms over my head, stretching. I eyed the young girl sitting next to me, wondering if I should walk around trying to find her parents. Luckily, a short blonde woman around my age walked over with two kid-sized wagons trailing behind her a moment later.
