Free Marriage by Law by N.K. Pockett

should suck it up. I even put the smaller ones in my bag so that he only got the soft toys, which were quite a few. I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture of him. This was perfect black mail material, him holding a penguin, whale, duck, chicken, three bears, two banana shaped one and some other random stuff. He looked and I quickly put my phone away.
     
    "What next?" he asked.
     
    "That one!" I yelled, running to the Strong-o-metre. I had never been able to win at this game. I went up and watched the current player swing the hammer at the small button. It seemed like he hit hard but the bell didn't ring and it only went up half way.
     
    I frowned. I'd be surprised if mine even went up.
     
    "Who's next?"
     
    "ME!" I yelled. Shoving my bag in his already full hands, I folded up my sleeves and walked over. Oh, this was going to be fun. There was a laugh and whistle from the crowd when I could barely lift up the thing and I turned over, glaring at whoever it was.
     
    My first try was just as bad as my tenth; the thing barely rose.
     
    "Come on, there are others waiting!" yelled some man from the crowd.
     
    "Oh, shut up, toad face," I replied back, concentrating. The man who ran the stuff had no problem, partially because he was having too much fun taking my money. This damn thing was rigged, I tell you!
     
    "Hurry up!"
     
    "Get your girl away from that!"
     
    I rolled my eyes at all the protests. Yeah, good luck with that. There was no way I was leaving without winning something.
     
    I felt a shadow over me and looked up to see Darius frowning down on me.
     
    "What?"
     
    He took the hammer thing from me and pushed me away. What an ass. Like he would do any better than me.
     
    I mean, please, I used all my strength and- oh...
     
    I watched as the crowd finally clapped and I sulked. Fine, he did better than me. He at least got it to the top?
     
    “What would you like, Sir? Perhaps a cute teddy for your girl?"
     
    "Get the peacock," I whispered. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and then turned to the man.
     
    "The bag" he said.
     
    My jaw dropped. What!?
     
    I watched in horror as he got the horrid looking suitcase.
     
    "Why on earth did you get a bag?!" I yelled. He opened it up and stuffed all my soft toys and winnings in it, or as many as he could and zipped it up.
 
    "I wanted the peacock," I whispered. He grabbed the suitcase and shrugged and walked off and I rolled my eyes following him. And here I thought he was going to win me something. Yeah right.
     
    I didn't miss the way girls would bluntly check him out as he walked through the carnival with a suitcase behind him and his jacket casually draped over one arm. And I had to say, I was a bit jealous of the other girls.
     
    "Where are we going?" I asked as he led me away from the stalls. I still had to play so many more games! Not to mention to get on the rides.
     
    "Find something to eat," he said, looking around. "Where is the closest restaurant?" he asked. It sounded so ridiculous that I burst out laughing, but stopped at once when he turned around with a raised eyebrow.
     
    "There are no places to eat here," I said. He looked so sad like a lost school kid that I couldn't help but bend over and laugh some more.
     
    "Here, I'll show you," I said. I was going to grab his hand and pull him along but thought better of it and turned around to walk toward the hotdog stand.
     
    "What are those?" he asked and I looked at him open-mouthed.
     
    "You don't know a sausage roll?" I asked as I ordered two with onions but no cheese. He shrugged one shoulder. I grabbed the suitcase and put it down between my legs, in case someone tried stealing my prizes, and handed him a sausage roll which was really a good-smelling cooked sausage in a slice of bread with cooked onions and sauces.
     
    He picked it up and looked at it and I raised an eyebrow, biting into my warm roll.
     
    He hesitantly bit into it and I watched as he chewed and