Kate aimed her plastic gun at the yellow ducks in front of her, choosing the one in the middle row as her mark. She was about to pull the trigger when a voice from behind caught her attention.

"Did you know female elephants are called cows?"

"What?" Kate turned around to see who it was that had broken her concentration and found herself looking at a stranger. He was tall, lean, and wore glasses. While normally the geeky look wasn't her thing, she had to admit he was cute in a weird kinda way.

The stranger swaggered closer, invading her personal space as he tapped the plastic gun she was holding. His gaze was intent and intrusive, and she felt a trickle of fear run down her spine.

"Mister, you wanna play too?" the carnie asked.

"No, I just like to watch."

"Do I know you?" she asked.

A hint of a smile played across his lips. "Do we ever really know anyone?"

She quirked her eyebrow. "You're a weird one, aren't you?"

"That's not a very nice thing to say."

"I guess I'm not a very nice person."

"No, you're definitely not."

"Look, I'm in the middle of something. So, bye." She turned back to the front, determined to ignore him.

"I bet you won't make that shot."

His arrogance was irritating to say the least. She took a deep breath, focused all her energy on the target ahead, and pulled the trigger. The buzzer went off, indicating a successful shot. "You were saying?"

The smirk on his face deepened into a smile but he didn't respond to her taunting remark.

"You got a choice between the rabbit and the elephant. Which one you want, miss?" the man behind the booth asked, giving her a toothless smile.

"Elephant. You want the elephant."

"It's my prize," she huffed. "I get to choose, not you."

"But you do want the elephant, don't you?"

She did, but there was no way in hell she would admit that now. "I'll take the rabbit. Thank you." As soon as the carnie handed her the stuffed animal, the man beside her plucked it out of her hand. "Hey, give it back!"

"Make me." He leaned in, daring her to reach behind him.

His blue eyes twinkled with wicked delight, and her stupid heart skipped a beat. What the hell was wrong with her? "You really need to learn some manners."

"From you?"

"Nope. Find someone else."

"I'd rather not."

"I have a boyfriend, and he wouldn't be too happy about you hitting on me."

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but then she realised he was deliberately making her doubt herself. "Yeah, you are. And doing a really crappy job of it."

"So how do I hit on you properly?"

"This guy bothering you?"

She turned around to find someone new watching them from a few feet away. Now him she knew, at least by reputation. Seth Gecko was new in town, already in trouble with the law, and the object of many of her friends' fantasies thanks to his chiseled jaw and muscular frame. Fine, yeah, he was a hottie but he was also rumored to be the local dealer and that was definitely a turn-off in her books.

"Richie, you trying to pick up the deaf ones again?" Seth asked, approaching them.

He stopped next to the stranger, both of them watching her, amused, like they knew something about her that she wasn't privy to.

"Thought we talked about this, brother. No point in wasting good pick-up lines if they can't hear you," Seth continued.

"Wow, that's rude," Kate replied. "Guess bad manners run in the family."

"Oh, so she does speak," Seth teased, shooting his taller brother an amused glance.

The one named Richie smiled. "She does indeed."

She handed the plastic gun back to the man in the booth. "Do you guys have nothing better to do than harass women?"

"I wasn't aware we were harassing. I thought we were making polite conversation," Seth replied.

"You weren't," she countered.

"Richie, I thought preacher's daughters were supposed to be all nice and welcoming. This one is just-"

"Feisty," Richie interjected. "And I like it."

She quirked up her eyebrow, leveled Richie with a cold look. "Am I supposed to be flattered by that?"

"Yes," Seth replied. "Now how about you say 'thank you' like normal girls do when they're paid compliments?"

"But she's not a normal girl, Seth. Not at all."

There was Richie's weird, intense gaze again, the one where he could see into her very soul and witness all her dark, troubled thoughts.

"You guys are both freaks, you know that?" She turned around and stormed away, fully aware of the brothers' eyes boring into her back.

Seth watched while the brunette disappeared into the crowd. "So that's her."

"Told you I'd have better luck with her than you."

Seth snickered. "Yeah, right. From what I saw, you freaked her the fuck out."

"She was definitely interested."

"Sure she was, bro." Richie handed him a stuffed toy, a ridiculously pink, frilly rabbit. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Give it back to her. Play the hero card. Maybe she won't hate you then."

Seth sneered. "Richard, you ain't exactly in her good books either."

"Don't be so sure, Seth." Richie pulled out a cigarette and lit it, pressing the cancer stick between his lips. "Maybe she likes to play hard to get."

"Yeah well, we don't have time for those games."

"What good is revenge if you can't enjoy it?"

Seth turned his attention back to the crowd, looking for the preacher's daughter again. He found her standing by the cotton candy booth, holding hands with a Bieber wanna-be, a sickly sweet smile plastered over her face. "You got a point there. Nothing will hurt that preacher more than-"

"-breaking his daughter," Richie finished the sentence for him.

"And that's what he deserves for turning in Uncle Eddie."

"Exactly."

The brothers exchanged a cold, satisfied smile.