Married Blind

Finn

“C’mon, Charlie. You can’t be serious.”

“I’m sorry, Finn, but you knew the consequences.” My agent sighed on the other end of the phone. “I don’t enjoy playing the bad guy. Honestly, I don’t.”

“Then don’t.”

Ordinarily, I would work to keep the slightest hint of desperation from my voice, but all bets were off in this situation. I needed out, ASAP. Otherwise, I’d be putting a ring on a stranger for America’s reality-TV-loving masses in just two weeks.

Finn McCarthy didn’t do reality TV.

Finn McCarthy had multiple awards under his belt, and he didn’t stoop to cheesy gimmicks.

He also didn’t talk about himself in the third person.

Jesus. I’m losing it.

“You knew the deal, Finn. I warned you the last time, and you still—” A hushed voice cut him off, and I sank deeper into my sofa while he argued with his assistant.

“Take your time, Charlie. It’s not like you’ve tied my life to a ticking bomb or anything.”

He sighed again. “How long have I looked after your best interests in this town?”

“Five years, but clearly you’ve lost your damn mind. Making me marry a gold-digging stranger and broadcasting it to millions is not looking after my best interests.”

My heart pounded and sweat beaded on my forehead. The longer I let the situation spiral, the more it made me panic. How could a TV show require you to legally marry someone? The entire industry had gone insane, right alongside my agent.

“Seriously, Charlie, what if they pair me up with a right eejit, and she tries to fight the prenup?”

Not to toot my horn, but multi-award-winning actors raked in the cash.

When they weren’t caught in the bathroom with the studio head’s twenty-year-old daughter.

Okay, so I’d fucked up royally, but did that mean they should punish me with potentially life-altering consequences because a pretty woman offered herself to me?

Hell no.

“Next time you decide to make an ass of yourself in public, you’ll remember the next three months,” Charlie said. If his voice held so much as a grain of remorse, he hid it well. “I’m doing everything I can to make sure you have a long career, Finn. How about you get on board and help me?”

“Okay.” I blew out a breath, a small fizzle of hope springing to life inside of me. “What about one of those survivalist shows? That’s got to be better for my rep than this.”

Charlie chuckled. “I like the image, bud, but the world already knows you as the macho man.”

I’d even eat a spider if that would help me get out of tux fittings and ring shopping.

“It’s not good for a well-rounded career actor.” Charlie let those words drop like the dagger they were. “You told me you wanted to be the next Ryan Reynolds. Is that still true?”

I chewed my lip and wished I hadn’t picked Charlie for a second. I should have picked a ruthless American. Someone born in LA. Hell, keeping my British agent might have worked more to my favour. Instead, I went for a Canadian transplant.

The second passed fast, unfortunately.

“Yes,” I grumbled.

“Then trust me to do what’s good for you.”

I dragged a hand through my hair, biting back the desperate ‘no’ sitting at the tip of my tongue. I did trust him. Usually.

The thought of marrying someone for damage control put a sour taste in my mouth. Add cameras, producers, and undoubtedly awkward questions to the mix, and I would turn feral.

I’d seen the original of this show. After working extra hard to keep my personal life as personal as possible in this business, I did not want it painted all over billboards.

“I hate talking to reporters, Charlie. How am I meant to handle the producers?”

My best friends were taking bets on how fast I tanked the whole thing; honestly, they weren’t wrong. I’ll be standing at the altar, feet tapping and my eyes on the wrong door while I worked out my fifth exit strategy.

The point is, it made me feel dirty, and I was not in the business of doing things that aligned me with the lowest tier of Hollywood scum.

“Like you do everything else, Finn.” Charlie’s faith in me rang loud in his words. Given my knee’s uncontrollable bouncing or shaky hands, I didn’t deserve his misplaced faith. “It’s a role.”

Everything froze: my breath, my frazzled thoughts, my hands. “Say that again.”

“You’re an incredible actor. Just pick a persona and give them that. There’s no reason they have to see you unless you want them to.”

Pick a persona.

Just another job.

“Let’s say, hypothetically, I can do that,” I whispered, a temporary calm flowing through my body.

“There’s that confident Irish attitude I expect from you.”

I snorted. “And there’s that full of Canadian bullshit I expect from you.” Shaking my head, I collapsed back against the sofa cushions. The leather whined beneath me. “There’s really nothing I can say to talk you out of this?”

“You’d need a time machine, my friend. Suck it up and take your punishment, McCarthy,” Charlie said, a thread of steel in his tone. “Next time a pretty woman comes on to you, you might think better of fucking her in a very public bathroom.”

“What if my new wife is one of those pretty women?”

Charlie’s heavy sigh rattled the phone.

Abi

New Email.

Subject: The solution to ALL your problems.

I snorted. Solutions to my problems wouldn’t fit in an email. I needed a time-turner and a fourth job to help my sister clear her medical debt. It didn’t matter how many pretty vintage garments I flipped or how much commission I made as a travel agent; we needed a miracle.

Despite my doubts, I clicked on the email, a tiny grain of hope worming its way to the forefront.

Did I mention the solution came with a total hottie attached?

Click the link and thank me later… with all the details.

Ros x

I frowned at the glaring neon blue web link. Why did Ros think Infinity Productions could help me? A small thread of common sense shouted at me for even thinking about clicking on a strange link in an email.

Maybe someone had hijacked Roseline’s account… although she usually communicated in links and memes.

Throwing caution to the wind, I hit the link. The page loaded and my head cocked to the side, considering the brightly coloured advert before me.

TV SHOW SEEKING BRIDES FOR A BRAND-NEW MARRIAGE EXPERIMENT.

She can’t be serious.

I had my cell in hand in a blink. What the hell are they after?

“Abi! Did you get my email? Omigod, isn’t it amazing?” Roseline said, her words merging into one excited whoosh of breath.

“Uh, possibly, but Ros, I don’t know what I’m reading.” I chewed my lip, scanning the limited details again. “What is it?”

“You know that TV show, Married Blind? I used to force you to watch before I moved out.”

“Yes…”

“They’re making a celebrity edition.” She paused, expecting a gasp of awe, I imagined. We’d been best friends since college. We were predictable to each other at this point. “And they want perfectly normal people to match them with…” She waited again, and this time I smirked, sensing her frustration. “Get a little excited, Abi. They’ll pay you to marry a celeb and take part in the show for three months. It’s perfect.”

“What’s the catch?”

Roseline snorted. “No catch beyond the obvious, honey.”

“The obvious being what? Spell it out for me.”

“Well, for starters, you’d be marrying a stranger.”

“Got that part.” I brushed it aside as if she could see. “Next?”

“They’re celebs, so you’ll probably have to move for the duration of the show.”

I swallowed hard at that.

Sure, Eva had been back on her feet for nearly a year now. She’d even returned to her job, and her gorgeous red hair had grown back. She was happy, almost like before the diagnosis and chemo, but did that mean I stopped worrying?

Of course not. I’d nearly lost my sister and my best friend. The thought of leaving her now, of vanishing to the other side of the country, even to help pay off her substantial medical bills… How could I?

“Stop the internal debate,” Ros said. All the excitement drained from her voice. “You can talk to your sister, Abi. She’ll understand.

Heck, I think she’ll beg you to go.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Hmm…”

“You already talked to her.”

“Maybe…”

Maybe? “Ros!”

“Alright! She sent me the link.”

I gasped. Every eye in the travel shop shot toward me, customers and colleagues alike. Roseline always had the worst timing. My boss’s brows rose in question, genuine concern flickering across her face. I shook my head at her and pushed back from my desk.

“Why wouldn’t she talk to me herself?” I hissed as I rushed to the backroom and away from curious ears. “Why are you the messenger?”

“How should I know?” Her attempt at innocence fell flat, and she sighed. “Fine! Eva thought you’d feel pressured into saying yes if she asked.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No.”

Ros sighed again, her exasperation exploding in my ear. “Think about it for a second, Abs. I’m telling you about a fun thing, an exciting experience. Bonus, it just comes with a nice paycheque.”

“What’s your point?” My brows furrowed.

I sank into an uncomfortable plastic chair, my mind spinning enough that I didn’t really feel the pinch of the seat. We only really used the backroom to store our coats and bags, but the bosses had set it up with chairs, a table, a fridge and a microwave. With the lack of windows, none of us ever wanted to spend too much time inside with the door shut. Far too depressing.

“Imagine how you would have taken my pitch if Eva asked.”

I would have filled out the form already.

I dragged a shaking hand through my hair.

“So, now that you’ve listened to the specifics, are you going to do it?” The excitement returned threefold.

I blew out a breath, indecision a heavy weight in my chest.

“How much money are we talking about?”

“I don’t know. You’d have to fill in the form and hope you get picked to find out.”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.

Right at this moment, the decision had to be about me. Could I marry a stranger? Did I want to leave my family and friends for three months?

It had been a tough couple of years, and as much as I hated to admit it, New York didn’t have the same happy hold on me anymore. Too many bad things had happened within the city, including my sister’s battle with cancer. Working three jobs also robbed any of the joy from my life.

Even if I had the hours to fall in love with the city again, constant exhaustion didn’t allow for much.

Maybe a brief break from the city and my normal life would revive me somehow. I could get in some excitement and shake off the shadows while hopefully earning enough to pay off my sister’s debt for good.

How could I say no to that kind of opportunity? The answer was simple. I couldn’t.

“I’ll do it.”