“You had this planned. I knew you all were cheating!” I yelled.
“What? Never. Svenssons don’t cheat.”
I snorted and crossed my arms.
“But it’s good that you lost because I have the perfect dare for you,” Eric said with an eat-shit grin.
His brother Josh was practically bouncing in his seat.
“I don’t think I’m going to like this,” I said with a sigh.
“But you’re getting married!”
“What the hell?” I jumped out of my seat. “No!”
“It’s not real marriage,” Eric explained, setting several papers down in front of me. One was a casting advertisement forMarriage in a Minute.
“’Meet your life partner’,” I read out. “No way. You know how I feel about marriage.”
“Look,” Eric said in exasperation. “One of my younger little brothers signed up to be on the show. Greg found out about it and flipped his shit. He was mad at me because he thinks I broke his coffee maker. It was Archer, but of course Greg wouldn’t listen. So he told me I had to fill in because he didn’t trust Adrian not to get fucked over.”
“Isn’t there anything else?” I pleaded.
“Stop being such a baby. All you have to do is pretend to get married and be in a fake marriage. There are like five shoots including the fake wedding.”
“I’m going to look so stupid,” I moaned, running my hands through my hair.
“Everyone will chalk it up to you being an eccentric billionaire,” Josh said.
“Fuck all of you.”
“You have to be there tomorrow morning to do the little compatibility interview,” Eric told me as I grabbed the paperwork and stuffed it in my bag.
“Keep an open mind!” Liam said with a laugh. “Maybe one of those reality TV bimbos will be the future Mrs. Winchester!”
I gave him the finger as I slung my bag over my shoulder. “That is the last time I’m playing poker with you all.”
“You say that every time you lose!”
3
Grace
“That is the last time I go on a date,” I said to my friends the next morning.
“Someone didn’t get laid,” Sophie remarked.
“I have been up all night working on the photo edits that I should have been doing while I was buying alcohol and Ubers for Chris.”
“You should have let him give you the ride of your life in that limo,” Amy said with a cackle.
“I refuse to debase myself.”
“You’re wound so tight you could use a little debasing,” Brea joked.
“He lied to me,” I reminded them. “And played a horrible trick.”
“He’s a dick for sure,” Ivy agreed, shoving a bowl of chocolate Rice Krispies in front of me. “And a man-child. But you did say he was hot!”
