Page 12 of The Husband Game

Taylor and Charlie had both trained at the same facility where Dustin’s sister Emily still practiced figure skating.

Seriously.

It was a very small world.

Wade frowned, turning to Charlie. “You’re a figure skater as well, right?”

“Retired.” Charlie’s lips pressed into a tight little line. “A few years ago. I’m an interior designer now. I work for a firm in Chicago.”

Taylor Hollis and Charlie Monaghan retiring from men’s figure skating at the same time was a rather big deal. With no explanation from either of them, no one had ever managed to dig up the dirt on why they’d quit at the height of their careers.

Emily had speculated they were worn-out.

“It’s cutthroat,” she’d said with a sigh. “And the pressure is intense. They’re both Olympic medalists. I wouldn’t blame them for needing a break from it.”

Which Dustin understood. The NHL was different, but the pressure on him as captain of the Toronto Fisher Cats could be heavy at times.

“Good,” Dustin joked. “My place in Toronto could really use a refresh.”

“We’re not staying married and I’m not moving to Toronto with you, you lunatic. I want to figure out how we’re going to get out of this.”

Wade lifted his eyebrows. “I understand this is a rather, uh, unusual and stressful situation for you both. But let’s try to keep it as even-keeled as possible.”

Charlie nodded tightly, and Dustin nodded too, frowning.

“Before anything else gets decided, I want to lay out where we stand,” Wade continued. “Charlie, I’m sure you’re aware that the NHL has taken quite a beating in the past few months. The scandal with Jack Malone has eclipsed anything in any other pro sport. It’s been in the news almost daily since his arrest.”

Dustin had been in more meetings about it than he could count. Toronto’s PR team had heavily stressed that he was to follow the script when it came to any media inquiries about the situation.

Thankfully, he had no problem with what they wanted him to say.

Dustin was horrified by Malone’s behavior and fully supported the players who had brought his abuse of his wife and sexual harassment of women within the Evanston River Otters organization to light.

Of course, that had become even more messy when it was revealed that the owner of the team was involved in a blackmail scheme orchestrated by Jack Malone’s father to cover up his son’s indiscretions.

Which had led to an investigation into a decades-old fatal car accident dating back to their playing days.

There were now several court cases taking place.

It really, really wasn’t a good look for the league.

Charlie sat back and gave Wade a cool, assessing look. “Yes. I’m aware of that mess. I don’t know what that has to do with me, however.”

“Well.” Wade cleared his throat. “The league is understandably concerned about the way that all looked to the public. A hasty drunken marriage and quickie divorce by one of its top players would not help the mess they’re in. And well, the assumption about your gender makes this more complicated.”

“How so?” Charlie asked.

“Even if we never confirmed who Dustin married and a quick annulment could be arranged, marriages and divorces are a matter of public record. Reporters will dig that up quickly enough.”

It would look like they were trying to hide that Charlie was a man.

It would come across as homophobic, and hiding it would make it appear more scandalous than it really was.

Charlie’s lips tightened. “Again, I fail to see what this has to do with me. That sounds like a problem for Dustin.”

“This wedding announcement will certainly create increased media attention on you as well, Charlie. The choices you two make about how you handle it will determine if that’s positive or negative attention. I do have some thoughts on a way we could … mitigate any negative fallout.”

But Dustin’s mind was already whirring, putting the pieces together. It wasn’t hard to guess what Wade was about to suggest.

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