Page 18 of The Husband Game

“I don’t care what Charlie says. This marriage is a stupid, stupid idea. And if you hurt him, I swear to God, I will straight up murder you.”

Dustin stared wide-eyed at Taylor Hollis.

He wasn’t much bigger than Charlie, which made him a good five or six inches shorter than Dustin, but the scowl on his pretty face was fierce and his hands on his hips clearly meant business.

“Uhh, I appreciate your concern but it isn’t necessary. I have absolutely no intention of hurting him,” Dustin stammered.

“Good. Because I don’t care how rich or famous you are. I will come for you and it won’t be pretty.”

Dustin swallowed hard. “I really, really won’t make that necessary. I swear.”

He thought he and Taylor got along well. He certainly liked Taylor. He was the kind of loyal, devoted partner Jamie deserved, and watching Taylor, Jamie, and Jamie’s six-year-old daughter, Ava, interact left no doubt in Dustin’s mind that they made the perfect family.

Taylor was so much better for his friend than Jamie’s shallow, cheating ex-wife.

But being on the other side of Taylor’s loyalty was definitely terrifying. His devotion to Charlie clearly ran very, very deep.

“Taylor?” Jamie’s voice was soft. “Why don’t you help Charlie pack and give Dustin and I a few minutes to talk?”

“Fine.” He shot a baleful glare at Dustin as if to say he was watching him.

“C’mon,” Jamie said, clapping a hand on Dustin’s shoulder and squeezing. “Let’s talk in the other room.”

Jamie steered Dustin into one of the suite’s bedrooms.

“Seriously, what the fuck?” Jamie asked when the door was shut behind him. “We left you and Charlie alone together for like two hours and you got married? I thought we could trust you.”

Dustin flinched. “Look, I’ll admit what we did was a little stupid and rash but it wasn’t all me,” he protested. “And what do you mean you thought you could trust me? How am I suddenly not trustworthy?”

Jamie crossed his arms over his chest. “How exactly did the night go down?”

“I …” Dustin tried to remember the night before. “Well, it’s a little hazy in spots but we were all at that bar on The Strip, celebrating Murphy and Hartinger’s engagement, right?”

“Yes.”

“And Charlie and I had both had some drinks and we started … flirting.”

“The usual snarky arguments where you both sound like you can’t decide if you want to fight or fuck?”

Dustin grinned. “Yeah.”

That was the dynamic he and Charlie’d had from the get-go.

“You and Taylor left pretty early,” Dustin said, growing serious again. “You wanted to get back to Ava and I think your teammate Dean Tremblay went with you so he could be with his family.”

“Right.”

“And Charlie and I kept hanging out. We—we drank more. And Charlie ended up on my lap at one point.” Dustin’s skin warmed at the memory of having a lapful of drunk, giggly Charlie in his arms.

“The group split up,” Dustin said slowly. “Some of the guys wanted to stay at the bar, others wanted to go dancing. Charlie wanted to dance and he grabbed my hand and plastered himself all over me and begged me to come.”

“Okay.”

“I …” Dustin shrugged. “He’s … look, there’s something about Charlie. I just … I like him.”

He’d been fascinated by Charlie since they’d met. He’d been attracted to him but it was more than that. Something he had a hard time putting his finger on.

“We went to the club and danced. We drank a little more and … we kissed on the dance floor, I think. Made out a while.”

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