Page 26 of The Husband Game

But he’d felt off since he awoke in Dustin’s bed, married to a stranger. Everything felt hazy and unreal, like the city itself.

Charlie could see across the bright city abruptly ending in a strip of flat brown desert, the dusty peaks of the mountain range rising past it.

A city like Vegas shouldn’t exist in the middle of the desert.

Charlie had heard people say that before but he hadn’t really known what they meant until he saw it with his own eyes. Everything about the city felt strange and artificial.

Like his marriage.

Charlie’s head still spun from the quick left turn his life had taken.

This was crazy. Had he really agreed to give up the next year of his life to pretend to be married to some guy he hated?

Maybe that wasn’t fair. He didn’t hate Dustin.

He was a decent guy.

He’d certainly been generous with his money and surprisingly nice about not pushing for details of Charlie’s private life.

But they were going to have to spend the next year pretending to be in love, which sounded completely bonkers when Charlie actually thought about it.

But … maybe he needed to focus on the positives.

Wade had made a very good point. Staying married to Dustin would prevent Charlie’s name from getting dragged up in the media. Ultimately, a happy marriage was boring. Discussion about him and Dustin would die out quickly enough if everyone thought they were blissfully in love.

Plus, this was a fresh start for him. A new opportunity to get his life together. However crazy it seemed, it was something new and different. It could be exciting.

Taylor had his own life to worry about now. His own little family he was building with Jamie and Ava. Charlie needed to prove he could take care of himself.

If Charlie was around, Taylor would never put himself first.

Charlie moving would be good for both of them. It would be a chance for Charlie to finally clear away the lingering pieces of his past.

All of his debt would be paid off and, at the end of the year, he’d be able to do whatever he wanted with his life.

Something to look forward to, right?

* * *

Charlie was in a contemplative mood, so Dustin didn’t bother him.

Instead, he popped in earbuds and pulled out his phone. It was time to do some research on his new husband.

Dustin didn’t like going into a hockey game blind to who he was up against. How could he make a smart choice about his play if he didn’t know his opponent?

Charlie certainly wasn’t an opponent but he was a mystery and the more information Dustin was armed with, the easier it would be to make sure this went smoothly for both of them.

Last night, Dustin had been drunk on, well, a shitload of alcohol, but more importantly, Charlie’s laughter.

In hindsight, it was a stupid, reckless, impulsive wedding and Dustin’s foolish hope this morning that Charlie might be willing to make this work for real seemed very far from the truth now.

But he had agreed to stay married so all Dustin could do was smooth the way for him.

Make it as pleasant as possible.

But he had to know Charlie in order to do so.

Dustin spent a good chunk of the flight to Chicago searching every social media site he could find to get more information about Charlie.

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