Page 89 of The Fake Husband Deal

Lior followed me to the food table. I grabbed two plates while he went on coffee duty.

We sat with Lex and Emery, who were deep in conversation with Ellie and Meatball. Adam joined us shortly after.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting too old for this shit,” Adam said, dropping onto an empty chair with a single cup of coffee.

“No one told you to get smashed off your ass last night,” Lex said. “Where’s River?”

Adam shrugged. “My guess is in bed. Maybe in the bartender’s bed. He didn’t come back with us.”

“Go River,” I chanted.

“Where’s Victoria?” Emery asked. “She wasn’t drinking last night.”

“She has a meeting with the catering chef. He wasn’t supposed to be here this weekend, but he popped in, and she didn’t want to miss the chance to talk to him about menus or something. To be honest, I only heard half of what she said and understood even less.”

Lex stared at his twin like they weren’t even related let alone had shared a womb. “Dude, no wonder she’s always annoyed. You’re doing nothing for this wedding, and she’s picking up your slack.”

“In my defense, I keep offering to do stuff, but she doesn’t want me to. It’s not like I’m forgetful or unreliable. She knows if she gives me a job, it’ll get done. It’s her choice to control everything.”

“You should do something for her, like take her on a weekend away, just the two of you,” I suggested. “I don’t know the slightest about planning a wedding—case in point, we got married in Vegas—but for a woman, this is the most important and stressful event of their life. They want it to be perfect and get every detail right. Take her away. Do something romantic.”

Adam sipped his coffee, a little color returning to his face.

“You’re right. I’ll get on it as soon as this hangover leaves the station.” He pulled a pretend train horn.

“Change of topic,” Lex said, stuffing a piece of fruit in his mouth. “Yesterday’s game got me thinking about how we can get more involved in charity work. So far we’ve worked mainly on helping people in the industry and other startups, but I can see how that’s a privileged situation. How about those who really have nothing?”

Lior leaned closer to me and placed his arm over the back of my chair. I glanced at him, and he pointed to my phone.

It took me a moment to realize what he was trying to say.

West and Drew would need all the help they could get to get the foundation headquarters up and running.

“I have an idea.” I raised my hand. “I’ve been volunteering with the Star Finders Youth Network for a while now.”

“The one we raised funds for yesterday?” Adam asked.

“Yes. I don’t do much, just go play basketball with the kids on Saturday mornings and then we do some coaching. It’s fun, and I get a workout out of it too.”

“Wait,” Lex said. “Is that why you were all sweaty when Adam changed the Spencer Weekly that one time?”

I nodded.

“Why did you let us believe you’d just fallen out of a random stranger’s bed?”

I looked at Lior. “That was the day we met.”

“So you did get into a stranger’s bed.” His lips curled into a teasing smile.

“We never got to bed if you remember.”

“Ahem…” Adam coughed.

“The truth is that Star Finders is my thing. I know it’s stupid, but you two have this connection between you, and I never got it. Having this little secret was my way of having something special too.” My face heated as I made the confession. Now that it was out, I knew how stupid it was to not say anything.

Adam and Lex looked at each other. They stood from their chairs and came over to mine. I tried to hold on to Lior when they grabbed me and lifted me, but he let me go.

Worst husband ever.