Page 10 of Ignite

Without knowing where to tow her to, and still ignoring the card Ophelia had dropped on me, my truck sat in my driveway with all my worldly possessions still trapped inside.

I didn’t want to know how much had been ruined, or confirmation that my entire life could now fit in the corner of one room.

Most men my age had their shit together. They had mortgages and families. They had careers not just jobs.

Most men hadn’t given up the last years of their life to—

They weren’t counting cents and dollars waiting for the first paycheck or probate to come—

No.

If I had the same choices to make, even knowing what I did now, I’d do it all again. My mother had given up so much, driving me to training, and doing everything in her power to help me get my rugby league career. Giving up my business, rugby league, and relationships to care for her in those last years had been an honor. I’d never regret it, and no amount of fame or money would have been worth the memories.

But with my caring responsibilities over, I needed to find out who I was. Did I want to start a new handyman business and make a living moving from one odd job to another, or could my love of sport open a new career? For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to start over in Sydney.

Meringa had offered me a fresh start in a new town, and tonight my new team was going to realize that I played to win.

“Hey.” Reece was the first to greet me as I arrived at the football ground. For a small town, the stadium looked well-maintained. Again, sponsorship signs promoted the local pub, medical center, legal practice, and Rylee’s Beat. Okay, maybe I needed to make the call and get them to look at my truck. The sooner I knew what the financial damage would be, the sooner I could regret not pushing Ophelia to put it through her insurance.

Since when had I let a woman’s tears lead me to bad decisions?

Hell, I couldn’t remember the last woman who’d infuriated me, intrigued me, and made me want more than her phone number. Ophelia. What had her parents been thinking?

“Hey, yourself.” I’d slowed to a jog approaching the football ground. I needed these guys to know I’d already done a couple of miles so they could leave their excuses at home. “Everyone here?”

“Glenn and Steve will be late, but the rest are warming up.”

“Good, then fall out.” I broke into an easy gait, expecting the others to follow. After a few disgruntled shouts, the rest of the team took off after me. By the time I’d left the football ground and headed towards the nearby high school oval, Reece, Trey, and Eric had caught up with me. By the time we looped around the high school, the rest of the team had caught up.

When we arrived back at the football oval, I turned and started jogging backward. This was harder than it looked but the secret to my success. Most training sessions involved running up ten meters and backward for ten, on repeat. I wanted my team to be as comfortable running backward as they were running forward.

“Fuck, man, what are you trying to do to us?” Bailey said, collapsing on the ground when we stopped.

“If you’ve got the energy left to bitch and moan, then I didn’t do enough.”

I looked over to where Glenn and Steve were waiting for us. I had choices on how to deal with stragglers. I could be the alpha dictator, or I could turn this group into my team.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” I said smoothly. “The rest of your team have warmed up.”

“We were five minutes late, you’d already gone.” Glenn snarled. I’d already picked him as having a quick temper. I didn’t care who started fights on the field, as long as I could finish them. Off the field was a different story. I demanded respect for themselves and their team. And respect came with a cool head and discipline.

I turned to my team, prepared to make my mark. “I expect training and games to start on time. I expect you to be warmed up and ready to train just as I expect you to be warmed up and ready to play. The rest of you were here and we’ve had a nice little run to get the blood flowing.”

I saw the edge of Reece’s lip twitch. He knew exactly what I was about to do, and he approved. “This time, you get to choose—eight laps jogging forward and two laps jogging backward; or you can go home and skip training.”

“Are you saying if we are late, we might as well not turn up?” Glenn smirked. “Sounds like a good deal to me. I’ll meet you boys at the pub.”

“Three strikes and you’re out.” My words stopped him and from the corner of my eye I saw we had an audience. Three women had gotten out of a car and were unpacking boxes of soft drink.

Ophelia. Damn and my eyes drank in her faded jeans that hugged her curves and I wished her singlet top came without showing off a blue lace bra strap. I was going to dream about what that strap was attached to for the next week.

Dragging my eyes away from the woman I wasnotfantasizing over, I nodded to the other women.

The high school teacher I’d met earlier in the day was looking at Eric. Felicity, that was her name. Didn’t put up with shit from her teenage students and we’d talked about how I could get involved in the school.

An attractive brunette looked across at Glenn with sad resignation. His sister or girlfriend? When she juggled the box, I saw a glint of gold on her hand. Wife. I looked towards a soft sigh and saw Reece looking at the woman who was looking at Glenn.

“Mate, can we take five?” Reece asked. He at least waited for me to nod before jogging over to take the boxes off the girls. Eric smashed his lips to Felicity, Bailey took the box from Ophelia, but Reece took the box from Glenn’s woman.

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