Page 41 of Ignite

“Pizza and beer aren’t the usual way to a six-pack.” Rylee quickly snatched the slice of pizza out of my hand.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll do my best to be the sexiest damn Captain-Coach they’ve ever seen. I might even outbid this Marc guy.”

Feeling confident that Rylee’s meltdown had passed, I decided to broach a subject that had been nagging at me but hadn’t been appropriate to raise with my team. But Rylee seemed to know all the guys on my team, and they treated her like a precious and precocious little sister.

“Hey, I’ve been thinking …”

“Hope it didn’t hurt your brain.”

“Brat,” I said. “Okay, I want to know some goss, and I figure you’re the woman to tell me.”

“If you’re about to ask me for the phone numbers of all the single women in town, you might be leaving this bed with a few less limbs.” Rylee looked pointedly at my groin which I quickly covered with the pizza box.

“Nah. Just something no one will talk about. Tell me about last season—any inside goss on their former captain and coach? All I know is that he left the team and club, and no one is inviting him back.”

Chapter 12

One Lit Match

“Afterdaysofheat,the Bureau of Meteorology is warning of storms tonight. While we don’t expect enough rain to break the drought, we all know that most bushfires are started by lightning. Stay tuned to this radio station as we keep you up to date with the latest weather conditions.”

Rylee

No.

He went there—the football team.

“How would I know?” I grabbed the pizza box back and took the last slice. If I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth, he wouldn’t expect an answer, and if it took me long enough to eat, I could figure out how to distract him.

Sex?I blinked back tears. No. Sex with Ethan wasn’t the answer to this. It could be the answer to a fun Saturday night, or even a lazy Tuesday morning. But it couldn’t fix this.

No and never.

“You never went to any of the games?” If Ethan realized the pizza had been my version of self-defense, he didn’t show it.

I waited for him to move on to another topic, but he waited for me to chew and swallow.

“C’mon.” Ethan joked, “Tell me you went to at least one or two games.”

“I did.” If I didn’t tell him now, he’d pressure Reece or Trey to tell him. They’d protected me for long enough. “For years. For six years, I never missed a game.”

“That’s intense.” Ethan shoved the pizza away and twisted around to give me his full attention. “So, spill the tea—how do I bring the team together and make them shine? I’ve seen the tapes of the last game from the season that just finished. They had the skills. From all the stats and research, they should have won. Something happened off the field that messed with their dynamic.”

“The previous Captain-Coach lost the respect of the team.” My tone was flat and if Ethan looked at me, he would have backed off. But perhaps he deserved answers and I deserved to tell someone.

“How?” Ethan unwrapped the last piece of garlic bread and handed it over. I squeezed it until the gooey melted butter coated my fingers and dripped onto my lap. His t-shirt would have a permanent stain if he didn’t look after it. “Respect is important, but what monumental fuck up cost him his team?”

“He cheated on his girlfriend.”

I looked through my stray curls for any reaction. Nothing. Ethan sat patiently, waiting for the punchline. My jaw tensed as I kept my other suspicions to myself. It hadn’t been an accidental meeting. Trixi had known where to go. She’d been invited. Darin had never admitted it—but after their quick engagement, it made sense.

But the longer it took for me to expand, the more Ethan looked confused. “I’m not going to justify it, but unless it was with someone’s partner, it shouldn’t have destroyed the team. What’s the catch?”

“His ex-girlfriend’s family has supported the town and the team for generations. She’d recently lost her father and when her brother went back to his interstate job, the team had rallied around her. They took Darin’s betrayal personally.”

“They stood by her, instead of him?”

The words became stuck in my throat. Tonight had been about moving on. I’d intended to find a random, and screw Darin out of my system. Everyone else could do a meaningless, one-night stand, why couldn’t I?

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