Page 52 of Ignite

They were strong, but I saw too many egos on display. Individual brilliance could win a tight game, but rugby league had always been a team sport. You only needed to look at the Queensland State of Origin team over the years. You could put anyone in that Queensland jersey and they became part of the tradition and played as a state, not just for a state.

Meringa Hawks were a team. Individually, most of the team was as talented as all hell. But comparing the two squads, I’d back my guys each and every day. They’d grown up together, they’d played together, they’d fought fires—

Fuck.

My brain had automatically gone there. Meringa was a family and family were the strongest form of a team you could create.

Meringa had it.

Beringi didn’t.

In a light-bulb moment, I understood why the Hawks had lost the grand final. When Darin had betrayed Rylee, the team lost what held them together. They hadn’t lost the grand final because of a woman; they’d lost it because they stopped trusting their captain. He’d lost their respect and they lost the game.

I tossed and turned Monday night.

I wanted more nights with Rylee. I wanted Sunday afternoon bar-b-ques with the team. I wanted to help repaint the spare rooms in her house to freshen them up.

And I wanted to wake up next to her.

Fuck. I’d lost my shit over a woman after one night.

Okay, I was never going to claim the mantle of man-whore, but I’d had my fair share of women. Enough to know that I’d never lost my shit over one woman based on one night.

But Rylee wasn’t just any woman. I grabbed her pillow and tried to recapture her scent. I wanted it all, and I wanted it with Rylee.

At least Flick had agreed to hear me out. I needed someone on my side, and she seemed to be one of Rylee’s oldest friends. I needed to form a coalition of support. Flick could help me with Bec and Grace. Sonia had me on speed dial to help out her tenants in exchange for slabs of homemade lasagne. Then there was Zoe and some woman called Shar who owned a B&B just out of town. Except Bailey would slice off my balls if I offered my handy-man services to Shar. But I could help him install the new air-con system he’d complained being a two-person job.

If I could win over her friends, then I had a chance.

But it still didn’t help with her stupid, bloody condition that I join the RFS.

What was it with this town and bloody volunteering?

I still didn’t have an answer when I tossed my duffel bag in the rented car and got ready to head back home.

My job with the Hawks Rugby League Club didn’t involve a hell of a lot of personal leave. If I couldn’t do my job because I got injured volunteering, then it would be my rent that didn’t get paid. It would be my ass out on the street.

The newspapers were full of lucky escapes. Firefighters who’d almost lost their lives rescuing families who’d been too stubborn to leave in the face of oncoming bushfire. Those men and women who volunteered were heroes, no doubt. I’d donate money and cheer them on. I wouldn’t sign up.

Not for love, money, or Rylee.

Not even if my lips were still bruised from her kisses.

Ethan to Rylee:What is the difference between bottled Kombucha and Kombucha Tea?

Ethan to Rylee:Did you know that Kombucha Tea has a quarter the caffeine of coffee?

Rylee:Yes.

Rylee

“You can’t avoid him forever,” Zoe mused as we drove past Ethan jogging into town. He’d arrived back to town for Tuesday training and I’d been crossing roads and ditching the gym since then.

“I’m not avoiding him.” How could I when he seemed to be flooding my phone with random facts about tea.

“You are.”

My friend didn’t hold her punches. “Whatever happened, let him apologize and move on.”

---