Page 58 of Ignite

“Are you ready to see Ethan in all his glory?” Grace asked and I flicked her with a wet tea towel. We’d stayed behind to clean up after the meeting. Truthfully, I didn’t have a reason to go home.

“The only person I’ll bid on is Reece, and even then, it’ll only be to boost his value or because he doesn’t want to be won and will pay me back.”

“So, you’re ready to watch some other woman date your man?”

“He’s not my man.”

“Has he got the memo?” Grace laughed. “Each time he walks into the gym, he looks over to where you usually train before he greets his team. Trey said …”

“Trey?” I teased, shoulder-bumping my friend. “You haven’t mentioned Trey in a while.”

“He’s ghosting me.”

“What? Why? What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Grace finished wiping down the bench and got ready to leave. “I wouldn’t be so upset except he is refusing to look at my request to clear the wild shrubs from around the nursery.”

“Do you want me to talk to Reece about it?”

“No.” Grace shook her head vigorously. “I don’t want to make it into a thing. I just want Trey to do his job and look at the risks if he doesn’t prioritize putting a firebreak between the back of my nursery and the national park. If a fire comes through the national park, I have chemicals and stuff that will put the whole town at risk.”

“Did you submit the forms?” I knew that all requests for back burning and clearing had to be prioritized.

“Of course. Trey is just being a dick.”

I knew how long Grace had been waiting for Trey to get sick of screwing every female with a pulse and look at her as more than a friend.

“Please don’t tell the others.” Grace turned to face me and waited until I nodded. “I made a mistake and I don’t need them to give me the wholeI told you so.”

I hugged Grace and whispered, “You and me both. You and me both.”

“Have you heard?” Felicity hugged me as I arrived at the high school hall. I wore the same plaid red mini-skirt, long black killer boots, and white shirt that I’d worn the night Ethan and I spent together in Beringi.

Would he remember?

Did I care?

“Pretend I haven’t, what happened?”

“Eric has convinced some of the guys to do a pretend strip show.”

“What!” I squealed and a dozen people turned before Felicity dragged me over to the side.

“I told him about Deacon Galis.”

“You what?” I sighed, “Flick, no.”

“Don’t worry. Eric isn’t about to tell anyone. But he did explain that their reputations were on the line and asked if anyone cared if the senior members of the team got out-bid by some of the youngsters …”

“He didn’t.” Now I had visions of the men wearing their board shorts, or less.

“Bailey and Trey were on board immediately, Korbin insisted on being center stage until Brody challenged him to an arm wrestle for it.”

“Gee, all the single men wanting to show the ladies what they’ve got—I’m shocked.” My sarcasm was not as thick as my excitement. “What about Reece?”

“He challenged Ethan. If they were going to do this, they needed the RFS and Hawks captains to set the standard.”

“I honestly thought Ethan would back out of the auction.” I looked to Flick for any hint of goss. Eric and Ethan seemed to hang out and spot each other. If anyone knew how Ethan felt about me, it would be Eric.

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