Page 103 of Ignite

Trust my luck for three old-timers to ignore a restaurant of empty tables, decide to invade my space by taking the table behind me. Even if I wanted to ignore them, their voices were louder than the horse racing and boxing on the screens above the bar as they relived the great fires of 1993 and 1994. With complicated analysis of the latest drought conditions, fires merging, their conversation eventually got around to the current situation.

“I’d be out there, but this old knee won’t get me up into the truck.”

“It’s not just your knee, you old goat,” one of the others said. “You haven’t passed a fitness test in decades.”

“Are you heading down to the Emergency Response Centre?” The first one said.

“Yea. Gotta see for myself how the youngster is gonna measure up to his father as captain.”

Reece, they were talking about Reece. I gave up any pretense of looking at my phone or watching the screens.

“Reece?” I could almost hear the old dude shaking his head. “He’s exactly the man his father was. If you ask me …”

“Which we didn’t.”

“If you ask me, and you should, Reece Sinclair should have been captain of the football team. Leadership starts and ends with that team.”

“The club needs a Captain-Coach. Reece doesn’t have time to coach as well.”

“The town needs a leader, and the new kid doesn’t fit in.”

What the living fuck? They were talking about me! Only, no one had told the old geezers thenew kidwas sitting right behind them.

“Flick likes him. He’s been working with her problem kids.”

I sent a silent prayer of thanks to Felicity who seemed to have my back with the town as well as with Rylee.

“Rylee won’t hear a word against him. Not even when the club were talking about tearing up his contract because of failure to meet his community obligations.”

Shit, what?I thought it was a standard contract. What community obligations?

“Rylee’s young and in love.” Dude one scoffed into his beer. “She’ll come around. She knows how important community is. We’ll give him a year and either he fits in, or we’ll fundraise to split the role. See how long he sticks around without a job.”

Freya placed my food in front of me, refusing to look at me. From her post, she would have heard every word—and probably agreed with them.

Fuck this shit.My foolhardy pride insisted I pack and leave town before it kicked me to the curb.

I didn’t need this shit. I didn’t need to emotionally invest in a team only to have my job pulled out from under me. Plenty of teams up north were still looking for a Captain-Coach. I could have a new job, home and be drowning in uncomplicated pussy within a week.

Maybe a month.

Since when did the voices in my head argue so much? And, since when did I want uncomplicated pussy?

I wanted Rylee and all her complicated rules.

But I didn’t need to stick around where my value wasn’t what I could do for the team, or even school community, but whether I’d signed up to the right club.

“You heard her at the committee meeting. She gave us a list a mile long of the things he’s done for the town.”

“What we need are people prepared to defend the town. Take a look outside and tell me how training wayward teens will save your house today?”

“If you hear Flick and Rylee tell it, Ethan Cooper is the reason most of those kids might stick around after high school. That young Ryan had trouble written all over him until Ethan set him straight with Mrs MacGregor.”

“He doesn’t belong.”

“You heard Rylee. If he goes, so does her sponsorship.”

“She’ll change her mind.”

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