Page 86 of Ignite

Rylee:The one you’ve missed the most.

Ethan:Now you’re talking. Should I order pizza and beer, or champagne and oysters?

Rylee:Go crazy.

Ethan:Does that mean …

Rylee:Your ute is ready.

Ethan:And you?

Rylee:Thank you for your patience.

Rylee:I hope you think it was worth the wait.

Ethan:And you?

Rylee didn’t respond, but it didn’t matter. My ute was ready and Rylee would have to see me to drop it off.

I hadn’t driven my girl in months. The thought of having her back shouldn’t have felt as good as it did. To anyone else, she was just an old utility truck, a decade or two past her prime. But, she’d served me well and if Rylee had done her job, our adventures had only just begun.

Korbin:You home?

Ethan:Make it quick. I’m expecting someone.

Korbin:No probs

Korbin:Got a special delivery for you. Me and Trey are coming by.

Ethan:Not the night to party.

Korbin:When you see what I’ve got you, you’ll wanna party.

Rylee didn’t deliver my ute.

Korbin dropped my girl to my door, fresh from a detail before bugging out with Trey to hook up with some local girls. They’d offered a half-hearted invite for me to tag along, but I also knew if I took them up on their offer, my jaw would be needing surgery by tomorrow.

In any case, I didn’t need a woman, not when I couldn’t stop admiring my old girl. Her black glossy exterior, with the paint job extended to the interior paneling. Anything that could be polished or fixed, had been.

As for the design, I wanted to kiss the feet of Ryan and Rylee—a far cry given most days I wanted to boot their asses for different reasons. Splashed along the passenger side of the truck body was a golden hawk in full flight. It looked majestic and I recognized Ryan’s handywork. He’d take the same Meringa Hawks emblem he’d redesigned with talons around a tiger, and had the talons wrapped around a football.

It was the Hawks emblem, but worked into a piece of art. It had been worth every minute of waiting, and I couldn’t wait to show my new, old girl off to everyone in town.

I turned the ute upside down, looking for a hidden message, a note. Anything from Rylee, offering me a reason to think that there was a reason for what seemed a labor of love.

After the season launch event, I really thought we had a chance. She seemed genuinely moved by my offer to match the awards. What if the work on my old ute was her way of letting me know, she hadn’t forgotten our last time together? I mean, it might have been weeks ago, but I was still using it as inspiration in the shower.

I needed to do something, and the ball was firmly in my court.

Thank her for the ute?

It would be a dick move not to at least try.

I showered, got changed into the same dark navy tee and black jeans that I’d worn to Beringa all those weeks ago.

Surely, if I hadn’t forgotten our first night, she hadn’t, either?

Chapter 22

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