Lessons Learned (The Gifted Realm Book 2)

by Jillian Neal

  “If you feel up to it,” Emily nodded hopefully.

  “There is nowhere else I would ever be, sweetheart.”

  Emily seated herself on the swing beside her mom, and hugged her tightly.

  Sweet as Heaven, Sexy as Hell

  Friday afternoon, Rainer and Logan helped work on a harrowing case where two Gifted teenage boys, who’d just become freshmen at the Academy, decided to draw energy from power lines. The results had been deadly.

  “Why would you do that?” Logan shuddered as he and Rainer got ready to leave for the evening.

  “Because they think they’re the biggest and the coolest, and because eighteen-year-old boys are incredibly stupid,” Vindico shook his head as he recalled the scene when they’d arrived.

  Iodex had been called in because of suspected foul play, but upon interviewing friends of the victims at the Academy, they discovered that apparently the boys had been bragging about doing it for a while.

  “I’m taking Em out. We probably won’t be in until late,” Rainer phrased the lie he’d concocted with Emily. She didn’t want Logan to know about her tattoo plans.

  “Okay, have fun,” Logan called as he headed to the Accord. Rainer waited a few minutes and then followed Logan’s path. He headed to Alexandria to pick up dinner.

  He tried to stop thinking about the day he’d had, while trying to calm his nerves over Emily getting a tattoo and the inevitable pain.

  He reminded himself that Emily was really excited and definitely wanted to do this, and that Fionna wouldn’t let it hurt her.

  When he arrived at the arena, he summoned twice and flashed his badge, per the new security protocol at the stadium, before he was allowed inside.

  Security was much tighter since Emily’s incident in the parking deck. She met him at the entrance to the field.

  “Hey there,” he willed his nerves not to show. She was on to him instantly. She took their drinks from his hands so he could easily carry the rest of the food.

  “I think it’s really sweet that you’re more nervous than I am.”

  “Yeah, I don’t handle you in pain all that well.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She popped a kiss onto his cheek. He followed her to a small room near the Angels’ vast locker rooms that had several soda machines, enhanced water dispensers, a snack bar, and a few tables.

  Chloe and Fionna were in there as well. They were sitting at a table with Connor and Katie.

  “Hey Rainer,” Katie leapt. “Okay, I’m taking a vote.” She lifted her shirt slightly and yanked down the side of her shorts, revealing her right hipbone. “Here?”

  Rainer turned his head away instinctively.

  Katie and Emily giggled. “Or here?” She spun and lifted up the back of her shirt to reveal the lower portion of her back.

  “Uh,” Rainer stammered uncomfortably. He had no idea what an appropriate response would be.

  Connor gave Katie a cocky grin, “He’s not going to answer that. Just get it wherever you want.”

  “What do you think?” Katie urged.

  Rainer shook his head. “I think that I have no opinion on that, and that you should put it wherever you want

  “I told you he wouldn’t vote,” Emily teased knowingly. As she spread out their food, Chloe and Fionna picked their previous conversation back up.

  “All I’m telling you is that’s what Garrett said,” Chloe vowed.

  Fionna rolled her eyes in an irritated huff. “He is not dating a stripper, Chloe. That’s just not him.”

  “He’s Daniel Vindico. He never really dates anyone, Fi. He bangs them and moves on.”

  “Hmm, sounds a little like Garrett,” Fionna sneered. “Oh sorry!” Fionna’s eyes goggled. She was worried she’d hurt Emily’s feelings.

  Emily gave her a consoling smile. “No worries. I grew up with him.”

  With a slight giggle, Fionna nodded.

  Chloe scowled. “Why don’t you just volunteer to be his fuck-buddy for a while and get him out of your system. Geez, I’m sick of hearing about him. It’s been, what, like ten years now?”

  “It has not. Just shut up, Chloe,” Fionna shot back, but Rainer saw the hurt in her eyes.

  Paran arrived a few minutes later, and Dana introduced him to Katie and Emily. Rainer shook his hand. He bit his tongue to keep from threatening to do him physical harm if he hurt Emily.

  “I’ve got all the pens set up in the locker room and my assistant is here, so who’s up?” Paran quizzed with a kind smile.

  “Here, I’ll go,” Fionna stood. “I just want my lightning bolt and halo touched up a little and my surfboard.”

  Paran smiled and gestured for her to head to the locker room.

  “Come on, Chloe. You’re casting me,” Fionna demanded.

  “Fine,” Chloe threw away the wrappers from her dinner and followed Fionna out.

  “Vindico is dating a stripper?” Emily demanded immediately.

  “I really have no idea, baby. I kind of think he is, but not because he wants to, as odd as that sounds. He doesn’t really share much about his personal life with me, though.”

  “I think I need to talk to my big brother,” Emily pulled her phone from her purse and touched Garrett’s name on the list of favorites.

  “Hey Em, what’s up?” Rainer could hear Garrett’s voice clearly, and realized that Emily was amping the signal on the phone.

  “Hey, Garrett, uh, I was just talking to Chloe and she was telling me about Vindico,” she bent the truth just slightly.

  “What about him?”

  “That he’s started dating someone new.”

  “Oh, yeah. I guess he’s been casually dating that stripper we met at The Tantra that day you flipped because Rainer had to go, remember?”

  Emily seemed to steel her resolve with an eye-roll.

  “She’s been keeping tabs on Wretchkinsides’ men for us, and she asked him out, and he went, I guess. But, it’s no big deal.”

  “Except to Fionna,” Emily urged.

  “Yeah, well, Dan’s still a mess. Fi needs to find somebody else. She doesn’t need to get involved in his shit.”

  Emily begrudgingly agreed, and then got off the phone with her brother. When Fionna returned, Rainer was relieved that she didn’t seem to be in any pain.

  “Ok, Em, you ready?” she urged.

  Dana followed Fionna into the room. “Come on, while Paran’s doing Emily’s, Marc can do yours.” She tugged on Katie’s hand.

  “Okay, wish me luck,” Emily drew a deep breath.

  “Good luck, baby,” Rainer tried to breathe calm from the air around him.

  “She’ll be fine.” Fionna had immediately sensed Rainer’s nerves.

  “I’ve gotta stop hanging out with Receivers all the time.”

  The girls laughed then waved to him as they left.

  “Dad know Em’s getting a tat?” Connor quizzed.

  Rainer shook his head and awaited the inevitable response. A low slow whistle slid between Connor’s teeth. “Damn, she’s got nerve. I’ll give her that. He’s gonna blow.”

  “She says he won’t because Will and Garrett and Patrick and Levi all have them.”

  Connor shook his head. “Not a chance. She’s Emily, the ‘baby girl’.”

  “I know,” Rainer agreed morosely with his conclusion.

  “Well, is she getting it somewhere only you’ll see it?”

  Rainer appreciated Connor trying to think of a way for Emily to stay out of trouble with their father.

  “I don’t really know. She wouldn’t tell me what she’s getting or where. She wants it to be a surprise.”

  “I’m sure she’s getting the Angels logo. Maybe with her number or some twist, but that’s what they all have.”

  Rainer considered that, but prior to the belly shot he’d never known Emily to do anything because everyone else was doing it, especially when it came to her style or a look.

  “Maybe.” Rainer glanced at his watch and wondered how long it
would take. “Do you have one?”

  Connor shook his head. “Nah, never really thought about it, I guess. I mean, Garrett’s are cool, but that’s his thing. I don’t want one.”

  Rainer considered all of Garrett’s tattoos. They covered his bulging biceps and his back. He had dragons on his chest. They were breathing flames that appeared to be scorching across his pecs. He wondered momentarily if Chloe had summoned for him to keep the pain from being too intense.

  “You okay, man?” Connor’s brow furrowed.

  “Yeah, I’m just worried about her.”

  “I figured. Just wanted to make sure.”

  Rainer appreciated that he hadn’t chided him for his overprotectiveness of Emily.

  “She’ll be all right. She’s a lot tougher than you and Dad give her credit for.”

  “Yeah, I know.” He just didn’t want her to have to be so tough.

  “Hey, I heard Dad tell Mom that Peterson’s already printing up Wyvern shit for the campaign, even though they’re not supposed to do any of that ‘til after Labor Day,” Connor was clearly trying to get Rainer’s mind off of Emily.

  Rainer nodded. He’d already seen evidence of it at the Senate.

  “I’m not surprised.”

  The Peterson’s family crest was of a wyvern over the widespread falcon’s wings. Rainer knew that one of the meanings of the wyvern was revenge and retribution, so he thought it was fairly apt.

  He considered the Haydenshire’s lion crest, and his own, with the phoenix over the falcon’s wings. Emily wanted the crests on the wedding invitations.

  “You excited about the new baby?” Rainer was desperate to talk about just about anything besides Emily and the tattoo.

  “I suppose. They can’t keep their hands off each other, so I guess it was inevitable. You and Em gonna have twenty kids, too?”

  “Whatever she wants, I’m game.”

  “I’m sure you are.”

  Rainer chuckled, but didn’t respond to Connor’s lewd comment.

  “How’s it going with Katie?”

  “Okay, I guess” Connor sighed. “I’m not looking for anything too serious. I told her that we had to hang out at her place because I can’t move out, because Mom and Dad need my help with the election and everything, which she thought was sweet. So, I’m working that angle for a while.”

  Rainer laughed heartily. Connor clammed up when Katie emerged.

  “So you wanna see it?”

  “Hell, yeah, baby doll,” Connor teased her.

  She giggled and then spun and lifted her shirttail. Connor looked momentarily disappointed with the newly-acquired double-A logo, with a lightning bolt and halo that was now situated a few inches above Katie’s tailbone.

  “Very nice,” he commented in a low reverent drawl.

  Rainer rolled his eyes, but made certain Katie didn’t see him.

  “You think?” Katie spun back around.

  “Definitely,” Connor grabbed her waist and spun her back around. “Let me see it again,” he teased and lifted her shirt. He pinched her backside. She blushed and shook her head at him.

  “Would you like me to leave?” Rainer goaded.

  Connor laughed and shook his head.

  “Nah,” Katie continued to giggle. “We’re heading out.”

  “Where’s Em?” Rainer asked Katie before Connor dragged her away. He assumed she should be finished as well, if she was getting a similar tattoo in a similar location.

  Katie beamed. “It took Paran a while to draw hers up. She’ll be out in a little while. I think you’ll really like it.”

  “You ready to go?” Connor looked mildly bored and a little anxious to take Katie wherever they were planning on going.

  “No, I wanna see Em’s. Let’s wait.”

  Connor shrugged and then pulled Katie onto his lap as he sat back down at the table. They chatted for a little while longer until Rainer grew frantic.

  “Are you sure she’s okay?”

  “She’s fine Rainer, chill,” she laughed at him outright. Another half hour passed, and Katie and Connor were making out in the chair. Not wanting to see the show, Rainer began pacing in the hallway outside of the snack room.

  A few minutes later, Fionna emerged and grinned broadly.

  “Paran’s casting her, then she’ll be done. You’re gonna flip.” Coming out to tell Rainer that a guy he barely knew, that was covered in tattoos, body piercings, and two ear gauges, was casting his fiancée did nothing to quell his frantic worry.

  Fionna furrowed her brow. “You okay?” She knew perfectly well he wasn’t. “Did you not want her to get one?”

  “Oh, uh, no,” Rainer shook his head. “I was just worried about her.”

  “I think that’s sweet. I wish some guy cared about me that much.”

  Before Rainer could comment, Emily emerged from the locker room with Paran and Dana behind her.

  She was giving Rainer a decidedly luscious, naughty grin. Not certain if he should ask to see it, Rainer allowed himself to breathe as she appeared to be perfectly fine.

  “I think it’s some of my finest work,” Paran commented.

  “How’d it turn out?” Katie pulled Connor out into the hallway when she heard the door open.

  “Just like I wanted it,” Emily stated with a knowing grin. Curiosity was getting the better of him, though he tried to be patient

  “Do you wanna see it?” she waggled her eyebrows and gave him a come-get-me grin. Still trying to wash away his case of nerves, he nodded.

  She lifted her shirt slightly and pulled the right side of her jeans down to reveal her hipbone.

  Rainer’s mouth fell open, “Wow, uh, I uh, I thought you were getting the Angel’s logo?”

  He tried not to pant, but was completely unable to take his eyes from her hip. She was clearly pleased by his expression.

  “I know.” She moved closer to him as he continued to study her abdomen unabashedly. “But I didn’t want something everyone else had. I liked this better.”

  Branded across her right hip an inch or two below the waistband of her jeans was the Lawson crest, his crest duplicated to perfection on her gorgeous body.

  Rainer moved closer to study the tattoo. Very artfully styled in the all black wingspan of the phoenix, the wings and the flames below the phoenix were actually formed out of smoky, swirling letters and numbers. In the falcon spread below the phoenix was a lightning bolt and halo. The feet of the falcon formed the Angels’ double A’s.

  “See,” she pointed to the phoenix’s chest, “those are our initials all together, and here’s the Auxiliary crest,” she pointed to one of the phoenix wings.

  As he studied it closer he noted his birthdate and hers intertwined in the phoenix’s legs. Cal’s initials and birth and death dates were there in the flames along with the Haydenshire lion.

  Every event that meant something to her, everything that made her who she was, was swirled beautifully inside of his crest. And he was inexorably moved.

  “Wow,” he said again. Lust was evident in his tone. The tattoo was somehow deliciously sexy and incredibly sweet all at the same time.

  It represented her perfectly. He’d always known she was the perfect combination of hellcat and heavenly angel, all swirled into one beautiful package, and he was extremely turned on looking down at his mark branded across her gorgeous hip.

  Connor laughed heartily, which Rainer assumed his expression must’ve warranted.

  “Are you trying to kill Dad, Em?”

  “No,” Emily huffed.

  “Yeah, well, I’m thinking that you putting his crest inside your panties might just do that.”

  “Shut up, Connor!” Emily spat. “So, do you like it?”

  Rainer almost laughed at her complete change of tone as she turned back to him.

  He swallowed down the lust that had come on quite suddenly and nodded. “Uh, yeah.”

  Everyone was still laughing at him.

  “Well, I like a happy customer,
” Paran joked.

  “Oh, will you pay him? I’m just gonna grab my bag.”

  Rainer pulled his wallet from his pocket and watched as Emily walked back into the locker room.

  He couldn’t pay for the tattoo and get Emily out of the arena fast enough. Raw need and primal lust made his head spin wildly.

  After giving quick waves to everyone, Rainer pulled her towards his car. He grabbed her bag and threw it in the back seat. He spun her up against the passenger side door and pinned her body against his.

  She was shooting him wanton, needy gazes. Hunger quaked in his rhythms. His body was hotwired to take her.

  “So, I take it you really like it?”

  A hungry groan escaped him. “That doesn’t even begin to describe it, baby.”

  She panted slightly. It set him on fire as he sucked her bottom lip, and let his hands brush across her chest and then down her sides. He growled in desperation. She took in his covetous need evident in his darkened eyes.

  “Take me home,” she pled in an aching whisper, “Now!”

  “Get in the car, baby, because I don’t know how much longer I can wait.” He popped open the door for her.

  Her eyes lit in thrilled desire as she settled in the car. He crawled into the other side and pulled her back to him.

  “Baby, when I get you home,” he husked before devouring her mouth again. He slipped his hands up her shirt and groped her heatedly.

  “I need you, Rainer, but someone might see us out here. Please just take me home.” He reminded himself that the faster he got her in bed the faster he could have her. He backed the car out and flew home.

  Thankful that it was almost ten, and that it appeared that Logan and Adeline had gone to bed, Rainer parked the car, exited, and had her out and in his arms in a matter of seconds.

  Before he opened the door to the house, he spun her again and pressed his now-straining erection against her abdomen. He listened as she gasped from the force.

  “Take me to bed, Rainer.” He nearly lost it. He unlocked the door and kept his lips locked onto hers as they stumbled into the kitchen.

  “What the hell?” Logan was laughing at them.

  Rainer pulled away and ran the back of his hand over his mouth. “I thought you were in bed,” he huffed furiously.