Rock Bottom (The Gifted Realm #4)

by Jillian Neal

  John chuckled as he nodded his recollection of the same story.

  Pete continued, “So, there we were, abuse of power charges could go straight to purgatory. Crown Governor Lawson was going home, and he was going to get there quickly.”

  “We’d never have done that,” John shook his head as if flying in the middle of the night after flying all day long wasn’t something to be given much worry.

  “Of course not. Joseph was a dear friend of all of ours. If you were sick and your mama needed him, then we’d move the Atlantic to get him home, and that’s what we did.”

  “A few hours later, he raced into Georgetown Hospital. I went along. I was worried about you, son. You kept getting worse. While the Medios worked on you, he wrapped Maggie up and held her right there in the hallway of the Pediatric ward. He let her cry ‘til she’d ruined his shirt.” Pete gave Rainer a friendly wink.

  “See, Rainer, truly great men know that it’s the women who stand beside them that make them so much more than they could ever be alone, and your father was a truly great man.”

  John nodded his adamant agreement.

  “Yeah, and the next day, after he’d gotten you home and Maggie settled, we all got a rather hefty bonus check and an extra week of vacation,” John recalled.

  Pete seemed to remember the rest of the story as well. Then a broad grin spread across his face as he began laughing.

  “I hadn’t thought about this in years. Like I said, not until you called me this afternoon, but when Lillian Haydenshire and your mama showed up at Georgetown, the Medios rushed Lillian. She was about seven months pregnant with Emily, and they thought she’d gone into labor.”

  Rainer joined in the laughter.

  “I wish I’d known my mother better,” poured from Rainer’s mouth, without him meaning to admit that out loud.

  “Me too, son; me, too,” Pete soothed.

  “She was a knockout,” John recalled. “Always had her head stuck in a book.”

  Pete nodded. Rainer watched the memories of his own mother form in the eyes of the men flying the plane.

  “Yeah, she was a dreamer, and she wasn’t going to let anybody or anything tell her what she could or couldn’t do. She fought for women’s rights and to stop the oppression of the Non-Gifted with all her might. Your daddy saw her their sub-freshman year at the Academy, and he was sold lock, stock, and barrel.”

  “I was a junior when they started, but we were in Ioses Order together, your dad and I. She finally agreed to go to the Fall Ball with him. She’d turned him down several times before, but after that, the rest is history.”

  Rainer tried to envision his mother turning his dad down repeatedly, but his father was persistent, to say the least.

  He was only four when his mother had been murdered. A deep, aching pain seared through him every time he thought of her. He couldn’t even recall her voice, though he’d tried repeatedly throughout his life. He fought the slipknot enclosure that always tightened in his throat when he allowed himself to miss his parents.

  A peaceful silence loomed over the aircraft as they flew through the inky blackness.

  “Get some sleep, son. It sounds like Miss Haydenshire needs you in top form,” Pete urged Rainer.

  He tried to doze, but his nerves over Emily and over making certain that he wasn’t caught in Rio wouldn’t let him rest.

  But Pete repeatedly told Rainer to sleep, so he feigned resting by keeping his eyes closed and leaning his head back. He wondered if Pete and John had any other stories they’d be willing to share about his mother. He wasn’t certain he wanted to hear more, but some part of him craved the pain. It meant he hadn’t forgotten her altogether.

  Pete and John seemed to fall into an amicable silence, so Rainer decided to allow himself a few minutes to fantasize about Emily.

  His heart sped. Her nipple pulsated against his lips. He sucked ravenously. She crawled over him, naked and greedy. Her lower lips separated around his cock, hungry, wet, and eager to be penetrated.

  Rainer’s body jerked slightly. He had to stop. He was going to moan out loud. He ordered himself from his rather lurid daydreams, and listened as Pete and John began discussing him. They thought he was sound asleep.

  “He looks so much like Joseph,” John commented.

  “Yeah, he’s built like him, but he’s got Maggie in there, too. I know he feels bad about asking us to do this. I wish he wouldn’t. I mean, he’s paying for this, and the kid’s been through hell the past few weeks.”

  “You believe the press? You think he really killed his uncle?” John quizzed disbelievingly.

  Rainer didn’t dare open his eyes. Pete must have nodded.

  “I think if Stan Lawson was in cahoots with that Interfeci gang, and he was after Emily Haydenshire, then he didn’t have much choice. That’s a heck of a thing to have to do when you’re twenty-one years old.”

  They were silent for a long minute.

  “I also think he was with the team that went in to try to rescue Governor Peterson’s daughter. I overheard Governor Willow and Governor Sapman talking about it when I captained their flight to L.A. last week. Apparently, it was pretty gruesome,” Pete’s voice shuddered slightly.

  John sighed, “Poor kid. You know, I always thought Stan Lawson got somebody to fake those documents he came up with right after Joseph was killed. I just never believed Joseph and Maggie would’ve named Stan his guardian. Not with the way Joseph used to talk about his brother, and he always left Rainer with the Haydenshires when he traveled. Rainer and Logan being such good buddies. Just never made any sense to me. Joe loved Rainer more than anything in the world. He adored his son. He would’ve wanted him somewhere he knew he’d be happy.”

  Rainer fought to keep his eyes closed. He clenched his jaw and waited to hear Pete’s response.

  “You and me both, and I told the Governors that, but they couldn’t prove it. God knows what he went through living with that sorry excuse for a human being,” Pete huffed.

  Rainer’s heart raced as he let that revelation wash over him. It hadn’t made any sense to him, either, when Governor Haydenshire had blinked back tears and forced himself to tell Rainer that he was going to have to go live with his uncle.

  “Yeah, but I thought I’d be gettin’ money for him.” His uncle’s words from the trial pulsed acridly through his mind as he began to consider who might’ve forged documents to state that Stan was to become Rainer’s guardian.

  Stan must’ve known that his dad had set up an allowance for Rainer, given his untimely demise, and that the majority of the trust couldn’t be accessed until he turned twenty-one.

  Stan wouldn’t have thought far enough to have the forger add a child support payment for himself. He would’ve just assumed that he’d have access to the monthly allowance left to Rainer.

  Revulsion washed through Rainer as he began to consider that perhaps the meeting at The Tantra, where his uncle agreed to run Emily’s car off the road, hadn’t been Stan’s first encounter with the Interfeci.

  It would be just like Dominic Wretchkinsides to forge documents for his uncle years before, and then wait patiently until he had a job he needed his uncle to complete to pay him back for his handiwork. He was cold, calculated, and never let debts go unpaid. He would leave a fly webbed for years before he ate him alive.

  6

  The Many Moods of Emily Haydenshire

  The thirteen-hour flight was shortened to ten, given the size of the plane and the fact that there were only two pilots to enhance the engines with their energy.

  Rainer shook Pete and John’s hands and thanked them profusely as he exited the plane. He pulled on his hat and sunglasses, took his bag, and then headed out into the teeming streets of Rio de Janeiro.

  He phoned a cab from Galeao airport after finally finding a company that had a dispatcher who spoke English. He changed several hundred dollars into Brazilian Reais, and waited until the cab pulled up. He quickly got inside and informed the driver that
he needed to head to the Copacabana Palace, rapido. He flashed the cash, and the driver took off.

  The city was fascinating. It was bathed in brilliant colors, from the mountains to the beaches, and the men and women were all dressed in an array of bright hues.

  The tourist area brimmed with advertisements for beaches, restaurants, and nighttime entertainment. It was hard to imagine that just a few hours away was a tiny town, full of destitute people and orphans, lacking food and proper living conditions.

  After thanking the cab driver and paying for the rather harrowing ride, Rainer breathed a sigh of relief as he exited. He wished momentarily that he could take Emily to a few places in the city, once she arrived at the hotel. He was certain that the food and nightlife in Rio must be amazing, but he reminded himself that what Emily needed was a quiet night to get some rest and to be restored.

  He walked by a street vendor. Keeping his dark sunglasses on and his hat pulled low over his face, Rainer ordered several hot dogs and something called Pao de Queijo, which he thought looked interesting.

  He assumed that getting food quickly and getting inside their suite would be the best way to keep any of the team owners from knowing he was in Rio, although the crowded streets seemed like the perfect place to get lost.

  Rainer shoved his lunch under his arm, gave the concierge his alias, and was given the key to the suite he’d picked for them.

  He offered hesitant smiles to the patrons on the elevator with him, but never removed his sunglasses. He issued quickly to the suite, unlocked the door, and moved into the room before locking the door behind him.

  Rainer breathed a sigh of relief, pulled off his Virginia Tech hat and glasses, and took in the bright room lit by the sun’s luminous rays, that reflected off the sand and water just outside their suite.

  The relatively small room contained a king-size bed, a small couch, and a couple of club chairs. There was a desk in the corner, along with a table for setting room-service trays.

  Rainer placed his lunch on the desk and threw his bag onto the bed. He moved to the sliding glass doors. With a delighted grin, he took in the panoramic views of one of the most stunning beaches he’d ever seen. It was soothing to be in the warm, salty air after leaving the icy chill of Virginia in November. Emily would be thrilled.

  The food smelled delicious, and he was starving. He glanced at his watch and willed time to move faster. The orphans ate lunch at noon, and Garrett was going to try to get Emily out as soon as she’d helped serve their lunch, and made certain her group of girls was fed and set up for their afternoon activities.

  After sinking down into the chair at the desk, Rainer dug in. The Pao de Queijo turned out to be a kind of cheese pastry puff, which was out of this world.

  He licked his fingers after eating the last one in the sack, and inhaled the hot dogs, which tasted decidedly different from American hot dogs, but filled his stomach with something warm and satisfying. The food consoled him from the revelations he’d learned on his flight. Only being a few hours away from Emily, and knowing she was on her way to him, soothed his soul as well.

  Boredom crept in as the hours ticked by. He watched TV, but he didn’t understand even one word in Portuguese, so he gave that up quickly. A deep yawn was the last thing Rainer recalled before his cell phone chirped two hours later.

  He shook himself from his deep, exhausted sleep and pulled his cell from his pocket.

  “Be there in about a half hour. Em’s in a mood,” was the text from Garrett.

  Rainer chuckled out loud and let the news that Emily would be in his arms in under an hour delight him. He crawled from the bed, straightened it from his nap, and tried to make the room look the way it had when he’d arrived.

  He moved into the well-appointed bathroom, complete with a large tub and steam shower, to clean up after his flight and his nap.

  After he finished, he headed back into the suite and began going over all of his ideas of ways to get Emily to relax once she’d arrived.

  “Garrett, what the hell are we doing? Why are we here?” he heard Emily demand as they made their way down the hallway.

  Rainer smiled broadly. She was in a mood, indeed.

  “This is creepy. Why are we in a hotel? Where are you taking me?”

  He leaned his head against the door and could hear her clearly.

  “Geez, Em, your surprise is here. Would you try not to be so fucking annoying?” Garrett ordered. “See if I ever try to do something nice for you again.”

  Rainer knew the precise glare Garrett would receive from Emily for his retort.

  7

  To Restore a Receiver

  A knock thudded against Rainer’s head. He jerked away from the door.

  “Who is in there?” Emily demanded.

  Rainer pulled the door open and grinned broadly. He watched as Emily’s eyes goggled, and her mouth fell open in astonishment.

  “Hey there, baby,” he gazed at her. He’d never seen anything so beautiful. She took his breath away as tears formed in her emerald eyes. Her hands flew to her mouth in a stunned gasp, and she began to sob.

  Rainer pulled her against his chest and wrapped her up in his arms. The feeling of her easing the pain in his heart worked through him as he held her. The tears streamed down Emily’s face. They soaked Rainer’s t-shirt, but he wouldn’t let her go. She pulled away a full minute later, and gazed at him like she was terrified that he might disappear if she looked away.

  “What… are you… doing here?” she finally managed.

  “I missed you.”

  He didn’t necessarily want to let on that Garrett and most of her friends had been worried about her.

  “I missed you, too.” She nuzzled her head against his chest as he wrapped her back up in his arms.

  Garrett chuckled and shook his head at both of them. He started to bid them farewell.

  “Wait!” Emily spun away from Rainer and threw her arms around her big brother. “You’re the best brother ever.”

  Garrett chuckled again and kissed the top of her head. He gave her a fierce hug.

  “You had me worried, Em. Not like you to go so many days without even a smile.”

  “Thanks, man. I owe you,” Rainer offered Garrett his hand.

  “Not a problem. What time’s your flight tomorrow?”

  “Ten,” Rainer replied. “I, uh, have to be back early afternoon.” He hoped that Garrett would remember where he had to be without him having to say it in front of Emily.

  He shared an understanding nod with Rainer, while keeping Emily’s head under his chin.

  “You’ll gain an hour going back,” he reminded Rainer, unnecessarily. He’d calculated very carefully. He wanted to be able to spend as much time with Emily as possible.

  “So, I get to stay here tonight, all night, with you?” Emily’s tone was disbelieving.

  “Well, only if you want to.”

  Garrett laughed as Emily turned and clung to Rainer.

  “I can take you back to the orphanage if you want,” Garrett teased.

  Emily shook her head into Rainer’s chest, which made both him and Garrett laugh.

  “But I feel bad. I mean, no one else is getting a reprieve,” she fussed.

  Rainer’s heart raced. He couldn’t believe he was standing there, holding her to him and feeling her energy. He felt complete for the first time in a week. He longed to kiss her and to feel her body. He wanted Garrett to leave.

  “They are, actually. Mom and Dad got permission from the Angels owners, and they are paying for a couple of suites here. I’m bringing some of the Angels out here every few nights. Letting them shower and get a decent night’s sleep, whenever I can tell the whole thing is getting to them. I’m just their ride. I’m not actually staying with anyone but Chloe.” Garrett clearly noted what both Rainer and Emily had momentarily wondered.

  “I just thought maybe I’d give you a break. You’ve kind of had a hell of a few weeks, and I talked to Logan. He said Rainer was b
eing a real pain.”

  Rainer and Emily both laughed. Neither was able to take their eyes off of the other. Garrett laughed at them both outright as he shook his head.

  “I’ll just let you two enjoy each other,” he made a quick exit.

  Rainer drew a deep breath and let his lungs fill. He felt his chest and gut unfetter just holding Emily in his arms.

  “Baby, I missed you so much,” he squeezed her tighter.

  She clung to him and inhaled deeply of his shirt.

  “Ok, shh, just relax for me.” He casted her and surrounded her in his fierce shield. “Come on, baby. Draw from me. I’ve got you.”

  She pulled from his back as she wound her arms under his t-shirt. His energy entered her readily. She gave a contented sigh as he restored her.

  “Keep going. Take what you need,” he coaxed and fought not to groan in ecstasy as she pulled more.

  “I look terrible,” Emily gasped suddenly as she jerked away from Rainer. He dropped his cast. “I haven’t had a shower in days!” She covered her face.

  “Em,” Rainer shook his head unable to believe her. “You are always beautiful to me, but,” he pulled her close once again and brushed a soothing kiss across her forehead, “I will be glad to give you a shower if you’d like to take one.”

  Emily bit her lip and nodded hesitantly. “Did Garrett call you because I was so upset?”

  Rainer knew he couldn’t lie to her, so he nodded. “He was worried about you, baby. You want to talk about everything that’s been going on, or do you want to shower first?”

  He wasn’t giving her an option on the talking portion of their evening. There were too many things that she needed to get off of her chest.

  Emily shrugged as her gaze traveled to the floor. “I don’t know,” she admitted confusedly. “I want to shower. I want to talk, and I want to do other things. I want you to hold me. I don’t know.”