by Isabo Kelly
“Something smells good.”
He took her coat and hung it up. “Thanks. I made lamb chops with grilled vegetables.”
“Yum. I love lamb. Though no one makes it as well as your grandma.”
“Hopefully you’ll like mine as much as hers. But first, this.”
Pulling her into his arms, he tipped her head back, and kissed her. Fuck, he loved her mouth. He could spend hours kissing her.
Reiner pulled the lamb from the oven and plated it along with the vegetables and directed her to the side of the counter where he’d put out placemats.
“I’m sure I’ll love it.”
“What do you want to drink? I have beer, wine, water.”
“Water is perfect.”
Grabbing a couple of bottles of water from the fridge, he joined her at the counter. They ate in silence, but it wasn’t awkward, it felt…natural.
“How was your day?” he asked as they were cleaning up.
“Good, I was able to get caught up on all the paperwork I’d pushed aside while I was working on the event for last night. It went over well, and I had a good time, but I’m glad it’s over. Thanks again for what you did for Kenny. His mom called and told me he hasn’t stopped talking about you.”
“He’s a great kid.”
“Yeah, he is. The first time I met him he told me, just because his body doesn’t work doesn’t mean his mind is broken.”
Reiner laughed, “He said the same thing to me. What’s his family’s situation?”
He couldn’t imagine it was cheap to have a kid with the amount of medical issues that Kenny had.
“It could be better. Most families who have severe needs kids are on a lot of assistance.”
Reiner considered himself one of the lucky ones when it came to contracts and had already made more money between his contract with the Empires and his endorsement deals that his great-grandchildren wouldn’t have to worry, unless someone mismanaged his money. He could more than afford to help a family like Kenny’s.
“Can you get me a list of what their immediate needs are?”
Emma paused, her water bottle halfway to her mouth. “Excuse me?”
“I want to help them. So can you get me the information?”
“Um, yeah. I think so.”
“Good.”
“You’re a good man, Reiner Jahr.”
They finished eating, and Emma helped him clean up, and then they were settled in his living room on the couch.
“How was your day?” she asked.
He’d never shared his day with a woman not his mom or sister, but the compulsion to share what had happened to him at the rink was overwhelming.
When he was done talking, she was staring at him like he had three heads. She was probably freaked out about his vision. “What?”
“You didn’t get hurt? At all? Like not even a headache?”
“Nope.”
“That’s like freaky crazy. Have you ever had that happen before?”
“All the time. I’ve never so much as gotten a scratch.”
He waited for her to freak out about his dream, vision, whatever the fuck it was.
“Must be nice. I’m a grade-A klutz, as you well know.”
Fucking A, he was going to have to bring it up. “What about my dream-slash-vision?”
“What about it? Have you talked to your parents about it? Or your grandma. I’m convinced that woman knows everything.”
“No, why would I?”
“You might not be the only one in your family who has this.”
He was floored. She wasn’t freaked out about this at all. “Why aren’t you?”
“Freaked out?”
“Yeah.” He was.
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve always wondered, hoped, that the stories about people who had these things happen to them were real.”
She didn’t really believe that did she? From the look on her face she did. He said, “So you think I…”
“Should talk to your parents. Or your grandma. Go call them now. If you’re like Astrid, you won’t be able to relax till you know what’s going on.”
He really didn’t want to go call his parents or his grandma, but Emma was right. He wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy Emma unless he knew what was going on. It irked him more than a little that it hadn’t occurred to him to ask his mom when he’d had her on the phone earlier too.
He left her to go to the bedroom and called his parents. When they didn’t pick up any of their phones, he called his grandma.
“My, Reiner, what has you so upset?” she said instead of a greeting.
Emma was right, she did know everything. For the first time in his life, he wondered how she always knew what everyone was feeling, and if maybe what was happening to him came from the same place.
“How do you always know?”
She was quiet for so long he didn’t think she’d answer when she finally spoke.
“Why do you want to know?”
He told her about what had happened at practice, leaving nothing out.
“Did he contact you?”
More confused than ever he asked, “Did who contact me?”
“Your birth father. He swore an oath to never contact you unless you asked him to.”
“My what?” he forced out.
His dad wasn’t his dad? No, he wouldn’t believe it. There was no way his mom would have cheated on him.
“Oh, dear.” His grandma sighed. “Listen to me, Reiner, you need to contact your parents now. It isn’t what you might be thinking.”
Yeah, because thinking your mom had had an affair and you were a product of it wasn’t what he was thinking.
“Grandma, I need to go.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond before he hung up and walked back out to the living room where Emma was waiting for him.
“Did you find out anything?”
“Yes and no.”
Before he could say anything else. his phone rang. Glancing at it, he saw his mom’s name. He ignored it.
“I know we were supposed to have…” At this point he didn’t know what they were supposed to have, all he knew was that he needed to be alone. To deal with everything that had happened, was happening.
He felt like a complete ass kicking her out, especially when a quick look outside showed the snow storm they’d been predicting all day had started.
His phone started ringing again.
Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.
This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to have gone.
“I think you need to leave.”
Chapter Eight
Emma slammed the cab door closed and pulled out her phone. Opening her favorite contacts, she tapped Astrid’s number. Come on, pick up, she chanted to herself.
Astrid didn’t pick up.
Emma called again. On the fifth ring, just when she was sure it was going to roll over to voice mail again, Astrid’s voice came on the line.
“Do you have any fucking clue what time it is here?”
“Yeah, yeah, middle of the night, sorry and all that, but this is important.” She took a breath. “I think I fucked something up with Reiner,” she told her.
There was a pause and shuffling on the other end, Emma forced herself to breathe while she waited for Astrid to say something. Patience was never her strong suit.
“Say something.”
“First, what where you doing with Reiner, and are we talking about my Reiner?”
“Yes, we’re talking about your brother, and we hooked up last night at the event you were supposed to come to.”
“Define ‘hooked up’ for me?”
Emma slunk down in the seat, her head resting against the back of cab. She’d been hoping by the time she told Astrid about her and Reiner, it would be in the form of asking her to be maid of honor. Not telling her she’d just had a one-nighter with him, and well, screwed up any chance of anything ever happening long-term.
“He came to the charity event I
put on last night, we connected, or reconnected, however you want to put it, he hit on me, I hit back, and then he came home with me.”
“Yes!”
She pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at her phone screen, wishing they’d been on video chat. She would have loved to see Astrid’s face. Instead, she waited for Astrid to calm down.
“Don’t celebrate too soon. I messed up already, and he told me he needed to be alone.”
“What? Really? That doesn’t sound like him. OK, what happened?”
She recounted the events of the last hour, leaving nothing out. Paying the cabbie, she climbed out and trekked inside her building and up the stairs to her apartment.
“Oh, holy mother of fucking god! Of all the gods, for that matter!” Astrid exclaimed.
“What, Astrid?” The fact that Astrid was freaking out more than she was told Emma more than anything that whatever was going on was bigger than she thought.
“When I went home a couple of summers ago, I was helping my parents clean out their office. I found a file with Reiner’s name on it. I thought it was like mine, you know, school papers, awards, things like that. I opened it, not thinking twice. Instead of finding a bunch of old schoolwork, I found the adoption paperwork and a letter stating he was never to know.”
“Oh, shit,” Emma muttered. “So when I told him to call your parents or grandma…”
“Pretty much. I don’t know what’s going to happen now, but the impression I got from the letter was it would be bad for him to know his birth family.”
Emma headed straight for her bed, flopping down on it. Running her hand across her eyes, she moaned, “You should have seen his face when he walked out after talking to your grandma. He looked like his world had just ended.”
The silence on the other side of the call spoke volumes.
“I’ll call him and see how he’s doing. I know my brother, though, and I have a feeling that once he’s adjusted to this, he’ll come looking for you. Oh, shit, that’s Mom calling me now. Em, I have to go. I’ll call you back when I can.”
Astrid hung up before Emma could say goodbye, and Emma stayed in her bed with her hand over her eyes, her mind reeling with everything. She wanted to be there for Reiner; gods, how she wanted to be there for him. He didn’t want her there though. And even with Astrid’s reassurance she was sure he would come looking for her, what they had was too new.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t be there for him though. She just needed to figure how.
But first she needed a shower and wine. Lots of wine.
Thank God tomorrow was Saturday, and she didn’t have to work. Because she was fairly certain she was going to have a hangover and be unable to concentrate on anything but Reiner and what he was going through.
Tossing her phone on the bed she rolled off it and stripped down to her bare skin, ignoring the sexy underwear she’d put on for Reiner. She walked into her bathroom and turned the shower on to blistering hot. She was cold inside and out. Gathering her hair, she piled it on top of her head and stepped into the steaming water.
Thirty minutes later Emma was curled up on her couch, a glass of wine next to her as she contemplated her binge watching choices. True Blood, Game of Thrones, or Thor. All three had hot Scandinavian men, and yes, she was fully aware that Chris Hemsworth wasn’t actually Norwegian, but he played the Norse god Thor so he counted.
She was hoping that watching them would give her inspiration for how to undo the mess she’d made with Reiner.
Before she could choose, her front door opened, and Kevin walked in. He took in the shows up on her TV for her to choose from, the wine, and joined her on the couch.
“What happened?”
Bursting into tears she told him everything.
By the time she was done, she was emotionally wrung out. It hadn’t hurt this much when she’d talked to Astrid.
“Have you tried calling him?”
“No. He said he wanted to be alone.”
Kevin patted her knee. “Honey, that’s what all men say when they’ve taken an emotional hit. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to hear from you.”
“You sure?”
His left eyebrow lifted into his hair. “Yes I’m sure. Now call him.”
She wasn’t convinced this was the right decision, but as Kevin and Ray were the only men she was friends with…no, they weren’t friends, they were family, and she was going to do what he said.
Emma picked up her phone and scrolled through her messages until she found his number and pressed call. She held her breath while she waited for him to pick up. After the fifth ring it went straight to voicemail.
“Reiner, this is Emma. I…” She trailed off. She wasn’t sure what to say. Kevin nodded encouragingly at her, so she continued, “I’m sorry about tonight. Call me please.”
“Good, now let’s watch Thor.”
“No Game of Thrones?”
Ray hated the show, so the only time Kevin got to watch it was with her. They were binge-watching Season Four, and Season Five would be loaded up in her instant queue by the time they were done.
“As much as I want to know what’s going on with Jon Snow, you’re in no condition to watch it with me.”
He was right, but she couldn’t resist teasing him, “You know if you read the books you’d know what was going on with him.”
He threw the remote at her, “I’ve still not forgiven you for not telling me about the Red Wedding.”
She caught it and turned on Thor.
Hopefully by the end of the movie Reiner would call her back.
Chapter Nine
Reiner was speechless. His mom was crying, his dad was trying to console her, and Reiner felt like an ass. Apparently his parents had found him on their doorstep. He’d been tucked into a basket, like some damn cliché, with a note saying he was the son of Ull and that he needed a stable and loving home. His parents had always told him that he was a gift from the gods. He’d thought it was just his folks’ way of saying they were proud of him. But if he could believe them now, he was literally a gift from the gods.
His father was a god, and his mother had been a human woman who didn’t know how to care for a demigod. She’d kept in contact with his parents until she died, but she was afraid for both Reiner and herself. She didn’t want the gods to harm him, so she’d found his grandmother, a woman renowned for honoring the old traditions. His grandmother had helped hide him with a mortal family. Her own.
Reiner couldn’t have asked for a better family, but damn it, this was something he’d had a right to know about! Was this why he’d gotten a vision? He was part god?
This was crazy. He knew shit like this didn’t exist. Yet, he couldn’t discount that vision. Or his abilities. More than never having been sick, or never having gotten injured, Reiner had a connection to the ice. When he took the ice, his skates became one with the ice. He became one with the ice. He was fast. Faster than any other player. So, what, his dad was the god of hockey? This was bullshit.
He started pacing again. He had to get his head on straight before the game tomorrow. Finding out his whole life was a lie, and he was only good at hockey because he was a god, was not OK with him. This sort of thing only happened in the movies. He was a normal guy; he was a hockey player. He wasn’t the bastard son of a god. Because that shit wasn’t real.
It couldn’t be.
The phone ringing shook him out of his thoughts, but when he saw who it was, he didn’t pick up. Emma. After sending her to voicemail, it rang again. And again. And again. Finally, he picked up and snarled into the phone, “What?”
“Hei, bror. What kind of greeting is that for your sister?”
“Astrid.”
“Ja.”
“I thought you were Emma.”
“Well, that’s a horrible way to greet Emma.”
“You don’t know what my day’s been like.”
“Actually, I think I do. And I’d like to talk to you about it.”
“Not tonight, Astrid.”
“Yes. Tonight. I know you’re pissed, and you have every right to be.”
“Jesus, does everyone know but me? What the hell, Astrid. Who else knows?”
“No one! I swear! I wasn’t even supposed to know. I found out by accident!”
“And what, decided I didn’t need to know?”
“Reiner, please.”
“I gotta go, Astrid. I’ve got a game tomorrow.”
“No, don’t hang up…”
But he did.
The urge to throw his phone across the room was immense, but that’d only mean he’d have to hit a phone store in the morning before skate time. Something he didn’t have the time nor inclination to do.
Instead he grabbed the bottle of pure Russian vodka one of his teammates had left at his place and poured himself a drink. Maybe he could find oblivion at the bottom of the bottle.
After a sleepless night full of restless thoughts, Reiner took to the ice no closer to sorting his life out than he had been the night before. He missed Emma. But he couldn’t bring himself to talk to her yet. It was too soon, and this was all too new. It hadn’t helped he’d had the family skate that morning with everyone bringing their significant others and various other family members. He’d always liked the event, but not today. Not when everywhere he’d looked he’d seen Emma. He had a game to play. The Empires needed this win, and he’d do his part to make sure they got it.
Knock, knock. Alexei was tapping on his helmet.
“Cut it out,” Reiner snarled. They were sitting on the benches, waiting for the line change. The game was going well. The team they were playing was good. But so were they. And now was the time to prove it.
“OK, OK.” Alexei held his hands up in surrender. “We’re cool. But where were you? You weren’t in the game, that’s for sure.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Reiner didn’t want to talk about it. Not now, that’s for sure. Maybe not ever.
“Change it up,” Coach’s voice sounded.
“We’re up.”
Alexei stared at him, knowing Reiner was blowing him off, and knowing he couldn’t do anything about it. Reiner mentally shrugged him off. It was time to play. For the next two hours he was determined to not think about the past couple of days, and to do what he did best. Play hockey.
