by Jillian Neal
Medio Sawyer was silent for the length of one heartbeat.
“Believe me, Dan, he’s been nothing but trouble since he bought in. I’d love nothing more than to force him out.”
A broad grin spread across Dan’s face. “I kind of figured. I’ll have Chloe phone you when we arrive.”
“No, let me find someone to finish my rounds. I’m on my way, and if you need to arrest Eric, please do so.”
Perfect, Dan thought with a wry grin, as Rainer pulled quickly into the parking deck of the arena and was waved through by security.
The doors of the Expedition flew open. Everyone inside scowled furiously at the scene before them.
“Didn’t know they were sending out the big guns, Dan,” Eddie Campton, head of Arena security, offered apologetically. A disturbance call would normally be handled by a Non-Elite team.
“No problem, Eddie.”
Eric was standing between Eddie and another guard. He had his arms crossed in indignation. “He’s only out here because he wants Fionna all for himself.” Eric sounded like an overgrown toddler.
“Let’s go ahead and get him cuffed,” Dan spat to Garrett, who looked only too happy to complete the task.
“Yes, sir,” Garrett glared hatefully at Eric.
“And him, too! They’re jealous because Fionna’s with me, and they both want her.”
With entirely more force than was necessary, Garrett seized Eric’s right shoulder and spun him. He shoved him hard into the brick wall outside the arena entrance. In one quick move, he shoved his knee into Eric and grasped his wrists. He slapped the cuffs on and then sealed them with his cast.
“You can’t arrest me just because my girlfriend and I had a disagreement,” Eric demanded nonsensically. Acrimony rose in the bile in Dan’s throat.
“Your father’s on his way, along with the other team owners,” Dan drawled. Eric spun his head back with a savage look in his eye.
“What?” he panicked.
“So you can hear; you just don’t listen. I kind of figured.” Dan narrowed his eyes in disdain. “Here’s the problem, stud.” He moved his face inches from Eric’s. “You either listen when I talk, or I’m going to have my officers throw you in the back of that truck, and you can plan your political career from Felsink. Maybe the other inmates will vote you the fucking most gorgeous thing they’ve ever laid eyes on, and then they’ll all agree to date you.”
Rainer and Logan fought back laughter. They held a cast containing enough electrical current to stun Eric, if Dan needed them to.
“I don’t give a damn who Fionna is dating. It isn’t me, and it certainly isn’t you.” Dan was shocked at how the lie blistered his throat. “She thinks you’re an asshole. She filed a restraining order against you, which you are currently in violation of. But that’s why you’re here, isn’t it Eric? I sent it out a few hours ago with one of my officers. He showed up at your apartment and gave you your copy, and you got mad and came down here.”
Eric huffed. He was on the verge of pitching a fit, something Dan wouldn’t have minded recording just to show his old man, but he stayed the course. “She wants me. She’s just not thinking straight.”
Garrett’s eyes flashed as he leaned into Eric and forced the air out of his lungs.
“Let me tell you something about women, you prick. They sure as hell know what they want, and it isn’t you. Now shut the fuck up and listen.”
Just then, a sleek, silver Jaguar slid into the parking lot.
“Figures,” Rainer huffed as Dan tried not to smile at the implication.
A man with slicked hair that appeared to be bulletproof, dressed in an expensive suit, raced from the driver’s seat.
“I thought you weren’t arresting him,” Mr. Kent pled. “Eric, you cannot be arrested. How will that look for the campaign?”
Eric clammed up, pouting as soon as his father arrived.
Dan put on a show of talking about everything that had happened with each of the security guards, the Iodex team assigned to Emily, and then making certain the players were all safe inside the arena.
Medio Sawyer pulled in. Much to Dan’s delight, he had phoned Frank Magnus, one of the partner’s in Stariff’s legal firm, and Anna Eleanor, the head of the Auxiliary Service Department in the Senate, who was also the top pick to fill Governor Haydenshire’s previously- occupied seat on the board.
They’d traveled together from the Pentagon and pulled in behind Sawyer. As they represented seventy percent of the shareholders of the Angels, Dan was elated.
“What’s going on, Officer Vindico?” Anna demanded.
“Well, Ms. Eleanor, we were called about an hour ago because Mr. Kane, here, is refusing to leave the arena. He’s been harassing Fionna Styler. She filed a restraining order over the weekend.”
Anna Eleanor had worked very diligently to climb the ranks in the Auxiliary Order of the Senate. As far as Dan was concerned, she was a consummate professional and an extremely intelligent woman; though, she was occasionally wary of men.
“Well, as you and your son are both here, he in handcuffs, it doesn’t seem that you have much of a defense, Thomas.”
At that moment, Crown Governor Haydenshire’s minivan pulled onto the scene, and Dan heard Garrett bellow, “Oh, I do not think so, you little bitch.”
Dan turned, and saw Eric attempting to summon an electrical charge in effort to release Garrett’s shield on the cuffs and to burn Garrett.
“Garrett, move!” Dan shouted. Garrett leapt back as Logan sent a pulse from his own cast, and Eric hit the ground hard.
Stunned gasps sounded from all of the onlookers. Shaking his head, Dan sighed. He’d never have bet that Eric had the balls to pull something like that
“I’m sorry, Mr. Kane, but Eric has been belligerent since we arrived. He’s in violation of the restraining order, and now he’s attempted to injure one of my officers. I’m going to have to take him in.”
“No, wait!” Thomas moved towards Eric, who was out cold on the ground. Dan suspected that if it hadn’t been his big brother that Eric had tried to summon against, then Logan might not have used quite so much force.
“He’ll never come back here; I promise. I’ll do anything. He’ll never come around Fionna again. I’ll sell my shares. I’ll sell them at the board meeting Friday night. I won’t even let him come to the challenges.”
Sawyer and Magnus were both intrigued.
“Where is Emily? And where is Fionna?” Governor Haydenshire’s demand shook everyone from their reverie.
“The entire team is inside, Crown Governor. I wouldn’t let them leave for lunch until this was resolved,” Eddie explained valiantly.
“You can talk to the Crown, Mr. Kane. I don’t have the authority to keep him from being arrested after he summoned against Officer Haydenshire,” Dan informed Thomas Kent.
Thomas turned his pleading eyes on Governor Haydenshire, who did not appear to be in a very forgiving mood. A slight groan sounded from Eric as he began to come around. Governor Haydenshire glared at him furiously.
“Dan, load him up. I’d prefer for Eric and his father to be away from my daughter and her teammates.”
“Yes, sir.” Dan decided for once to trust someone else’s authority, instead of trying to exercise his own.
She’ll make you a better person. Rainer’s words, from the hotel in Sydney, formed in Dan’s mind as he watched Garrett and Logan shove Eric into the back of the SUV.
Dan moved to Governor Haydenshire. “Sir, would it be all right if I went in for just a minute?” He gestured his head toward the arena doors as he quietly made his request.
“I appreciate your asking, Dan, instead of just going on with whatever you’d decided you were going to do. Your new situation, which I highly suspect is what the rest of us might call a real life, is good for you,” Governor Haydenshire pointed out. “It’s a nice change.”
Dan didn’t respond as he awaited permission. He decided against pointing out that, if he
wasn’t granted permission, he’d be asking for forgiveness later because he was going.
“Go ahead, but I want this resolved in my office before we go home tonight.”
“Yes, sir,” Dan agreed as he turned and sprinted through the metal doors.
Risk and Regret
After he scanned the stadium to make certain the field aegis wasn’t set to shield, Dan headed down the steps. It seemed Chloe had decided to go on with practice, since the ladies couldn’t leave for lunch.
Fionna and Emily were doing rapid transfers of heat into elastic bandings, and then pulling the elastic energy and forcing it towards a piezoelectric disk until it changed shape and produced electricity.
Dan studied Fionna closely. His heart hammered in his chest. He tried to remember that he was supposed to be talking to her as if she was the victim of a crime, but every fiber of his being wanted to go to her. He wanted to pull her into his fierce embrace and shield her from any foe.
She looked pale and weak. Worry etched her beautiful face. He waited until she dropped her cast.
He moved onto the field, but was stopped by Chloe Sawyer.
“What happened?” She gestured out the arena doors.
“We took him in, but haven’t charged him yet. I need to talk to Fionna for a few minutes. Is that all right?” This business of asking permission, when it came to her, was wearing on his nerves. She was his. The sooner he ended Wretchkinsides, the sooner the world would understand that.
He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, though she hadn’t noticed him yet. “Dan, she’s my best friend. I was there the night you chased her home from Anglington’s, remember? We all know the deal. We all love her, Dan. We’d never let anyone know about you two. We just want her to be happy. She hasn’t been happy in a long time.”
The comment left Dan without the power to reply. What did she mean, Fionna hadn’t been happy in a long time? Why hadn’t he known that? He’d spent hours on end with her over the last week, sharing secrets they’d never told another soul, or at least he thought they had.
“I know she’s not feeling well. She can go home early if she wants. I won’t tell Dad,” Chloe offered as she glanced Fionna’s way.
“Uh, thanks,” Dan managed to locate his voice. “She had a rough night.”
“Yeah, I know,” Chloe chuckled at his concern. “She’s done that since we were teenagers.” There was more than a note of defiance in her tone. She was subtly reminding Dan that she’d been an important part of Fionna’s life for a lot longer than he had.
Dan gave her a forced smile, and then moved to Fionna.
“Hey,” she beamed as he made his approach. Her face lit when she saw him, and his heart gave a quickening beat. Unable to stop himself from doing another systematic search of the area, to make certain no one saw them, he edged closer.
“Hey, baby.”
“Can I hug you, please?” The desperation darkened her weary eyes.
“Why don’t we go somewhere else and talk?” He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t put her at risk of someone seeing them, even if all the Angels now knew.
She nodded and guided him into the well-appointed Angels locker room.
“I’m really hoping that I’m the only guy who has ever been in here.” He tried to lighten the mood as he spun her into his arms and his fierce shield formed around her. He let heat spill into the bands of protection, and she sighed contentedly a moment later. She nuzzled her face against his chest, and everything in his world was suddenly right.
“You okay?” He began rubbing his hands up and down her back.
“I am now.” She attempted a sweet smile, but exhaustion was still predominant. “Can we leave now? We could go to my house and have lunch together. It’s only five minutes from here.”
With another searing stab of regret piercing through him, Dan shook his head. “I can’t, honey. I have to get back. They’ve got Eric in the truck, and they’re waiting on me. I just wanted to come make sure you were all right.”
She tried to hide the disappointment with a forced smile.
“Does that mean you arrested him?”
“Not yet. Governor Haydenshire stepped in. We’re all heading back to his office. I’m not certain what his plan is, but I kind of have to go along, I suppose. He tried to pull an electrical current through the cuffs while Garrett held them, so at this point he could be looking at time.”
“Oh, my gosh! Is Garrett okay?”
Jealousy was a weary partner, that was for damn sure. He just had no idea how to rid himself of the emotion.
“He’s fine. He saw what he was trying to do. Logan stunned Eric.”
“Wow, your job is really dangerous.” Fear timed in her rhythms.
“It’s not always. A lot of the time I’m at my desk doing paperwork.”
She nodded against his chest. She seemed unwilling to let him go anytime in the near future. He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head.
“I have to go, sweetheart. But as soon as I’m finished with Eric, I’ll head out. Chloe said you could leave early. How about you meet me on the parking deck?” Somehow picking her up from work, even covertly, soothed him.
“Yeah, it’s good to be best friends with the captain.”
Dan chuckled as he lowered his shield and eased away from her. It felt as if he was severing his own soul. “I have to go, baby. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her beautiful, genuine, dazzling smile formed on her face. His shield had given her the strength she’d needed, and that was enough to heal the abrasions his day had inflicted. He allowed himself one moment of lust as he guided her mouth to his.
“All mine,” he breathed the words over her lips, before he turned his head and consumed her with greed. A furtive moan spilled forth from her, as she laced her fingers through his hair and pulled him in for more. She sucked his tongue and the energy in his saliva. A hungry groan echoed from his lungs, as he envisioned her sucking his cock that begged for her attention. She broke the kiss with panted breath. The passion between them was far too tempting.
“I’ll pick you up in a little while.”
She slid her bottom lip through her teeth. He knew she could still taste his rhythms there. The motion made his trousers tug sharply. He had to get it together. She moved towards the door, and he forced his feet to follow her trek.
“Hey, Fi, baby.” He suddenly remembered Chloe’s words. “If there’s ever anything you want to talk about or that’s upsetting you, you’ll tell me, right?”
“Dan, of course. I’ve already told you more than I’ve ever told anyone.” She seemed hurt by his request.
“I know. I just want you to know you can tell me anything, any time. If anything’s bothering you, I want to know. I want to make it better.”
Confusion furrowed her brow, but she nodded and guided him back to the field.
At four o’clock, Dan, Rainer, Logan, and Garrett emerged from the Crown Governor’s office, never having had lunch.
Dan was relatively pleased with the outcome of the exhaustive meeting. Thomas Kane had agreed to sell his shares of Angel Enterprises at the next board meeting, in exchange for Eric not being arrested and agreeing to stay away from the players and the arena. As his only crimes were breaking the restraining order and resisting arrest, which wouldn’t bring much in the way of prison time, Dan and Garrett had agreed that it was the best possible scenario.
Governor Haydenshire had shouted at Eric for a solid half hour, and had warned both him and his father against Eric’s running for Governor; though, according to Thomas, Eric was still going to announce his candidacy that evening.
Governor Haydenshire had sent Eric to the holding cells in the Senate while he’d discussed the fact that, if Eric continued to provoke Fionna or any of the Angels, criminal action would be taken.
“You can all go on, and tell Sam I’m sorry I didn’t make it out there today,” Dan instructed Rainer. Everyone nodded their appreciation and agreement.
“So, you’re really okay playing third-wheel in all of this?” Dan wanted a better read on Garrett’s thoughts, and to remind Garrett of his place.
“I’m okay with it. You’re not, so maybe I should be asking you. I’m sure as hell not playing boyfriend with anyone, and I love Fi. Far too many women out there for me to ever settle down; it doesn’t mean I don’t want to help my friends settle down if that’s really what they want.”
Dan caught the test in the phrase. Garrett still didn’t believe that Dan was as committed to the relationship as he was convinced Fionna was. That wasn’t a test Dan had any intention of failing.
He couldn’t shake the worry over Chloe’s warning that Fionna hadn’t been happy. His ego was plagued with badgering questions. Was Fionna really as committed to this as she seemed to be? Did he know her as well as he thought he did? Swallowing down a bitter dose of pride, he drew a deep breath.
“Thank you for doing this. She’s the first thing in ten long years that’s made me believe that this life might actually be worth hanging around for.”
Garrett fought his visible shock and studied Dan closer. He finally managed a nod. “Yeah, I can tell, and you’re welcome. You just make sure if that feeling changes anytime soon, that you talk to me before you run your mouth to her.”
Dan let the keys on the large ring clatter ominously as they stalked to the holding cells.
“Well, Eric, seems Daddy came through for you again. Guess we’re gonna let you go,” Dan drawled hatefully. Garrett turned his typical smirk into a vicious scowl. Eric huffed indignantly as Dan unlocked the cell. He was careful not to touch the enhanced bars.