Lessons Learned (The Gifted Realm Book 2)

by Jillian Neal

  Rainer sat up with a dramatic eye-roll.

  Emily leaned over the loft. “Uh, trust me, he’s very gifted!”

  Rainer blushed violently as Connor gagged.

  “And…I’ve seen yours so, if I were you, I’d keep my mouth shut. I could tell Katie that you’re a nice guy and all, but that you’re half the guy Rainer is!”

  “Ok,” Rainer huffed. “That’ll be enough of that.” He was fairly certain his cheeks were going to melt from the heat coming off of the blood that had pooled there.

  Connor rolled his eyes. He didn’t seem concerned with his size in any way at all. “Dad wants to talk to you, Emily. He’s out on the dock.”

  “Why does he want to talk to me?”

  “I imagine you’re going to get the ‘remember who you are, and that you’re my baby girl speech,’” Connor chuckled.

  “You want me to come with you?” Rainer offered.

  He wished that Governor Haydenshire would lay off. Emily had been stressed enough lately. He didn’t think the ‘remember that you’re my daughter, a Governor of the Realm,’ speech was necessary at the moment.

  “No, I’ll hurry him along. Then we can go get ready,” she brushed a quick kiss across Rainer’s jaw before she headed down to the lake.

  He turned to Connor and chuckled, “So how was the dock?”

  He wasn’t really interested, but felt like turning the tables on Connor for a while, after his rather lewd jab earlier.

  “Didn’t try very hard. She did invite me to the party with her tonight. So, maybe.”

  Rainer laughed. He had a pretty good idea why Connor had teased him like that, in front of Emily. Though all of the Haydenshire boys had teased each other on a regular basis about most everything, the size comments and the ‘lack of being able to satisfy’ jabs were usually kept to just the guys. They refrained in front of Emily, and certainly in front of Mrs. Haydenshire.

  Maybe rejection hadn’t set well with Connor. He didn’t look too devastated though.

  “Sometimes, if you have to work for it it makes it that much sweeter.”

  “Says the guy boning my sister most every night,” Connor laughed.

  Swallow Your Fate

  Rainer pulled on a button-down shirt he knew Emily liked, and a pair of jeans. He was repeating the mantra, just let her have fun tonight. Whatever she wants to do let her blow off a little steam. She deserves it, in his mind as he sprayed on Emily’s favorite cologne.

  He joined Logan on the couch. They watched TV as they waited for the girls to get ready. Rainer studied Logan as he casted and changed the channel incessantly. Something clearly had him on edge.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, Adeline’s just freaking about work last week, and everything that happened. She’s really stressed about her mom. I just want her to have fun tonight, you know? She needs to just let it all go for a while. She’s kind of a mess,” he lowered his voice to make certain neither Emily nor Adeline could hear him.

  “She has another meeting with Stariff on Monday, so she had to ask off for a little while, which kind of had her panicked because she sort of screwed some stuff up last week.”

  Emily emerged, wearing a black silk shirt that was cut on an angle so that if she moved just right it showed off her midriff. Under that, she was wearing a black and silver miniskirt that was shorter than any Rainer had ever seen her in. It showed off quite a bit of her legs.

  “Wow!” he whistled, and watched a flirtatious grin spread across her beautiful face.

  Logan rolled his eyes and then teased, “Now, is that something that Emily Haydenshire, daughter of a Realm Governor, should be seen wearing?” He mimicked their father almost to perfection.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is,” Emily laughed.

  Adeline appeared. She was wearing a short black dress that was so tight it clung to her barely existent curves, and had Logan’s eyes popping out of his head. They took a slow journey down her long legs, which were bare from her mid-thigh all the way to her high heels.

  Rainer elbowed him. “Don’t drool on it, man. Then she’ll have to get it dry cleaned.”

  Emily and Adeline giggled, but Logan seemed unable to take his eyes off of her.

  They all piled into the Hummer, and Rainer offered, “Hey you all just have fun tonight. I’ll drive.”

  “You sure?” Logan argued, “I don’t mind.”

  “No, I’m good. I’ll have a beer or two, but nothing for a while before we head out.” He hoped that would relieve Logan of any guilt.

  Rainer headed back towards Alexandria, to the Angels personal bar. They rented it out after the first and last challenges of the season for their after-parties.

  It was a Gifted club located in a warehouse, just like Angels Arena. You had to summon to be admitted, and most of the drinks were formulated with certain energy enhancements, sometimes making them more potent and sometimes less so. They also served unenhanced beer, wine, and mixed drinks.

  Rainer drove the back roads of Alexandria, and listened to Adeline apologize again about everyone being questioned on her behalf the weekend before at the Haydenshires’. She shared her concerns over her mother and the charges against her.

  “Why don’t we just try to forget about all of that, just for tonight, sweetheart? Let’s just relax and have a good time,” Logan urged her sweetly.

  Rainer and Emily shared a concerned glance over Adeline’s plight.

  “Garrett said it was around here somewhere,” Rainer glanced around a cluster of industrial-looking buildings along a desolate street. He turned a corner and the car began to vibrate.

  “Uh, I’m thinking it’s that one,” Emily pointed to a relatively small warehouse building with blaring music thrumming into the darkened alleyway.

  Pulling into the small parking lot. He noted Garrett’s Highlander, and Fionna’s bright yellow Solstice.

  “Looks like the place.” He turned off the Hummer and casted it as soon as everyone was out.

  Emily summoned, and then reached in her purse and flashed her Angels pass. The large bouncer nodded them in. He handed Rainer, Adeline, and Logan wristbands, which allowed them to be in the Angels party for the evening.

  “See, I told you there won’t be anyone here who’s not supposed to be here,” Emily reassured.

  Rainer offered her his arm. She was elated. She was an Angel, and she was partying with the Angels. Rainer chuckled and decided to let her cut loose. She’d earned it. He led her towards the flashing purple and green lights and the blaring music.

  “Emily!” shouted from all of the Angels as soon as they made their entrance.

  Emily was pulled from Rainer’s arms and absorbed into the crowd of her teammates. They were all dancing as a single group.

  “You just missed Stephanie,” he heard Chloe call over the music. Stephanie Hendrix had played for the Angels for five years. She’d gotten married the year before, and had announced that she was expecting just following her honeymoon, which had effectively ended her Summation career.

  Being under the field aegis, the energy that protected the players from any outside interference during a challenge, was very dangerous for the developing baby and the mother.

  It interfered with the mother’s ability to supply the Gifted energy needed to help the developing fetus form. If any woman became pregnant, they typically quit immediately. Some tried to return after they delivered, but most moved on to other careers. Stephanie had been a very strong Receiver, and Emily had taken her place on the team.

  Rainer glanced around the club. He noted the Arlington Angels memorabilia that hung on every available wall. Above the vast bar were close-up photographs of different Angels logos tattooed in various places on the Angels themselves.

  There were lots of halos, wings, and lightning bolts tied up in the double A’s on arms, necks, ankles, and feet, though most of them appeared to be on the center of the girls’ lower backs.

  Rainer started to study the photos but then loo
ked away quickly, as many of them were on what appeared to be their hipbones or very close to things that he didn’t have any desire to see of anyone but Emily.

  The pictures were posed in such a way that it was difficult to tell where the tattoo was located, but not impossible.

  “Em gonna get inked?” Logan was taking in the photos as well.

  Rainer considered that before shrugging, “Your dad would croak.”

  Logan laughed as he nodded adamantly. “Yeah, if she decides to, I want to be there when Mom and Dad see it!”

  “If she does decide that she wants to, I can heal it for her so it’s not red afterwards,” Adeline offered excitedly. She was thoroughly enjoying everything she’d been learning at the hospital.

  “If she wants one, I won’t tell the Haydenshires you offered that,” Rainer teased her as Logan reveled in her laugh.

  Emily hadn’t emerged from the mass of her friends, so Rainer continued to study the club. If all of the people in the club who were wearing the wristbands had been invited personally by one of the Angels, then the Angels knew hundreds of people.

  “There you are!” Connor called as he and Garrett made their way to the table Logan had found for all of them. Garrett waved at a waiter, who was carrying a large tray of drinks to their table and began handing them around. The rather large drink was the color of a deep raspberry and smelled strongly of hard liquor.

  “What’s this?” Rainer set his drink on the table without sipping any.

  “It’s the Angels signature mixed drink. They call it Angel Essence,” Garrett chuckled as Rainer nodded uncomfortably. “It’s bourbon, vodka, tequila, and rum with cherry juice, and a cherry on the bottom. It’s altered, so it doesn’t hit you full force for a while. That way you can make it home with no problem. You just feel a little buzzed while you’re here. Just loosen you up a little.”

  Rainer knew that it was a testament to just how much Essence Garrett had consumed that he then added with a smirk, “You know, you have to suck hard to get to the cherry.”

  Logan gave him a disgusted look as Adeline’s eyes goggled. “And exactly how much essence have you had?”

  Garrett rolled his eyes at Logan. “Do you mean from a cup?”

  “Geez, Garrett, could you please stop being a prick!” Logan gestured to Adeline seated right beside him.

  “My apologies, Miss Adeline.”

  Emily reappeared with Katie. They were each carrying a glass of the Angels signature drink.

  “Come on, Adeline,” Emily brushed a kiss across Rainer’s cheek as she pulled Adeline up from her seat, and dragged her back into the crowd of girls who were all dancing together.

  Rainer waved down the waiter and ordered a beer. He pushed the Angel Essence to the center of the table.

  “Come on, Rainer,” Garrett scoffed, “I taught you to drink. You’ll be fine.” Though it was true that Will and Garrett had been sneaking booze to their younger siblings and Rainer since they’d been old enough to purchase it, which made Emily right around thirteen when she’d had her first sip of beer, Rainer knew better than drinking something that strong and then driving, so he shook his head.

  “I’m not drinking that and then putting Emily in a car that I’m driving.” He was growing irritated with Garrett’s pushy attitude.

  “Oh great,” Logan stared at the girls on the dance floor.

  “What’s wrong?” Rainer turned to see what Logan was viewing. Adeline, Emily, Katie, and Fionna were standing in a group, laughing and dancing. They were all drinking one of the cups of the cherry-flavored liquor.

  “Nothing. I mean I want her to loosen up and have fun. She of all people deserves that, but Adeline holds her liquor about as well as a sieve.”

  Rainer couldn’t recall Adeline drinking anything at any of the dozens of parties they’d attended at the Academy. She usually clung to Logan, or sat in a corner and read.

  “You said you wanted her to relax and have fun.”

  “I do, but I don’t want her to be sick.”

  “I’m sure she won’t drink more than one.”

  Logan nodded his agreement, though he didn’t look entirely certain Rainer was correct in his assumption.

  “So, is this place open all the time, or just for the season parties?” Rainer quizzed Garrett. The bar was heavily bedecked with Angels memorabilia to only be open twice a year.

  Garrett shook his head. “It’s open every night, all year. They just let the Angels use it twice a year for their private parties.”

  Emily and Adeline reappeared. They tugged on Logan and Rainer’s hands.

  “Come dance with us.” Rainer stood and tried not to chuckle as he watched Emily’s eyes begin to spin slightly.

  He led her back to the dance floor, and spun her into him as they started to dance. “You okay, baby?”

  “I’m fine. That drink is kind of strong, but I just feel a little buzzed. It came on fast, but then it stopped.”

  “Yeah, it’s enhanced,” Rainer explained. Emily did appear to be recovering quickly.

  He smiled, and then began moving to the beat of the music. It turned into more of a grind-fest, but Rainer didn’t mind at all as he reveled in Emily thrusting her hips into his.

  She spun, and began grinding her backside over him as he held her waist. He leaned in until he could speak directly in her ear and his cock was nestled against her backside.

  “If you want to go home, baby, I’ll take that skirt off and we can do this all night.”

  She gave him a luscious grin and waggled her eyebrows at him.

  Garrett and Chloe were hanging all over each other very nearby. Connor had Katie backed up to one of the walls that surrounded the dance floor, with his hands under her shirt. They were on her waist but he was gaining ground quickly.

  “So, you ready to be inducted?” Garrett called to Emily a few minutes later.

  “I still don’t know what that means!” she shouted over the music.

  Chloe and Garrett laughed as Garrett began making his way towards the bar.

  “Adeline, I’m not sure you should have another. They’re really strong.” Rainer heard Logan urge.

  “I’m fine, really. I feel good,” Adeline assured him.

  Rainer studied her. He had to admit she didn’t look as tense as she normally did, and she appeared to really be having fun.

  He briefly considered getting Emily to try to encourage Adeline to give the drink to Logan, but Rainer halted as the lights on the dance floor fell and a drum roll echoed from the cover band. A spotlight fell on the bar.

  Suddenly, Garrett was standing on the bar and summoning to magnify his voice. “I think it’s time to celebrate today’s victory!” he slurred slightly. Everyone cheered. “And, we have some new girls this season.” He raised his drink in acknowledgment.

  Rainer had a very bad feeling as he watched the girls giggle excitedly, while Katie and Emily glanced around nervously. He wrapped his arms around Emily as she clung to him.

  “Okay, ladies,” Garrett waggled his eyebrows as Chloe came to stand beside Emily. “Pick your guzzler!”

  Chloe laughed and started towards the bar. Her eyes locked on Garrett, who was beckoning her with one finger and was giving her an extremely lascivious look.

  Emily turned to Fionna. “What’s a guzzler?”

  Fionna smiled sweetly. “Rainer will be your guzzler.”

  She laughed as a dozen men began making their way towards her. They were all trying desperately to be the first to volunteer for her.

  The bartender was furiously wiping down the bar and filling twelve shot glasses with the essence mixture. He arranged several spray cans of whipped cream, a bowl of cherries, and another bowl of limes.

  Logan and Adeline moved to stand beside Rainer.

  “I think the captain should go first, don’t you?” Garrett bellowed to the crowd. Most everyone hooted and whistled.

  Garrett jumped down from the bar and pulled Chloe to him. “Music…” At his comm
and, the band began to drum out a song with heavy throbbing beats and rather lurid lyrics. As the floor began to vibrate from the music, Rainer turned to see what Garrett was going to do next. While he was distracted, a guy Rainer didn’t know approached Emily.

  “Hey, sweet thing, is he your guzzler?”

  Rainer spun back. Fury burned through his eyes. The guy took in Rainer’s glare and stature. Rainer was in vastly better shape, due to Vindico. The guy stammered out an apology and moved away.

  Emily patted Rainer’s arm soothingly and then asked again, “What is a guzzler?”

  Connor and Katie had made their way over by this point and Connor laughed, “Well, I take it that, in this case,” he gestured towards Garrett and Chloe, “Garrett is the guzzler.”

  Emily furrowed her brow, and everyone began to watch intently.

  Garrett began dancing with Chloe. He backed her towards the bar and looked at her like he’d gladly take a bite, if he could.

  Chloe threw her head back in laughter as Garrett dropped to his knees in front of her after he’d thrust his hips into hers to the beat of the music.

  After shooting a hungry grin to the crowd, he raised his eyebrows and began to lick from Chloe’s knee until his tongue disappeared under the hem of her skirt. Logan and Rainer’s mouths fell open as Emily’s eyes bugged. The crowd began to chant Garrett’s name.

  He stood and leaned Chloe back over the bar. He grabbed and shook one of the cans of whipped cream then flipped Chloe’s shirt up to just below her bra line.

  Rainer and Logan’s mouths were still hanging open in astonishment. They saw the top half of the Angels logo on Chloe’s lower abdomen. The bottom half was covered by her skirt.

  Garrett took the can and traced Chloe’s stomach around her navel. A second later, a GH appeared written in whipped cream. Her navel was centered in the G of his initials.

  He made quite a show of picking up half of a lime. Garrett ceremoniously squeezed the lime inside the whipped cream then he scooped a cherry off of the bowl on the bar.

  Chloe laughed again as she raised her head, and Garrett dropped the cherry into her mouth. She waggled her eyebrows and looked excited as she closed the cherry in her mouth.