Chapter Eleven

"I need to borrow you for Friday night."

Rose slipped with the knife she was using to cut the veg and sliced her finger. "What?" She said, putting pressure on the cut. "Sorry, in my own world."

"Tom's going to the cinema on Friday night." He paused. "There's a group of us going and they want you to come along."

She frowned. "What about the fact that I'm a prisoner?"

"I'm heading this, so . . . what I say goes . . . not that they'll be happy about it. Plus I thought you could do with some female company."

"That's awfully thoughtful of you."

"I'm not going to college tomorrow. We're going shopping."

And with that he stormed off to talk to the others, leaving Rose completely confused and cooking the roast Alex had planned for the evening.

She listened to the argument happening in the next room.

"Ben, I have the full authority to do as I wish with her and Scorpia."

"That doesn't mean you can take her shopping and then to the cinema. Unless there's something you're not telling us."

Eagle piped up; "she was wearing your shirt."

"Look if you're that interested, come along. Blend in, see what happens."

"How are you going to stop her from running off?" Cheetah asked.

"I won't need to." Alex replied. "You'll all be there. She's only a seventeen year old girl, she can't be that much trouble." He said dryly, thinking back to the first time he'd walked into the flat.

"What about money tomorrow?" Snake asked, ever thoughtful.

"I've got far too much of the stuff, danger money, Drew. I won't have the chance to spend it, so why waste it?"

Drew – Rose thought it was Snake – spoke; "Your choice."

Wolf butted in. "We will be there, Alex. We have a duty to be."

"Whatever." He replied and walked out of the room. Alex was not looking forward to Friday evening. At all.

His phone went off in his pocket. "Sorry you got cornered mate! :/" Alex smiled. Tom wasn't sorry in the slightest. He believed it wasn't healthy to keep himself locked away from everybody. And Alice probably had something to do with it too.

Tom wanted him to be normal, too date. That wasn't happening soon and Alice might just be discouraged if he kept Rose close to him at all times.

Thinking of Rose, he remembered he'd left her in charge of dinner. Better make sure she was okay. She seemed clumsy in the kitchen, cutting herself, dropping plates and falling over.

With that in mind he searched out a plaster, ignored the looks from the other men and marched back into the kitchen.

"Here." He said and shoved the plaster at her, while taking complete control of the kitchen and within seconds had everything in the oven or on the stove simmering away.

"You have no idea how much I hate you." She muttered, Alex barely caught it, but he grinned.

"I have some ground rules from Friday."

"Okay…" She said with an obvious go on gesture.

"Firstly, you will not talk to anyone about anything. Only small talk." She nodded. "Secondly, you will stick to me like glue. I've already been warned of the consequences of breaking Alice's heart and it stops you from running off, kapesh?"

"So, basically, you want me to play girlfriend and cling to you."

Alex shifted slightly. "When you put it like that . . . yup."

She glared at him, but Alex wasn't bothered. She looked cute when she was angry. "Better make sure they get fed."

And with that they continued to cook dinner. The rest of the evening passed off smoothly but, once again, at around three in the morning, Alex was making himself tea.

Cheetah joined him, looking haunted.

"Tea?" Alex asked.

"Please." He replied.

"What brings you down so late?"

"Can't sleep." Cheetah said, grateful for the tea Alex gave him.

Alex spoke; "Sucks, doesn't it?"

He nodded by way of agreement. "I'm Will, by the way."

"Drew, James, Kyle and Will. I can remember that."

Will smirked. "But whose who?"

"Drew is snake, the medic. James is Wolf – can't forget that one. Kyle is Eagle, sharp-shooter – keeping out of his way I can tell you. And you're Will, formally known as Cheetah."

Will grinned again, but then sighed. "You look so young, definitely under 20 . . . And yet you seem so experienced. You don't sleep the night through, and you should. Hell, that's what we're here for, to protect the citizens of Great Britain. Especially the young and old. You shouldn't be so young. You should be at Uni or something."

"I do my best. It's in my nature to do this job." He leant back on his chair, tipping it onto two legs. "Plus I enjoy it, trouble always finds me, I'm lucky; I don't have to go looking for it." He said dryly.

Will let out a barking laugh. "I'll bet." He broke off for a moment. "What are you going to do with her?"

"Tomorrow, I'm taking her shopping. Today actually." He corrected. "I can't let her keep wearing those damn leather pants.

Will barely hid a laugh, seems like someone was having trouble with their hormones. "I meant overall. I mean we can't just keep her here."

"When you go back to Brecon, she'll join your unit. So will I. I need to decide whether I can trust her. Tom says . . . I mean, I figure that I can. She's been honest the whole time she's been here, and I think something about Scorpia seriously scares her."

"Whose Tom?" Jase had caught the only but Alex had slipped on.

"Nobody. Just someone I know from work."

"Don't believe you." He smiled tightly. "He's that kid we saw yesterday. When Rose was having a mini breakdown on the guys girlfriend."

"He's also called Tom."

"He's the Tom. Alex I'm smarter than you seem to think."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Tom doesn't know anything."

"Then why is he dragging you down to the cinema tomorrow?"

"'Cause he's a sucker to his girlfriend's wishes. And his girlfriends best friend has a crush on me."

"And that makes a difference because?"

"Because Tom wants me to be normal."

"Are you repeating a year or something, cause Brooklands is a secondary school."

"No."

"So you're not yet twenty. You're 18 at the very least, right?"

Alex just smiled. "I'm back off to bed, see if I can get a couple of hours snoozing before I begin my torture." He grinned and walked out of the room.

Will sighed, the kid definitely had something wrong with him. He had a suspicion that he wasn't even 18 yet.

"Oh, oh, oh! Can I get those? Please!" Rose was practically jumping up and down, pulling on Alex's arm. He smiled indulgently and gestured for her to lead the way. The pair had almost finished their shopping, Rose was quick and practical when it came to choosing clothing, however, when it came to shoes she went completely overboard.

At the moment she was looking at a pair of black leather knee high boots that had a small heel. It had to be said that she'd already bought five pairs of shoes and two pairs of boors. Alex wasn't really bothered, it amused him no end, however judging by the looks on K-Unit's and Ben's faces' they weren't.

He followed her into the shop, listening to a familiar voice talk to a shop assistant in the next row. Sophia. Alex tried to usher Rose away from Sophia, but she was having none of it.

"What the hell, Alex?" Was her sophisticated exclamation, which, of course, caught Sophia's attention and she peeked though the shelves to spy none other than Alex Rider himself with the Rose-girl she had met the other day.

She hurried around the corner, but Alex had already dragged Rose out of the shop and away. Disappointed Sophia drooped but on beholding some knee-length black leather boots, with small fashionable heels, she forgot all about Alex and his mysterious life.