Thank you for all the lovely reviews, guys! I wouldn't write if it weren't for your feedback! My English exam is now over (thank goodness) so I'm free to write again now that uni is finished for the summer! Yay! Good luck to all of you stressing out with A-levels, GCSEs and other exams- I've suffered through them and feel your pain, I can assure you!
Anyway, here's chapter 21. I hope you like it! Please leave a review!
Turning off the shower, he picked me up again and sat me carefully in the tub.
"You okay if I leave you for a minute?" He asked, towelling himself off, whilst I tried not to gawp. "I was thinking I'd go and make you something to eat if you fancied it?"
"You don't have to, Will. You've already done so much for me."
"It's not that I don't have to, Alexis. I want to. Besides, I'll feel better if you've had something warm to eat."
"Okay, but make sure you get something too. Help yourself to anything in the cupboards."
"Cool. You don't happen to have any male clothes I could wear, do you? It's just mine are all soaked, and I already dropped my suitcase off at my hotel, so…" I was almost tempted to tell him no; it seemed heinous to make him cover up his perfect torso.
"Yeah, sure. I think I have some of my brother's stuff here somewhere. Try the top right shelf of the wardrobe in the spare room. It's the door on your left." He looked relieved at that, obviously glad that he didn't have to strut around wearing just a towel, not that I'd mind. Thankfully it was Jack who'd left clothes here, not my ex-boyfriend. I didn't know how well Will would take to wearing an ex's clothes after his reaction to Sam the other week.
He nodded and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I grabbed the flannel on the side of the tub and began to wash myself off, removing all the grime from my fall. Today had been a very close call; if I were a cat I would definitely be down to eight lives after today's debacle. Thank God Will had come to see me today- I know he said he'd see me soon, but someone must have been looking over me for it to have been today. I'd had a very, very lucky escape.
I washed my hair slowly, rubbing the shampoo right into my scalp, before submerging myself like a mermaid in order to get it out. I was feeling nearly back to normal. Well, apart from my throbbing ankle- the ibuprofen seemed to have had no effect on that! Grimacing, I tried to flex it, but I still couldn't. This was definitely one of the worst sprains I'd ever had, and I'd had many. I wouldn't be able to walk on it properly for a few days. This was exactly what I didn't need! How was I going to take Monty on walks now? I rubbed my face in my hands and sighed.
"You okay?" Will asked, poking his head round the door. He was fully dressed in Jack's clothes. Although Jack wasn't small Will was taller and bulkier than he, so the t-shirt was stretched tightly across his chest, and the shorts were just a smidge too short for him.
"Yeah, I'm fine thanks. Would you be able to help me out of here, though. I think I'm done now."
Nodding, he grabbed a towel, draping it across his shoulder before hauling me out of the bath. I stood on one leg whilst he wrapped it around me, gently rubbing the water off.
"Do you want to put some dry clothes on while I get dinner ready? I'm just warming up some soup- it shouldn't take long."
"Yes please." He hoisted me up into his arms once more. "My room's the one on the right." He followed my instructions, dropping me onto my bed. Thankfully, I'd been awake enough to at least make my bed this morning, although my clothes from last night were still strewn across the floor. Tactfully, neither of us addressed that.
"Where and what are the clothes do you want?" I motioned to the wardrobe.
"Just grab me some trackies from the shelf next to the books, and a t-shirt from the shelf above it, please." He followed my instructions, tossing me the garments.
"Underwear?"
"I can manage finding my underwear just fine, Will." I laughed. "But thank you anyway- they're just in my bedside cabinet, which I can reach from here." I made an exaggerated leaning motion to the cabinet to emphasise just how easy it was for me to do so. He grinned at me.
"Okay, babe. Hearing you loud and clear. I'll leave you to it, then. Just shout if you need me. I'll just be in the kitchen checking the soup."
"Okay. Thank you." He nodded and left. As soon as he shut the door behind him, I set about peeling off my wet underwear. My plain black knickers and black sports bra may not have been the best underwear to pick, had I known Will were to end up seeing me in them, but at least they weren't white; I could count my blessings for that at least. Taking them off and drying myself I hobbled to my bedside drawer, pulling out the first bra and knickers I could find. Wriggling into them whilst only being able to stand on one foot proved most difficult, but I got there in the end. A lick of deodorant completed my beauty regime, and I slid on the trackies and t-shirt Will had thrown at me. I dried my hair quickly before I headed for the kitchen, not wanting it to make me cold. I'd had quite enough of the cold for one day. Setting my electric blanket onto a low setting ready for when I got into bed, I grabbed my dressing gown and hobbled into the kitchen one- footed. It was harder than I thought, and I paused for breath against the doorjamb that led to my open plan kitchen and lounge. Will, as if sensing me, looked up from the hob.
"Alexis, what are you doing on that foot?" He exclaimed, dropping the spoon he was using to stir the soup back into pot and walking towards me. "You should have called me if you wanted to come in here- I was going to bring it in to you. We could do without you injuring yourself further!"
"I'm fine, honest." He continued to walk towards me.
"No, you're not. Don't try to pretend it's not hurting, because I can tell by your face that it is."
"Your back's going to be hurting if you keep on carrying me everywhere. I'm far too heavy. Just let me lean on you a sec." He rolled his eyes at me, but followed my instructions, helping lead me to the kitchen table and getting me a seat.
"Right, let's get this ankle propped up." He grabbed a cushion from the sofa, and gently lay my ankle to rest on it.
"R.I.C.E."
"What?" I asked. Had he gone mad?
"R.I.C.E: R for rest, I for ice, C for compression, E for elevate. It's how you treat sprains. Have you got any ice?"
"Yeah- there's an ice pack in the freezer. I keep it in there for emergencies. Good job now, eh?"
"Very good job. It'll be far better than a bag of frozen peas!" He agreed. He took it out of the freezer, wrapping it in a tea towel to ensure it didn't come into direct contact with my skin, and pressed it around my ankle. I shivered as soon as it touched me- it was freezing.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, it's just cold." He quirked his eyebrow at me. "Okay, yes I was expecting it to be cold- it was just colder than I thought." He laughed.
"Yeah, because that makes perfect sense." I scoffed at him, and he flashed his dimples at me. God, the boy could make me melt. He turned, spooning the soup into two bowls and bringing them to the table. So he was adept in the kitchen, and absolutely gorgeous? I swear life just wasn't fair; why were some people blessed with everything? He passed mine over to me, complete with a massive hunk of bread to dunk in the soup.
"Eat up." He said, tucking into his own bowl. The soup was gorgeous. Yes, it had come straight out of a can, but the heat was delicious. I felt so snug and warm afterwards- the tragic events of this afternoon seemed like nothing more than a distant memory.
"So.." Will started. I put down my spoon, giving him my full attention. "I don't want to get mad at you, but I want to talk about this afternoon." I looked down at my hands, feeling as though I was being reprimanded by the headteacher.
"Okay." I squeaked. He put his hands on top of mine, and I looked up at him.
"You need to take care of yourself." I nodded at him and looked away, embarrassed.
"Alexis, look at me." I obeyed. "You are so precious to me; more precious than you know. I'm not trying to be a possessive asshole- it's just you're too important. I can't let something like this happen to you ever again. You can't be this reckless; I just want you to be safe. Your safety's everything, okay."
"I'm sorry." I blurted out. Tears started to pool in my eyes as I said it.
"Oh, honey." He came over and wrapped his arms around me. "I don't want to make you upset, I just want you to be more careful, okay. Just, if you go out on your own again, at least tell someone, and take a fully charged phone."
"I will, I promise. I was just stupid today, and if it weren't for you I wouldn't probably be seeing tomorrow."
"Hey, let's not talk about what might have been. All that matters is that you're safe now. I might have to invest in a Nokia for you, though- they never run out of battery life!" I laughed.
"Will, I do not need you to buy me anything else!"
"Didn't you like what I got you?" He asked, motioning to the parcel full of jeans that I'd left on the worktop from yesterday. I sighed, putting a hand to his cheek.
"I loved them, and you know it, but you shouldn't have." He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I pressed a finger to his lips. "What you've done for me tonight means more to me than any gift ever will, and I can't thank you enough. Really, it should be me buying you presents from now on." He blushed at that, and swiftly changed the subject.
"Right, we should probably head to the hospital now, you need to have that ankle checked out. Where's the nearest one to here?" I sighed.
"Will, I've already told you- I'm not going to the hospital."
"Yes, and I've already told you that we are." He picked up both bowls from the table and began to wash them up, loading them onto the draining rack once he was done.
""Will, seriously it's just a bad sprain. I know it's a bad sprain. Do you know how many times I've sprained my ankles before?"
"No."
"Four times- twice on each ankle. Five now, I suppose. Now, there is no point in me going to an A&E department and wasting their time when I know that it's nothing more than a sprain. I'm not wasting their time with this when they've got people to deal with who are actually in life or death situations." Mum and Dad had both previously worked in A&E departments, and we'd heard all about the 'time wasters' they had to deal with.
"Alexis, you were in a life or death situation a few hours ago. Now, either you come willingly, or I carry you. It's your choice." He stood, arms crossed over his chest, goading me.
"I am not going."
"That is not an option: you are going. The question I asked is whether you're going to come of your own accord or not." His eyes dared me to defy him. I could see now that I wasn't going to be able to budge him on this.
"Okay, how about we compromise?"
"Go on."
"My Mum's a GP, but she does shifts in A&E now and again. How about I call her in the morning, and she comes and looks at it?"
"How about you ring her now?"
"She's on shift now. She'll be finishing soon I bet, but I'm not making her come round here when she needs a good sleep. I'll ask if she can come over in the morning."
"And what if your Mum comes round in the morning, examines it, and decides you need to go straight to hospital? Then, you've made it even worse, and she'll be mad that you didn't ring her earlier, and that you deemed it not bad enough to go to hospital. How about you ring your Mum now, if she's busy then I'll take you to the hospital, but if she can come over then I won't make you go." I stared at him, and he stared back- each willing the other to be the first to crack. Needless to say, I cracked first- he did have a point, and I didn't want to argue with him when all he wanted was my wellbeing. Besides, he was right- Mum would want me to ring her or Dad if I had I had something wrong with me, and would be horrified if I they found out I hadn't. I knew I could ring either of them at any time: night or day and they'd come running.
"Okay, fine, I'll ring her now." He grinned happily at me, smug in his victory. I made to move off the chair to go and grab my phone. It was probably still in my coat pocket.
"Hey, where are you off to? You're to stay in that chair with your foot up. What do you want?"
"I need to get my phone to ring my Mum."
"Do you know her number?"
"Yes, but it's already programmed into my phone." He took his phone out of his pocket, and slid it across the table to me.
"Here, use mine- yours is probably still flat. I'll put yours on charge for you. Where is it?"
"Thanks." I say, picking it up off the table. I hadn't thought of that. "I think it's in my coat pocket."
"And your coat is?"
"Probably still in the car I imagine." He nodded. We'd neglected to bring in any other belongings in our rush to get inside.
"I'll go grab it from the car. Anything else in there?"
"Just my t-shirt, jumper and your coat I think. I'll put all our wet stuff in the wash then."
"Okay, I'll be back soon." He picked up my keys from the coffee table and made his way out of the flat. I punched in my mum's number as soon as he left. Hopefully she'd have her phone on her, and be able to pick up. I really didn't want to have to go to the hospital with Will tonight; I just wanted to go to bed.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey Mum, it's Alexis."
"Oh hello, dear. Sorry- you confused me as you came up as an unknown number."
"Yeah, I'm ringing off a friend's phone because mine's flat. Anyway, I was just wondering when you finished tonight?"
"I'm on my break now- it's mad tonight, so I'll be back on in a minute. I should be done in a couple of hours though. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing really. It's just I've had a bit of a nasty fall this afternoon- I think I've sprained my ankle. I just wondered if you could come and check it over for me. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't broken it or anything."
"Oh, Alexis- I swear you're always injuring yourself somehow! Of course I'll come over and check it out- don't be ridiculous! How did you do it? Netball again? Honestly, that sport does you more harm than good!" Mum was used to my constant ankle injuries from netball, so this came as no shock to her.
"No, not this time. I was hiking, Monty chased after some sheep, and I slipped and fell trying to catch him. My ankle just turned- I think I stepped down a hole or something."
"Oh Alexis! You should have rang! Are you okay? Did you get Monty? Where are you now?"
"Yes, I'm fine Mum. I'm home safely, and so is Monty." I looked over to see Mont fast asleep in his bed. He hadn't moved from there since we'd got back, unperturbed by all the drama he'd managed to cause.
"Thank goodness for that! Right, I'll be over as soon as I'm done here, and I'll bring some crutches- I'm presuming you can't put weight on it?"
"Yeah, that would be great Mum, thanks."
"So just how did you get home and get Monty back if you can't walk, Alexis?" She asked. Well, that was the million dollar question, wasn't it? Will walked back through the door then, coat in hand. I smiled at him in greeting.
"I bumped into a friend; he helped me home." I watched as Will plugged my phone on charge, letting it rest on the cabinet.
"He did, did he? Will I have the pleasure of meeting this friend anytime soon, Alexis? I must say, it's very lucky that you just managed to bump into this friend on your hike." I groaned- of course she picked up on that.
"Very lucky indeed." I mumbled. "He's already headed home, but I'm sure you'll be able to meet him at some point." Some point here being code for never. She hummed approvingly down the line. Will grinned cheekily when he overheard that, walking over and sitting down opposite me. I avoided eye contact.
"I'll hold you to that, Alexis." Of course she would. "Right, I'm being called; my break's over. I'll be round as soon as I can. Ice it for the time being and keep it up. I'm sure you know the drill by now." She was right, ankle injuries were all too familiar by now, and I knew exactly what to do when I got one. "Is it okay if I stop in your spare room? I want to keep an eye on you overnight, and if you can't walk you'll need someone around for the next few days to help you out. That is, unless your friend will be helping you out?"
"Mum, the spare room's yours if you want it. I'll see you later."
"Don't think I didn't notice you not answering that question, young lady! See you soon, sweetheart. I'll text you when I'm on my way, as I'll have to stop off at home to get some clothes first."
"Thanks Mum. Love you."
"Love you too, sweetheart. Take care- I'll see you soon." She hung up, and I passed the phone back to Will.
"So?" He asked.
"She's on shift at the minute, but she's coming over as soon as she's done, which should be in a couple of hours. She's gonna stay the night to make sure I'm okay."
"Sounds good. I'll be 'heading home' before she gets here, don't worry." He winks at me, quoting what he overheard me say to my Mother. I did not want to introduce my mother to soulfinder I'd denied having this evening, or any evening for that matter. "But I'll be able to ring Mrs Anderson for a chat whenever I like. We can get to know each other over the phone I'm sure."
"Oh really? And just how are you going to do that?" He waved his phone at me.
"I've got it saved in here." Drat. I'd forgotten that he'd be able to keep the number once I'd used it.
"You wouldn't!"
"It's an excellent blackmailing tool. I'm sure we could have some very interesting conversations." He said with a wink, and I groaned in response.
"Surely I should get your Mum's number, then? That only seems fair. That way I can get some dirt on you."
"Keen aren't we Alexis? Look, I would give you my Mom's number, but I don't know what you'd do with it. We both know you've got a thing for her: eyeing her up at the convention, wanting to send her lingerie, and now not too subtly asking for her number! If I didn't know better I'd say you were a stalker!" I leaned over the table and slapped him playfully on the arm for that one. I swear that lie was something he was never going to let me forget.
"You're just jealous that your Mum's better looking than you." I said, watching his chest puff out in response.
"Hey, I'll have you know I'm actually the best looking one in my family." I believed him. Boy, I wholeheartedly believed him- he was genetically blessed. If any of his family looked anything like him then they'd be able to send women across the globe into a hot flush, not that I'd tell him that. His head wouldn't fit through the door if I did.
"Yeah, yeah. That's what you tell yourself to help you get to sleep at night." I teased. He harrumphed indignantly at that.
"Fine, I'll prove it." He said, moving so that he was sat next to me, beginning to flick through his photo album on his phone, stopping on a group picture.
"Is this your family?" I asked, gawping. There were hundreds of them!
"Yeah, I'm one of seven brothers."
"Seven?" I shrieked. "Your poor mother had to deal with seven of you? My God, my mum complains that having to look after three kids was bad."
"Yeah, we're a pretty big family. Mum sometimes did get overwhelmed by the testosterone, but it's evened out now they've all found their soulfinders." I gazed down at the picture- they were all gorgeous, there wasn't a dud amongst them.
"Okay, who's who? Talk me through."
"Sure. Right, these are my parents Saul and Karla." I recognised them both immediately. His Mum was definitely the lady I'd pretended to have a crush on at the convention.
"Hey, was your Dad part of the security team at the convention?"
"Yeah, that's him. My company was in charge of security for the event. Dad has a gift for sensing danger- it's where I get my gift from, I guess." I nodded. That made sense- surely being able to sense danger was ideal for if you wanted to set up your own security system.
"Were all your family at the convention?" I remembered seeing Saul, Karla, Yves,and his soulfinder, but I didn't think I'd spotted anybody else from the family.
"We were all helping out, so you might have bumped into us, although most of us were behind the scenes, apart from me, so you might not have seen us. Here, I'll talk you through from the top. This is my oldest brother Trace." He zoomed in on part of the photograph to reveal a man with his arms wrapped around a woman holding a baby. Both were grinning broadly into the camera. "That's his soulfinder, Diamond, and their baby girl Delilah."
"She's precious." I said, looking at the cherubic little girl.
"She's got everyone wrapped around her little finger." Will explained with a smile. Mind, it was hardly surprising considering she had a supermodel for a mother.
"This is Uriel and his fiancé Tess." He zoomed in on another extremely good looking couple, who were too engrossed in each other to pay too much attention to the camera.
"Next to them we've got Victor and his wife Aurora. She's the polar opposite of the disney princess Aurora, mind, and we all call her Rory. Then there's me." He scrolled over to himself, looking effortlessly gorgeous as always, although the absence of a female by his side made him stand out amongst all the over loved up couples.
"I'm the middle child, so after that there's my three younger brothers and their soulfinders. There's Xav and Crystal- he's the one I spoke to on the phone, and Crystal's the soulseeker making all the matches at the convention. Yves and Phoenix you already met." He was right, Phoenix was the girl that took my information, and was who Alice went with to talk about Dragon. "Finally there's my youngest brother, Zed and his girlfriend Sky."
"I think I met Zed and Sky actually. Was she part of the security? He was looking after her after the argument outside."
"Yeah, that would be them. Zed's fiercely protective of Sky, and that little incident nearly pushed him over the edge." Yeah, I'd definitely seen that at the convention- he'd been furious. "Sky can see when someone's telling a lie- an easy way of seeing if someone's about to cause trouble."
"Oh, so that's what she meant about me turning yellow!" Her comment at the convention made much more sense now I knew what her gift was.
"Yellow's for lies I think. She says your aura changes, so don't worry, you won't be turning into a canary anytime soon if that's what you were worried about." He ruffled my hair playfully.
"So that's the Benedict clan, then?"
"Yep, that's us."
"I don't know how I'd manage to remember everyone's names!"
"Oh, that's easy. We're in alphabetical order."
"Really?"
"Mum had a strange fascination with the alphabet. T for Trace, U for Uri, V for Vic, W for the most handsome man you'll ever meet-"
"And most egotistical" I butted in.
"Yes, that too." He admitted. "X for Xav, Y for Yves and Z for Zed."
"Wow. Did your Mum always plan on having seven of you from the start, then? I mean, she couldn't start the pattern, and not see it through to the end, could she?"
"I don't know, I've never really thought about it. I suppose that's another reason why, conventionally, people would think to begin at the start of the alphabet." I hummed in understanding.
"Will, I hate to break it to you, but there's nothing conventional about using the alphabet to name your kids." He laughed at that. "Are all the couples soulfinders?" I asked, looking back at the photo.
"Yeah, all of them. They all managed to find one another without the convention, apart from Uri and I. Uri found Tess last year in Syndney. I thought I would have found you there once it was made mandatory. Didn't you go to the Syndney convention?"
"No, I didn't. This year was my first. I had a really bad case of the flu, and I couldn't make it. I was bed-ridden for a week; it was awful." He nodded at that.
"So what about your family?"
"Well, we're tiny compared to your family, that's for sure! And our names aren't half as cool as yours." He grinned at that.
"I got lucky with Will- it's the most normal out of the bunch." I had to agree with him there- I'd never even heard of the name Uriel before.
"Are you a Will or a William, though?"
"Officially I'm a William, but no one's ever called me that. I didn't even know I had the 'iam' bit until I went to Kindergarten and they told me my name wasn't just Will." I laughed at that, imagining Will as a child, perplexed by the name he'd never know he'd had. "So what about your family?"
"There's not much to tell, really. I'm one of three, and I'm the middle child like you. My parents are soulfinders, my older brother Jack met his soulfinder, Savannah at the convention in Vienna a couple of years ago, and you know Alice already- I'm sure she's filled you in on me." He blushed at that.
"There was only so much information I could get from the records we keep at the Net, and she was willing to help."
"You went through my records?" I asked, watching him squirm uncomfortably.
"Well, yeah. You ran off in the middle of the convention, and all I knew was that your name was Mary! After I lost you I went back to the convention to try and work out who you were, but there were no Mary's on record under the age of forty, but then I met your sister. I almost mistook her for you initially." He blushed. That happened a lot- people getting me and Alice mixed up, not the blushing. We almost always got mistaken for twins. "She explained who you were, why you'd ran off, and told me to leave you for a while until you'd cooled off. But I couldn't wait for that, so I looked up your address and got the first plane out here. You know the rest." Indeed I did.
"So what else do you know about me then, William?" I asked, taking great delight in using his full name.
"Not much, really. Just that you're an elementary school teacher, you went to University in Sheffield, you have a pet dog called Monty and your gift is persuasion, which is what you used on me at the convention."
"Oh, so not a lot then?" I asked, incredulous. I'd had no idea that the Net had such thorough records- I thought they only knew my name and date of birth! He squirmed a little at that.
"Not all that much, I guess." He hedged. "Only that and what Alice told me."
"Alright, stalker. You'll have to fill me in on you. It seems unfair that you know what seems like my life story, and I know relatively little about you."
"There's not much to know, to be honest. My full name's William Joseph Benedict and I'm from Wrickenwridge in Colorado. I went to university in Denver, majoring in computing, and since graduating I've set up Benedict Security, which is based in Denver, but I'm pretty flexible." That explained why Will had to fly home, and also why he was able to come and visit me so frequently. As the founder of the company he had greater freedom than his employees, and he was able to exploit it.
My phone then dinged from across the room. Thankfully, it hadn't been damaged, even though it had been soaked after being in my pocket this afternoon. Thank goodness I'd invested in a water-proof case! I may have thought it pricey at the time, but it was definitely cheaper than buying a new phone, as this afternoon proved.
"That's probably my Mum." I said, glancing across the room to where it was sat on charge.
"I'll get it." Will said, rising from his seat and striding to get it for me. He passed it over to me, and I read the message.
Just leaving the hospital now. I'll be over in about half an hour x
"Yeah, it's Mum. She says she's on her way, and that she'll be here in half an hour." Wow, the time had really flown by whilst we were chatting.
"Right. I'll make myself scarce. Will you be okay while you wait for her?"
"I'll be fine. Thank you for everything, Will"
"I'd do anything for you, you're my soulfinder" He kissed me on the forehead softly. "Will you text me when your mum gets here so I know you're safe? I nodded.
"Are you okay to get back. Wait, where are you even staying? Do you have anywhere to stay?" I wasn't about to turf him out onto the street.
"I'm staying at the Hilton in Derby, it's not too far away from here- I'll call a cab." Of course he was staying at the most expensive hotel in the neighbourhood; he was a Benedict.
"Okay, cool." He began to pick up his belongings that weren't absolutely soaked- the rest were in a pile by the washing machine . I'd put them all through when I was a bit more mobile, and give them back to him when I next saw him.
"Will you ring me tonight to tell me what your mum makes of your ankle? I just want to make sure it's okay."
"Sure." I promised him, watching as he slipped his trainers on. "I don't know what time, it'll be, but I will." It was creeping towards eight now- we'd been talking for hours.
"Thanks- don't worry about the time, I'm still a bit jet-lagged, and I won't be able to sleep until I know." I smiled at him, he was so sweet. He opened the door to let himself out. "Night Alexis, take care."
"You too" he replied. And with that, my saviour was gone.
Please leave a review to tell me what you thought! If I hit 145 reviews I'll put chapter 22 up tonight, as I'm already half way through writing it. Also, I want your opinions: would you rather I update Will's POV of Challenging Alexis, so it's at the same point as this one, or keep up with/ finish Challenging Alexis first? Do let me know! X