CHAPTER SIX
If there was one thing William really hated, it was waking up in the hospital. It was just one of those things that always drove him just a little bit crazy.
Maybe it was the sound of beeping machinery. Maybe it was the scratchy feel of rough cotton sheets. Or maybe it was the smell, that astringent medicine smell that always made his skin creep.
He’d spent way too much time in hospitals to ever be comfortable in them.
William opened his puffy eyes to a world of blurs and color. They’d removed his contact lenses, which made it hard for him to see, but considering the soreness of his cheeks and eye sockets, he figured he had black eyes as well
“S’cks,” he said.
“What was that?” Alan demanded, a head-shaped blob floating up over him. “Are you finally awake?”
William tried on a smile, though it hurt more than he would have ever thought. “‘M ‘wake,” he said. “W’at happ’ned?”
“You were in a car accident,” another voice said. Strong and male, with that odd hint of caring that only a doctor could have. “Do you remember what happened?”
William blinked a moment. He kind of remembered being in the car, but it felt like it was something that happened a long time ago. His one concern was, “Wh’re’s James? He okay?” He felt dread pooling in his belly.
“He’s fine,” Alan hastened to reassure. “He was a bit beat up — like you — but he’s okay.”
William sagged in relief. He hadn’t even realized he was drawing up all tight until then. “G’d,” he said. “I’ma sleep now.”
“Okay, you do that,” Alan said. He leaned over William, his face abruptly coming into blurry focus, and pressed a kiss against William’s forehead. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“‘Kay,” William said. His heavy eyelids fluttered closed. He just had time to wonder how Alan had gotten home so fast before he was sound asleep.
* * *
The second time he woke up, he realized that something must have been really wrong with him.
“Was I in a coma?” he asked. He was sitting up in bed, his head heavily bandaged, and from what Alan had said, shaved as well. He still felt a bit shaky and he had a hard time using his right arm, which was in a sling. Not quite broken, but close enough that it twinged every time he forgot and tried to use it.
Alan gave him a look that was like a silent scream. “Yeah, you were.”
“For how long?” William asked.
Alan drew in a quavering breath. “For close to three months.”
William’s mouth fell open in shock and it took an effort on his part to shut it. “I missed the wedding,” he said dumbly.
“You almost died!” Alan cried, shaking his head. He picked up William’s left hand and held it like it was something precious, like William was something precious. “For a while there, they were seriously thinking you weren’t ever going to wake up. Then there was talk that when you did wake up, you might just be a vegetable.”
“Wow,” William said, blinking. He’d been pretty close to death a few times before, but from Alan’s face, this time must have been pretty serious.
“So you can understand if I’m not too upset that we missed our wedding,” Alan said. “I’m just glad that you’re alive.” He pressed a kiss against William’s fingers and it seemed almost as though he was planning on never letting go of his hand.
“I’m glad I’m alive too,” William said. “I’m sorry I scared you so bad.”
There were tears in Alan’s eyes when he carefully wrapped his arms around William and hugged him. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m just glad you’re still alive.”
William pressed his cheek against Alan’s and closed his eyes.
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There was just something so jarring about realizing that he’d lost nearly three months of his life. Not only were all his projects pushed back, but he’d also missed the wedding, and even though Alan said it was okay… William knew that it wasn’t okay.
His arm ached deep down to the bone and he felt incredibly weak, but he had RJ bring him a secure laptop as soon as the doctor stopped threatening to take it away.
“So, what happened?” William asked.
“It was very sudden,” James said. “The guy jumped the light and struck us, so at first it was assumed that he was drunk or something.”
“But?” William didn’t even glance up, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
“Things smell to me,” James said. “He had terminal brain cancer and was worried about leaving his family destitute. A week before the ‘accident,’ two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was deposited into his bank account.”
William whistled, his eyes locked on the screen. His mind was whirring away a thousand miles a minute. “Who hired him for the murder-suicide by out of control truck?
“That’s what I’m still trying to figure out,” James said.
William finally looked up at him. James had been awkward around him from the moment he’d woken up. He’d tried to assure the bodyguard that it hadn’t in any way been his fault, but James still insisted on walking around with a pair of tragic eyes. It was getting to the point of ridiculousness.
“Hire some people, move some people around, do whatever you need to do,” William said. “Just don’t tell Alan that it was a deliberate assassination attempt.” He shook his head. “He gets so upset about that kind of thing.”
“And it’s kind of upsetting that you don’t,” James said.
“I try to,” William said. “I know that I would be very upset if anyone ever tried to hurt Alan, but for myself… it’s just one of those things where I just don’t see the reason to let myself get too upset. I mean, you’re always there to protect me, right?” He smiled.
James snorted. “I was right there with you, and you still almost died.” His hands clenched tight on his phone; the plastic creaked in protest. “When I figure out who tried to kill us, I’m going to make them wish they were never born.”
“Yeah, you do that,” William said, going back to his computer. He was using the time when he wasn’t allowed to leave the house to flesh out his idea for a neural implant. The only problem he had so far was figuring out what kind of carrier wave the interface was going to use — there was no way a human brain would be able to survive a direct connection to the internet as it was. Which meant he was going to have to come up with a completely new technology.
“That’s all you’re going to say?” James said, quirking an eyebrow.
“I trust you,” William said. He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how he was supposed to make installation of the interface as painless as possible. He highly doubted that people were going to want to use something that required invasive brain surgery — not only would the cost be prohibitive, but people were rightly afraid of the idea of drills coming anywhere near their skulls. “Are you going to hire that one guy you were talking about?”
“Who, Byron?” James asked.
“Yeah, him. You were saying you wanted to take him on for training.”
“He is really very bright,” James said musingly. “It would be a real waste if we just let him get away from us.”
“So call him already,” William said. “We’re probably getting to the point where I’m going to need two personal bodyguards, right?”
“You do seem to have a lot of life or death situations pop up unexpectedly,” James said musingly.
William gasped and gave him a wounded look. “That is totally not my fault. I don’t think I really do anything that gets anyone so riled up that they seriously have to kill me. I just think that I’m surrounded by a bunch of people that take things much too seriously.”
“Yeah, but that won’t stop someone from managing to end you one day,” James said. “I’ll call Byron and have him come in for an appointment.”
“Coolios. I’m going to go back to doing this, okay?”
James waved a distracted hand at him, already dialing his phone. “Yeah, you do that.” He started walking toward the door.
William stayed looking at his computer screen, but a slight smile curved his lips.
James had been driving himself crazy with guilt over the whole “William was almost killed thing.” But now that he had a project to take his mind off of things, he would manage to get himself back together. And that was really all William wanted: for things to go back to the way they had been.
He hated the fact that Alan was tiptoeing around him and acting like he could shatter at any moment. He knew he wasn’t delicate, but Alan was running scared and it was completely messing everything up.
* * *
Byron Hughes was a handsome young man that still had a half-finished look to his face; age would turn him into someone extremely eye-catching. He was wearing a black suit with a blue and gray striped tie. William thought that maybe he’d gone out and gotten himself a new haircut just for the occasion, which was actually pretty funny.
He stood in front of William, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. His hands were behind his back and William thought he was probably wringing his fingers together nervously.
“It’s okay to relax, you know, I haven’t killed and eaten anyone for the last week,” William said, quirking his lips.
Byron blinked at him quickly, then gave a bark of laughter. His shoulders loosened a little, though he still looked as though he were about to pee his pants. “Sorry I’m so tense,” he said. “It’s just that I really want this job.”
“I don’t know why you’re so worried.” William raked a hand through his hair. “You do realize that James has already given you the job, right?”
“I… I know that.” Byron licked his lips. “You’re still the boss though, so I figure that if you take a dislike to me I’ll end up out on the street.”
William snorted. “I don’t know why everyone wants to think that I’m some kind of ogre or something.” He waved toward one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Sit down, relax a little. I promise not to bite you.”
Byron hurriedly sat down, his back ramrod straight. It wasn’t like he was sweating or anything, but it was obvious that he was incredibly nervous. He honestly looked as though he thought William was going to attack him at any moment.
William glanced at James, who was leaning against the wall next to the door. The bodyguard rolled his eyes as though to say, “I told him to relax.”
“So, what exactly do you think you’ll get out of working for CyberAngel Industries?” William asked. He hated having to be professional, but job interviews were pretty much one of those times when he just couldn’t weasel his way out of it.
“I’ve only heard great things about CyberAngel Industries, and everyone I’ve talked to has said that your company offers some great opportunities for personal advancement.”
“What exactly does that mean?” William raised his eyebrows.
“Well, you offer additional schooling for those that need it. Your employment packages are great. And it seems as though everyone that works here ends up better for it in some way.” Byron tilted his chin. “It just seems as though your company is offering everything I’m looking for, and I would be really proud to be a part of it.”
“Huh.” William rubbed his chin. “You’re really enthusiastic about working with James, and I think I don’t mind the idea of you being one of my personal bodyguards.”
He looked at James. “You better get this guy right into training. We don’t want to waste someone with that much passion.”
“Will do,” James said.
Byron gave a disbelieving grin. “Does that mean I’m hired?”
“Go with James and he’ll take you to HR to finish up the last bits of paperwork.” William picked up a blue gel pen and pulled a pad of paper closer to himself. He had some ideas he really wanted to work out while he had a chance. “If you do as well as James says you would, you’ll be following me around pretty soonish.”
“Come on,” James said, pushing away from the wall. “I’ll give you a guided tour.”
Byron started to follow him, then turned back to say quickly, “Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”
William waved his hand. “Yes, yes, you’re welcome.”
He watched Byron hurry after James and had to smile a little. There was something so funny about a grown man acting like a gosling with its mother. He figured it was going to be good for both Byron and James.
William shook his head and began drawing a rough sketch of his idea for a new kind of helicopter on the pad of paper. He’d already thought up the name “Dragonfly” and his mind was buzzing away with what he hoped were good ideas.
He couldn’t wait until Alan finally relented and let him back in the lab.
It seemed that since the accident, Alan had become pretty paranoid about the idea of William getting hurt. So until his arm didn’t twinge with pain when he tried to pick up anything heavier than two pounds, Alan had told him he wasn’t allowed in the lab.
William might have objected, but there was a haunted look in Alan’s eyes that he really didn’t like. So if his staying safe and sound took that look away… well, he was out of the lab for the next couple of weeks.
At least the office people were happy he was getting caught up on his paperwork. They’d been harping on him for months even before the whole coma thing. There was even some big talk about him getting a personal assistant, but he’d been resisting pretty hard.
He just didn’t like the idea of someone he didn’t really trust getting involved with nearly all aspects of his life. Maybe if it was someone he trusted… but there currently wasn’t anyone on staff like that, so he was stuck doing everything himself.
“My life is pain,” he said out loud, then had to laugh at the ridiculousness.
He went back to playing with his idea.
* * *
Coming home was like walking into a military headquarter in the midst of a war or something. There were people running in and out, white boards lined the walls, and he usually ended up getting yelled at for something he didn’t do.
The date of the wedding had been set back, and now the plans were in full swing.
The only silver lining about the whole thing was the fact that he didn’t have to do anything. Alan’s staffers were handling everything and all William had to do was sign the checks at the end of the day. He was pretty all right with that.
“So, how was your day?” he asked, wandering over to the couch Alan was sitting on. The young staffer sitting there didn’t even hesitate to leap up and out of the way.
Alan turned to give him a tired grin. “Seems to be going okay. I’ve got a session on Wednesday, and there’s some data for me to go over, but that’s all workday stuff. Honestly, I think I’m doing okay. What about you?”
William shrugged. “I’ve come up with a couple of plans that are just about ready for the lab. I’ve caught up with about twenty years worth of paperwork, which has made my people totally love me. Oh, and James hired himself a new slave.”
“‘Twenty years worth of paperwork?'” Alan raised his eyebrows comically.
“That’s what it feels like anyway,” William said. “It seems like every time I’m nearly caught up, I come in to find another stack of paperwork piled up on my desk. I don’t think it’s fair.”
“It’s part of running a big company,” Alan said. “Thousands of people depend on you for their paychecks.”
William reached out to lift Alan’s arm up so he could snuggle close against his side. Alan settled his arm around his shoulder. “Life is hard,” William sighed.
Alan pressed a kiss against the top of his head. “And that’s with your super genius IQ. Just think how things might be if you were just one of us normal people.”
William laughed. “Who ever said you were normal? You’re special to me.”
They sat there for a long moment, just enjoying the peace. Around them, staffers were still being ordered around by the rather militant wedding planner Alan’s assistant had dug up from somewhere. The sound of her voice barking out orders should have been grating on the nerves, but William chose to ignore her.
“What do you think about Chinese food?” William asked.
“I think that, considering your diet, it’s a wonder you’re not hugely overweight,” Alan said.
William lifted his head to mock-glare at him. “Don’t knock the Chinese food. I’ve been craving lo-mein all day.”
“So you ate some for lunch, didn’t you?” Alan raised his eyebrows.
“Whatever,” William said, “I want it again. Can you call that place I like?”
Alan gave a weary sigh, but dug his phone out of his pocket. “At some point, you’re going to have to learn how to order your takeout food on your own.”
“That’s what I keep you around for,” William said.
Alan dialed and held the phone against his ear. “I just don’t like the thought of going out of town for a few days, then coming back to find you starved or something.”
“Please,” William rolled his eyes, “if things got that desperate, I have people that cook food for me. And by the way, you should order dinner for all these people. They look like they’ve been worked to the bone and probably need some kind of sustenance.”
“On it,” Alan said.
William listened to him order enough food to feed a small country, his voice a soothing murmur in William’s ears. They had accounts set up with their favorite restaurants, so they never had to bother with digging out the credit cards or anything. The convenience factor alone made it worth the effort.
At the end of the month, the restaurants sent him a bill and he had the accountants pay them off. So far, none of them seemed to have tried to scam him or anything, so he considered it a win.
“There,” Alan hung up his phone, “the food should be on the way.”
“Awesome,” William said. He was starving, since he’d missed lunch again. It was just something that always seemed to get away from him.
Food was nothing in the face of scientific genius.
Fifteen people all sitting around eating Chinese food. It gave William an odd, warm feeling of family. It wasn’t the kind of thing he’d experienced since he was a kid.
He loved his mother more than anything, but she was one of those people that never should have had kids. She was more of a friend than a parent, and it showed in the way she’d cared for him.
She’d always tried her best, but everything was just a little out of sync with her. As a result, he’d missed out on a lot of the things other kids took for granted. He hadn’t realized he was missing out at the time, but it was just one of those things.
She simply hadn’t known how to deal with a child. So it was kind of lucky that he’d learned at such a young age not to act like a child.
He’d pretty much raised himself, and he hadn’t seen anything wrong with that at the time. It had just seemed perfectly natural to him — having to cook his own meals and wash his own laundry and tuck himself in at night. That was the way of the world and he had never once just thought “Hey, something here isn’t right. Life with my Mom isn’t like it is on TV shows like, at all. So either TV is lying to me about how life is supposed to be, or my Mom…” Nothing like that ever happened. He’d just thought, “All families are different.”
Sometimes he thought that maybe he should be mad at her for how she raised him, but then he couldn’t help thinking that it was a tough childhood that had made him into the person he was today. So if none of that stuff had happened… would he still be the same person, or would he have lived some completely different kind of life?
Glancing at Alan out of the corner of his eye while he still saw all the people filling their living room in a rough semi-circle around the couch, he thought that he was feeling what real family was like. It was a heady sensation that had him wondering how people could even stand to have it burning them up inside all the time.
William stirred hot garlic chili sauce all through his lo-mein noodles. He liked his food a little spicy so hot sauce was usually the very first thing he reached for at the dinner table.
He tasted his noodles. Flavors burst across his tongue, every bite another piece of ecstasy thrumming all through him from the very center of his being. He was surrounded by voices laughing and talking and somewhere in the background he thought he heard a dog (Kudos) barking, but it seemed a very far away thing.
William pressed a hand against his chest. His heart was beating so fast he thought it might just burst out through his ribcage. It would be a gigantic mess for Alan to clean up.
Without even realizing when he started, he found himself listening to his voice laugh. It felt like it wasn’t coming out of him at all and he felt very distant from his body and all the lights in the room got very bright. It was like people and furniture were bathed in a spotlight that set a corona dancing around each of them. Their whole bodies were illuminated.
He wondered if it hurt to burn like that.
William turned his head to face Alan. His voice came out high and quavering, very weak sounding. “Alan, something’s wrong with me, Alan,” he said.
He wanted to reach out and smooth the worried frown from Alan’s face, but he was worried he would miss and poke him in the eye or something. He just couldn’t handle that kind of thing; he clasped his fingers tight together, feeling how the tips suddenly felt frozen and cold. In fact, his whole body went cold.
A sudden shiver went over his whole body and he couldn’t really explain it. The room wasn’t cold or anything and he didn’t think it was because of anything weird, it was just this sudden shiver that was actually so strong it overruled his self-control.
Then all of a sudden it wasn’t a shiver anymore… it was a seizure and he was on the floor surrounded by panicked people and his every muscle had decided to seize up all at once. It was frightening to have his body act on its own and to not be able to stop it. His limbs jerked and twitched and he could feel his muscles drawing tight under his skin.
There was the clamor of voices around him. He thought he heard Alan shouting, but his brain was so scrambled he couldn’t understand his words.
Tears trickled from his eyes and the heels of his feet thumped on the floor and his whole body jerked around. He could feel his heartbeat thudding through his whole chest, the sound thunderous in his head.
His heart beat louder until even in the midst of his seizure he opened his mouth wide in a silent scream.
It felt as though every nerve in his body was sent firing all at once. It was just this burst of sight and sound and pain that he couldn’t even stand it.
Everything shut down all at once.
/ CHAPTER
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