Unwilling To Hate You (MAJOR EDITING)

8

Camilla's POV

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I couldn't believe that the woman who had been following me around was Enrico's daughter. No wonder I saw the similarities. And yes, I know what you're thinking. I did think that he was handsome, he was very good looking for his age, but Charlie was gorgeous. I felt calm with her. And even though I knew I wasn't gay, I never want to be gay, I couldn't help but admire her beauty. Her edge. She was powerful and you couldn't half feel it.

I expected more when she took my shirt off, it was kind of a blow towards my self confidence at her lack of response at me standing half naked in front of her. But she was my bodyguard, it didn't take a genius to come to that conclusion, and that was a line that I couldn't cross.

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Charlie's POV

I reached out and ran my fingers across her bare arm, leaving trails of goosebumps along the way. My eyebrow rose at this, but I quickly moved on.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."I tried to calm her heightened anxiety, it must still be having an affect from earlier. I ran my fingers up her neck, spotting a tiny mark, a tattoo, and she flinched.

"What, where does it hurt?" I asked, sternly. She looked down and her eyes started watering.

"It's okay, I don't need you to tell me." I said caressing her back to keep her warm.

"It's nothing, just sore from when I got it done." She lied, she was obviously lying, the way the ink had settled made it obvious that it wasn't a new tattoo, and the lack of redness too. But it wasn't the tattoo I was talking about, it was the foot long bruise that captured my attention.

"Okay, if you don't want to tell me you don't have to but don't lie, and at least let me check it out properly." She broke away from me and tilted her head, giving me a full view on the outline to a bruise that covered the front of her neck. I led her to the bathroom. "Take a shower, it might ease some of the pain, we'll take a look once you're out." I ushered her forward. She nodded and I shut the door on the way out. I let out a breath and then went and sat on the end of my bed.Who gave it her? Mike? Her father? No he's too respectful, he'd never hurt his own daughter. And Mike, I really couldn't see it being him, that's too obvious surely. From what I had gathered he only wanted sex, he seemed to lack patience but he didn't really have that about him, but I suppose you never really know anyone.

I was broken out of my thought by a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, getting ready to punch whoever was in here whilst I was trying to help Miss Henderson, but dropped my hand when I saw it was Miss Henderson herself.

"I'm so sorry." I breathed out.

"It's okay, are you going to check please, I need this out of the way." I think this hurt her much more than just physically. I pulled away and tilted her head with my hands, holding it so it didn't hurt her neck even more. The tattoo was clearly visible now, but the mark was separate, a scar, and yet it seemed to pain her because she knew it was there. It read, as clear as day, the number 17.

"Who hired you?" She asked.

"I'm not at liberty to tell you that." I said.

"My father. Of course, he always has been a little bit too cautious when it came to me. Jack always got off lightly. Wait you're Charlie?" She asked, confused.

"Yes?"

"You're Jack's Charlie."

"Yes."

"How is it that I've never seen you if you're Jack's best friend?"

"I suppose we just don't run in the same circles, you're a doctor, and me and Jack work in the same line of work. The two can cross but not often between me and you." I tried to explain, not really knowing why. I didn't have to explain anything. Underneath it was a huge purple bruise that spread from the the bottom of her left ear all the way to the right side of her collarbone. It was at this point I noticed she was just in a towel. I could feel my face heat up so I looked even closer to her neck. She stiffened and grabbed my arms for support.

"Sorry, I'll go and get you some ice, there's pants and socks in that drawer, then clothes in there, I'll be back in five" I said rushing out the door to get her ice. I practically fell down the stairs and nearly knocked Dad over as I came into the kitchen. "Fuck sake Dad, don't do that."I said, panting. He looked at me his eyebrow raised. "Spit it out already will you?" I asked him suspiciously, knowing he was holding something in.

"Be careful with how much you like her Charlie, an assignment is only supposed to be an assignment, don't get yourself caught up in something you can't handle, especially not a crush. It's not worth it."I flushed with embarrassment and rushed to the freezer to get ice. I walked straight passed his glare and rushed back up the stairs. I barged straight into my room and was met by the naked back of Miss Henderson.

"Oh fuck, I'm so sorry, I didn't even realise-." I mumbled on as slammed the door shut behind me. I heard a low chuckle and then the door opened. She was now wearing one of my jumpers, and some shorts that only just covered half of her thighs.

"Here." I said, holding the ice out for her. She grabbed it from me but didn't actually use it.

"What about your leg?" She questioned.

"Oh, I'll just put some alcohol on it and let it heal." I said, waving her off.

She shook her head and sternly said, "I'll do it." She left no room for denying her help as she moved to the bathroom, going through the cupboard trying to find what she needed. I followed her into the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the bath, waiting for her to turn back. She grabbed a few things from the cupboard, even latching on to the first aid kit too.

"You need to take your trousers off Charlie." She said, whilst opening up the first aid kit and sorting everything out in order that she'd use it in.

I was nervous, but not much. It was only my thigh. I unbuckled my belt and tugged it off, slowly bringing my trousers down my legs, going slower as it went past my thigh though. I winced in pain as the fabric brushed against the open wound positioned awkwardly on my leg. Miss Henderson moved closer, silently, as she helped carefully pull the rest of my trousers off, trying to avoid as much of my thigh as she could. My hands rested on the side of the bath as she took over. Once she had taken my trousers fully off, she inspected my leg.

"It looks painful, you should have said something as soon as we got here." She said, scolding me. She seemed to have forgotten about her own state and jumped straight into bothering about mine.

"I've had worse." I said, lowly. Her head shot up.
"Oh come on Miss Henderson, I do this for a living." I said, brushing her worry away. My breath was completely taken from me as her hand grabbed hold of my thigh, her other bringing the liquid to clean out the cut. It wasn't deep, but it was deep enough to need stitches. I seethed out as the liquid fell into my skin, stinging like an absolute BiAtCh. She grabbed a needle and poked it into my skin, slowly bringing it all together so the wound was no longer open. The sting was still there and I'm pretty sure that it'd leave quite the bruise, but at least now it wouldn't get infected. Miss Henderson made a move to tidy up but I motioned her away.

"No need, I'll just do it later." I said, moving out of the bathroom. She nodded and waited for me to say something more, as if feeling out of place.

"Right, I'll take you to your room." I said, softly.

"Okay." She said quietly. I led her to the guest room, allowing her to get comfy.

"I'll be downstairs tomorrow if you need me at any point but be aware that you won't get out of the first gate without me being notified. I can't allow you to go anywhere until we know you're safe." She nodded and made a move to get settled in the guest room's king size bed.Except I couldn't fall straight asleep. I was stationed outside of her room on a chair from my room for at least an hour before I went to bed, but her bruise held my thoughts, and the tattoo bothered me more. What was so significant about the number 17 that she had to have it leave a permanent mark on her body. Was it something related to one of her patients? Her family, what was it? What was the meaning behind it?

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