Hate To Love You || Charles Leclerc x OFC

Chapter 6: The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

Lily POV

I woke up the next morning to the ringing of my cell phone. With my eyes still groggy with sleep, I turned over and groaned, reaching over to the bedside table as I fumbled for the device. The phone stopped as soon as I grabbed it, and I sighed in relief, hoping that whoever was on the other end of the phone call had realized that it was still the morning, although I knew I should already be awake.

As soon as the ringing stopped, my mind wandered back to last night, and the horror of what I had done settled on my chest. I'd done what I had promised I would never do again – I'd ended up back in bed with Charles fucking Leclerc. Charles had once again dragged me back under his spell, and just like last time, he had managed to leave me feeling as if I was trash in the gutter just by one look on his face.

Regret.

Charles had regretted me the last time we had traveled down that road, and I knew he regretted me this time. As much as I wanted to tell myself that I didn't care about how Charles Leclerc felt about me, I knew deep inside my soul that it wasn't true, especially not when that feeling was regret.

I looked at my phone and immediately went to open Instagram, but before I could open the app my phone rang again, and Georgia Dubois's name flashed on the phone's screen.

What on earth did Georgia want with me on a morning after a night out?

"Georgia... I feel like the pre-season debrief could wait until we're back at the office, hmm?"

"Lily, I need you to come to my room, now. Floor 15, room 1568." There was urgency in her voice, urgency and something else., something that sounded like panic.

"... Now as in... now now?"

"See you in five." Before I could protest, Georgia hung up the phone. I looked at the clock - 10:10 a.m., which meant the hallways would be fairly empty since most guests had either left on early flights or were still hungover in their rooms. I threw on some clothes and made my way up to Georgia's floor, which was of course much higher up than mine.

No expense spared when it comes to Ferrari and their drivers, I scoffed to myself. The Mercedes F1 team was known for its cost savings when it came to hotels and drivers. Lewis used to always complain that as a 7x World Champion, he was lucky to get a suite when it came to Toto and Mercedes' purse strings.

I headed straight to the room that Georgia had texted me and knocked on the door. It was as if Georgia had been standing there waiting for me, because she opened it on the second knock, causing me to fall forward, only to catch myself on the coat rack that had been placed right next to the door.

"Jesus, Georgie..." I grunted, shaking off the small moment of shock as I walked into the room. Seated on the couch was her fiance Carlos, who just nodded my way as he kept his eyes on the TV, glued to the Real Madrid game going on in the background.

Georgia motioned for me to take a seat, which I obliged as Carlos immediately lowered the volume of the television, finally turning to face me and Georgia. As soon as Carlos looked at me, I felt dread take over my entire body. Carlos was always so happy-go-lucky – and I likened him to a golden retriever, barely anything got him down, but the solemn nature of his face told me exactly why I was here.

"Is someone going to tell me what is going on?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had settled between the three of us. I could see that Georgia was trying to find her words.

"So... after the pre-season party last night, what did you do?" Georgia finally asked, and I frowned, giving her a pointed look to let her know that I wasn't thrilled with her nosy question.