Forgotten Bodyguard

Chapter 1 - Lost & Found

      It must have taken a couple of hours to get to our destination, and the longer I was in the car, the worse I was feeling.

I shivered uncontrollably while sitting in the passenger seat, and James would look at me with a concerned expression on his face, checking my body temperature with the palm of his hand on my forehead every couple of minutes. He was holding the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white. I'm sure he was driving faster than the speed limit.
I was barely sitting up straight and my vision was hazy while I tried to keep conscious, but my whole body was aching. All the energy I had had left my body completely.

We finally arrived.

My saviour got out of the car and walked to open the car door on my side. He undid my seatbelt and scooped me up in his strong arms again. I don't know how he managed to hold me and unlock the door at the same time, of what I assumed was his house, but he held me so easily as if I weighed nothing, like a feather. When we got inside the house, James locked the front door and turned on the lights.
"Allie... I need you to take your clothes off." He demanded and hurried with me to the bathroom.
He placed me on the edge of the bath, holding me up with one hand and with the other he turned on the tap, filling the bath with water. He was kneeling down to do this. I looked down at him in a daze.

"You want me naked?"

Is all I could understand from his request. He cleared his throat and looked away for a second.

"Yes. You need to take a hot bath and get changed into dry clothes. Will you be able to do this yourself, or should I help you?" He said, looking directly into my eyes with determination. Oh my sweet Jesus, this man wants to help me get naked.

"I-I'll do it myself." I whispered. He nodded, and brushed his thumb on my cheek before getting up on his feet.
The bath now looked very inviting, full with warm water and lots of foam.

"I'll go find some clothes. Just get in the bath as soon as you can." He commanded. I felt like he wouldn't take no for an answer. He left the bathroom and closed the door, but I didn't think to lock it.

I noticed a mirror in front of the bathroom sink, and I hesitantly and weakly walked up to it to check my appearance. When I finally got the courage to look up, I regretted it straight away, only focusing on my dark hair which was a complete mess and I looked like a drenched rat.
I leaned into the mirror and looked at my ocean coloured eyes, slim nose and full lips, but all I could see was a dirty face.

I had a slim, petite figure with wide hips, but my face turned sour when I noticed how dirty my whole body looked, and all the scratches and dried blood I had everywhere. Oh God, this guy must think I look absolutely awful. I made a mental note to check my appearance the next day after I cleaned myself up and hopefully felt better. Still in front of the mirror, I took a step back and slowly started taking my clothes off.

I felt very sick, but I think the adrenaline was keeping me conscious. Is it weird that I wanted to see myself naked? After all, I didn't remember anything. I was curious. I managed to take all my clothes off and now, standing completely naked I watched my uncared for body with a grimace.

I must have been staring for a little while, but I didn't expect James to walk into the bathroom without knocking.
"So I brought some..." He quickly walked in staring at the neatly folded clothes in his hand, but when he looked up his lips parted and he gulped. He couldn't keep his gaze away until he realised he shouldn't be looking at me like that and he cleared his throat and looked away to the side. I covered all my most private parts with my hands as much as I could and was blushing furiously, but I didn't know what to say.
He avoided looking at me and placed some clothes on top of a bathroom countertop.
"I thought you were in the bath." He said calmly, looking away. I gulped and was surprised I had the courage to ask:

"Have you seen me naked before?" I almost whispered. This must have been a stupid question, because he brushed his hair back from frustration and sighed, left and slammed the door shut without looking back. I flinched at the sound. Okay. I guess I won't find out, but why did it make him mad?

With the last bit of my energy I slowly went into the bath and closed my eyes tightly as I felt all my cuts sting in contact with the warm water. When I got used to it, I felt like I was in heaven, yet after a while I felt myself losing consciousness when my body relaxed and everything came crashing down on me; the realisation of not knowing anything, or anyone apart from this man, the fact that I was exhausted, that I must have caught a really bad cold, because apparently I was wearing shorts when it was almost winter.

Nothing made sense.

My vision started going blurry and everything turned into darkness as I laid in the bath.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Allie? You've been there for a while. Are you angry at me? I'm sorry. Just let me know you're ok and I'll fuck off.'' James stood impatiently and then paced back and forth in front of the bathroom. He assumed she was scared. He must have scared her with the sudden outburst earlier.
"I'll have to come in if you don't answer me. Just say anything and I promise I'll go."

Still no answer. Something was wrong.
When he realised, he stormed into the bathroom and stopped for a moment in shock. Fear took over as he looked at the unconscious Allie. Her head was halfway in the water. He tried to compose himself for her sake, but he still felt frantic as he took her unconscious, naked body out of the water with his shaking hands.

He couldn't waste any more time, and he put her on a towel on the floor and kneeled next to her. He checked her breathing first, but she wasn't breathing.

He started CPR with chest compressions and alternated between them and rescue breaths.
"Allie, fucking come back to me please. Come back. I can't lose you." He said pleadingly, and just as he started another round of rescue breaths, she started coughing and wheezing as she sat up in shock. "It's okay. You're okay now." He said and closed his eyes in relief as he hugged her and stroked her hair for comfort, waiting for her breathing to return back to normal. He kissed her hair and sighed.

She slowly calmed down and turned her head towards his.
"Thank you." Allie whispered.

He nodded, and they both looked each other in the eyes, still hugging. Suddenly, Allie realised she was still naked and that James must have seen her whole body, yet again, but this time without her being able to hide anything with her hands. He did what he had to do, but she felt very embarrassed. And she also remembered how she felt his lips on hers as he was giving her rescue breaths earlier. It was too much to handle for one day with James. Though if not for him, Allie probably would have died.

"I-I want to...Can you please not look at me while I change into some clothes?" She said as quickly as she could and avoided eye contact, blushing.
"Oh. Right. I'll be waiting right outside." James said, and cleared his throat. He looked away and let go of Allie, stood up and walked out.
"Just hurry up so you can eat and drink something. I've got some medicine to bring that fever down." He shouted from outside.
She smiled bashfully to herself and got dressed in his oversized clothing that he placed earlier on the bathroom counter.

And that's how the first day of Allison's life - that she'll remember - has unfolded.

Rewritten on 07/12/22 <3