CHAPTER THIRTEEN
NATHAN'S POV
The first Collins I met was Christina Collins, Richard's wife. From what I knew, she was the one that took care of hiring the "service people", like she called it. The first thing I learned from her was that she was a very strict, stuck up woman. I didn't expect anything else. I had worked with wealthy families before and the wife was almost always the very stuck up one. I didn't blame her. It must be hard not to become stuck up when you suddenly had so much money.
"You must always remember that you are here to protect, and nothing else," she had told me that day as I sat on the chair of her husband's office and she walked in circles around me as if waiting for me to do something inappropriate.
I nodded. "Of course, ma'am."
"You will be under my watch for the first few weeks, don't think your job is secure here." She gave me a hard look with her blue eyes. "I will be watching."
I didn't know what to say so I just nodded again. I was assigned to be her bodyguard for that whole week and it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She tried to make my life impossible by giving me endless orders, sometimes I felt more like a slave rather than her bodyguard. But I had worked with her type so I was able to surpass it and just hoped they would change me to another family member.
In that first week, I met Nicholas Collins, second to oldest, and his wife, Rachel who was the most humbled, at least to the workers. She even cooked for everyone sometimes. She had always been really nice. I also met Derek, once. I just saw him. Word was that he was always traveling, being a really famous model, he lived in Paris. I also met Colton, who lived in the mansion with everyone else back then. He was engaged and seemed very happy with her.
On the Sunday, exactly a week after my first day, I was called into the office by Mr. Richard Collins himself. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Who didn't get nervous when you get called into your boss's office? Richard was a big, important looking man. He was sitting behind the desk with a laptop opened in front of him, and he was talking on the phone when I walked in. He was busy promoting his new movie back then so I hadn't met him until that day.
I was standing up with my hands clasped in front of me, waiting.
"Sorry about that," Richard said as he hung up. "It's Nathan, right?"
I nodded.
"Please take a seat," he said waving to the chair in front of him. I took a seat and waited for him to continue. "Word is that you were in the army, is that correct?"
I had not put that in my resume so I was quite surprised when he mentioned that. I guess they really did the whole background check really well. I nodded. "Yes, sir."
He smiled, a warm smile you wouldn't expect from such a powerful man. "My respect goes to you."
I smiled at him. "Thank you, sir."
He looked at me, thoughtfully. "I have a daughter, my youngest, have you met her?"
I shook my head. "No, sir."
"Hannah," he smiled. "She is my baby girl, my most beautiful treasure. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to her. Do you understand?"
I half smiled. "I do, yes."
"I want you to become her protector." He sighed. "Recently, the cameras have been following her everywhere. I know I can't do anything about that but I need to protect her. I don't want anything to happen to her. I believe that you are suitable for the job. Am I wrong to believe so?"
I shook my head. "No, sir. My interest is to keep your family safe."
"From now on, your interest will be to keep Hannah safe. You will not leave her side. You do anything to keep her safe, do you understand?"
"I do."
He smiled at me. "I knew you were my guy. Now, she is outside in the garden, why don't you go meet her?"
I stood up. "Of course."
"Thank you."
I nodded at him before walking out the door. As I was walking out, I realized that I had no idea how old she was, was it a little girl? What if she's a little rebel? I decided that it didn't matter who she was. She was my responsibility starting today.
"Nathan!"
I stopped and turned around. Robin, the head of bodyguards and also my friend, was walking now towards me. "What happened? You in trouble?"
I shook my head. "No. He assigned me to his daughter? Hannah? Do you know her?"
He nodded with a smile. "Of course I know her. She is a really sweet girl. You have nothing to worry about."
I sighed in relief. "Alright. That's good. I'm gonna go find her."
"Alright, man."
I headed outside where it was cold and it made me wonder why she would be outside with this weather. I found her sitting under a tree with a blanket underneath her. She had her knees up where she rested a sketching book. She had a pencil in her right hand and she was drawing something. She had long, brown wavy hair and fair skin. And she was wearing jeans with an oversized sweater. She looked comfy.
As I walked up to her, I was hesitant to interrupt her. She looked so concentrated in whatever she was writing, but before I could turn around, she looked up and gazed at me with a confused look on her big, brown eyes.
She seemed to be 18 or 19 but I wasn't sure.
"Hi," I say awkwardly waving. "I am Nathan."
She smiled at me and I immediately saw the resemblance between her and her father. She looked nothing like her mom, not in the appearance and not in the way she treated people, I knew that instantly. "Hello, Nathan."
I smiled. "Your father he um-"
She nodded. "He told me. I appreciate you coming to meet me but I'm not going out today so you can do something else."
I took a step forward. "I have strict instructions to not leave your side. So I will stay here, with you."
She shrugged. "Suit yourself." She said then got back to her sketching.
I leaned against the tree, behind her. She had some Doritos open and a water bottle as well, and some other pencils. I looked over her shoulder and realized that she was designing a dress or at least that's what it looked like. This girl could draw. She had a ring in her fourth finger and I wondered if she had a boyfriend. Then I stopped thinking about that because that was none of my business.
As I got to know Hannah, I was more amazed by how amazing she was. She was so unlike all the other people I've worked for. The other people, I protected because it was simply my job but Hannah- Hannah I actually wanted to protect. We never had conversations. The only way I got to know her was by always being with her. She was just a calm girl that loved coffee and reading. She laughed for everything-that was just who she was. And she always had a book in her hand. Romance books. Lots and lots of books.
And I found that fascinating. She was just so passionate about what she liked and that was proved when she asked out the boy she liked.
It bothered me when she started dating him. Not because I was jealous or anything but because she was the one who always asked him out on dates. It bothered me because she deserved so much more but she was too in love to see it.
I never said a word.
I had enough experience in this job to know to not get in business that were not mine. I was just her bodyguard. I was just there to protect her. Knowing what happened in her life was just a bonus.
It wasn't easy seeing her cry for him. Seeing her get broken to pieces. I could tell that it was either she was really in love with him. One day, about two weeks after they broke up, I was driving her back to her house when she was looking out the window and then she started crying out of nowhere. It was so painful to watch. I parked the car and just waited in silence until she stopped crying.
"Are you alright?" I asked softly when she seemed to stop.
That just made her cry all over again.
I had never seen her cry. I preferred the happy Hannah so much better. It was that very next day when she ordered me to take her to that bar and where she kissed me. We had rarely spoken for that whole year and then she kisses me. Of course, I knew that it was because she was heartbroken and she was drunk. It was after that when she asked her dad to change her bodyguard and I tried not to care. I knew she was embarrassed and that she felt bad but all those five months that she spent ignoring me sucked because she didn't remember the other thing that happened that night. And all this time I've wondered myself. Did I like her? That wasn't allowed. I wasn't allowed to do that. It was against the rules. And then I thought about how ridiculous I was being because she obviously didn't like me. Not that way.
I tried to convince myself that I didn't care she had changed her bodyguard. That I didn't care she ignored me all those five months. It was hard to do that when I kept replaying that kiss in my head. I kept replaying her laugh- her smile. There were many times that I stopped myself from talking to her-just to tell her that it was okay that she kissed me-that she shouldn't be embarrassed.
Because what she didn't remember was that I didn't have a single drink that night and I kissed her back.