“Need to talk to you,” he says. “When you’re free. Meet me at the boat. Or the house. Please.”
“Everything okay? I’m heading to the boat. Is now good?”
He nods and turns toward the water. I look at Dahlia, eyes wide.
“You think he’s all right?” she asks.
“I better go find out. Doesn’t look too promising.”
I give her another quick kiss and hurry to the boat. When I get there, Tully is pacing on the shore.
“Hey, man.” I put my hand on his shoulder, and he startles. “Come on. We can take the boat out for a few minutes while you tell me what’s going on. You look like you need to decompress.”
He walks with me onto the boat and sits down. I sit next to him instead of starting the boat. He doesn’t look so good.
“She’s here,” he says, staring into space.
“Who’s here?”
When he doesn’t say anything, I try again.
“Tully, who’s here? What do you mean? Who is she?”
His eyes are glazed when he looks at me. “Lola Donavan. Here. At Windhaven. With Patrick Martin from the fucking Dallas Suns.”
“What? Are you sure it was her?”
“One hundred percent sure.”
“Did she see you?”
“No, I got the hell out of there. She was with Patrick Martin from the fucking Dallas Suns!” he repeats like I’m crazy for not getting it the first time.
“He’s a fucking menace out on the ice,” I say, feeling pretty pissed myself just thinking about Patrick Martin from the fucking Dallas Suns.
The Suns hockey team used to be a Minnesota team, and there’s been a long rivalry between the Fierce and the Suns off and on over the years. Patrick Martin is known for beingrough out on the ice, and he and Tully have gone a few rounds multiple times.
“Wait. With Patrick…what do you mean exactly?” I ask. “You think they’re together? Like together together?”
“His hand was really low on her back. Really low,” he says through gritted teeth.
This is the most Tully has ever talked to me about Lola, so I don’t know exactly what to say.
“Fuck,” is what I go with. “What are you gonna do? Are you gonna talk to her?”
He runs his hands through his hair. “If Patrick weren’t in the picture, I’d talk to her, yeah. Of course. But I really hate the guy. And why are they here? Why is she with him…here?”
I shake my head. “Want me to check out the situation?”
“Nah. I just saw them and panicked. Had to get out of there fast. But I’ll probably lie low for a couple of days. I’ll see if there are things I can do to help Noah at Goldie’s house or something away from the resort.”
“Okay. If you change your mind, let me know. I can do some recon.”
“Thanks…thanks for listening. I…” He shakes his hands out. “Sorry. Kind of had a moment. I feel better.”
“Okay. Good. I’m here. If you need to chat again, I’ll be around.”
He tries to smile, but he’s still too upset to pull it off. “Thanks, man.”
