Time Out of Mind (Suncoast Society #43)(73)

Gave voice to it.

That made it real and while he’d thought he’d scraped the bottom of his well of pain, speaking it actually ripped the scab off a wound that reached far deeper than he ever knew possible.

“I think I need a meeting,” he finally admitted. “I can’t even get to one and focus on taking care of myself for a while because I need to be here for Pippa.” He sat up, wiping at his eyes with his hands. “I don’t even know if there’s a meeting close by. I mean, there probably is but…f*ck.”

She stared at him. “You f*cking scared me, disappearing like that. My friends aren’t allowed to scare me.”

“You flew over here just for me?”

“Yes and no. I was already over here when I saw the Paris footage after the fact. We’ve got a production filming here in the same studio Pippa’s filming in, and I finally got hold of Tate through Pippa’s people by calling in a couple of favors. I couldn’t get over to Paris, and you two were already on the move again by that point anyway. So I had to wait until you guys were back here. Tate asked Pippa to call me, and I talked with her and found out where you guys were.”

She cupped his cheeks with her hands. “If it’s any consolation, Tate wouldn’t confirm or deny you were working with her. I told him I was an old friend of yours, and that you just up and disappeared, and that Clark would vouch for me. I was able to tell him that I knew exactly what you did for a living, and who I was and worked with. He arranged a ‘surprise’ for me with Pippa to catch up with you. Told him I desperately needed to talk to you in person about another client we had in common from the past, and discretion was of the utmost importance, even from Pippa.”

He snorted. “You played the nurse card and lied your ass off and said you needed to compare notes on a client, didn’t you?”

“Fuckin’ A, I did. Duh. And technically not a lie, because Mevi was your client. What, you just fall off the turnip truck? I didn’t renew that license last year for nothing, you know.” She playfully smiled, pulling a ragged laugh from him.

“So you talked to…him?”

He couldn’t even say his name.

“Once, early on. He asked if I’d heard from you and I said no, last I knew, you were with him. He wouldn’t elaborate. Asked me to have you call him. When I tried to call him back, it just goes to voice mail. Now I know why he wouldn’t talk to me.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you actually tried, I don’t know, talking to the guy? Or did you just up and leave based on a snarky comment Bonnie made?”

“Bonnie made it perfectly clear that they were back together and I wasn’t needed anymore.”

“Didja think to, oh, ask the guy you’re in love with if he thought that before f*cking going off half-cocked?”

Another unsettled, creeping feeling tried to claw its way in. “What?”

“I mean, it’s kind of weird that they’re all desperately trying to get hold of you, isn’t it? Seriously, no one will f*cking talk to me, and of course I didn’t know who you’d told or not, so I couldn’t really say why I needed to find you. I even threatened Clark, and he told me to bring it, that he wasn’t completely scared of me because he’d seen me doing baby talk with KC, and he’d hide behind Landry. Which is totally a cowardly dick move on his part, but I do admire his chutzpah.”

That finally drew a laugh from Doyle.

She hugged him. “There ya go. Breathe, buddy. How about we sort this shit out?”

“I should call him, huh?”

“Well, Clark said Mevi accidentally flushed his latest phone a couple of weeks ago and lost all his contacts in the process because he’s an idiot. I swear I should beat that boy myself just for that. Clark won’t give me his new number, either. I was asked by Clark that, if I ever made contact with you, to pass Clark’s number to you if you didn’t have it and ask you to contact him immediately. I kinda got the feeling he’s in the dark, too, if you want to know the truth. I think Mevi’s so f*cking scared of outing you he didn’t even tell Clark what’s going on now. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.”

“Clark’s the only other person who knows he’s gay and that we were involved. I mean, besides us.”

“Yeah, this stupid omertà you dudes have is a little obsessive and f*cking bit you all in the asses. Although you could give the f*cking FBI lessons in secrecy, I suppose.”

“We can’t talk about this around Pippa.”

“No worries. We’re old friends from Sarasota.”

“Friends in common?”

She smirked. “Yeah.”

They heard the suite door open and Pippa call out. “Yoo hoo! We’re all set for dinner.”

Doyle headed for the bathroom and locked himself in to give himself time to wash his face. Meanwhile, he heard Tilly talking with Pippa, charming her, laying it on thick.

Only after he finally felt steady again did he emerge, his practiced, calm expression firmly nailed into place.

Pippa was all smiles. “Tilly is absolutely delightful, Doyle. She’s telling me all sorts of secrets about you.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “She is?”

“Yeah, your arachnophobia’s out, dude.” Tilly stuck her tongue out at him.