Lifeline (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 60: The Encounter

Forty minutes later, Tully found herself sitting on the edge of the pool, idly watching Seb as he completed 15 slow laps. They'd run through some gentle in-water exercises to assist with building strength in his legs, and now he was doing freestyle laps without any kicking. The drill forced him to engage his core and keep up enough velocity to maintain balance in the water. It was the perfect exercise for someone who needed to focus on upper body strength while his lower body healed.

A few more people were using the pool now, swimming solo or paired up with trainers. She gazed around the room as Seb dipped under water out of view as he tumble rolled into his 9th lap.

Her attention split as someone sat down a meter to her left.

"Morning."

Tully glanced over to find a woman sitting there, smiling at her before following her gaze across the pool.

"Morning." Tully replied, bowing her head slightly.

"Ah, the water is lovely today. Do you come here often?"

"First time in a while." Tully replied politely, her eyes casting back towards Seb as he hit the halfway mark for his lap.

"Is that your client there? Or maybe your boyfriend?"

Tully's lips twitched. It was a good question really.

"Client, yes." she replied after a moment.

"I guess for some people, those lines blur a bit, don't they..." the woman laughed lightly.

Tully frowned and looked back over to her, taking in her appearance properly. She was young, with thick, shoulder-length blonde hair. She was pretty, although very thin.

"He's Sebastian Vettel, isn't he?"

Tully started to feel a sense of hostility creep over her.

"I'm sorry, I need to go." she replied briskly, bracing herself to enter the pool.

"No, wait," The woman reached out and caught Tully's wrist, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. How rude of me."

Tully looked down at the intruding hand, pulling away from her hold.

"I know him well, is all," the woman continued, "A lot more than you do, actually."

That really got her attention. Tully glared at her, "Excuse me, who are you?"

"I know every dream, every childhood story, every mark and scar, how long he lasts in bed..."

"Oh really?" Tully replied absent-mindedly, looking around the room now and wondering if there were any security guards on the premises. She'd only had one run-in with a mentally unstable stalker in the past with Stoffel, but thankfully they hadn't been armed and it had been resolved without incident.

"When I heard you lost your memory though, it felt a bit like some poetic justice in a way. You forgot him, like a bad movie or a dentist appointment. It was all over, just like that."

How did she know about that?

Tully turned to the woman, "You need to leave me alone now, or I will have you removed." she said firmly.

"Yes, you're good at removing people, aren't you?"

Tully held her gaze silently, searching her face.

"You've already removed me once, when you couldn't behave like a professional and keep your hands off him."

The woman sighed and looked back across the pool at Seb as he made his way through lap 11.