Page 29 of Thrown

The green room definitely lived up to its name. The burst of jealousy that hit Robbie as he walked in, heading straight for the table of snacks, trying desperately not to interrupt, butalso hoping against hope that Toby would ditch the intimate conversation he was having to talk to him, was ridiculous.

“…reeks of potential that isn’t being used,” Toby finished his sentence and glanced to Robbie. A second later, he straightened and pulled away from the other guy in the suit, stood, and said, “Speak of the devil.”

Robbie nearly dropped the biscuit he’d just picked up. Did Toby think he was wasting his potential, too?

“Robbie, this is Aaron Powter from Silver Productions,” Toby said, touching the other guy’s arm and drawing him closer to where Robbie stood. “They’re the people behind The Ceramics Challenge.”

“Hi,” Powter said, extending a hand to Robbie. “It’s great to meet you. I love your work.”

Robbie’s brow went up as he shook the man’s hand. “Robbie Hawthorne,” he said, too stunned to say anything cleverer.

“We were just talking about you,” Toby said, his eyes shining with the light of competition.

Suspicion swirled through Robbie. “Good things, I hope,” he said, glancing to Toby. He was almost certain that half the things Toby had said about him were bad. Potential that wasn’t being used, after all.

“I can’t wait to see how this episode turns out,” Powter said, still shaking Robbie’s hand. He noticed, then let go. “Sorry. I’ve just always been fascinated by long-lost skills and the way we used to do things. That’s why I championed The Ceramics Challenge when Silver Productions was looking for more in the reality television department.”

“Thanks,” Robbie said, glancing back to Toby again.

Toby smiled at Powter like he held the keys to a magic kingdom. He smiled at Powter the way Robbie had hoped he would look at him.

It was one drop too much in the bucket of everything that had been building up in Robbie for too long. He should have felt complimented by Powter, but all he could think was that Powter had been chatting Toby up in ways that he wasn’t brave enough to try. Even though he despised Toby.

Except he didn’t. Hatred wasn’t even close to the emotions that roiled through him when Toby was around. Quite the opposite. And now, just as he was starting to recognize that Toby meant something different to him than he’d originally thought, someone else was wedging in to take something he wanted, yet again.

“Excuse me,” Robbie said, his voice going hoarse. “I need to, er, I need to go.”

He sent one last, hurt look to Toby, then turned and marched out of the room.

TEN

Toby knewtrouble when he saw it. Trouble had been the story of his life. And he’d had the feeling that something was going on with Robbie since the moment he’d picked him up for the trip the morning before. The question was whether it was his trouble to deal with or if Robbie needed to grow a pair and deal with whatever it was on his own.

“I didn’t say something that offended him, did I?” Aaron asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Toby said, keeping strictly to his business accent. He smiled and clapped Arron’s arm. “He probably just needed the loo.”

“Oh, right,” Aaron said, relaxing. “Filming is hard work without a lot of interruptions. Nature happens.”

“It absolutely does,” Toby said, leading Aaron back to the sofa. “I’ll make sure you get your chance to gush over Robbie’s talent when we all go out to supper later. In the meantime, tell me more about how Silver Productions chooses its location shoots.”

It was a first-rate bit of diplomacy, as far as Toby was concerned. Whatever had Robbie’s knickers in a twist, hewasn’t going to let it interfere with the potentially monumental connections he was making.

Even before they’d set out for Staffordshire, Toby had started entertaining the idea that Hawthorne House would be the ideal sort of place for filming of all sorts. It had been the first thought that had entered his head when he’d driven up the long drive to the house on his first day of assessing the Hawthorne estate. It was a source of occasional sheepishness for him, but he was a rabid fan of period dramas, and Hawthorne House screamed for someone to come film there.

But it was one thing to be a pretty house with a nice garden and another entirely to lay the groundwork that would build the connections and lead to a production company taking notice. That was why Toby had been so excited to get on the set of The Ceramics Challenge, and why he’d brought his power tie with him.

So far, he thought things were going well. The production assistants were a wealth of information. Alex, who had shown them onto the set first thing that morning, had introduced him to Aaron, who just happened to be on location that day instead of at the office in London, probably because he genuinely was a fan of Robbie’s, and the rest was all up to Toby.

He was doing brilliantly in the schmoozing department, if he did say so himself. But when Robbie never came back to the green room after going to the loo, and when an hour passed and the production team announced that it was time for the judging, and would someone please find Robbie and bring him to the set, Toby started to worry.

“I’ll find him,” he told Alex, pretending to be confident when he was anything but. “Which way to the loos?”

Robbie wasn’t in any of the bathrooms. Toby even checked the ladies room, in case he’d gone there by accident. No onespent an hour on the toilet, so Toby didn’t really expect to find him there.

He wasn’t familiar with the old factory at all, and half of him thought it was probably too dangerous to go wandering around in, but he searched anyhow, even crossing over barriers that were marked out of bounds for the production. He was never one to stick to rules anyhow.

In the end, he found Robbie sitting out in what had to be an old employee courtyard with a low wall and the River Trent beyond. He was just there, looking out over the river, lost in his thoughts.

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