Page 47 of Thrown

Toby’s heart ached with the beauty of everything he saw around him. Hawthorne House wasn’t an investment property or a cash cow. It was exactly what the family had fought for so long to make it. It was a community center, a place of art and love and creativity. An amusement park would be a cold, noisy, garish eyesore that only benefited the investors at the Willoughby Entertainment Group.

Toby couldn’t let it happen.

“Toby? What are you doing here?” Robbie asked as he walked out into the hall at the end of a line of his students. Toby recognized some of their faces from the past two weeks.

“I—” He had no idea what to say at first. All he could really think was that Robbie looked fucking sexy in his jeans and clay-smeared t-shirt, his hair disheveled, and his dark eyes hopeful.

“Is everything alright?” Robbie asked, changing directions and coming over to him.

Toby blew out a breath and pushed a hand through his hair. “Depends on how you define alright,” he said.

Robbie frowned at him in confusion, his eyes telling Toby to go on.

Toby glanced once around the busy hall, then focused on Robbie.

“I had a conversation with Aaron Powter earlier,” he began. “Silver Productions wants to sign a filming contract with Hawthorne House.”

“That’s great,” Robbie said, smiling and looking like he wanted to throw his arms around Toby and kiss him.

That only added an extra layer to the anxiety creeping up Toby’s throat and threatening to choke him.

He shook his head and said, “My boss found out about the deal. He’s furious.”

Robbie frowned again. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does when you consider that he’s besties with Charles Duckworth,” he said. “He more or less ordered me to advise your family to take the Willoughby Entertainment deal, and he implied I’d be fired if you don’t.”

Robbie’s jaw dropped in shock. The shock passed, and fury replaced it. “How dare he?”

“You don’t have to take the deal,” Toby said, the way forward suddenly crystal clear. The integrity of the Hawthorne family and everything they were trying to do with their estate was far more important than a splashy amusement park deal. It was more important than money, and certainly more important than his job. “In fact, I’m telling you, don’t take the deal. There’s something fishy about it to begin with. I have a strong suspicion that Duckworth is going to bait and switch you somehow. I don’t think he’s dealing honestly with?—”

“How dare you?” Duckie’s own, booming rage sounded from only a few yards away.

Toby and Robbie both turned to find Duckie storming into the front hall, nearly barreling over two straggling schoolkids as he did.

“What sort of self-centered nonsense is this?” Duckie continued to shout, glaring at Toby as he approached. “Who do you think you are?”

He came in so fast and with so much aggression that Toby stepped back. He bumped right into Robbie as he did. Robbie closed a hand around his forearm to keep him from stumbling, then he didn’t let go.

“Duckie,” Toby greeted his mentor with a solemn nod.

Duckie’s eyes went wide. “That’s Mr. Duckworth to you, you backstabbing guttersnipe.”

Toby wanted to laugh with the accusation, since it could be argued Duckie was behaving just as badly.

“I specifically told you to back off,” Duckie went on. “This is my deal, and I won’t have you ruining it.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Duckworth,” Robbie said, “but the deal is my family’s. We want to explore every option, including the ones Mr. Tillman has presented to us.”

“Him?” Duckie barked, gesturing to Toby and nearly hitting him as he did. “You want to listen to the word of a juvenile delinquent from the slums? You know his father is in prison for drug dealing and worse, right? And that his sister turns tricks for a living?”

Toby’s face heated with fury and shame. “She does not,” he hissed, even though, knowing Gerry, she probably had at one point.

Duckie snorted a humorless laugh. “This little shit would be nothing without me. He’s a sniveling boot-licker as well. He pestered me relentlessly and tried cheap flattery and his so-called charm to get what he wanted. I had to help him get a job just to get rid of him, and you want to take his advice?”

The blows came so fast and hard that Toby was numb before Duckie stopped talking. He’d looked up to Duckie, thought he was wonderful. Duckie had absolutely taken the place of the father who had never given a shit about him and who had told him to fuck off more often than not.

And that was exactly what Duckie was doing now. His words were cleaner and maybe more dignified than his own father’s shouting, but the message was the same. He was worthless. He’d never amount to anything. He was a waste of time and space.

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