Page 49 of Thrown

Dad smirked, crossing his arms. “Go ahead and do your worst.”

“Oh, I will,” Duckworth said.

At last, he turned and strode for the door, looking like he would plow through anyone who got in his way. Several of the art center’s regulars had to jump out of his way to keep from being shoved.

As soon as Duckworth was out the door, Dad raised his voice to say, “Show’s over, folks. You can all go back to your regularly scheduled lives now.”

It was a testament to how respected Dad was that people actually started moving, heading to wherever they’d been going before Duckworth caused a scene, without rushing forward to ask what was going on.

“I need to make some phone calls,” Dad sighed, shaking his head and turning to Robbie and Toby. “I hope you’ve got good news for me where Silver Productions is concerned,” he told Toby, “because something tells me they’re about to become a very important partner for Hawthorne House.”

“I, er, um, I can, um, I can put together a presentation for you,” Toby said, shaking his head, still distracted.

Dad glanced to Robbie. His look alone said he understood that he had missed something important.

“I’ll handle it,” Robbie said, squeezing Toby’s hand, which he still held. “You go make those phone calls.

Toby jerked slightly, like he hadn’t realized Robbie was holding his hand. He glanced to Robbie with an expression that was part gratitude and part hopelessness.

“I trust you with this one, son,” Dad said, thumping Robbie’s shoulder as he moved into motion. “Come on, Early. I’m going to need your help sorting things.”

Robbie watched briefly as his dad and Early headed off to the office, then he turned to Toby.

“You don’t have to say a word,” he said when Toby’s lips moved like he wanted to say something but couldn’t manage it. “I’ve got you.”

He wasn’t entirely certain how he had Toby, but still holding his hand, he started off toward the family hallway, leading Toby with him.

“That was,” Toby began in a slow and stilted voice as they took the stairs that would lead them to Robbie’s flat, “that was easily the most humiliating moment of my life. And I’ve had more than a few of those.”

“Duckworth is an arse,” Robbie said, his chest and throat squeezing in sympathetic pain for everything Toby had just been put through. “We’re all well rid of him.”

“He was like a father to me,” Toby said in a quiet voice.

Robbie pivoted to look at him as they reached the door to his flat. It hurt him to see Toby brought so low. More than it had when Duckworth had insulted him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, fishing in his pocket for the key to his flat, then opening the door. “I can’t even imagine.”

Toby was silent as Robbie walked him into the kitchen, then gestured for him to sit at the small table there while he wentto the counter to make tea. Everything was better with a cup of tea, but it might take a river of it to soothe over the damage Duckworth had done to Toby.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Toby said, staring at the tabletop for a moment while Robbie worked, then glancing up at him. When Robbie frowned in confusion, Toby went on with, “When I was just starting out after uni, I didn’t think I was going to make it. I’d had a dozen interviews, and every time, I was passed over for someone posher, someone without a lip ring or spiked hair.”

“Your hair looks alright,” Robbie said with an attempt at a smile as he found two mugs and put tea bags in them.

The attempt at levity went over Toby’s head. “I was just about to give up when Duckie came along, saw my potential, and got me my first job at a proper financial services company in the city.” He blew out a breath and leaned back in his chair. “But I guess that was all a lie.”

“It wasn’t entirely,” Robbie said, leaning against the counter as he waited for the kettle to boil. “It couldn’t be. He must have had a legitimate reason to launch you into the business world.”

Toby snorted. “To be his shill?” he suggested. “To help him get the deals he wanted, regardless of who I was working for?”

Robbie winced. Maybe that was just the way things worked in the financial world. Who knew what sort of network of insider deals existed in the city?

The kettle clicked, and Robbie took a moment to finish the tea preparation. He reconsidered his initial thought to sit at the kitchen table to hash the whole thing out and gestured for Toby to join him in the lounge instead.

Once they were seated on either end of Robbie’s small sofa, drinking tea, Robbie said, “It never occurred to me until Duckworth was going off on his rant that he has as little regard for the aristocracy as you do.”

Of all things, that was the one that had Toby laughing, albeit weakly and not for very long.

“That’s the thing,” Toby said. “Duckworth singled me out to mentor because he didn’t come from a much better background, although he’d probably deny it if you told him now. He was raised working class, just like the rest of us. Well, not all the rest of us.”

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