Page 56 of Thrown

With a sharp intake of breath, Robbie snapped out of the stupor of shock and twisted to face Keith.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t touch me,” he said, yanking his arm away from his ex. How he had ever wanted to be with someone who was so superior and smarmy was beyond him.

Keith huffed a breath, then took a small step back. “I don’t understand,” he said. “What’s going on here? I thought we were getting close again.” He stepped towards Robbie, running his fingers down Robbie’s arm. “I thought we were getting back together.”

Robbie’s eyes went wide with indignation. “I thought I just told you not to touch me,” he said.

Keith pulled his hand away, his expression changing from smooth and clever to shocked so fast Robbie wouldn’t have been surprised if his face cracked off entirely, exposing the man Keith actually was.

“At what point did I give you the impression that I wanted to get back together with you?” Robbie said, crossing his arms defensively. “You dumped me because you thought I wasn’t interesting enough, because I wanted a family and prized my teaching over making a splashy name for myself in the art community.”

Something clicked in Robbie’s head, like a bell ringing true and clear.

Keith’s mouth opened, but it took him a few seconds to work his words out. “I thought that’s what you wanted,” he said. “I know you weren’t in favor of us splitting, and as soon as I realized I made a mistake?—”

“As soon as you heard I would be on television, you mean,” Robbie said. It was all so obvious now. He couldn’t believe he’d been fool enough to think about getting back together with Keith for a moment.

“Babe, it’s not just about some television show,” Keith said, trying to smile and put on the charm again.

“No,” Robbie stopped him, shaking his head. “I’m stopping this right here, right now. We’re not getting back together, Keith. Now or ever. You made me feel like the things I wanted were silly and unworthy when you left me the way you did. You mademefeel unworthy. But I’m not.”

Robbie uncrossed his arms and stood straighter, feeling certain about himself for the first time in a long time. It was something he’d never have felt without Toby’s friendship and the care and interest he’d shown, even before they’d had sex.

“To tell you the truth, I should have ended things between us years ago,” he went on. “Only now am I seeing that you cut down my self-esteem every day in a hundred tiny ways. You wanted me to feel like shit so I would look to you to feel better.”

“What? No,” Keith laughed, though there was an edge of uneasiness in the sound. “Come on, Robbie. You’re being ridiculous. You’re not the star of some adolescent drama.”

“See?” Robbie said, indignation lashing him. “You’re doing it right now.”

“I—”

“You know what?” Robbie shifted his stance. “You can say or think whatever you’d like about me. I don’t care anymore. We’re through. We’ve been through for a long time. But more than that, I’m done with wondering what might have been. That’s all it was, really. Wondering what might have been. Thank you for freeing me from the idea that we could have worked things out if I’d done something different. I’ve moved on now, and I suggest you do the same.”

No words had ever felt more satisfying to say. Robbie was proud of himself for seeing the truth at last and having the guts to stand up for it.

But now he had other concerns. Toby had the wrong end of the stick, and if he didn’t find him and sort things immediately, there was no telling how the break between them might fester.

He started to walk away, but before he’d gone three steps, Rhys called from the meeting room doorway, “Robbie!”

Robbie stopped and turned back. One look at Rhys’s face reminded him of the family disaster going on at the same time as his romantic one.

“Dad needs you.”

That was all Rhys had to say to get Robbie to turn around and head back into the meeting room, completely ignoring Keith as he stood there, stunned, to deal with the other problem looming over him.

“Nice job, by the way,” Rhys said in an undertone as the two of them headed to the other side of the table, where the family was deep in discussion. “I never liked that snob anyhow.”

Robbie sent a wide-eyed look of surprise to his brother, but there wasn’t time to dissect his relationships.

“There has to be some way to talk to the bank to determine why they feel they have the legal right to call the loan in,” Nate was saying in a calm, steady voice. Nate always had been the calm one, even after Raina’s accident, when the rest of the family was reeling. “For all we know, it could just be a bluff on Duckworth’s part to scare us.”

“That has to be what it is,” Rafe’s voice sounded on the other end of his call. “I can’t do much from over here, but I have a few contacts at the bank, so I’ll check.”

Robbie had completely forgotten that Rafe had dated a banker a few years back, which was part of the reason the family had gone with Westfield Bank.

“I’ll come back at once and meet with the historical trusts in person,” Mum said, back on Dad’s phone instead of GeoffreyWright. “Diana over at the Ancient House Association needs to look me in the eyes and tell me she’s pulling their funding.”

“It sounds like we have a plan,” Dad said, though Robbie could tell he didn’t feel certain or secure about it. “And there’s the deal with Silver Productions that Toby has set up for us.”

---