Page 59 of Thrown

Thinking of Silver Productions focused Toby on the task that needed doing.

“We need to talk to Aaron and whoever else is in charge of these things at Silver Productions right away,” he said, darting back into the house to fetch his keys.

“Toby, what the fuck is going on?” Gerry asked, Tommy crying in one arm and Gracie hanging off her other, whining about something.

Toby loved them in all their common, messy chaos. He dashed over to give Gerry’s cheek a kiss, then shifted to the side to kiss his mum as well.

“Can’t explain now,” he said, circling back to grab his keys from the arm of the recliner, then heading for the door. “I’ve got an ancient ancestral estate to save.”

He was giddy over his own theatrics, and when his mum laughed, “Blimey, but you are a mad boy, Toby Tillman.”

Toby laughed in return and sent her a final look before dragging Robbie out of the house and over to his car. He’d been insulted enough to last a lifetime in the last twenty-four hours, but his mum’s playful jab was the best compliment he could have gotten just then.

Correction, Robbie’s awkward, blurted “I love you” was the best compliment. Ever.

“There’s a good chance we can get to the offices of Silver Production before lunch, if traffic is on our side,” Toby said, backing out into the street, then throwing his car into gear and speeding on.

“Do you know where their office is?” Robbie asked, gripping the edge of his seat and the car’s window frame tightly, eyes staring straight ahead.

“Not a clue,” Toby laughed. “I just know it’s somewhere in the city.”

“And yet, we’re zooming off, like we’re in the final fifteen minutes of an action flick,” Robbie said.

Toby was so giddy he almost missed the turn that would take him to the M25. “Might be a good idea to whip out that mobile phone of yours and look up directions,” he said.

Robbie did just that as Toby broke half a dozen driving laws to get them to one of the major arteries that led into the city as swiftly as possible. Directions were easy to find, and in a stroke of pure, dumb luck, it turned out that Silver Productions had just moved their offices to Richmond from their old location all the way in the heart of the city.

Not only was Richmond quicker to reach from where they started, the parking situation wasn’t as dire as it could have been. It wasn’t fantastic, but at least they were able to find a place where Toby’s car would be safe as they got out and all but ran the remaining distance to the unassuming building that housed the production company.

Of course, they met with another obstacle when the receptionist stared at them with stern disapproval instead of letting them rush off to the executive offices to find Aaron.

“It’s an emergency,” Robbie explained. “Time is of the essence.”

“Tell him Toby Tillman and Robert Hawthorne, Jr. are here to see him,” Toby added, so full of adrenaline that he could have leapt over the receptionist’s desk to shake her into action himself.

“You can’t just burst in here demanding to see people,” the young woman snapped back, staring at Toby’s lip ring, like that alone was reason to deny them access to important people.

Toby growled and nearly danced around the room in agitation.

He was saved from making a fool of himself when Aaron popped his head out of one of the offices within sight of the front desk and said, “Toby? And Robbie Hawthorne?” He burst into a smile at the sight of Robbie and stepped all the way out of his office. “What are the two of you doing here? I thought the Hawthorne family turned down our deal.”

Toby froze, eyes wide. Once he picked his stomach back up off the floor, then glanced quickly at Robbie, he turned to Aaron and said, “What the fuck is this?”

The receptionist pursed her lips and shook her head.

Aaron looked completely gobsmacked.

Robbie tutted and said, “Perhaps you should take a few, deep breaths before you give yourself a stroke.”

Given the heightened tension of the moment, that nearly made Toby laugh.

Aaron walked closer to them and solved the mystery by saying, “I received a call from Charles Duckworth, who said he was operating as the family’s agent. He said there was no interest in a filming deal after all.”

Toby nearly shouted with rage, and Robbie made a frustrated, grumbling sound.

“I’ve been trying to call you, but I haven’t been able to get through,” Aaron said, then glanced to Robbie and added, “To anyone.”

It occurred to Robbie that in his haste to get going, he might have left his phone at home. But that was a minor detail now.

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