Page 62 of Thrown

Toby sat without thinking of it, without being able to think. He felt as though he’d stepped into something surreal, but as long as Heath looked confident, Toby would go along for the ride.

“Mr. Tillman and Mr. Hawthorne here were just telling me about the troubles Hawthorne House is experiencing at themoment,” Heath said as one of the wait staff rushed over with a tray containing glasses of ice water. “I immediately thought of you lot as the people who might be able to help them out.”

“Troubles?” Benny asked, looking with particular interest at Robbie. “What troubles?”

“An entertainment group has been attempting to purchase Hawthorne House with the intention of turning it into an amusement park, like Alton Towers,” Robbie began the story yet again. “Things have just taken a turn for the worse, and we’re all worried we might be forced into the sale.”

The five older gentlemen seemed outraged by that.

“Tell us more about Hawthorne House,” Mr. Everdale said. “There might be something we can do to help.”

It was the most surreal lunch meeting Toby had ever taken. As he and Robbie explained the situation with Hawthorne House and Willoughby Entertainment one more time, with slightly more detail, since they had questions fired at them every few minutes, the club’s wait staff discreetly took their orders and presented them with food of a quality that Toby only imagined in his wildest dreams.

More than that, despite the five men at the table being old and obviously well-off, and possibly even titled themselves, not one of them turned up their nose at his appearance or questioned why he and Robbie were working together on something that was clearly above his class.

It might have had something to do with the other men and women in the club around them. Yes, it was like stepping back into the Victorian era, but the more Toby looked around as he ate, the more he saw every sort of person imaginable, from men in drag, women who looked like they’d come straight in from the docks, dandies who seemed to think they were still in the eighties, the eighteen-eighties, and even a butch woman with amohawk and nose ring. Apparently, The Brotherhood accepted everyone, eccentricities and all.

“So basically,” Robbie said as he finished his fillet and took a sip of the red wine he’d been served with it, “we’ve got a potential deal with Silver Productions,” he nodded to Heath, who had moved on to enjoy a tiramisu for pudding, “but if the bank truly does have the power to call in that loan, we’re sunk.”

The five older gentlemen hummed and nodded and exchanged looks with each other.

“That does seem like a sticky wicket,” George said, his voice rough and gravelly.

“I suppose there’s only one thing to be done,” Benny added with a shrug.

“And what’s that?” Toby asked.

“Why, we need to go to Hawthorne House to see all of this for ourselves,” Benny said, smiling.

Part of Toby wanted to roll his eyes as the day they were having promised to turn even madder. A larger part of him was giddy with anticipation to see what a bunch of aging queens could do to beat Duckie at his own game.

“I’d be happy to host you sometime this week,” Robbie said. “I could make arrangements?—”

“No, no,” Giovanni said in his flamboyant, Italian accent. “We need to go now.Pronto!”

“What, right now?” Toby asked, nearly spilling his wine as he reached for the glass.

“Yes,” George said, slapping the table, then using the gesture to stand. “I say we decamp to Hawthorne House right this very moment and solve this problem before it becomes any bigger.”

“Hear, hear!” the others agreed, pushing their chairs back and standing as well.

“I trust you have a conveyance for us?” Benny asked Heath.

“I can have the limo come around and pick you all up,” Heath answered, laughing as he pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. “If you don’t mind, I’ll head back to my office.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Robbie said, looking even more stunned as he and Toby stood.

The next few minutes were a blur of activity worthy of some sort of BBC comedy program as the five elderly gentlemen hurried things along to get everyone’s coats, hats, and in Benny’s case, ebony-topped cane so that they could go out.

“This has to be the maddest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Robbie said as he and Toby stood in the front hallway, waiting for the others. “And I come from a large, eccentric family.”

Toby laughed. “I tell you what, though. I think I like this place.” He glanced around, then up at the domed, mosaiced ceiling above them. “I wonder if they’re accepting new members.”

His curious thoughts were stopped short as Robbie caressed the side of his face, then turned his head so that he could kiss him. Toby’s brow shot up, but he relaxed into the kiss in no time, relishing the sweet softness of Robbie’s lips and the underlying need behind the seemingly casual kiss.

“What was that for?” he asked breathlessly once Robbie inched back.

“For being my salvation,” Robbie said. “Once again, I don’t even know how, you’re looking out for me.”

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