Page 39 of Thrown

“And I thought you might like to know that,” Toby told the back of Robbie’s head. “I wanted you.” He drew in a breath, feeling like he stood on the edge of a cliff and was about to take a huge step out over the edge. “I still do,” he added in a quieter voice.

Robbie’s back tensed. Toby could practically feel the heat rolling off of him.

After what felt like forever, Robbie said, “Even after I made a complete arse of myself?”

Before Toby could answer that, Robbie pushed the pedal, sending the wheel whirring again. The hum felt like a wall Robbie had put up to keep whatever answer Toby might give from hurting him.

Robbie was already hurting. That much was obvious to Toby. And as much as Toby knew it wasn’t his job to heal him, hedid feel like it was his job to try. Wasn’t that the entire purpose of him being at Hawthorne House for the month? To help the family do better?

“You’re a gorgeous, sexy, accomplished man, Robbie,” he said, keeping his voice relatively low, like he didn’t dare to declare anything louder for fear Robbie might spin out, like he’d seen some of the pots people had tried to make do. “I was thinking we could?—”

Toby’s attempt at asking Robbie out on a date like a normal person was interrupted by the sound of voices approaching from the hall. Not just any voices either.

“…is extraordinary,” Mr. Hawthorne was in the middle of saying. “And you’re certain that Willoughby Entertainment is willing to pay that much?”

“On my honor,” Duckie’s voice sounded in reply.

Both Toby and Robbie turned to the studio door just as Mr. Hawthorne and Duckie strode into the room.

“Robbie, I knew you’d be in here,” Mr. Hawthorne said. He looked a little dazed as he walked over to Robbie’s wheel. “Morning, Toby. It’s good you’re here, too.”

Toby uncrossed his arms from how he’d been standing while watching Robbie and stood straighter. Almost subconsciously, he tugged at the hem of his suit jacket as he glanced to Duckie. The old sensation of wanting to please his mentor and prove that he was more than the waste of time that everyone had once thought he was pulled at him, even though he knew he was better than that now.

“Toby.” Duckie nodded to him, but there was a frostiness in his expression that took Toby by surprise.

“What’s this all about?” Robbie asked, leaving his half-finished bowl and standing. He stepped to the side and reached for a towel to clean his hands, glancing questioningly at his dad as he did.

“I’ve come on behalf of Willoughby Enterprises to say that we’ve taken a look around, crunched a few numbers, and we’re prepared to up our offer for Hawthorne House from two hundred million to two hundred fifty million,” Duckie said with a broad smile.

Toby frowned, his heart racing. It was more money, but something about the new offer hit him wrong.

“Just like that?” he asked. “Willoughby Enterprises ‘took a look around’, and they’ve upped their offer by twenty percent?”

Duckie glanced to him like he was Gracie interrupting the climactic moment of a championship football match. “That’s what I said,” he said, steel in his eyes. He turned back to Robbie. “As I’ve explained to your father, you aren’t going to get an offer quite like this.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Mr. Hawthorne said. “On the one hand, it’s our ancestral home. On the other, with money like that, all of us could do whatever we wanted, travel anywhere, open any sort of gallery, enjoy any sort of project, for the rest of our lives.”

“I…I don’t know what to say.” Robbie looked just as stunned as his father.

“Estates like this are a relic of the past,” Duckie said, making an off-hand gesture. “No one in the modern era wants to be responsible for all this.”

“It’s their family’s legacy,” Toby said.

He hadn’t thought he’d spoken particularly harshly or critically, but again, Duckie looked at him like he wanted to snap, “Be quiet!”

Instead, Duckie turned back to Robbie and his dad and said, “The family would maintain a stake in the project, of course. And the house itself would not be destroyed.”

“It can’t be,” Toby pointed out. “It’s a grade two building.”

“Regardless of all that,” Duckie went on dismissively, not even looking at Toby, “you’re only going to get this chance once.”

Prickles broke out down Toby’s spine. He was reasonably certain he knew what Duckie and Willoughby Enterprises were doing. He’d seen Duckie use the tactic before, but on a smaller scale. He was coming in with a shock-and-awe deal of a lifetime, more money than the property was worth. It was designed to startle and impress the sellers, and to lure them into a deal that would start to change as soon as things began to be signed. It stopped just short of being a bait and switch, but the Hawthornes wouldn’t end up with the two hundred and fifty million Duckie was promising them.

“I have another idea,” he said, heart racing and hands shaking imperceptibly.

All eyes turned to him. Mr. Hawthorne was genuinely curious. Robbie looked like his emotions wouldn’t settle on just one thing. And Duckie looked like he might slap a hand over Toby’s mouth to keep him from spoiling things.

“What’s your idea?” Mr. Hawthorne asked.

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