She’d texted Toby the day he left to ask if he wanted to meet up at his place and smash it out. He’d said he was busy, and she’d been a little stung but hadn’t thought much of it. That was until another two days passed and she was practically climbing the walls wanting more. So, she’d gotten mildly stoned and messaged him to ask if he could come by to play with the dogs—the subtext being, ‘I can’t stop thinking about your dick, and I want it inside me right now even if we have to do it super quietly so my sisters don’t hear.’
… And he’d left her on read. A full day later, twenty-four fucking hours, he sent the message that had burned itself into her long-term memory.
Sorry, Tabs, I’m crazy busy…
Busy with what,asshole? You work in a fucking office. How many coffee cups could need to be cleaned? Nine?
… Thanks for the other day…
Thanks?Fucking thanks?!?
… But I’m not feeling anything serious right now…
What are you talking about, you fucking virgin? Who else is beating down your front door? Pornhub? Your left hand? Some seriously betrayed and ultra-possessive sports sock???
… Let’s circle back when I’m in a different place x
Why don’tyou circle back off the fucking planet and get stuck next to all the space junk near Mars, you limp-dick, bottom-feeding, pansy-ass scumbag?
When she was done absorbing the mountain of fuckery that was his message, Tabby burst out of her bedroom and screamed to the whole house that Toby Tennant was dead to her. Of course, Sam and Nix had asked what the fuck she was talking about, and she’d lied and said Toby was avoiding her when the truth was…
He wasn’t interested in her. And no man she’d openly offered sex had ever turned her down. And sure, that was vain and privileged, and it was probably well past time for her to join the human race and get rejected, but it fucking sucked. Especially coming from a friend. Her pride had been obliterated. It took everything she had not to go through his social media and fuck everyone who’d ever meant anything to him out of revenge, including his dad. Instead, she’d buried herself in organising Sparkling Whine and then that had blown up in her face too. She might as well have just revenge fucked Toby’s whole family.
“Maybe it has nothing to do with you…” Jo said, startling Tabby out of her thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Maybe he left—ghosted—for reasons that had nothing to do with you?”
“Why does that matter? He still did it.”
Jo didn’t say anything.
“But maybe you’re right,” Tabby admitted. “His parents were these big Jesus freaks, and they moved away a month before we hooked up. Maybe he was always going to let his inner asshole run wild once they were gone, and his v-plates were the last thing holding him back.”
“Where did his parents go?”
“To a lifestyle community in the Philippines where people from all walks of life can come together to agree Wi-Fi is giving us tumours.”
Jo blinked at her, nonplussed.
“A cult. They joined a cult, is what I’m saying.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, no wonder Toby turned out to be such a freakdog.”
“Freakdog?”
“Just something me and my sisters say. It’s like… a person who’s a dyed-in-the-wool weirdo, like those dogs with long noses and white fur that look like death horses.”
“I don’t think I know what those are.”
“Borzois. Look them up some time; they’re total freaks. I love them, though. I love all dogs. My family have a bunch that came from the same mother.”
“That’s sweet.”
But that brought her right back to thinking about Toby, because the DaSilva pups were the bastard offspring of his parents’ old breeding spaniel, Mopsy. Where was Mopsy now? Did Toby have her in his waterfront property, or had she been dragged to whatever Jonestown Hellmouth his parents were currently eating gruel in? She wished she knew, but no one at the studio was in friendly contact with Toby anymore.
