Toby wrenched his arm free, his teeth bared. “Fuck off, Noah. Fuck off and get out of my fucking house.”
“I don’t think I will.” Noah loomed closer. “I’ve seen the boxes coming to the studio. You’re the one buying her shit, right? Clothes. A new phone.” His lip curled. “A fuckin’ maid costume?”
Toby’s vision swam, and for a second, he was sure he would pass out. “I... they’re just presents. Stuff I thought she’d like.”
“Don’t you fuckin’ lie to me. Think you’re a big man? Throwing money at a girl having a shit time so you can finally fuck her? Dressing her up and parading her around so people think you’re not a complete fucking loser? Thinking eventually she’ll owe you enough to put up with you long term? You’re fuckingpathetic.”
The blood drained from Toby’s face. It had felt so charming and fun to buy Tabby nice things. To give her the Cinderella treatment. But coming out of Noah’s mouth, it sounded like the sleaziest shit on earth.
“I didn’t…” he attempted. “I wasn’t trying to?—”
“Was it your idea to dye her hair brown?” Noah interrupted. “Do her nails again? Get those fucking fake eyelashes?”
“No, I just?—”
“She wasn’t enough of a fantasy fuckdoll for you? You wanted more?”
“No!”
“Yes.” Noah’s nose was an inch from his. “Your fingerprints are all over that girl. Literally. And if her sisters weren’t so fucked up, they’d have seen it too.”
“What’s wrong with Sam and Ni?—”
“We’re talking aboutyou, cuntrag. I’ll ask again: Do you think you’re a big man? Taking advantage of a girl in a bad place? Giving it to her rough and letting her do self-harm by proxy because it makes your dick hard?”
“Self-harm?” Toby repeated. “How?—”
“Her fucking mother,” Noah spat. “She’s back in town and basically stalking Tabs, but I bet you know all about that, huh? Been comforting her between shoving your dick inside her, haven’t you?”
Toby couldn’t have been more shocked if Noahhadpunched him in the teeth. “What are you fucking talking about?”
Noah bent down, his breath sour with beer and old cigarettes. “Deny it again. I fucking dare you.”
The threat hovered like an air force drone above enemy land, threatening to strike at the slightest provocation. Toby shook his head, unwilling to talk but utterly confused. Tabby’s mum hadn’t been around her entire life. As far as he knew, she hadn’t seen her since childhood. Then he remembered their conversation in bed a few nights ago. He’d told Tabby about his parents not responding to his most recent email, and she’d let out the most resounding sigh he'd ever heard and said, “You’d think at least one of us would have normal parents.”
“Who’s the ‘one of us?’” he’d asked.
“Us,” Tabby gestured between their bodies. “You, me, Noah’s parents, Scott’s dad, my mum and dad…”
“Your dad’s great. At least from what I’ve heard?”
“He is. But I miss him. I want him to come home. Sometimes, I wish he had just worked in an office, and he and my mum were still married, and she baked bread and rocked the karaoke machine after too many daiquiris. Normal shit, you know?”
“I know,” he’d said, pulling her into his arms. “We can do karaoke if you want?”
She’d snorted. “No thanks, mate. I heard you sing when you and Scott started the world’s worst soft rock band. My ears have never been the same.”
They’d laughed and laid entwined together debating new band names, and Toby had felt flattered she’d looped him in with the rest of the Silver Daughters gang as having shitty parents. But now the fact Tabby had mentioned her mother at all stuck out like a sore thumb.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Tabby’s mum’s here? In Melbourne?”
Noah’s forehead furrowed. “You didn’t…?”
“No.”
For a second, the tension faded, and it was almost like they were mates again. Then Noah grabbed him by the collarbone tight enough to hurt. “I’ve said all I came to fucking say. Go stick your dick in something else and stay the fuck away from?—”
A low growl made them both turn. With a twist to his heart more painful than anything Noah could ever achieve, Toby saw Mopsy stumbling down the stairs on her bandaged legs.
