Toby had a hard time kissing Jenna without thinking about Spencer and what this would do to her. He knew he had to keep her safe at any cost.
He tilted his head back as Jenna found the sweet spot on his neck and nibbled. He stiffened up and pushed her away.
"What's wrong?" Jenna whispered trying to catch her breath.
"Nothing, I just don't want to get too carried away right now I have to meet Caleb in an hour' Toby lied through his teeth.
"I have dinner plans with Noel anyway. Why don't you come back over tomorrow and we can pick up where we left off" Jenna said as she kissed Toby's lips again.
"I will see you tomorrow then" he said regretting that he had to mean what he was saying. As he started to leave Jenna grabbed his arm.
"Don't worry Toby, your secret is safe with me" Jenna said and turned away from him.
Toby opened the door to Jenna's house and walked down the steps, sure to check his surroundings. He hurried into his truck, slammed the door and pounded his fists on the dashboard and he could feel the tears rolling down his face.
Spencer was pacing back and forth in her kitchen while Hanna and Aria sat at the counter.
"Where is he?" Spencer said looking at her phone "The last time he disappeared like this…" her words trailed off at the memory of everything that had happened- finding out Toby was –A, stumbling upon his supposed dead body and ending up breaking to the point where she ended up in Radley.
"Spence, don't go there" Aria tried to comfort.
"But he was on the –A Team" Hanna stated and Aria shot her a look "Sorry just stating the facts".
"Spencer, it's probably something stupid like his truck broke down or something" Aria said.
Spencer shook her head "then why isn't he returning my calls or texts?" She looked down to check her phone.
"I don't know Spencer but there has to be a good explanation for it. This isn't like Toby" Hanna said with sincerity.
The room went silent and all 3 girls jumped when Hanna's phone rang. "it's Emily" Hanna said and answered the phone "Hey Em".
"I got your texts but the brew was swamped. I just left now going to go home and change. What's the S.O.S.? . " Emily said.
"We can't find Toby. He was supposed meet Spencer after school and he never showed. He is not returning anyone's texts or phone calls" Hanna said as she opened the door to go outside.
"Em, I am really worried" Hanna whispered and then Emily gasped. "Emily what?"
"Hanna, Toby isn't missing. I see him walking to his truck. He was at Jenna's" Emily said.
"Oh my god! Jenna? But why he can't stand her" Hanna said.
"I don't know, but, not a word to Spencer until we get to the bottom of it. I will be there is a little while" Emily said.
"Ok Em see you in a bit" Hanna hung up the phone and walked backed into the house.
"What did Emily say?" Spencer asked with worry in her voice.
"She hasn't heard from him. She is going home to change and she will be over in a little while. Don't worry I'm sure he is ok" Hanna said as she hugged her friend and gave Aria the I need to talk to you now look and Aria nodded.
Spencer pulled back from Aria and looked at her phone again. "Dammit Toby where are you" she said out loud and started pacing again.
He felt like shit for what he had done to Spencer. He felt dirty and worthless and had no idea how he was going to face her. He didn't even have to look at his phone to know that there would be a hundred missed calls and texts from Spencer and her friends wondering where he was or worse that –A had ratted him out already but would it really be that easy?
Jenna's last words to him made him wonder. Was this really –A or was this just another Jenna thing? He had no idea. He would like to think that Jenna couldn't be that bad but then again this was a girl who did some terrible things and kept some pretty big secrets of her own. He knew that she had never gotten over him, that her feelings for him were real at one point and he couldn't help but wonder if she still felt that way. The memories of the times he spent with Jenna cased an anger inside him to start to boil.
Toby pounded the dash again letting out a groan "dammit". He put the car in drive and raced towards his loft. He needed to try to wash the grimy feeling away before he faced her, if he could face her. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the charade for too long. He knew she would figure him out pretty quickly and he also knew that if he didn't let her see him with Jenna or tell her he didn't want to be with her anymore –A would hurt worse than any betrayal by Toby could ever do.
During the short drive to the loft above the brew, his phone continued to ring alerting him of more texts. He didn't even want to look at them. He was so disgusted in himself for letting –A win. Either way, Spencer wouldn't be around much longer and he would rather have her not be in his life than 6 feet underground. He threw his phone on his passenger seat, parked the truck and ran up to his loft.
When Toby got into his bedroom to start getting undressed he saw that the picture of him and Spencer now had a scratch on it over Spencer's face. It wasn't fully broken just a scratch and Toby's stomach churned. He quickly undressed and jumped in the shower letting the hot water rid him of the smell of Jenna's perfume along with the grimy feeling he had from being so deceitful. He had promised Spencer no more secrets on more than one occasion and here he was still keeping secrets from her and he knew he would have to lie to her on top of it. He side and turned off the water.
As he stepped out of the truck he saw a note written in the steam You have only scratched the surface – A. Toby was baffled. There was no way Jenna could have done this because he was with her. He dried off, quickly changed and sprinted to his truck. He needed to see Spencer.