The Sun Will Rise | T Shelby

five

"Arthur get up."

Angelina let out a scream when Thomas barged into the room without warning. Arthur pulled himself up from laying down, still inside Angelina, wrapping the blanket around her naked torso.

"What the fuck, Tom? You don't just come barging in like-"

"Downstairs now. We've got a problem. And you," Thomas paused and looked at Angelina as she sat still, holding the blanket to her chest. She blushed under his gaze unwillingly and Arthur cleared his throat, "You need to go home."

The door slammed closed and the pair of them heard Thomas muttering something under his breath as he walked away.

Arthur signed, laying back down on the bed, pulling Angelina down beside him and kissing her.

"Sorry darling," he said, "He's a bastard is our Tom. I reckon he's just jealous."

Arthur began getting dressed while Angelina pushed the blanket from her body, lighting one of his cigarettes and taking a long drag.

"Jealous?" She said.

He just chuckled, not being able to rip his eyes away from the sight of a woman that Small Heath had never had before, laying there in his bed like the kind of women he'd only ever seen in the films.

"Fuckin' look at you. Anyone would be."

Angelina laughed and began staring out of Arthur's bedroom window. Her mind was blank at first, but eventually all she could think about was Thomas. He was perhaps the single most selfish and obnoxious person she'd ever come across, she despised him. But for Arthur's sake, the two played civil.

Arthur and Angelina weren't officially a couple. It started as just casual sex. Arthur saw his chance, a beautiful woman in a new city, and pounced. Angelina didn't mind. Arthur more than satisfied her needs, though she had somewhat developed a taste for alcohol since being around him.

"I've gotta go, you can show yourself out, right?"

He sat down on the bed beside her, taking one last look at her all over before kissing her once more.

Angelina just nodded and continued smoking her cigarette.

After Arthur had left, she took her time to leave the Shelby household. She smoked a few more of Arthur's cigarette's that he'd left by her bed, and drank more than one glass of his Irish whiskey that was on the floor.

At one point, she even fell asleep in his bed, exhausted from their time together, but comforted by the scent of him that clung to the blankets on his bed and the clothes that were hung up in his room.

Eventually, Angelina got herself dressed and made the bed. She gathered her belongings into her bag and headed down the stairs, placing the empty glass in the sink before she headed for the door.

"I thought you'd left hours ago."

She turned on her heels to see Thomas sat at the table, a newspaper in his hand.

He wore a grey suit and a flat cap, the blade, she learned, glinted in the hint of sunlight that was reflecting through the window.

"And I thought you'd left hours ago."

"Had to stay behind," Thomas said, folding up the newspaper after he finished reading the last page, turning his attention to Angelina, "Sorry it's Arthur you're not greeted with, I know you much more prefer my brother."

Angelina's expression stayed blank.

"I like Arthur. You," she paused, looking at him with her dark green eyes that seemed almost black to Thomas in the evening hue, "On the other hand, not so much."

"Now that's not very kind, is it?" Thomas smiled, tilting his head slightly, "I let you in my home, let you sleep with my brother, and all I get from you is calling my ex fiancée a whore."

"Ex?" Angelina questioned, slightly smug at the fact her assumption of Grace being a whore had perhaps not been too false.

"Turns out you weren't too far away from the truth. She'd been working against us, with the police from Belfast. That's what I called Arthur down to sort out earlier."

Angelina smiled, the odd feeling of sympathy towards Thomas began to seep through her. She didn't like it.

"And you stayed here not because you had things to do, but because you have a broken heart."

Thomas just laughed and headed for the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, pouring one and sliding it across the counter towards Angelina.

"I don't suffer from a broken heart anymore, nothing ever got mended from the war, nothing to be broken ever again."

"I don't think that's true. She wasn't for you anyway, I could tell."

"Is that so?" Thomas smiled at her, pulling out a chair at the table for her and taking a seat himself beside her, "And how do you know?"

Angelina pulled a face, shrugging her shoulders.

"Too plain. Too..."

"Not Italian enough for you?"

Angelina smiled, looking up at Thomas with a gaze he could've easily mistaken as sultry, but he wasn't sure. He couldn't help but feel his body tense up as he remembered the sight he saw less than a few hours earlier. It hadn't left his mind at all, truthfully.

"Yes. But your brother, see he has won the ultimate prize with me."

"Oh right," Thomas laughed, the first laugh Angelina had seen from him that was genuine, his smile reaching his eyes that were usually so sad, now seemed brighter, "Well I have some news for you, Miss Santoro."

She raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. He did, not before twisting the gold ring on his little finger and taking a gulp of his whiskey.

"Arthur will marry a woman in the spring time. It's arranged, has been for a while."

Angelina had known Arthur for less than a month. Although the pair had no official title, Angelina was beginning to feel like perhaps she could have something with Arthur. The only thought that stopped her was her brother's finding out that she was falling for a Shelby.

There had been no trouble since Jude. Thankfully, Angelina had fixed him up well enough and he made a full recovery. He thanked her by buying her a new dress, and buying her drinks at The Marquis every time the two of them were there at the same time. Not that she ever paid for her own drinks, anyway.

She had been sleeping with Arthur just shy of those four weeks, and nobody but Arthur, Thomas, John and a few other men that she didn't know the names of were aware of it.

Thomas felt uneasy at the silence that had fallen upon them. Angelina was sat quietly, her finger tracing the rim on her glass.

"I suppose that makes both of us heartbroken then, doesn't it?"

She didn't answer, only met his gaze with eyes that he'd expected to be frosted over with tears, but instead were bone dry, her skin glowing from the sunset that shone through the crack in the curtains.

He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stop the intrusive thoughts again, inhaling deeply.

"Maybe we should find out how to heal a broken heart, ey?" He said, trying to lighten the mood or at least, get her to speak.

"You mend a broken heart by getting underneath somebody else, Thomas."

an;
I cannot stop writing this lol I'm obsessed I hope anybody who's reading is enjoying!! I'm aware the plot seems a little fast and all over the place right now but things will start to make sense soon :)

Thank u so much for reading!!

-martials