Power and Lies

Sixteen

"Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret."

- Laurence J. Peter

Six Months Later

Freya ran down the road, her laughs bouncing off the walls of nearby buildings. It was warm out, a reprieve from the normal bleak weather and she had taken John's children out to play for a bit while Tommy and John held meetings. Time had passed blissfully, and Tommy had been right- John did forgive them. Grace, however, had not. Oftentimes she would notice the blonde woman staring at her, a soured expression on her face. She did not blame her, she would do the same in her situation, so it did not bother her as much as it did Tommy.

"Are you going to catch me?" She hollered back to the children as she ran, exhilarated. The thudding of small feet broke up her thoughts well enough, and gone were the thoughts of Grace and the situations at hand. It was a small reprieve, over almost as soon as it started as Arthur showed up at the corner, nodding his head towards her. Time to go she knew and looked back to the children, their faces red with effort and aglow with happiness. They knew to go home from there, there was no point to following or begging her to finish the game. She had to go to work from here. Each departed with a small wave and she jogged up to Arthur.

"What's happening?" She asked him gleefully. Arthur did not share her happiness, which was normal, but something in the sag of his shoulders alarmed her. There had not been many issues in the last six months, Tommy had seen to that. The new official had come in, imposing himself above all and had roughed up officers he deemed corrupted. Stress had kept her up many nights at first, now it was not too bad. Tommy would not tell her the details, but she knew he had come to some sort of understanding with the man. Tommy was cold, but he loved his family. He would not allow them to sink down below the waters only so he could float. He had taken care of them. No matter the expense to himself, or at least she thought.

"Tommy wants to see us. Family meeting." Family, the word still tasted sweet on her tongue. Although she was often excluded from the meetings as she was not married in or blood, every once in a while she was invited into the fold. The meetings were tense and often resulted in verbal or physical fights but still she was excited each time.

It did not take long to get into the building with the other members of the Shelby family. Each one stood in a tense stance, their arms folded and scowls present. This, she could tell, was not going to go well. Tommy stood at the head of the table, not bothering to look up as she entered. Although their relationship was not a secret they had both agreed she would take no special treatment of any form. She was a Peaky Blinder, but she was not a Shelby, therefore she was not privy to the specialties of being one.

There were chairs at the table, yet nobody sat. Instead Tommy used one to flex his knuckles, the tension tight within his hands. The skin turned white with lack of blood and concern pooled into her. The lover in her wished to whisk over to him and help him with whatever stressor he had. The blinder in her kept her feet grounded on the wooden floor.

"What is this about Tom?" Arthur asked after several tense moments of simply staring at one another.

Tommy pushed the chair, letting it fall to the floor dramatically. The sound of the wood splintering reverberated through the room, causing Freya to jump slightly, although no other person moved. They were used to this version of Tommy. This was the Tommy that came home from the war, only evolving its shape but never it's behavior.

"We have a bloody rat within our ranks." His hand reached up grasping at his hair in a stressed motion before reaching down and grabbing a cigarette. It only took seconds for him to light it and begin to partake in the stress relief of the pseudo drug. "Now I need to know, did any of you in this room talk to anyone about what's been going on here?" They all exchanged glances, a silent promise passing that they would never do that to one another. It was not enough for the rage boiling within Tommy.