Aurelia Cruz is a well respected club owner and madame in London, but she has things she holds very sacred and sacred things that hold her.
Thomas Shelby is a Birmingham gangster making his way up in the business world, and is trying to expand busin...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She let him lead them to the dance floor and they began to foxtrot. He surprisingly knew what he was doing, and he did so quite well. "So, tell me, what are dances to men like me?" He asks and Aurelia smirked before looking into ice blue irises. "A gateway to questioning." She jokingly teased since he was proving her point. "Alright how about one last question?" He proposes his eyes never diverting from her own amber ones. "Go on." She says knowing she doesn't really have to answer anything if she doesn't want to. "What are you hiding behind this club and these wings?" he asks his fingers ever so slightly trailing up her back as if he could physically play with the feathers of her tattoo. Aurelia's smirk slightly drops from her face, but their rhythm doesn't falter. "That's none of your concern, Thomas." She claimed calmly. Her initial thoughts on his curiosity being correct, it's just as dangerous as he is.
Thomas nodded his head in temporary acceptance. He found the madame unique and interesting; he wanted to be-friend her for business purposes and perhaps for slightly personal reasons as well. A successful friend in London could be beneficial when Shelby Company Limited made way over here. "Do I get to ask questions now?" Aurelia asks. She wanted to give him a bit of his own medicine, she also wanted a few answers. "You can ask them." Thomas replies with a hidden meaning in the words. 'You can ask them, but I may not answer' is what he was really saying but Aurelia decided to ask anyways. "Were you always this up tight?" She started lightly in her questioning.
Thomas huffed out an almost laugh, before tilting his head to the side a bit. "No, I wasn't." He answered bluntly. Aurelia studied his face for a moment after he answered, she knew something must have changed him if he wasn't always like this. She remembers Arthur told her that him and his brothers were all in the war. "War changed a lot of men. Some men lost themselves out there." Aurelia sympathized. Despite her own past with war changed men, she knew not every man was going to be like Steven Felton. He had always been rotten, war just made him more corrosive. " Seems like it." Thomas answered, not really wanting to talk about war.
"Who taught you to dance?" Aurelia asked next, her wanting to bring the conversation to a lighter tone. "My mum did along with our aunt Polly. Said that a gentleman should know how to dance. Why? No good?" He teased toward the end. Aurelia returned the teasing attitude. "It's nothing special but you're an alright dancer." She said with a shrug and a small smile her gaze moving about the cub as they danced. Thomas raised his brows and decided to silently take that as a challenge with a nonchalant nod of his head. Suddenly, Thomas spun the Angel and brought her back to him a cheeky smile on his face showing off the golden tooth in the back of his mouth. "Alright maybe you're a bit better than you first let on." She said a chuckle escaping her smiling lips, if one didn't know better, they'd think she was giggling. "But I'll bet you can't Salsa?" She asked. "You've got me there. I don't know how to Salsa." He confirms, his smile still hadn't left. "So, why the holiday to London?" She questioned; she sees that Thomas is all business, vacations don't seem like his forte unless a little business would be involved in some way.
"My brothers and I needed time off. Figured a night in London would be good." The answer he gives isn't satisfactory, but Aurelia can understand wanting to keep certain things to oneself. "Hm well I hope the rest of the Shelby brothers holiday goes well." Aurelia says as the song ends, and they stop dancing. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to be a good host." She left Thomas there to mingle with guests and keep eyes on her girls. For the rest of the night Thomas could only see her from his place at the table.
"So, Tom, what was all that?" Arthur asked Thomas gesturing to Aurelia. "What do you mean, Arthur?" Thomas asked not moving his sight from Aurelia; pupils tracing the wings on her back. She could feel his eyes on her, but Aurelia shrugged it off, the heat of his eyes becoming an unnoticeable warmth as she continued socializing with guests. "The dancing with Aurelia." Arthur embellished. "It was just a dance." Thomas brushed the question off. Arthur wanted to call bull shit, but he just bit his tongue. "All right well I'm going to get another drink, and another dance." Arthur announced walking away again. The rest of the night went on, Aurelia got to know the youngest of the three Shelby brothers in her club for a bit and a bit of a Charleston and chatting with Arthur. All with the warmth of ice blue eyes following, studying.
