VICES AND VIRTUES | Thomas Shelby

EIGHT

this is a double update! read seven first!

Since her run in with George on the heath Florence had been trying to avoid the younger Harrington brother, fearing that he might have noticed something between Florence and Tommy. The two brothers had made efforts to spend time with the girl, but she would end up making a poorly thought out excuse, telling them her mother was overwhelmed by work, but it only lasted so long.

It was a cool spring evening when she opened her front door to see the two Harrington brothers standing on her doorstep. Before she could reel off some sort of excuse her mother appeared beside her, practically forcing her coat into her hands and guiding her out of the door.

So that left the three friends making their way to the Garrison, Florence in the middle of the brothers, clinging onto each of their arms. She assured herself that it would all be alright, George probably hadn't even noticed anything between her and Tommy, she assumed he would have said something by now.

"So, why are you two in Small Heath again?" Florence asked the boys as they walked down the street towards the Garrison.

"He's avoiding Diana." Elijah answered with a smirk.

"That's not true." George retorted. 

"It is," Elijah teased, "Diana and her parents are at our house as we speak, but where are we? On our way to the Garrison."

"I just wanted to see my good friend Floss, is that an issue?" George asked his brother.

"Not at all, George," Florence sighed, gently squeezing his arm as the three friends neared the pub, the girl noticing a car parked up outside that she knew didn't belong to the Shelby brothers.

"Good, well I plan on drinking enough whiskey that I collapse in a heap on your kitchen floor and can't get home," George rambled as Florence noticed how eerily quiet the surrounding was, given that at that hour the pub was expected to be full of customers, that could often be heard from the street.

"It's a bit quiet, don't you think?" Florence muttered, glancing at each of the boys.

"A bit too quiet," Elijah whispered, sharing the same concern as the woman beside him.

At that moment a gun was fired inside the pub, the sound startling the three friends. Florence became panicked, knowing that not just Tommy, but Arthur and John were in there too. She didn't dare to worry whether Finn could be in there too.

In a moment of haste she freed herself from Elijah and George's arms, attempting to rush towards the pub, driven by her need to assure the safety of the Shelby men. But before she could even reach the pub doors she felt arms around her waist pulling her back, her feet dragging against the cobbled street.

"You can't go in there, Flo!" Elijah warned as he clung onto her, his heart racing with panic at how he might get her away from the potential danger that lay inside the Garrison.

"Elijah, get your hands off me or I swear I will scream," Florence hissed, knowing that her ace was the three Shelby men who would have no qualms firing a gun on her behalf.

"Floss, Eli's right," George attempted to reason with the girl as his brother freed her from his grip, "You don't know who fired that gun, you don't know who's in there, we know the Shelby boys are capable of protecting themselves."

"I don't care," Florence answered flippantly, "I need to know what's going on."

"You're aware what the Peaky boys would do to us if something happens to you and they find out we didn't stop you running into that building," Elijah panicked, as he feared what might happen to the girl who stood before him if he let her out of his sight.