Living With Mr Shelby

Chapter Ten

Ada and I had been sitting outside a café on the mainstree. The day had been relatively peaceful. All things considered. We had almost finished when we saw the older son of Danny looking around frantically; we both exchanged worried looks and hurried over to him.

"Kimber's comin and he ain't leavin till Tommy's dead." Was all the boy said as he spied a group of Peaky Blinders hanging around a corner pub close by. We watched as the men instantly jolted into action unable to do much as the street exploded into action.

"Where's everyone?" Ada asked, having come from her new house to meet you. She must have been out of the loop and worrying for her brothers that she hasn't seen for weeks, I thought for a second. Remembering what Tommy had told me this morning I hurried to answer her.

"Poll's at church with Michael, Esme and John are at the Bookies, Arthur's in the Garrison and Tommy's up at Charlie Strong's yard." I said quickly. Ada sent me to fetch Tommy while she gathered the other's. She called over to Danny's boy who stopped spreading the word and nodded as she told him to fetch Arthur. By the time I had got to Charlie's I was gasping for breath. I almost hurried smack into Curly and Tommy surprising both the men and had to wave my hands around as I gasped about what was going on.

"Kimber, coming killing Tommy." Was all I managed to get out between deep gasps. Tommy swallowed and looked over at Curly and indicated for Charlie to watch him. His uncle nodded and led Curly inside the small house that they lived in and hurried out. He began locking Tommy's new horse into the stable and the two men heaved a huge pile of lumber in front of the door making the stable look like a wood storage. Tommy waved goodbye to his uncle and took a tight grip on my arm as he started pulling me, rather quickly, towards the docks.

A few Lee men I had met once or twice were sitting at the docks looking nervous. Tommy shouted something at them in Romani. I caught snippets of it and realized that they were being told to take me to Danny's where they were to wait with me till he came to fetch us. A few minutes later Danny's son, all of John's boys and Esme were on the boat. Tommy ran a hand through his hair and made sure his family were tucked away at the back of the boat.

"Why can't we just..." I began to ask Tommy but he gave me a look that would have made most men cower and decided to stay quiet.

"Where the fucks Poll." He muttered angrily pulling a pocket watch out of his pocket and began pacing.

"She's with Ada and her son; I think Freddie put them on a train." Danny's son yelled from the boat and quickly ducked back inside as Esme scolded him for being so loud. Tommy relaxed a little and turned to look at me, for a minute I thought he was going to say something or kiss me but instead he shook his head and walked away.

"What's going on... you can't just send us away." I said loud enough for Tommy to hear. He stopped and turned around to face me.

"If we die Kimber will ave you and Esme, even John's daughter and no one can do nothing about it. He's only down here cause we boasted about having you." He shouted, making me flinch as his words became sharp. I backed down. Submitting to Tommy's wishes. I took a step towards the boat glancing back to see Tommy had stormed off up the road trying to look as uninterested in our boat as possible even though he glanced back a little to check I had actually gotten on board.

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Ada had phoned from Freddie's safe house to check that we were all ok and Poll had a long chat with Danny about what was happening. By the time it was midnight everyone else was asleep but I was wide awake. Frustrated with the sleep I was unable to catch, I tiptoed downstairs, fumbling slightly as I slid on my coat and slipped past Danny who had been guarding the front door but was now fast asleep.

I took a deep breath of the night air and wandered over to the small bridge that made up part of Danny's driveway. Tommy had bought him a house so large that they had a driveway at the left and the right hand side of the house connecting in the middle next to the house. I leaned over the edge of the bridge trying to swing my leg over one side so I could sit on it but quickly remembered I was in my bed clothes.

I lent my arms on the bridge's wall and lent my head on them watching the fish bob up and down in the moonlight. I looked up as Rosie padded up to me quietly, her feet crunching softly over the gravel of the driveway. She stopped beside me and stood next to the wall with me, not saying anything.

"Do you think he's ok?" I asked finally, admitting to myself that I was too worried about Tommy to sleep. Rosie nodded and offered her arm to link mine with.

"He will be, those Shelby boys have an uncanny knack at turning out ok." She chuckled to herself and stopped turning to look at me. "If I were you I'd run up to him and hold him tight and admit my feelings for him... but you ain't me are you?" I shook my head at her and sighed as we walked back into the house.

"I don't have feelings for him. I'm just worried that he might be hurt." I said after a long silence making Rosie chuckle as she opened the front door and hurried over to sooth a worried Danny who had been looking all over for Rosie when he couldn't find her in bed.

"I have no romantic feelings for Tommy." I whispered to my cheeks heat up a little as I thought back to the night when he'd been injured. Maybe I did have feelings but I wasn't going to admit it since It was a passing fancy, no more than a crush on my roommate which would simply vanish into nothing if or when I moved out. "If he let me move out more like." I said to myself grumpily and headed up to my room.