All The Kings Men {Peaky Blinders} (Completed)

Fourteen

Not a day later Thomas Shelby returned to Birmingham. He said nothing as he walked into the office, and disappeared well into the late afternoon. Nobody except John and Arthur heard from him. Until he called Lily late on that same evening. All he did was ask her to come to the house.

And when Lily did, he was awake despite his son that lay asleep in his bed. Tommy invited her into the house. It was cold, and empty.

"What am I doing here, Tommy?"

He didn't look at her as they entered his study. "I didn't want to be alone."

Lily sighed and sat down as he handed her a glass of whiskey. "Don't you have Lizzie for this?"

"We aren't related, Lily. We have no blood relation. And Lizzie is no good for a night like tonight." He lit a cigarette and turned to her. "How do you feel about there being no blood relation between us?"

He's drunk, this is wrong. Lily thought. "I should go-"

He stared at her for a minute. Silent, swaying, and tired. "No. No, stay. We need to talk business." He stumbled to the chair and slumped into it, it seemed to encase him in the dark night. "Sit, please, have a drink, have a smoke, I don't care about that."

Lily lowered herself into a chair, and pulled out a cigarette to light it. Tommy leaned forwards to talk to her. "Now, as you know, I have been training Michael to take over the legitimate business-" He wavered for a second, Lily took a drag of the cigarette. For one sole moment Tommy was reminded so forcefully of Polly. He cleared his throat. "I was hoping, that you might join Michael on that side of the business. Polly disapproves of you working so late along side Arthur and John, because, as she said, they're big boys."

Lily took another drag of her cigarette, half determined to not say a word until she had smoked the whole goddamn thing. "Neither of the boys agree with Polly, but, she is your mother. She took you in, fed you, clothed you, protected you. So we owe her the good grace and good mind to abide by her say." Tommy sipped his whiskey, and placed the empty glass on the floor. "Just one last job, Lily, and then the whole business will be legitimate. And I need you for this job, but we'll get to that at a later time." How many times had he said that? How many times will he continue to be wrong?

Tommy slumped into his chair again, fifteen-seconds passed before he let out a soft ripple of a snore. Lily scoffed to herself, he was too drunk to even talk business. It was like she had come up for nothing. She realised then why Lizzie was no good for tonight, because Tommy trusted Lily with both sides of the business, he didn't mind her getting her hands dirty. It was never about sex, no matter how alcohol induced she would have thought, but about business. Because when it came to Thomas Shelby, there was fuck all else to talk about.

*

The sunlight filtered through the cotton curtains of the guest bedroom Lily slept in. It was the first time in a while she had slept for so long, and so peacefully. Tommy's house was like a castle, a haven away from the crummy streets of Birmingham. It was an escapable wonderland, and Lily always slightly regretted leaving. Not because she wanted the house, but because she wanted to work enough to earn herself a house as grand as this one. She thought about the country side, and the calm waters down south, as she dressed quietly and made her way to the servants kitchen.

Mary sat with Charlie, trying to feed him breakfast. The little one wasn't having any of the nonsense as he grasped at the air trying to gather Lily's attention. She poured herself a cup of tea, before looking at Mary. "Where is he?"

Mary raised an eyebrow at her, judging her on no grounds. "Said he had to go to Birmingham, said you wouldn't mind staying a little while to take care of Charlie." Mary had a pretentious mood about her that Lily could never appreciate. It showed in her face when she stalked out of the kitchen, suddenly stranded at Tommy's palace. It was going to be a long day, even without Lily being in the loop.