devil's backbone 🗝 tommy shelby

chapter 10

n// wow i am really on a role with this story and lily james is the most beautiful woman i have ever seen and thats whats up

ps sass master billie is my religion wbu

pps long chapter alert!!

"Miss Day?" The familiar voice of the school's secretary spoke, breaking the silence of her lunch break. "There's an Inspector Campbell here to see you."

Billie furrowed her brows and looked up from her book, gaze being met by an older gentleman with a grey moustache. Putting her book down, she stood up from her seat, dusted her dress off, and walked to the door to greet the man as the secretary left.

"Hello," She greeted politely, letting him in. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Uh, yes, there is, actually," The man smiled, thanking her with a nod as she got him a chair that wasn't meant for children. "I'm Chief Inspector Chester Campbell, head of the new police force brought here from Belfast, and I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."

"No, of course not," She spoke, sitting down across from him. "May I ask what this is all about, first?"

"Well, I'm sure you're familiar with the Peaky Blinders."

Sybil almost flinched at the way he spat the name out from his accented tongue, but kept her composure.

"That I am."

"And I've been made aware that you have some sort of relationship with them — is that correct?"

"No." Was all she responded.

"Well, if that's so, more than a few witnesses have some explaining to do." The man chuckled humourlessly.

"I said that I have no relationship with the Peaky Blinders," Billie restated, trying her hardest to cover up the hostility she was now feeling. "Not with the Shelby family."

"I imagine that if you get one, you get the other."

"With some people, that might be so, but not with me."

"Then pray tell, Miss Day, what is the nature of your relationship with the Shelby family?"

"I tutor the youngest brother."

"And what of your relationship with Thomas Shelby?"

Upon bringing up his name, Inspector Campbell opened his briefcase and took out a file, placing the picture that was inside on the schoolteacher's desk.

Sybil looked at it for a moment, suddenly getting taken back to when she was just a teenage girl. She'd forgotten that Tommy once looked like that. So young. So... human. She'd grown long used to his stoic and cold public persona, associating that with his character. Which, as of now, would be true. But she remembered going to school with him, seeing him play football whilst they were on their breaks, and always being one to cause a little bit of trouble here or there. Another thing she noticed was how much younger he looked, and that was in more ways than one. She saw the hurt and pain in those blue eyes of his every time she looked into them, and in this picture... well, there was a lot less of that, if any at all.