What Would They Say - mob!Tom x Reader

Four

That night, after my shift has finished, Tom walks with me out of the bar.

"I'll walk you home," he says, sticking his hands in his pocket, a frown on his face. He and Harrison had spent the night sat, discussing something with Mr Terry in a way that could only be described as heated. They had been joined about half an hour after arriving by another man, who I vaguely recognised from their first night.

A large part of me wanted to know what was going on that had resulted in such frequent visits from the mobsters. However, every time I came near to their table with either more drinks or to clean the neighbouring ones, the four men would quickly be silenced.

"You don't have to do that, Tom," I say but he just shakes his head, tilting it in the direction we had walked from earlier that night.

"London's dangerous at night, darling. I should know, I make it that way," Tom says and winks. I blush at the action, looking away and hearing his light chuckle.

"What's it like?" I ask suddenly, after a few minutes of silent walking.

"What?" Tom asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, shooting me a look from the corner of his eyes.

"Leading a mob," I specify, my voice quieting and loosing much of the confidence I had been building up throughout our walk.

"Why do you ask?" Tom questions, his voice severe and I get the hint that I should drop the topic.

"Just... wondering," I murmur. The tension in the air is heavy and the silence hangs between us

"I wouldn't hurt you, you know," Tom says finally and I look at him, wide eyed in confusion. "That's why you were asking, right? I kill people and your worried you'll be one of them?" The bluntness of his question throws me off guard and I find myself nodding, even though that's only half the reason I wanted to know.

"I guess," my voice is raspy, the sense of danger in the conversation is all too real as I answer him.

"You're safe, I would never hurt you," Tom's voice has dropped an octave and lose it's rough edge. I swallow and nod, staring straight ahead, not wanting to look at him. "You don't believe me?" He asks and I start to wish that my flat could move to cut the half-hour walk down to a ten minute one.

"I believe you," the words sound fake, even as I say them. Tom lets out a quiet sigh and, too my surprise, links our pinky's together. I look down at our linked fingers in surprise before my gaze lifts up to look at Tom's face.

"No one will hurt you. Ever," Tom says, his words sounding more firm. "Harrison, Jacob and I... we'll look after you. Even Davy will make sure nothing happens," at this point he seems to be trying to reassure himself more than me. I get the feeling he's trying to convince me of more than just... my safety.

"Why would they try and hurt me?" I finally ask. I was nothing to Tom, a friend at most, an employee at least. I did not think I had any cause to be concerned about people trying to cause me harm.

"You're associated with me, darling. And... I hope that you will become... more associated with me in the future." For the first time since I met him, Tom sounds uncertain, almost shy.

Gently, I move my hand so not just our pinky's are together and our fingers are interwoven with one another. Tom looks down at our joined hands and looks at me, a grin on his face.

"Is that a yes?" He asks me.

"You never... asked me anything," I say a little shyly.

"You really want me to ask?" Tom asks with a slight laugh, his free hand moving to scratch the back of his neck. I squeezed his hand, a smile growing on my face.