devil's backbone 🗝 tommy shelby

chapter 13

"Miss Day!"

Sybil jumped as she heard the enthusiastic tone, clutching her hand over her chest in a frightful manner.  She'd been inside her own head all day, and having someone shout her name as soon as she stepped off campus wasn't ideal in the moment.  Turning, she was (unfortunately) met with the familiar face of Archibald Hayes, in all of his pesky glory.

"Don't creep up on me like that!" Sybil scolded, trying to steady her heartbeat.

Archibald, however, just found the situation to be one of much hilarity, which only made Sybil's disdain for the man increase.

"And what's so funny?"

"Nothing! It's just—" he cut himself off, laughing more. "What would you have done? You know, if I were an actual threat."

"A great deal more than you'd assume, Archibald. It'd do you well to stop underestimating women. Especially when they feel threatened."

Archibald just rolled his eyes at the girl, but kept smiling, catching up with her as she kept walking.

"I'm sure, I'm sure," he acquiesced. "Bet you're the toughest person in all of Birmingham, eh? Give the Peaky Blinders a run for their money, don't you?"

At the mention of the Peaky Blinders, Sybil knew that she had to dodge that topic like it was an arrow flying towards her head.  Men like Archibald Hayes were dangerous.  They talked too much, and asked too many questions — ones that could get a lot of people in trouble.  And with the looming threat of that inspector and his (alleged) little barmaid overhead, Sybil wasn't taking any chances.

"I'm sorry, but did you need anything?"

Archibald noticed the way she dodged his question, and narrowed his eyes at her for only a split second before composing himself.

"I wanted to see you." he shrugged.

"Well, showing up to my place of employment without notice isn't the way to do it."

"I thought showing up at your door would be too much."

The thought of him knowing exactly where she worked and lived was unsettling, to say the least.  All she knew about him was that he worked in construction, fancied her, and that he was one of the most annoying people she'd ever met in her life.  Oh, and the fact that Tommy Shelby wanted to kill him.

"And why did you want to see me?"

"Because I think you're lovely, and I want to court you."

At that, Sybil's eyes widened.  Before this, they'd met two times: one being right after she'd witnessed a murder, and the other time being when he refused to let her walk alone.  And now, he's trying to court her.  It was all very sudden, and if she was being honest, it was very strange, too.

"What?"

"I said that I'm want to court you." he repeated himself, sounding more confident now. "I fancy you, Miss Day."

"You barely know me, Archibald."

"Maybe so, but I know about you." he persisted. "I know that you're a school teacher, and that you're the best in Birmingham. I know that you're not married, and that your family want you to be. I know that you're kind, and that you'll make a great mother to our children someday—"