smoke storm. peaky blinders

𝗙𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

There was a jolly sort of solemness in the air, thick and heavy and intoxicating. The eve before war, this felt like. She found Tommy in the Garrison, serving the boys a pint and chaser. He stood behind the bar, Grace at the other end, passing out glasses as quickly as she could keep up.

When she looked at Tommy, she could still feel the ghostly feeling of his hands against her bare skin, touch warm and welcomed. When she blinked, behind the darkness of her eyelids, she saw him laid out in front of her. Beneath her fingers, she could trace the line of the tattoo on his chest by memory.

"Once we do this, there's no going back," Tommy said, once they'd found their way into the private room. For a moment, she didn't quite know what he was referring to. There could have been many things. "But that's good." For us, the momentary silence seemed to say. "The Peaky Blinders are going to be legitimate. Maybe even going as far as London."

"What are you saying, Tommy?"

Even he didn't seem to understand the true meaning of his words. It didn't matter though. Once he found out the truth, he might never have looked at her the same.

"You don't know everything, Tommy. You don't know me," she began, lifting herself onto her toes so she was in line with his sight. "You don't know where we'll be after this battle."

I feel like I know you. Her own words rang true through her head. But you didn't know me.

"I'm turning things around, alright?" Tommy said, taking her by the face. "When I get back here tonight I will have one of the biggest legal racetrack syndicates in the country. And I'm going to close down some of that other stuff. Maybe open a club, hey? Like in London."

She wanted to shake her head, tell him that none of that mattered, that her business was just as bad and was only going to expand. But she couldn't ruin the motion of things. Tommy had to believe that he was going against Kimber alone.

"That doesn't matter right now," she said, and Tommy released her, confusion disrupting his movements. "How can you promise anything, Tommy? You don't know everything. You don't know me."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. His hands were on her again, almost making her melt.

Adelaide had to close her eyes to be able to keep talking. "And I don't know you, Tommy. How can you promise me anything? How can I know that there aren't others receiving your words."

He looked as if he'd been burned, his hands releasing her swiftly. Adelaide swallowed back the guilt. She knew her words had hit. Grace's voice lifted through the closed door, fresh and hard-hitting in the face of her cold accusations. But she had to do this, had to ease into the betrayal that would quickly come. She'd been lying to him this whole time.

Before Tommy could say anything, Arthur barged into the room, Jeremiah hot on his heels.

"Right, tell him what you just told me."

"Just heard there are two vans driving up the Stratford Road. An old corporal of mine said he recognised some of the men. He said it's Kimber boys, and they're heading this way."

She was gone before Tommy could notice her leave. The streets were quiet, waiting. It all seemed too eerie as she made her way towards the expanse of greying grass that lay just beyond the lane behind the flat. Harry waited there, Robert at his side with a cigarette and James, one of his lackeys, sitting on the floor by the wall.

Just where he was suppose to be.

It made no sense.

"You weren't going to reach Kimber until the last moment," Adelaide said. "He's already making his way down the lane."

If her men weren't the ones making their way to Watery Lane, there could only be one other. There plan had been relatively simple. They were to get to the Lees before Kimber and to the Peaky Blinders before they could get to the Worcestershire races. The plan was already broken.

"It wasn't us. We haven't told him," Harry said, sharing a look with Robert. The elder man swore, recognising the difficulty this brought them, and threw down his cigarette. "Tommy's been betrayed by someone in his own ranks this time."

"Get ready."

Robert and James cleared away, filing back into the house. They left a careful quietness behind them and Adelaide found her brother with a fresh cigarette against his lips, looking painfully like Robert had when he was younger. When he felt her looking, he glanced up and crossed his arms self-consciously across his chest.

"This is a mess," he said.

Adelaide dropped down to lean against the wall beside him, looking out across the old field. She smiled at him, watching as he finally relaxed. "Our mess," she said. "I'm- I'm proud of you. I couldn't have done this without you."

Harry leaned his head against her shoulder and closed his eyes. He almost seemed relieved. The notion made her heart ache.

"Thank you, Addy," he said, and then he finally looked at her again, eyes glazed and wet. He blinked them dry. "I'm sorry- about the other night. I was impulsive and reckless. I just wanted to do right by you."

"I know. And you did. You did the right thing. I'm not sure it all would have gone so well if you hadn't been there to intervene. I'm just sorry you had to."

He was still her little brother. At times she wanted to keep him such a way, still innocent, still cautious. But he was growing up, becoming responsible. Her right hand man.

"I missed out on one war, Addy. It's not fair that I get out of this one unchanged."

He had been too young to sign up, too young to escape the watch of the gang and draft under a fake age. There had been guilt underlying such words, a longing to have contributed to something bigger. In a way, these battles in the south were his war. Their family business to be the victor.

"I know. I wish you didn't have to grow up. Where did my little brother go?"

"He finally grew into your old shoes." There was a grin on his face. The kind she'd always cause when they'd been younger. "It was always you I wanted to be like. Never dad, never Robert."

Adelaide mirrored his smile and wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders, pulling him close.

"I love you, little brother."