DEVIL'S GAME || THOMAS SHELBY [2]

T W O

TWO YEARS HAD PASSED SINCE THE OWNERSHIP OF THE GARRISON HAD CHANGED AND STILL RESENTMENT LINGERED. Harry had retained his job as a barman but he couldn't keep the honour and dignity of being the owner anymore. That position belonged to Arthur, which he sometimes considered to be a burden rather than an honour. He had thought over time that Kat would warm up to the idea of her uncle no longer being the sole owner of the Garrison but even to this day, he would be attacked with less than subtle jabs on a regular basis.

Kat held onto the notion that Harry, her dear uncle, was better at running the bar and that it was his right to own it. The pub had been taken away from him in an unfair way and Kat made sure everyone knew it. That was why an unattractive sneer rested on her face as she stood outside the scorched pub, dust particle and small pieces of ash floating in a dance-like motion around her as she wondered whether this would have happened if the pub wasn't owned by the Peaky Blinders.

The unpleasant stench of burning wood lingered in the air across the city. Pieces of glass littered the ground from where the heat and explosion caused them to break and scatter. The remnants of two prams were left at the scene and pieces of green confetti decorated the area - a not so subtle clue to who was behind the bombing of the Garrison.

Kat stood beside her uncle, who wore a similar look on his face as his niece. One look at the two and it was as clear as day that the two were related. Their lips curled up at the same angle and their noses scrunched up similarly as well. It was their eyes, however, that were the most alike and it could not be denied that both, uncle and niece, were thoroughly pissed off.

Kat held onto Bobby's shoulder as she could sense his curiosity. The moment she would loosen her grip, the seven and a half year old - as he liked to keep reminding Kat of - would run into the unsafe ruins of the once loved pub. It was a natural curiosity for a boy his age to investigate but Kat would be damned if he got hurt. Her grip didn't falter, even when he began to whine about the strength of her grip.

Bobby had grown a lot in the years ago, physically and mentally. Kat could already tell that Bobby was going to be a tall, strong man when he grew up. It certainly helped that the unorthodox family had been living a better life in the last year and a half. There was more money in their hands than they knew what to do with.

Nothing could change, however, who Kat and Bobby were in the core - with money or no money. They knew how to rough it and it was obvious that they weren't suited to the wealthy life that the Shelby's longed for. Where the Shelby's paraded their success in their clothes and cars, Kat and Bobby remained true to their older selves and spent their money in the background. No one quite knew how much money they had, asides from themselves.

If people looked closely enough, they would notice that Bobby's clothes were of a finer material, though they blended in nicely with the clothes the other kids wore. If they looked even closer, they would notice the small but intricate clip holding Kat's usual hairstyle in place. It could have been an old heirloom but only Kat knew that it was custom-made for her. But no one looked closely enough.