VULNERABLE | thomas shelby

☆T H I R T Y-T W O☆

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO; ALFIE'S

BETH HAD SLEPT the best sleep she could have asked for. After Tommy and herself had eaten dinner Tommy stuck to his words and let Curly cut the stitches out of Beth's face. It was painful to say the least and every agonising curse that threatened to fall from Beth's mouth was blurred out at the thoughts of getting married to Tommy. Tommy had then forced her to finally lie down and sleep, his arms wrapped tightly around her, holding her safe in his arms until she fell asleep and he took to watching over her.

The stitches had revealed a nasty scar and Tommy's stomach dropped when he noticed it, a red and purple shape scab that swivelled down the majority of Beth's face and he knew when she saw it she'd probably throw a strop on how ugly it looked, but instead Beth ran her fingers over it the once and happily fell into a sleep, dreaming of her wedding day, she couldn't wait to get to Small Heath to announce the news to the rest of the Shelby family that Tommy had finally asked the question they were all waiting for.

Beth woke up to her body shaking and her eyes instantly flew open to be greeted by Curly standing over her, she gasped slightly and looked towards Tommy who was pulling on his shoes in amusement. "We're here." Tommy informed. Curly stepped back and walked out of the cabin and Beth quickly sat up pulling on her heels. She looked to Tommy glaring at him slightly. "Why didn't you wake me up?" She fussed, reaching up to fix her blonde hair that stuck up in all directions. "I don't like waking you up. You look so peaceful I always feel bad."

Beth smiled slightly and leaned over placing a quick kiss to Tommy's cheek. Tommy stood up and walked out of the cabin, Beth standing up and quickly following after him. Tommy held out his hand and ignored Curly as he slowly stepped onto land, Beth's hand held tightly in his as he began to walk away at a fast pace. Beth turned to look at Curly grinning slightly as he waved. As Tommy pulled Beth through Camden Town she looked around. "Where are we going?" Beth asked.

"A bakery." Tommy replied bluntly, taking a cigarette from his pocket and placing it between his lips. Beth tugged his arm harshly making him turn to her, an annoyed look on his face. She quickly flashed her hand with the wedding ring up to Tommy. "We're engaged now, that means you have to tell me things Tommy, because last I checked unless you've gone mad you wouldn't have brought us to Camden Town to buy fucking bread." Tommy sighed reaching up to rub his temples.

"Alfie. Alfie Solomon's. He owns a bakery somewhere around here." Tommy answered. "So we are going to baker. Nice. Buy me some bread, I'm going back to wait with fucking Curly." Beth near shouted, looking around at the men who all watched her. Tommy caught her arm quickly as she went to strut away. "He can help us. Just trust me and come on." Beth sighed in defeat and let Tommy take her hand once again and lead her through Camden Town until they reached the bakery.

They were stopped before entering by a man at least twice the size of Tommy, asking if they had any weapons, Tommy took of his hat and stuffed it into his pocket. "Put him down mate!" A voice yelled, booming through the bakery. "They're only little." Beth glanced up at the man who hobbled towards them and he nodded at Tommy. Beth presuming it was Alfie Solomon's by the way the workers picked up their paces.  "Just you two?" Alfie asked. "Seems so. Just me and Bethany."

"Well you're a brave pair ain't you?" Alfie asked beginning to walk through his bakery. "You want to take a look at my bakery? We bake all sorts here, mate, yeah. Did you know we bake over ten thousand loaves a week? Can you believe it? We bake the broke bread. We bake the white bread. We bake all sorts. Would you like to try some?" Alfie pressed. "Bread? Yeah?" Beth glanced around Alfie's work house and soon realised the further they walked that he ran a distillery and that the bakery was just a front for the business Alfie ran.

"Alright." Tommy nodded, squeezing Beth's hand as they halted. "What would you like? Brown or white?" Alfie asked. "Try the brown." Tommy nodded. "Brown right." Alfie said, almost disbelieving. "And for the beautiful lady?" Beth shrugged, grinning slightly. "White." Alfie poured out two glasses and handed them to Tommy and Beth his eyes watched them. Tommy took a sip of his drink but Beth tipped hers back. "Not bad." Tommy shrugged, placing the cup back down. "Not bad eh? Not bad?" Alfie repeated

There was a pause and the room fell silent. "It's fucking awful, that stuff. The fucking brown stuff is awful. It's for the workers. Yeah. The white stuff now, that is for the bosses. The girls got taste. Come look." Alfie lead Tommy towards his office and before Alfie had entered the room he turned to look at Beth. "You stay 'ere, I want to talk to you on my own, when I'm done with Tommy." Alfie waddled the rest of the way into the room and Tommy shot Beth a reassuring nod before following Alfie into his office.

Beth sat up onto a wooden table and looked around, spotting Ollie walking towards her with a cup in his hand. "You look like you need a drink." Ollie said, handing the cup into Beth's hands. Beth grinned, taking a sip of the drink. "And why is that?" She asked, watching as Ollie sat onto the table beside her. "Because my brother has a gun pointed to your boyfriends head." Ollie replied. Beth looked into the office and let out a small chuckle seeing Alfie pointing a gun to Tommy's head. "He's my fiancé. We've dealt with a lot worse than guns been pointed at us."

Ollie looked at Beth and nodded quickly. "Hey, what happened to your face?" Ollie asked, pointing to the scar. Beth's hand automatically reached up to cover it and she smiled awkwardly. "A gang leader tried to carve a letter into it." Ollie shifted uncomfortably and nodded. "So when did you get engaged?" Beth laughed lightly, turning to look at Ollie. "Yesterday. You ask a lot of questions, eh?" Ollie just nodded and looked down at his feet.

"Your fiancé looks like he's been to hell and back." Ollie commented, glancing over Beth's shoulder at Tommy's figure. Beth shrugged. "Haven't we all?" Ollie chuckled and took to glasses of a tray behind him and handed one into Beth's hand. "To hell and back." Ollie toasted holding his glass up. Beth chuckled and clinked their glasses. "To hell and back." She repeated, downing her drink once more. "If I knew any better I'd think you were trying to get me drunk." She commented.

Ollie grinned and watched Alfie's office door open. "You'll need it where your going." Beth's eyebrows furrowed and she watched Tommy come out of Alfie's office. He held his hand out and Beth took it, sliding off the table. Tommy caught Beth's waist before she could move any further and pulled her closer, sparing a glance to Ollie. "I don't know what he wants from you, it's more than likely just information. I'm going to watch from the window and if he tries anything I'll kill him myself."

Beth nodded slowly and walked away from Tommy and into Alfie's office, sitting onto the wooden chair left at the opposite side of Alfie's desk and crossed her legs in anticipation. "Why did you want to see me?" Beth asked, breaking the silence. Alfie grinned. "What has a lovely lady like you with a man like Tommy, eh? That's my question." Beth laughed shaking her head. "Loves a strong thing Mr. Solomon's." Beth replied. "Alfie. Call me Alfie. If love was poison we'd still drink it." Alfie spoke.

Beth nodded her head, quickly agreeing with Alfie. She shifted uncomfortably as a silence filled the small office. "You see, other men they want you for you face or because your Tommy Shelby's woman but I can see fucking past that, eh? Look at you. He's going to be the fucking death of a young girl like you. You'll have no where to go when he's fucked you over, eh? He's cut of your fucking life for his. I can see it. Yeah." Beth slammed her hands down onto Alfie's desk angrily standing up with speed.

"How dare you. You don't know me. You just bloody think you do. What? A pretty women comes in along side a gang leader and you think she can't handle herself, that he'll get her killed? Well I'll have you know Mr. Solomon's I am well capable of looking after my bloody self." Beth growled, fixing her jacket. Tommy stood by the door frame listening and smiled proudly, even though Beth nor Alfie could see it.

"I love that man out there and I will continue to love him no matter how many people he kills or has killed because I am not the angel I might seem to be. We all have our devils Mr. Solomon's." Alfie shrugged his shoulder, letting out a dry laugh. "Yeah. Yeah. If it destroys you it's not love." Beth scoffed and glared down at Alfie. "Fuck you." She spat, angrily before storming out of Alfie's office. Tommy glanced back at Alfie one last time before following Beth who was storming towards the front doors of the bakery a smug smile on his face.