Stolen Heart [Tommy Shelby x OC]

Chapter 45

Lily watched as Tommy bustled inside his office in betting shop, looking tense but thankfully unharmed. She lingered near the table in front of his office until he gave Charlie Strong instructions regarding an impending ambush and when he hung up, she moved off. There was no reason for her to ask about his ‘clash’ and it would do her good to be away from him.

‘Here you go, Patrick.’ She said as she gave the young bookmaker a stack of notes.

‘Thank you, Lily.’ He smiled like she had given him the elixir of life, something he did every time she went to his table.

She smiled in response and turned to go back to her seat, only to pause when he called her, ‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Yeah, sure.’

‘Are you and Tommy married?’

‘No.’ She said shortly, wondering why he thought that. Just because two people had a child together and lived under the same roof didn’t mean that they were married. Or did it?

‘I thought since you had a baby together-’

‘No. It isn’t like that, I am only here for a while.’ She waited for him to look scandalised but he only grinned sheepishly.

‘So, would you like to have dinner with me?’

He was actually asking her out on a date. And if he were not a decade younger than her, she might have agreed. Or not been so shocked. But she didn’t want to break his little heart and said politely,

‘Look, Patrick. I am extremely flattered by your offer but I am thirty one.’ She looked at his beardless jaw pointedly.

‘It is all right for me.’ He said cockily.

‘It’s not for me, sweetie.’ The word was all it took for men to back off and she had learnt to use it in face of every unwanted advance.

‘I understand, it was worth it though. I got to talk to you about something other than horses and betting.’

She chuckled, ‘You don’t need an excuse like that to talk to me. I’m here.’

‘Thank you. So did you hear about what Jessie Eden did in the factory?’

Tommy looked on as Lily laughed at the idiot Patrick’s dumb joke. He had just come unscathed from a potential shootout and she was there chatting with a boy almost ten years younger than her. And the boy wasn’t even being subtle about his adoration, looking at her as if she were a fucking angel. But she did look fine in that light blue dress which showed her smooth shoulders and long neck. And her hair were pinned behind, possibly to ward off the curls which flew all over her face. It made her look younger, highlighting her large brown eyes and clear skin.

What the fuck I am thinking, Tommy muttered and was disgusted at himself for noticing her so much. She was his son’s mother, for fuck’s sake. And the woman who had been avoiding him for as long as he had known her. Be it the first time she came to Birmingham or now, when she didn’t even look up after he came home. But she had given him that ugly thread for his safety. Of course, before doubting his ability to shoot the wops. She always did as she pleased and he was surprised he let her live after all she had done. Maybe it was because of the envy she incited in him. Along with the tightening in his balls. But mostly envy.