small heath was home to many people, the most infamous was the shelby family. opal, although not a shelby by blood was apart of that dysfunctional family. when tommy looks to expand his ever growing business, he meets camden town's alfie solomons. a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
OPAL STOOD AT THE WINDOW WATCHING people walk past, while tommy finally gave in to sleep and rest. opal was still dealing with the trauma from that night, her top lip was cut and a dark purple bruise around her left eye and up her temple. she jumped as the door opened revealing the nurse that had been taking care of tommy during his stay.
"ready for a visitor mr shelby?" she asked getting a strained 'no' from tommy in return. "i'm here on the kings orders, i'm afraid i must insist." campbell spoke with his thick accent. opal stayed at the window, crossing her arms defensively at the police man. "ah! you paid extra for daylight. the racketeering business must be booming," he said snidely laughing under his breath as he made his way over to tommy's bed.
"are you not going to thank me for saving your lives?" he continued, shooting opal a look which she ignored. "pass me cigarettes?" tommy also ignored his words instead ordering campbell. the brunette watched him like a hawk as campbell walked round the bed before picking up the small pack of cigarettes and dropping them on tommy's torso. "opal go get the nurse," tommy nodded towards the door, she opened her mouth to speak but was ushered by tommy nodding again.
with a scowl she walked out the room into the corridors leaving tommy and campbell in the room alone. she knew what tommy wanted and so she walked around the halls of the hospital, smiling politely at the nurses she passed. after doing a small round of the floor tommy was on she made her way back to his room. watching campbell closely who was now walking out. he nodded his head with a sly smile before moving on.
she quickly walked back to tommy once opal had seen campbell walk down the stairs. "we need to go to london," tommy huffed out as he tried to move up on his bed, groaning slightly. "are you fucking insane? you're in no position to leave," opal exclaimed pushing him gently back onto the pillow.
-
opal linked her arm with tommy's as they walked through the dark streets to the charlie's yard. tommy held his arm over his chest, holding opal tightly. "this isn't going to end well," she grumbled while she shivered from the cold weather but was ignored by the injured tommy. she pushed open the creaking gate alerting charlie and curly who were still there.
"tommy? opal?" charlie called out watching the pair get closer until opal was helping the injured shelby sit down. "curly, get the oil you put on when they go lame," tommy ordered gruffly sitting down after charlie had put a chair down for him, pain evident in his face. "you discharged yourself?" charlie asked disapprovingly. "i'm a sitting duck in there charlie, sabini could send a man at anytime, i need to get things done," tommy stated.
once curly came back with the small list tommy had gave him, and they had finally got charlie to agree to curly giving them a ride down to london despite tommy being unfit to go, they were off. back to the place where the whole sabini mess had begun.
over the course of the journey, tommy lay on the bed, shivering and sweating from the fever and obvious infection his body was trying to fight. opal stayed by his side at all times, pressing a cold cloth onto his forehead to combat his fever. she usually fell asleep sitting up on the uncomfortable chair next to the bed.
her neck, back ached and she was exhausted by the third day she had given curly the job of looking after tommy for the day while she steered. holding her coat closer to her body, she took a long draw of her cigarette watching the views pass by. when she went back in opal sent curly a thankful smile, patting him on the shoulder. he left leaving the pair alone once again. tommy was looking better, he moved over allowing opal to slid into the small cot with him. she sighed in relief as she closed her eyes.
her and tommy slept for most of the next day, until tommy left the small room letting opal get more rest before they reach camden town.
-
opal and tommy walked down the busy grimy streets of camden town which reminded opal of small heath. happy she was on solid ground rather than on the boat she linked arms with tommy once again as they came closer to their destination. "are you sure about this?" she asked as they reached the bakery's large wooden doors. "trust me," tommy murmured, as the doors opened. they were met with a tall, skinny man with dark hair. "we're here to see mr solomons," tommy announced standing slightly in front of opal causing her to role her eyes.
"put him down ollie, put him down mate he's only little," a deep voice came from further inside the bakery. opal stepped aside from tommy to see a roguishly handsome, tall man with a scruffy beard. opal at stared up the man who she had deduced was alfie solomons, the very man tommy was here to make an alliance with. "just you two?" he asked taking a glance at tommy before his eyes trailing over to opal, lingering for a moment longer, noticing the bruises and bust lip. "seems so," opal spoke quietly for them both getting a little smirk from alfie in return. "well you're brave ain't you? you want to take a look at my bakery? we bake all sorts here mate, yeah," he lead them further into the bakery while he spoke.
alfie lead them to small table were the 'bread' they made was after explaining how much they produced. "bread?" he offered causing tommy to smile slightly nodding. "what would you like brown or white?" he asked, tommy replied with brown before he was handed a glass of it. "what about you love?" he stepped closer. "white," she answered, getting another smirk from him. she took a small sip of the rum, letting it burn down her throat.
"not bad," tommy spoke once he had took a sip of his own. "not bad eh? not bad?... it's fucking awful that stuff. the fucking brown stuff is awful, it's for the workers yeah," alfie locked his eyes with opal, "the white stuff, now that is for the bosses," winking at the brunette. her cheeks flushed a light rose which tommy was not impressed by.
"come look," alfie summoned the two into his office.
