Tommy Shelby ~ Between the Walls and the Whiskey

Untitled Part 6

They walked side by side, his hair a little mussed, her dress wrinkled, both smiling in their own way.

She glanced up at him and wondered how long she could keep him. How long they could make this last. The sort of happiness that comes with love didn't seem to be a permanent thing in this place. And she wasn't ashamed to admit she expected it to be taken from them soon.

It scared her to feel so good in a world full of danger and secrets. She still didn't know everything about him and his business other than the fact that it had made him a very wealthy, and very feared man. But then, wasn't that all she needed to know about that side of him? Because she knew the real Thomas. The one that sat in his chair early in the morning, bathed in sunlight, smoke from his cigarette curling around his fingers, his pensive face set like stone with his eyes looking far and away into a future only he knew.

They rounded the corner, Cecilia still gazing at him, when she noticed the same two men that caught her attention a few nights before standing across the street.

"Tommy, that's them." She said softly, careful not look.

"Thats who love, what are you talking about?" He asked flicking a cigarette into the dirt.

She glanced up at him, surprised that he hadn't picked up on the men. That was very unlike him.

"Those two there, smoking in the doorway of the factory," She said her voice on edge.

They walked past them then, neither looking, neither showing any sign of acknowledgment. But both could feel the eyes of the men on them as they went along on the other side of the road.

Tommy's face changed, but he said nothing until they turned another corner.

Suddenly he grabbed her elbow and pulled her quickly past the other row houses to her own front door.

"What is it?" She asked feeling anxious. "Whats wrong? maybe I can help!" She turned to him and searched his face for answers.

His eyes darted across the street before looking down on her. He tried to smile, to reassure her that everything was all right, but the gesture was sad and only made her feel a rush of worry.

Taking his face in her hands she tried to get him to focus on her but he couldn't.

"Tommy? Tommy?" She pulled at his coat, but he paid her no mind.

And then suddenly, without a word he reached over, grabbed the doorknob and swung the front door open and threw her in the house shutting it before she could protest.

"Lock the door Cecilia," He called through the barrier. " And don't come out until I tell you to. You dont come out until you hear my voice. Understand. My voice only."

Her hand pressed to the door, face flat against the cool wood she nodded "Yes Tommy, I understand." She called back, her heart pounding, eyes fluttering around the room. She had to help him if she could, but how could she when he told her nothing. So many secrets between them would tear them apart. And he would never tell so long as he thought he was protecting her.

And then she could hear him speaking, he said something, a name, but then his words became harder to hear as he walked away from the house. The voices of other men could be heard but their words impossible to make out.

Cecilia willed her heart to slow, she talked herself into a calm quiet to try and hear them.

The accents were hard for her to understand, but the rhythm of language was easy to follow. It started out all right, but was quickly escalating. She heard Tommy order them to go, but one laughed, another said something and called him a name she didn't know, was it Italian she wondered.