𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖘𝖐𝖊𝖞 𝖒𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖘, 𝐭. 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐲 ¹

✧ 09 ✧

     𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐒, 𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊. "What are you doing here?" he asked softly. "I thought Tommy was bringin' the barmaid."

Nellie shrugged, taking in the number of messenger satchels that were draped over his shoulders and the way they jingled when he moved. "Tommy brought me, too. What is this?" She reached out and lifted the flaps of one of the many messenger bags and gave Arthur a look. She was mildly surprised to find the bag full of money, though she shouldn't have been, honestly.

He grinned as he jangled the bags more. "Peaky Blinders business," he said nonchalantly, pride in his voice.

Nellie reached up and brushed her thumb across the blood splattered on his cheek from a small gash. "This too?" She showed him her thumb and shook her head with fond disappointment when he beamed even brighter. Mischief danced in his eyes like a fire.

"Aye. C'mon." He nodded towards an exit door to his left and pushed Nellie towards it. He hoisted the bags higher up his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Nellie's waist as he led her to the window. She swallowed thickly, her back straightening as Arthur's hand slipped down to her lower hip.

"Careful," she said with a soft tone, her eyes meeting his. "You don't want to lose a finger do you?" Arthur gave her another cheeky smile as he slid his hand back up her waist with a curt nod.

Nellie climbed through the window with ease, helping Arthur as he made his way over to another window across the terrace. When it was pushed open, he climbed through it and set his heavy bags on the ground. "Found this one wandering around," he said as he pushed Nellie inside.

She cursed softly when she saw Thomas and Grace waiting on the other side and plastered an innocent smile on her face. It didn't work. Thomas gave her a stern look. "Where did you go?" he asked firmly.

Neither Nellie nor Thomas thought twice about their actions as the Peaky Blinder grabbed the Allyn girl by her hips and hoisted her off the windowsill. Nellie's hands were delicately perched on his shoulders and it wasn't until her feet were touching the floor that she recoiled from his touch with pink cheeks.

His eyes darted away as he quickly withdrew his hands and Nellie diverted her strange reaction by shifting her attention to Arthur.

Nellie gazed at Arthur as he explained the results of his mission to Thomas with a side compliment to Grace. He took deep breaths as Thomas congratulated him, clearly pleased to have gotten in a scuffle. Nellie gave him a rude look, muttering about how she intended to sneak back into the room as Thomas and Grace slipped away with the money bags.