Shared Secrets

Chapter 16

Warnings: Language, Violence

Tom's POV

Two weeks. It's been two glorious fucking weeks since I stayed the night at Grace's house. Beautiful, gorgeous, stunningly brilliant Grace. She's the only thing I ever think about anymore. We've seen each other every day now for two weeks and I don't think I have ever fucking been happier. From the moment I wake up to second I fall asleep every damn day I think about her and all the ways I can make her smile at me or ways to hear her cute little fucking laugh.

Although I have to admit her ever looming presence in my mind has really taken a damn toll on every other aspect of my life. Harrison is basically running the entire operation at this point, handling every transaction. Thank fucking god he hasn't put up much of fight with me about that. I'm not above kicking his ass and he knows it. I'm sure Harrison knows what I've been up to with Grace. He never misses a damn thing. I know he'll bring it up at some point, but until then I'm just going to continue on with what I've been fucking doing.

I adjust the buttons on my suit as Harrison and I walk briskly towards the empty farm building. "Right so, Tom, what's the game plan?" Harrison questions as he puts his fucking phone back into his pocket. Damnit. I just assumed he had a plan already mapped out. One of my men caught Figgis, Moriarty's number two guy, lurking around the dock that we use to conduct business. It was almost too fucking easy. He was now bound to a wooden chair in the middle of the empty barn house looking bored.

"I'll figure it out..." I mutter to Harrison as I march up to the imbecile tied up in my fucking building.

Harrison purses his lips slightly, "Figgis had only a knife on him when we caught him, but he also had a shit ton of money."

"How much is a shit ton?" I ask suspiciously. Harrison is the type of twat to think that a fucking grand is a shit ton of money, but that's fucking nothing.

"About 50k"

"Bloody hell that is a shit ton." I concede. Figgis probably went to the docks looking to bribe some of our men yet again for information, but I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would be stupid enough to fucking attempt that shit. Not after the bloody spectacle I made of Anthony and Vince.

"Afternoon, fellas," Figgis greets acting eerily calm. Fucking prick.

"What were you doing at the docks?" I spit at him. Like hell I'm giving this jackass a greeting back. Harrison hangs back, while I stride right up to him. I'm feeling some pent-up anger and if I'm being fucking honest I'm looking for an easy fight.

"Fishing." He sneers. Wrong fucking answer, dick.

SLAP! I strike him across the face as hard as I can, reopening an old wound along his cheekbone. "I want the fucking truth you twat."

"Well there's the predicament then. Because if I were to tell you anything other than fishing then I'd be lying and you want the truth." His goddamn smug look makes me so goddamn angry.

"Alright you were bloody fishing." I roll my eyes knowing damn well he obviously wasn't fucking fishing at my goddamn dock. "What were you doing with all that money, then?" I bark at him.

Figgis spits onto the ground a cocky grin pulling at his mouth. My palms itch to whack him again, harder this fucking time. "Let's just say that the higher the price the more quality the woman. Surely you must understand that or at least you will, eventually." He snickers. Before I can even rationalize what I'm doing I start beating the shit out of him. Guess I had much more bloody pent-up anger than I fucking thought.

He's nearly fucking unconscious by the time I finally let up. Weak piece of shit. "Wrap this around his fucking head," I toss an old handkerchief I found in my pocket at Stenson. "I don't want his blood all over my fucking barn. Take him to the cell. 2 days," I bark at another one of my men, turning abruptly on my heel and walking back the way I came. Well that was fucking pointless. Whatever, he'll talk after 48 hours in the fucking cell. At least we have a fucking one up on Moriarty. I notice Harrison outside near the car talking on his phone. He must have slipped out while I was all but killing Figgis. Just as well, I didn't want to fucking hear Harrison's inevitable critiques on the way I handled the short-lived interrogation.

As I'm heading towards the compact office attached to the barn house I feel my phone vibrate. I pull it out to see an incoming call from Grace. The second I see her name splayed across my screen my brain shuts off. It's like I completely fucking forget where I am. How the fuck do you keep doing that, Grace? "Grace, are you alright, love?" I say putting the phone to my ear.

"Hey Tom. Sorry to call out of the blue." Grace, you can call me whenever you damn well please. "I know you said you normally take your lunch around this time. Um anyway I was just letting you know that Dr. Weaver is making us stay late this evening. He said we're having an inspection later this month and he needs us all to work overtime to prepare. I know we made plans for you to meet me at St. Barts at half-three, but I likely won't be out till six.

"No worries, love. I'll just head to your house at six and we can go out."

"Brilliant! I'll see you then, Tom." Her beautiful voice practically floats from the phone and I can't bloody stop the stupid grin from forming.

"Bye, Grace." I love you. I want to say it, but not over the fucking phone for the first time. As I'm putting my phone back into my pocket I notice Figgis leering at me, the ghost of a gloating smile splayed across his fucking face, as two of my men drag his bloody and bruised body past me. "You know what, make it fucking 72 hours in the cell." I yell at my man. The bastard ruined my mood it's the least he fucking deserved.

Harrison hangs up the phone as I stride towards the car. "Well, some good news after that useless questioning," Harrison says pointedly. Ass. "Darryl's crop yielded double this round which he's adding to our shipment, free of charge, as compensation for the missed quotas last time."

"As he fucking should." I say leaning up against the town car. "Looks like things are turning around in our favor for fucking once. The Tap House Bar repairs are ahead of schedule, Darryl's finally stopped picking up the slack, and now we have Moriarty's fucking henchman locked up in the cell. I don't think the bastard is going to be trying anything soon."

"Nonetheless," Harrison interjects, "you can't be letting your guard down, ever, but especially when things seem to be calm. You've been pretty MIA these past few months, but fortunately no more attempts on your life or our operation have been made so I'll let it slide." Pretentious prick. "I hope you realize that your little fling with Grace Matthews is just that, a fling. If you cared about her at all you would end it now before it gets too serious."

"Fuck off, Harrison! I know what I'm doing!" I roar at him. Goddamn it. I know he's right. This life is way too bloody dangerous for her, but I don't want to think about that shit right now. I'm not ready to fucking face the reality of our situation. Not when I'm finally officially together with her. I'll find a way to make it work. I'm going to have to because there's no fucking way I'm ever breaking up with Grace. I can never just turn my fucking back on her.

Harrison doesn't push the subject. I think the fact that we have Moriarity's second hand man in our possession puts his mind at ease. Hell, it puts my mind at ease. The bastard is hopeless without his second in command he has not fucking chance at taking me down.

"Let's go." I say hopping into the car. "We have more business we have to attend to."

~~~~~~~~

By the time the clock strikes 6 I'm already pulling up to Grace's house. I send her a quick text letting her know I'm here. Chester barks wildly from the window as I wait on the front porch. The porch I've come to love more than my own fucking house. Grace bustles out of the house quickly shutting the door so that Chester can't escape. Fuck she's perfect. "Hey, Tom." She greets me with a small peck on the cheek.

"Hello, darling. Follow me," I say as I place my hand on the small of her back guiding her towards my car. "Your chariot awaits." I say opening the door for her. Goddamn it I hate how cheesy I sound, but fuck it. She's worth it.

"Where are we headed to this evening?" She smiles. I could get lost in that fucking smile if she let me.

"To the city."

"Ooo, fancy. I'm glad I wore sensible shoes." she giggles. It makes my heart swell to think about how far we've come from just a few fucking months. She's much more comfortable around me than she was when we first reconnected. Fuck Grace you can be anything you want when you're with me. "Where in the city are we headed to?"

"Don't worry, love. I know just the place."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~