Forbidden Alliances // Alfie Solomons Peaky Blinders

(16) Moon Baths and Brontë

*edited 02/27/23*

Freya's head snapped toward the hall.

Loud footsteps began to separate themselves from the crowd of partygoers and somehow, they began to creep closer.

Alfie's head snapped in that same direction, even as Freya held a knife to his throat. He chose to trust her and turned to see who was coming nearer.

"Fuck," Freya whispered, quickly grabbing Alfie by the lapels and dragging him even further into the darkness, away from the hallway where he might be found. Alfie followed her rough pulling without resistance and stumbled into a cloth that lead to a closet of some sort in the corner of the room.

Freya felt her heart quicken in fear of being seen with Alfie Solomons. If she wasn't tipsy, she would say she knew those footsteps like she knew her own name. But even so, she had a feeling she knew who it was nonetheless.

As her adrenaline alerted her into a state of perplex anxiety, she pushed Alfie against the wall of the storage chamber and followed by clasping her fingers over his mouth. She felt him let out a sound of surprise as she did so and the expression of confusion on his face only let her know she wasn't the only one feeling frazzled.

"Shut the fuck up for once or so help me it will be the last thing to leave your lips," she ordered in a whisper, waiting to see the glossy bits of his eyes to know he understood the severity of her words before she let go of him and took a step back. The room was even darker than the secluded area of the Garrison but she could still make out just enough to know where things were and where Alfie was.

The footsteps echoed off the walls of the room beyond the closet and the pair inside of could only stare back, guessing where the eyes of the other were as it was difficult to see past the blanket of darkness.

That's when the heels of someone's shoes stopped moving near the center of the room. Then a chair was heard against the floor instead. Alfie could make out the sound of a sigh from Freya as she threw her head back in a desperate attempt to ease her nerves.

Her heart and mind seemed to race one another as she was filled to the brim with fear. Not only did she know her place: that she was an unmarried woman in an empty room with an unmarried man, that's she was Tommy Shelby's sister and shouldn't be with a business partner without his approval, that she was with Alfie Solomons, a man her brother already didn't like and couldn't be trusted. But she knew even if she weren't the reason for his attendance, Alfie would still be facing issues if he were caught in Birmingham.

Time seemed to pass like a bad virus. Freya slowly shuffled backward until her hands met the wall, only about a yard from where Alfie remained pressed to the other. Her eyes moved from the soft silhouette of Alfie to the light shining from the other side of the curtain that separated them from their intruder.

As scared as Freya was, Alfie wasn't even slightly concerned with being found. He only watched as Freya drove herself mad with worry.

Even with the light so limited, he couldn't help but focus on the slow but prominent movement of her chest rising up and down, creating a very soft sound as she forced a normal breathing pattern only the two of them could hear.

Not long after, only five minutes of silence, the sound of a match being struck alarmed Freya. She then began to question if her assumption of the company was wrong, that the alcohol really did make her wearier than she thought.

Maybe this wasn't Tommy Shelby but someone else entirely. Who else would strike a match when she knew very well that he preferred to use his lighter when he planned on smoking.

"I swear to god..." she sliced the air so softly that Alfie struggled to make out her words. She shook her head and moved forward again to get nearer to the curtain. The sound of licking flames made her worried someone was trying to set the Garrison on fire again. But as much as she was willing to expose herself, she couldn't move past the edge of the curtain in fear of someone finding her with him.