Forbidden Alliances // Alfie Solomons Peaky Blinders

(33) You Don't Fuck With Family

*edited 03/04/23*

Arthur took Freya to the den where everyone was kept for the day. John and Esme were caught smiling at one another in his office every time Freya passed it. Polly kept close to the safe and the open room in the center where she did the calculations as numbers came and went. Tommy didn't come in at all that day which was odd, but in the sense that he had been off since being in the hospital, it wasn't odd at all.

Freya stuck to her office for most of the day, running files back and forth from the employees behind the desks and between Polly and Michael. When she wasn't working the trade, she was reading poetry to pass the time and clipped the ones she liked from articles, magazines, and small books.

Michael made his office beside Freya's and adjacent to John's. She popped in to ask him how his day was going, asked about Tommy, and bid him farewell when Arthur came in to grab her for the night.

He was invited to come after work but he declined to say he was hoping to go out with Isiah, one of the younger Peaky's who happened to also be Jeremiah Jesus's son.

Jeremiah was the street priest who fought alongside Tommy in the war. But since coming home, he swore to never pick up a weapon again and turned to God for guidance. He was the only priest Freya trusted. He was different than those of the modern church.

Maybe it was because he was a bit scrappier and improper and that's what Freya liked in people, or maybe it was because she knew him well enough to know he would never touch a child's genitals while preaching about queers being the ones full of sin.

His son, Isiah, was somehow even more spirited than his father. Freya felt a natural desire to protect him and his family. They come from Jamaica and the posh people in England were still prejudiced and racist toward those who carried different traditions. Freya was in a position where she could keep them from being mistreated as others did. Even though the laws had been changed, people didn't want to accept that free will and equality were a thing of the future.

And since Tommy was still wanting the family to stick together, Freya spoke to Polly and convinced her there was no reason to object to Michael going out with Isiah. She reluctantly agreed and Freya was off to the Garrison.

For the rest of the night, she was with her brothers, drinking, playing poker, and making jokes about each other. But Tommy was still nowhere to be found. 

Arthur talked about the toffs that were willing to pay big bucks to get into the Eden Club and John was quick to immediately make the conversation about all the sex he must be having.

Freya reeled away from the conversation until Arthur pulled four large stacks of money from his pockets.

"You just carry those on you at all times now?" she teased with a big smile on her face. "Someone's become a bit of a rich bitch."

"Oh shut up." He playfully shoved her back before shifting the stacks to her. "This is what I owe from what I took on Michael's birthday..."

Freya's smile fell to a more serious expression as she was looking back at Arthur with surprise. "This comes from what the Eden made?" She motioned toward the money.

"Yeah." Arthur nodded his head, impressed by what kind of income the place was making and how quickly it was coming in.

"It's that simple, eh?" John chimed in, chuckling and taking a swig of the ale he had in his glass.

"It's that simple, John-boy," Arthur bellowed with a soft smile on his face as Freya took the stacks and moved them to the safe in the room across the hall.

When she returned, Michael and Isiah had made their seat across from Finn who was sitting quietly between his brothers as the game was at a standstill on the tabletop.