Forbidden Alliances // Alfie Solomons Peaky Blinders

(53) Déjà Vu

*edited 03/10/23*

They spent over two hours on the phone talking about their days and their struggles to keep a clear head when the other occupied their conscious mind.

The day after the next, she packed a bag for Camden. As soon as she got off of work, she packed accordingly. She sat by her fire that night playing with the whipping flames, turning her fingers black and nearly scorching her skin in the process.

The warmth was the closest thing she could get from so far away. The only thing that warmed her like that was being flushed against his skin. Even the slightest pressure from his palm was capable of lighting her insides on fire. Being away for so long, she truly felt hollow and cold, like the only things beneath her skin were her rattling bones in the shivering cold of his absence.

The morning of the travel to London couldn't have come later. She would have driven herself mad if she had to stay away from him any longer.

After packing a bag, she entered Tommy's car with stifled haste. "Who's with Grace?" she asked as she quickly threw her small chest into the backseat, closing the passenger door before he give his response.

His eyes followed her case incredulously but he answered slowly nonetheless. "She's staying in my house in Warwickshire; Ada's gonna pop by to make sure all is well. What's in the case?" he asked sharply, disregarding his earlier statement about his fiancée and wasting no time to pressure his sister into an answer.

"It's a four-hour roundtrip, Tommy," she shot back innocently. "You've brought a case as well." She noticed the small duffel bag sitting behind his seat with a garment bag slung over the top. "What's wrong?"

"That's just a little bigger than I expected for a one-night stay," he inclined, pulling the car into drive and beginning their two-hour trip to the Eden Club.

"No woman has ever said such a thing. That phrase belongs to the male population," she smirked, stifling a giggle. "But what do you mean exactly?"

Her smile started to fade as she turned to her brother to see he too found her joke amusing. "Just seems like your keen on staying is all. Any correlation to what progressions you've made with Solomons?" Tommy admitted, not accusing her of anything in particular but continuing to feed his curiosity with what his sister wanted from the Jew.

"Not in particular," she answered honestly but kept to the vagueness of her statement to prevent a lie. "But I can say he is perceptive." She continued to ease her brother's suspicions. She knew he would never believe her and Alfie to be strictly friendly for the sake of being civil. He was less adamant about hiding his feelings for her than she was with him, but that was probably due to her having to live with one of the obstacles standing in their way. 

If Tommy felt like she was falling in love, he would do everything in his power to keep her away. He might be alright with her flirting with him and gaining his trust in ways he had no business in doing, but love was different.

Freya was his little sister. Alfie was relentless and crooked in his eyes. He was manipulative and if he had his grip on Freya, Tommy wouldn't be able to protect her or have an upper hand over the gentleman in London. Alfie would have her to use as leverage. He wouldn't let her die—he couldn't. He would do anything and give up everything to keep her out of harm's way.

Alfie would only ever bring them danger if she were to fall for him.

He knew his sister's soft heart and how impressive her deep-emotional connections were with people who knew how to charm them. That was Alfie in a nutshell. He could talk himself out of any situation and in retrospect, he could talk himself into anything he wished; including Freya's heart.