Forbidden Alliances // Alfie Solomons Peaky Blinders

(87) Numb

*edited 03/21/23*

Alfie stayed.

Freya stopped crying eventually and fell asleep to the sound of his heart beating beside her ear. He was so warm. He was so comforting. It was impossible not to find sleep when the pressure of his arms supplied her with safety and his heart soothed her anxiety like the pitter-patter of the rain against the windows.

Alfie didn't sleep though. Throughout the night, Freya would let out a soft whimper, and her brows would briefly crease as she slept and he feared for her safety more than ever. He was afraid of people coming for her, but he was even more horrified by the thought that her mind was the one to hurt her most.

She was delicate and insightful, but just because she understood the world around her and the incentive of emotion in others around her didn't mean she could apply that to herself. She was too blinded by her need to sympathize and understand others to consider her own feelings sometimes.

Alfie held her through the night. He wasn't going to leave her, not like that. By the time the sky had just started to turn blue and clouded, she hummed and her eyes were shot wide open. She flinched in his grasp but that only caused him to tighten his grip around her.

"Hey," he whispered, running his hand over the skin of her upper arm and warming her in an instant. "You okay?" he pondered, staring down at her pale face as her eyes were swollen and a bruise was forming around her neck and by her temple.

Freya hummed and wiped at her eyes. She moved from her place in Alfie's arms and sat upright instead of answering his question.

"You stayed..." she sighed, happy he didn't leave but also guilty he would have to sneak around now.

"Well I wasn't gonna leave you after last night," he expressed simply, yawning and shifting his position so he had his back against the headboard, making out the soft curves of her face in the dim lighting from outside.

Freya smiled sleepily, expressing her appreciation but failing to feel the positive emotion associated with the smile. She peeled herself from the bed and got dressed. Alfie hopped in the shower Freya wasn't well acquainted with while she conversed with the maid, getting rid of Alfie's tray from the night before and asking for a plastic bag.

The woman wondered why but all Freya said was that she didn't want to dirty the clothes in her suitcase. That vague explanation seemed to be enough because she was back within minutes and Freya thanked her but lacked the conviction to let the hospitality reach her voice.

Once she was packed and Alfie was dressed, she faced her injuries in the mirror. She had the front of her blouse unbuttoned as she examined the bandage around her rib that Alfie tended to the night before.

There was a nasty green bruise forming at the sides of her neck and a purple one decorated the skin of her hairline beside her eye. Her hand stopped shaking but putting any sort of pressure on her fingers hurt. It was swollen, as were her eyes from crying. Her dominant hand began to bruise red and purple and a broken vein could be seen on the backside of her palm.

She turned to Alfie after pulling her hair up into a loose bun and held him. She was staring blankly at the ground where Alfie cleaned the blood and regretted letting him see her like that. He wasn't supposed to be tending to her cuts or bathing her when she couldn't. He was supposed to see her happy and joining parties like the one that was downstairs.

Instead, he spent his night secluded in a room, enjoying the fireworks, food, drink, and music from afar and Freya wasn't even with him. She was away helping Tommy with his Russian dealings.

Alfie didn't deserve to be hidden like that. He didn't deserve to feel obligated to take care of her when she killed Kaledin. She hated herself for crying like that, sobbing, screaming, and causing him to cry because of it.