ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : 505 - arctic monkeys
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ii. eight: ❝evening fire and morning news❞
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Small Heath, Birmingham
THE GARRISON was dim and humming that night—smoke clinging to the ceilings, laughter spilling like cheap gin, and Marianna James moving through it all like a ghost wrapped in silk and sorrow. Her hands worked without thought—pouring pints, counting change, smiling with lips that didn't quite reach her eyes. The ache in her bones had long become familiar, a companion as steady as the whispers that sometimes stirred at the back of her mind.
He's watching again, one of the voices murmured, soft and teasing. He always does.
She brushed a loose curl of straw-blonde hair behind her ear, her gaze flicking toward the door. It was late. Her shift was almost over, the hour when the men grew louder and the air thicker. But her heart—it quickened, despite herself. Because soon he'd come. Thomas Shelby.
Every night he fetched her from work, like clockwork, as if by doing so he could convince himself it was practicality—safety. But Marianna knew better. In the darkened glass of the counter, she could still see his eyes—ice-blue, sharp as a blade, and softer than sin when they turned toward her. She hated that she could still feel them when he wasn't there. Hated the way his absence filled the room like smoke she couldn't breathe through.
"Bloody man." She laughed under her breath—low, bitter, pouring a whiskey for a patron who winked too long.
It was then that the door creaked open, and in stumbled Finn Shelby, his boyish grin cutting through the noise of the tavern. He weaved through the crowd with all the grace of a cat in a storm.
Marianna arched a brow, crossing her arms. "No drinks for you if you're empty-handed, Finn."
"I don't want a drink, Mari," the boy puffed, trying to climb onto a stool. "Can you help me up, please?"
She sighed, though the corner of her mouth lifted. She hoisted him by the arm, steadying his scrawny frame as he reached for a portrait of the King hanging crooked on the wall.
Harry, polishing glasses behind her, frowned. "What in God's name are you doing with that, lad?"
Finn grinned, wild and proud. "We're havin' a fire."
"A fire?" Marianna blinked.
"Aye," he chirped, tugging on her wrist. "And Tommy said I should fetch you."
Her stomach knotted. "But my shift—"
Harry waved her off the moment he heard Tommy's name. The whole bloody city obeyed when that name was spoken.
YOU ARE READING
METHOD OF MADNESS ━ 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐲 ¹ (Under editing)
Fanfiction"𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸," she once purred, lips stained with whiskey and wickedness, "𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 �...
