In which a girl attempts to outrun her past only to catch the attention of the ruthless leader of the Peaky Blinders.
or
In which the arrival of the new brown-haired barmaid at the Garrison should have been the canary in the coal mine for the trou...
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Elena:
It had been a few days since Kimber had visited the Garrison and Cheltenham was quickly approaching. Elena had kept busy with work and she even had gotten to meet the infamous Polly who had nicely dropped off some food and essentials at her apartment claiming she had extras lying around but Elena knew the generosity was likely due to Tommy.
Speaking of the devil, Elena watched as he entered the doors, a smile coming to her face. While she had only been in Birmingham a few months she had come to really enjoy her time here, especially when a certain Shelby was in her presence.
"Morning Tommy," Elena said pouring him his go-to whisky.
"Morning El. You look lovely today" he complimented.
"I look the same as I always do," Elena said looking down at what she was wearing and wondering what was different about today.
"Exactly," Tommy said giving the girl a knowing smile. Tommy had been kind to her since they met but especially in the past few days he become more carefree and friendly in Elena's presence.
A few seconds of comfortable silence passed over the pair as Tommy finished his drink.
"Speaking of looks, does Polly or your sister have an extra dress I could borrow for Cheltenham? I hate to ask but also would rather not show up looking like this" Elena said. She hated asking for help but knew in order to play the part she did need to, she had to look semi-presentable.
Tommy dug around his pockets pulling out 5 pounds and sliding them across the counter to Elena. "Here, buy yourself a dress for the races"
"This is far too much, I really can't take this," Elena said attempting to slide the pounds back over Tommy before he put his hand over hers, stopping the money from moving.
"El please if you ever need anything at all you know I will take care of it. Heavens knows you are doing me a favor by going with me to the races so let me do this for you". Tommy said clearly not taking no for answer.
"Thank you Tommy," Elena said finally pocketing the money.
"Anytime," he said before walking into one of the private rooms at the Garrison that had become a near second office for the Shelby brothers.
xx
[Trigger warning: attempted sexual assault]
It was finally closing time at the Garrison. Before leaving, Tommy had two Irish men visit him earlier and during the meeting, Elena had caught Grace trying to listen through the wall. After the races, Elena was planning on sitting Tommy down and telling him everything; who she was, who Grace was, the whole truth. For all Tommy had done for the girl he deserved to know the truth and Elena couldn't put up with the guilt of lying and endangering the Peaky Blinders with Grace's deceit.
