Gray and Green // Michael Gray

Pub Deals

Withdrawal is one of the most painful feelings a person can go through.

It has been two days since my last drink, and I feel like my body is shutting down.

Sweat is dripping off my forehead no matter how undressed I get, how cold the bath is or how much I try to relax. I'm always sweaty. It's ruined Polly's sheets.

I've decided to give up.

"You've got to go into your office today, Anna. People are worried." Michael told me from the opposite side of the bed. I ignored him.

I couldn't be seen like this. I couldn't be seen as weak and vulnerable like this. I wanted nothing more than a drink of whiskey. The motivation to get out of bed was stopping me.

"What's wrong?" Michael kneels before me on the bed, moving the sweaty hair out of my face. "Hmm? You were so happy the last few days, what happened?"

I rolled over on the bed, turning away from him. "I don't feel good." We're the words I murmured.

He sighed, standing up. "You've felt bad for the day. Mum says you're not running a fever."

I shrugged, pulling the blankets up to my chin and curling up in a ball. Michale sighed once again at my actions.

"Alright." He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I'll be back in five hours. Mum will be here." He stood back up, towering over me on the bed. "I love you."

Then he left. He walked out the door and left me alone with my thoughts.

—

The sound of a glass being set down on the side table and liquid pouring was what woke me up for the second time this morning.

"You're not fucking sick, you're going through withdrawals." Tommy said, sliding the glass towards me.

I looked at it for the longest time. I wanted to grab it so badly, but at the same time I wanted to get better.

"We have a meeting with Changrettain in half an hour, I need you there. So drink the fucking liquor and get dressed." He told me.

He hung up a dress on the door and walked out of the room while I was still staring at the glass. The bottle was there too.

I gave in.

I downed the liquor in an instant, letting it burn my throat and get into my veins like a drug. It was like I immediately felt better. I felt more alive than I usually did. The second glass was even better.

I slipped the dress over my body, it being one of the more modest dresses I owned. Of course it showed cleavage and had a slit in it, but it was long sleeved and black with diamonds on it.

I wore the same shoes I went out with Michael in. It didn't really matter. They wouldn't be seen nearly at all.

"That sure got you moving." Thomas waited for me by the door with a cigarette in his mouth.

We drove to the public place. It just so happened to be one of my restaurants. I would have security there. I would be safe. 

Tommy I'm not so sure about. Sure, he's quite threatening to most people, but not Changretta.

"You had to choose my pub, how pleasant." I mumbled as I got out of the car with Tommy.

"You own almost everything in Birmingham, Doc. And I sure as hell don't want them at my pub." He told me as he opened the door for me and walked in.

My breath hitched as I saw my sister sitting with Changretta. She looked up at me with doe eyes and a guilty expression. I've known my sister for a long time. This was her acting.

I sat on the left side of the booth while Tommy sat beside me on the right. He put out his cigarette and folded his hands on the table.

"It's no surprise to any of us what has been going on, so let's get straight to the point." Tommy said. I was zoned off into my own little world.

"Tommy Shelby," Luca tutted. "I would've expected more manners."

"We are not here for manners, we are here for a deal." Tommy retorted, looking at Luca, then me.

"Alright." Luca spat his toothpick out. "I want her business. Stocks and everything."

I laughed. "I withdrew all my stocks. The stock market is going to hell." It was true. I was losing money by the day.

"Bullshit, Doc." Luca said.

I gave up again. There was no point in fighting this war. He should just shoot me now.

"Why do you expect me to hand over my blood, sweat and tears over just like that?" I sipped on the whiskey which was at the table prior to the meeting. "You can't be that entitled."

"There was no blood, sweat and tears in that business, Anna, and you know it." My sister butted into the conversation. I finished my drink.

"You can go fuck yourself, Lenora." I made eye contact with her, my posture lazy. I didn't have the poise I once had. "You're not my sister, you're a fucking cunt."

Tommy kicked me under the table, clenching his jaw at my words. I had given up all hope.

"Still. All you made was phone calls and signed your name." Lenora said.

"Oh shit," I laughed, looking at the two of them. "This is fucking pathetic, you know that right? Here we are, sitting in a fuckin' pub and discussing how we are going to blow eachothers fucking head off, yeah?" The words were coming out differently than what I had in my head.

"You and Tommy will decide that, Doc." Changretta told us.

Tommy was eyeing me from the side so hard I thought his eyes would pop out of his skull. My smile was sarcastic, psychotic if it was a normal man looking at it.

"If you don't hand it over, Doc. You can say goodbye to your lover Michael Gray." Changretta told me. My head turned towards him, seeing if he was to bluff or not.

"Michael wasn't apart of the company before we killed your father, Mr. Changretta." Tommy was still trying to be polite.

Luca tutted, pointing to me. Tommy's jaw clenched until his face hurt, waiting for my reaction once I was done with the alcohol in my glass.

"No." I laughed as I poured myself a quarter glass of the liquid. "Start a fuckin' Vendetta with me, I don't give a shit." I leaned back in my seat, smiling at them.

"Doc, it would be a lot easier if you just handed it over." Changretta said.

I stood up while pounding my drink onto the table. It shattered into a million pieces, cutting my hand in different places.

"I built that shit!" I looked at them, obviously startled by my yelling. "Me. Dollar by dollar, pound by fucking pound!" My heart was beating out of my chest. "And I won't let you fuckers tear it down, just because you don't like the way I fucking run it!"

Changretta was the first to point a gun at me, holding it straight to my face. I was smiling, accepting the fact that I could be dead in my own pub.

I laughed a little bit, the sarcasm throwing Tommy off. "Click, click, click motherfucker."