Gray and Green // Michael Gray

Other Family

Tommy slammed the door once we got into the house in Small Heath. He was pissed. I was drunk. And not even the good drunk either. I was drunk like my father used to be.

"What the fuck was that, Anna?!" he yelled, using his hands to talk.

"That was my outlook, Tommy." I told him, getting face to face. "If you'd excuse me, I'd like to inform my dear fried Luciano about the plan, so we can take his fucking head off."

Tommy's eyes lit up. "Luciano," he pointed at me. "Luciano is still here?"

The door opened, Michael and Isiah coming through the doors.

"What the fuck happened to her, Tommy?" He saw the blood on my hand and fingers.

"Ask her, Michael." Tommy lit a cigarette.

I clenched my jaw as we looked at eachother. All of them were against me. They were all against me and i had fucked everything up. It was all my fault.

"I'm going." I stated as I made my way towards the door. Tommy pushed me back into my seat.

"You wont make it across the fucking street, considering what you just fucking did. Do you realize what you fucking did, Doc?" Tommy asked me.

"You would've done the same fucking thing if it was you." I told him, looking him straight in the eyes. "You fucking know it too. You've never been stabbed in the back by your own fucking kin."

Michael turned towards his cousin. "You gave her fucking liquor, didnt you?"

Tommy clenched his jaw and looked down. "I needed her for-"

Michael cut him off. "You needed to use her for what? For fucking what, Tom?!" Michael yelled. Everybody could hear the pain in his voice.

Polly and Arthur came through the doors, seeing Michael almost have tears roll down his cheeks and Tommy's face inflamed.

"What the fuck is everybody yelling about?" Polly asked as she set down her groceries, looking at the three of us.

I had let everybody down. I put the Shelby's in danger with the outburst at the pub. I made a scene in my own establishment, causing me to have a reputation. I should have never gotten involved with the Shelby's. When Michael came to me in the Garrison, I should have ignored him.

They were all at each other's throat. Polly was yelling at Michael, Michael was yelling at Tommy, and Arthur was being the referee. It was all my fault.

"Where the fuck do you think youre going?" Tommy asked, all high and mighty.

Tears were forming in my eyes. I felt as if I were about to burst into tears that minute.

"Im going to give Changretta what he fucking wants. I have enough money to live gloriously for the rest of my life. I don't need it." I told them.

Tommy scoffed, sitting back on his heels. "Youre giving up? Just like that? No fighting, no money?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "I started all this shit, Tommy. Once I'm out of the picture, you'll all be where you were."

"The Peaky Blinders shot his father, Anna. We'll be in this no matter what." Arthur told me.

Tears dropped from my eyes, causing me to wipe them immediately. "D-Do" stuttered. Oh fuck.

Arthur laughed a bit, trying to ease the tension. Tommy smiled, making me start to laugh also. It was funny how a woman with so much power could come to tears this quickly.

"You don't have to give it all up for us, Annie Girl," Arthur pulled me in for a hug, then messed up my hair. "Not when you're part of the family."

My eyebrows pinched together as I looked at the eldest brother.

"Goddammit Arthur." Michael mumbled underneath his breath.

"What do you mean..." I stood up straightly, looking at all of them around the room. The only one that wasn't here was John, and Tommy was going up to his room.

"Nothing, Anna." Michael looked at Arthur, then Polly, Then me.

I walked off to the bathroom, cleaning the blood off my hands. I had gotten used to the feeling. The feeling of feeling like a Shelby, then feeling like an absolute outsider when they were all around me.

"Anna," Michael stood in the doorway, watching me scrub my hands over and over again with the soap. "Tommy told me what happened."

I nodded. I didn't care.

"Alright," I replied, making eye contact with him through the mirror.

"Mum thinks you need a doctor. One for the drinking." He mumbled.

My heart broke. This is where it was all coming to an end. I was actually going insane.

"I don't need a bloody doctor, Michael. If you don't want me drinking it, I'll stop." I dried my hands and looked at him. "It's an addiction, Michael. It can't just go away with words. My father had the same problem."

"You're not your father, Anna." He looked down, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You're far from it. You drink to forget." He was reading me like a damn book.

"I know I'm not my fucking father, Michael." I mumbled as I threw the cloth down. "When I'm with you, I just feel like I have to protect you at all costs. It's what's making me lash out and be argumentative." I looked him in the eyes.

"I don't see what you're saying." He told me, his eyes flickering with wonder. "Are you saying we shouldn't be together?"

I clenched my jaw. That was the last thing I wanted. "I love you, Michael. That's the last thing I want." I paused. "I'm just terrible at Love. It's like every second you're not by my side, I'm craving the sight of you and to make sure you're okay." I lowered my tone. "You're cousins aren't the smartest in the world."

He laughed a bit. "You're saying you want to protect me?" His smile made me break a grin. "You're adorable."

"Fuck you," I smiled a bit. "Mickey."

His first thought was to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder. I laughed as I accidentally hit my head on the doorframe, rubbing the sensitive part. Michael didn't seem to notice, which I didn't mind.

"Dont you fuckin' 'Mickey' me." He said as he climbed on top of me, kissing my lips. My arms wrapped around his neck, smiling into him.

–

My head was against his chest as he lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling. We were both in our night clothes. We didn't want to fuck. We just wanted to be around each other. We wanted each other.

"When you were at the church, why didn't you ever say hi to me?" his thumb circled around my shoulder. "Before the rain, anyway."

I smiled. "I was scared. You scared me." I looked up at him.

He scoffed. "I was a fucking twink when i was older. How could i have possibly scared you?" he ran his fingers through my hair.

"Shut up." i kissed his bare chest, then rested my cheek against it. "Im thankful for the night it rained to hard it tore our clothes."

Michael laughed. "I am too."