Forbidden Afflictions // Alfie Solomons Peaky Blinders

(14) Snow and Sympathies pt. 1

Hi. The update's late but I'm doing my best. I've had a miserable couple of weeks and I'm just tryna make it through the drama at home and live up to the expectations of this story with y'all. I ask you please bear with me through this writer's block. I promise I have some good things in store for this book. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I love y'all!

-V

Samuel drove Freya to Wales where she greeted her old friends from the market. Even when she grew up in Birmingham, Wales would always be a second home to her. It was where her parents came from and it was where her distanced family and friends lived. She insisted Samuel wait in the car until she was done but he didn't listen.

Alfie warned him to keep on her good side. He told Samuel that if she wanted him gone, she would find a way to wander off or hit him unconscious or even kill him if she wanted. He was warned and he tried his best but he couldn't leave her. If she got hurt again or if she slipped away, Alfie would be the one to end his life instead of the girl.

Freya tried her best to ignore the Jewish man who followed her like a lost soul but scowls and untrusting eyes around her made it impossible to forget.

"What's this Jew doing here with you, dear?" the older woman, Patience, asked darkly, leering from afar and feeling a sense of distrust toward the pair.

Freya hummed unamusingly and pulled Patience's stare to her own. "You know my brothers. We've always got people on our backs. Some of us need protection when traveling. You never know nowadays," Freya replied, popping her bottom lip and shrugging suggestively.

Even though the Italians and Russians were no longer a concern of theirs, Freya didn't need people to know where she was before she was ready. She didn't want people to know where she was or who she was with in case the boys at that company brought in more vultures. Freya didn't want Patience to worry for she had no reason to. She was safe with Freya despite her skittishness.

"I've never seen you with protection," Patience scoffed, finding hilarity in her disbelief.

Freya smiled and huffed out a breath of air through her nose. "No, but we've all come close to death as of late... We're estranged, you see," Freya explained timorously. "We're strong together, you should know that, and whilst we're apart..." Freya's eyes went to Samuel and Patience peered past curiously to meet him all the same.

The woman seemed to sympathize.

Samuel remained a silent shadow for the remainder of their time in the fields. His polished boots weren't used to the mud and the smell of western dribble was sure to stain his coat. He wanted to say something, to hurry Freya along, but he couldn't. The idea of losing her made him bite his tongue. He started to shiver and his heels and back began to ache, but he refused to walk back to the car. He refused to break his promise to Alfie. He refused to leave Freya vulnerable or without protection.

She kindly filled a basket with herbs and medicines and foreign plants before paying the Gypsy and bidding her farewell.

She wasn't sure she wanted folks to know she was with the Jews, especially intimately, but everyone knew Gypsies were the quickest to gossip. She was afraid of the uproar for loving a religious minority gangster, but she was even more afraid of being alone—of living alone. So she had no other option but to bring Samuel.

However, she doubted her companion was of much bother. It was a risk, but she had to hope it wouldn't travel far. After all, she didn't think her word was worthy of a few extra yards across the country. She figured it would do the community kind to talk about Samuel. It wasn't as if they would make any domestic drivel a big enough deal to overflow into the city.