Forbidden Afflictions // Alfie Solomons Peaky Blinders

(26) Restless

She couldn't believe what she was reading. Her mind was beyond wracked and yet her eyes and mind were rushing and clinging to the words on the page at hyperspeed. Documents were clutched in her hands and the world outside the room ceased to exist.

One line turned into two and two turned into entire pages. Before she knew it, she was several documents in and the sun was beginning to peak through the barrels in the hall. Freya's eyes burned as she willed them open, scanning over the text until there was a rustle at the door.

Her body jerked in the chair, sending her and the chair back a few inches with crinkled paper between her fingers. Someone was attempting to unlock Alfie's office before realizing the door came from its hinges without the key. Freya was focusing on her sudden heavy breathing as a familiar face ascended from the darkness, almost jumping out of his skin when meeting a pair of ice-cold eyes.

"For fucksake, Freya!" he cursed, tossing the door open as he clung to his chest for reassurance that his heart was still beating. "The fuck are you doing here?" Samuel asked incredulously, too tired to resume his professional position with her.

Freya sighed with a long breath of air and thrust the papers in her hands on top of the stack she had already read through. "What time is it?" she wondered impatiently, rubbing at her eyes and turning her attention to the stack of documents she wanted to conceal from Samuel as best she could.

"It barely dawn. What business do you have at the ass crack of dawn?" Samuel replied hastily, still in shock at seeing his boss's missus snooping in his office.

"Security breach," she mumbled in dissatisfaction, quickly collecting everything that had Holloway's name on it and securing the rest in the drawer she found it in. She pulled everything to her chest to disguise her attire and her arm's contents as she rose to her feet.

"What do you mean? You?" Samuel snickered, crossing his arms and scoffing.

Freya rolled her eyes and moved to turn the lamps off. "I was never here," she replied matter-of-factly, curling a piece of hair around her ear as it had fallen into a frizzy mess before her eyes. "Alfie isn't in, is he?" she worried.

"No," Samuel said with a grimace. "And I don't suppose you to have anything to do with that now, do you?" he asked suspiciously, stepping aside to clear the doorway as she came forward.

Freya hummed and gave him a cheesy smile as she came up beside him, letting the shards of sunlight illuminate her skin as she did so, bringing only the slightest of life to her face. "Nope," she said as she made her exit, leaving Samuel to his work and vice versa.

She tried to hold her composure as best she could whilst hurrying down the halls. She never liked to run or rush in front of people, especially people in the workplace. It made her seem hasty, uncalculated, and vulnerable. She didn't want anyone taking advantage of that but she did want to get back before people started waking up.

Finding your cousin's missus come in early in the morning still in her nightgown wouldn't be the best impression. She didn't need Alfie's cousins thinking she was living a double life like she once did with him being her secret. She didn't need them thinking she was cheating on Alfie or that she was dealing with bad business in the dead of night instead of sleeping beside their beloved cousin.

She had not a spot of makeup on her face and her hair was dried and unfurled from its damp braid and she wasn't impressed with the state of herself to be facing workers.

She nearly made it to the exit without being spotted. She could hear the bustle and conversation buzzing in the private chambers in the opposite hallway. Bottles were clinking together in a closed room she passed and some men working with barrels had their backs turned to her as she skimmed by unscathed.