Living With Mr Shelby

Chapter Nine

Tommy was sick the next day. The doctor said he was weakened by the wound but that he should be ok by the next morning. I sighed as he told Tommy to get to bed and avoid smoking or drinking for the rest of the day, he agreed but as soon as the doctor left he was shrugging on his waist coat and jacket.

"Tommy if you don't rest now you'll get sick." I tugged his arm trying to get him to go back to bed, he sighed and looked down at me handing me his new pack of cigarettes.

"Here, I won't smoke." He muttered. I gave him an un-amused look at his awful attempt at compromising with me but, we both knew his devilment could outlast my stubbornness so I gave in and let go of his arm.

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"Play to my brother's game. That's what I would do, he's never been good at upsetting a lady who cares about him... it was something mum drilled into him when he was little, broke a girls heart and mum was on at him for weeks about it." Ada said fondly, recalling her mother. Poll smiled at the memory and nodded.

"It's for his own good and he made a deal with you, he buys you what you need and you look after his house and his health... if guilting him doesn't work tell him that, in fact yell it at him and slam the door if he don't follow you out of guilt he'll follow you out of anger and you just got to lock him in here then." Polly said firmly. She smiled as we thought over her devious plan.

"Poll no offence but there are several dangerous situations I'd rather be in than locked in a small flat with an angry Tommy." I said raising an eyebrow chuckling as Esme and Ada agreed.

"Well good luck whatever you decide to do I'm taking Ada to look at some houses near Danny's. Esme will be in and out of the Bookies if you need us." I nodded and rolled up the sleeves to my white button up shirt and took a deep breath. I waved to the girls and slowly made my way to Tommy's office.

When I marched into the office without knocking adrenaline began to course through me. Tommy looked up and leaned back in his chair a small flicker of a smile playing from his lips as I took a seat opposite him.

"Are we going to have another argument?" Tommy asked playfully, I rolled my eyes and stared at him, he had gone pail and a thin layer of sweat coated him.

"Oh Tommy you've gotten worse why didn't you come back?" I asked him but he didn't say anything instead he looked me over trying to see if my reaction was genuine so I decided to use Ada's plan.

"I'm fine Lola." He snapped as I began to poke at him trying to feel his temperature but he kept a firm grasp on my hands, I yanked them away suddenly making Tommy give me his blank stare he gave me whenever he knew what I was up to.

"Fine, I tried to take care of you, I really did and when you're too sick to carry on playing gangster don't come to me for help. I won't do anything for you. It'll be your own fault... and if you can't even keep deals you make with a woman how can you keep deals with the men you work with?" I shouted, ripping open his door and slamming it as hard as I could behind me.

"Sorry." I mouthed at Michael who looked like he'd jumped out of his skin and was now sitting at his table down the corridor from Tommy's office watching me like a rabbit watching its predator. I giggled and skipped back to the flat, grabbing one of the women's magazines Ada had left for me to read and flopped down on the sofa flipping through it. Sure enough five minutes later Tommy shuffled through the door and didn't even acknowledge me as he took off his jacket and dumped it on the kitchen table before vanishing into his room.

I waited about an hour before hurrying into Tommy's room to check on him, he had succumbed to the illness and was snoring quietly to himself, his cap still on his head but falling off a little. I gently lifted his head and pulled the cap off hanging it on the bed post next to him and pulled the blanket over him being careful not to put any weight on his wound.

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"Time is it?" Tommy mumbled as he walked sleepily out of his bedroom, I smiled at him and unbuttoned his collar so it was ready for tomorrow.

"Half nine, beef stew on the table... don't make that face Poll made it not me." I said as he began poking at it. We had discovered there were some recipes I was awful at following and Poll's beef stew was one of them. Tommy sank into a kitchen chair and devoured his first bowl full. I poured him another one and handed him the evening paper.

"John sort out the papers I needed doing?" Tommy muttered not looking up from the betting page I handed him a brown envelope that John had dropped off earlier.

"Tommy, what did you say to Kimber to make him so mad?" I asked Tommy, catching him off guard. I already knew what had happened. I'd managed to weasel it out of John but I wanted Tommy to tell me.

"Not much." Was Tommy's reply and I huffed at him wondering into my room to get changed. Tommy knocked on my door a few minutes later and I let him in, fixing him with a hard stare.

"John told you what happened didn't he?" Tommy asked but it wasn't what he meant. What he really wanted to know was why I wanted Tommy to tell me something I already knew, I wasn't sure myself. I had only known Tommy for three months so I wasn't sure why I wanted him to tell me what happened. Maybe Poll was right, maybe I did have feelings for Tommy but I wasn't going to let him know that. He made no effort to say anything else so I rolled my eyes and began to shut the door. I hesitated when Tommy mumbled goodnight and stomped back into his room.