working girl » tommy shelby.

chapter six

Rosie knew that rushing over to Tommy's street and watching house from a distance was wrong and would cause nothing but trouble still, she couldn't stop herself. It had been a quick decision and she didn't know if she wanted it herself. Without overthinking the situation, Rosie grabbed her coat from the chair in her room and practically ran down the stairs and out of the brothel until she was stood at the end of his road. People were lined up outside of the Shelby household, there to place their bets and hopefully win some money for the night that they had planned. Sunday nights were not that busy at the brothel but Rosie still got the odd customer.

"Are you alright, love?" A man asked. He looked over Rosie's body and took notice of the short dress she had on and the high heels. Men who were stood outside of the Shelby house looked over at her, their minds going through a hundred different scenarios. "Excuse me?"

"I'm looking for Tommy," she answered. The man nodded instantly and guided her towards the front door. Men did their best to touch Rosie but the man who was guiding her protected her from any harm. He had been warned by Tommy to bring Rosie to Tommy if he ever came across her, he only got a brief description but as soon as he saw the lonely woman stood at the road, looking petrified, he knew that it was her.

"Just go straight through and you'll see a women with long brown hair, she will guide you to him," the man said with a soft smile. He grumbled some words to another man who was eyeing up Rosie. As soon as he had finished speaking, the man bowed his head and apologised. "No-one will hurt you, I promise."

Rosie nodded, unsure if she should believe what he was saying. Still, she followed his orders and walked through the house. It was different to the last time Rosie was here. Tommy had snuck her in late at night after quickly checking that his brothers and Pol were asleep. They had stayed awake in his office until dawn, talking and gossiping about business and what was going to happen between the two of them. Both Rosie and Tommy had dreams that involved each other but those dreams never came true.

Rosie didn't bother to look for the brown-haired women, she knew exactly where Tommy would be. With confidence, she strutted through the betting area, ignoring every man that looked her way. She recognised a few of the men and they looked down in embarrassment and also fear, scared that their adventures to the brothel would be exposed to their wife's.

Tommy spotted Rosie through his office window and he smirked at how good she looked. Deep down, she was still the same old Rosie, she had just been knocked back a bit. Tommy wanted to be the one who brought her out of that dark place and back into the real, happy world. With one cigarette in his hand, Tommy leaned against his desk and waited for the sound of heels to enter his office area. It was quiet for a moment and Tommy suspected that she was trying to calm herself down before she caused any havoc - it was probably her plan.

"Tommy," she muttered as she entered the office. The loud chatter outside finally resumed once Rosie had entered and Tommy chuckled because of the effect that she had on people.

"Why are you here? I thought you didn't want to speak about things," he said. It came across as nastier than Tommy had expected but he didn't care, a part of him was rather annoyed with Rosie for dismissing him with such ease but he was more focused on helping her.

"I just wanted to ask you something and it's incredibly stupid but I need to know..." she trailed off and waited for Tommy's reaction, only to be met with his hard gaze and raised eyebrows, signalling for her to carry on. "Did you ever care about me?"