working girl » tommy shelby.

chapter sixteen

Rosie watched as Grace stormed out of the club, leaving Tommy alone at the bar with a less than impressed facial expression. Rosie sighed before placing her drink on the table and silently walking out of the club, making sure that Tommy didn't see her leave, so he did not follow. Grace was fumbling with a lighter when Rosie found her, and her eyes quickly shifted to Rosie before going back to the cigarette that was hanging from her lips.

"You must be Grace," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Grace observed Rosie with a confused expression before the whole thing clicked inside of her. "I'm - "

"I know who you are," Grace uttered when she finally managed to light the cigarette. "I'm leaving."

"Do you still love him?" Rosie yelled when Grace started to walk away. Grace turned around and looked at Rosie with sorrow.

"Tommy Shelby is a troubled man with problems but I'm sure you already know that. That's what attracts the girls, you know? The perilous side of him; beatings, cuttings, murder, arson, everything. Everybody falls in love with Tommy, it's almost inevitable. So, yes, I do still love him. Sadly, I was not the lucky one, but you are. Keep him close Rosie and don't mess up."

"What are you getting at, Grace?"

"Like I said, he's a troubled man."

+++

"Did she have anything interesting to say, Tom?" Rosie asked as she threw the fur coat onto the unmade bed, keeping quiet about her brief encounter with Grace. She turned to look at Tommy, one hand on her hip which gestured to Tommy that she was not in the best of moods but nor was he. "You've barely spoken one word to me since we left the club and I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm the issue and that you still love Grace. Is that true?" The interrogation continued to fall from Rosie's mouth - half of the time she didn't even know what she was saying, too angry to comprehend anything. Tommy didn't react, he just gawked at Rosie like she was the most foolish individual in London. "Thomas, answer me."

"Rosie, you are literally talking nonsense. You've done nothing wrong, I don't love Grace and I'm just exhausted, that's all," he responded. Tommy sauntered over to Rosie and gripped her chin, forcing the brunette to look at him. "She knew where you were the whole fucking time and she didn't even tell me."

"Grace did?" Rosie asked, not surprised at all. The woman was scheming in every way possible.

"Campbell told her but she was too envious and malicious to tell me, despite me opening up to her about you. I'm angry, like angry, but not at you. I could never be angry at you, Rosie. Even though some days you wind me up to the absolute max, but I can forgive you for that."

"You have some nerve, Mr. Shelby," she chuckled before leaning up to place her mouth on his. "Let's not worry about Grace anymore or that bloody inspector. This is our time to be together, just me and you."

Tommy licked his lips before moving to sit down on the edge of the bed, Rosie following his actions. She noticed his sudden change in his eyes - annoyance to gentleness. Tommy placed a kiss on her forehead before gripping Rosie's hands in his own.

"When I was talking to Grace, she revealed that she was having some fertility tests done in London and I was wondering if maybe..." he trailed off when he saw Rosie roll her eyes but continued anyway. "It's worth considering and I will pay for all of the treatment if it comes to that but - "