BITTER - Michael Gray.

TEN.

♛

Michael wanted to know about Liv. Liv now wanted to know about Michael. His shift in mood when Father Hughes was mentioned intrigued her, just as her constant hints about her family intrigued him.

They were walking up to the front doors of Tommy's large mansion, now even more large at the loss of Grace. Olivia was still wobbly after the blood loss, so gripped onto Michael's arm in the hope not to fall.

"Strong cling you've got there." He tried to prise her fingers off his bicep, but she was having none of it.

"Well I did lose a pint and a half of blood Michael." She joked with a smile on her face.

The man had been doing his upmost to make her happy, treating her like the princess she acted like. He waited on her hand and foot, partially due to fear of his mother but mainly out of the goodness of his heart.

"Yeah well." He placed his hand in hers.

Just friends. Just friends. Just friends, looped in her head. The little sparks she felt were a figure of her imagination. In fact, they weren't even friends.

"Are you sure you're both ready for this?" Michael led her into the house and shut the doors behind.

"Now or never. We need to have this talk. I can't look him in the eye." Olivia sighed.

"Well, you know where it is. I'll be here." Michael placed a cigarette in his lips and nodded down the hall way.

"Thank you." She nodded, heading for the office.

"Don't pass out again it's fucking annoying." He shouted after her. Olivia rolled her eyes as she approached the large wooden door that opened into Tommy's office.

He was sat at his desk, head looking down and arms spread out. Papers were strewn across the table and he was breathing erratically.

"Tom?" She whispered softly. His head shot up, he quickly rushed around to envelope her in a hug.

"Good god. You're alright. God I'm so sorry you've been dragged into all of this." He mumbles into her hair.

"It's okay. Yeah I was promised a maths job but it's the Peaky Blinders, I expected nothing less." She sighed, rocking them slightly in their hug.

"I can't cope." Tommy pulled away, walking up to the window.

"You can Tommy. You have to." Olivia attempted to reassure him.

"No I can't. I can't do it without her Liv. I don't see the point." He ruffled his hair out of stress.

"Can't see the point in what?" She already knew what the answer was, but needed to hear it from him.

"Living. Being alive. Breathing. Existing." Tommy pushed some papers off his desk. The frustration and pain on his face was heartbreaking.

"Shut the fuck up. You have to cope Tom. Not for me, or Pol or anyone else. But for Charlie. That little boy needs you. He doesn't understand what's happening, why his dad can't look him in the eye or why no one will play with him. He doesn't get it." Olivia shouted at Tommy. The outburst was unexpected for the both of them. "Just like I didn't get it when it happened to me." She dropped her voice.

"It's different though. Grace was murdered in cold blood, your mother-" He shouted back before Olivia shut him down.

"Don't give me that. It's no different. Young children that both lost their mother. The pain isn't any different." Her voice threatened to break as the lump in her throat rose.

"Liv I'm sorry." Tommy realised how he'd upset her.

"S'alright. But please, go and see Charles." She begged him. "He thinks you don't love him."

"I do. With every piece of my being." Tommy looked on the verge of crying.

"Actions speak louder than words. Show him you love him. Go." She ordered him out of the room.

Olivia was good at controlling hysterical situations. She was level headed, another reason why everyone loved her. She could relax a tense situation.

"Fine." Tommy sighed, leaving the room.

Olivia started to pick up the papers carefully, the pain in her shoulder still prominent. Michael quietly entered the room.

"I'm sorry." He cleared his throat to get her attention.

"What for?" She places the papers on Tommy's desk, all in neat order.

"That you lost your mother." His voice was soft, the opposite of Olivia's.

"Why were you listening in? Michael that was a private fucking conversation. You can't go butting into other people's shit, it's not your fucking place!" She screamed at him. He remained silent, not moving a muscle.

"I wasn't listening purposely, I just caught the end of it." He defended himself.

"I thought we were getting somewhere. You nosy fucking cu-" Olivia was ready to fully let loose on him.

"What?" He asked at her sudden stop.

"I hate you." She spoke. Her face had realisation written all over it.

"Look, I just wanted to know. No one would tell me what you're hiding." He whispered.

"Because it's not theirs to tell! God, that's not even the full extent of it." She breathed deeply. "What about me? You wouldn't tell me about Father Hughes." She snapped at him.

"That's something else." Michael's jaw clenched once again, his body became tense.

"Is it now?" Olivia wound him up, pretending to be interested.

"It is when he was sexually abusing me you piece of shit." The words flew out of his mouth.

Olivia said nothing. She'd fucked up. He wasn't ready to tell her, just like she wasn't ready to tell him. But she forced it out of him. The guilt washed over her.

"Michael I'm so sorry I didn't know." She walked up to him, going in for the hug. He pushed her hands out of the way and pinned them to her sides.

"Fuck you. You deserved to be shot."

♛

a/n: oooh michael's gone nastayyy. this is so weird i know, one minute they're happy and the next they're not but hopefully it will all become clear. x