Bête noire → Peaky Blinders [Tommy Shelby] [ BOOK 1 ]

Eighteen.

Chapter eighteen: Peculiar advances

"Oh my God! I need to go and get Oscar!"

"No. We have to go. Come on!"

"I can't leave him! He's all I have left!"

"Polly has him, alright? He's safe with her but we need to go and hide."

"I don't need to go anywhere."

"Yeah, you do. They knew where the guns were so they know you're one of us. They're after you as well."

Caroline had no other option but to take Tommy's hand and run, using the back door as an escape route, just in time as the police barged their way through the front, undoubtedly asking for their whereabouts. 

Her knowledge on Small Heath was very limited whereas Thomas had grew up on these streets all his life, but one thing was for certain; she knew enough to know that it wasn't safe to return home. Not only because it was being ransacked by the police, seeing as how it's right in front of the headquarters, but her name had been mentioned to them as a fellow person of interest. So now, not only did she have her father after her, she also had a certain police chief from Belfast chasing her shadow.

It was clear that she had feelings for the man, but to say she took his hand and ran off into the sunset would be a complete lie. She still had no trust for him and remained on edge for every situation, though if he saved her in the beginning, why would he stop now? So, with her brown curls bouncing rapidly against the wind, her face was frantic and her feet moved quickly to keep up with him, still having no clue where they were heading, but she was almost sure he had a place in mind.

A man with a plan was one of the ways she could describe him. With the amount of pressure that built within his mind after becoming a moving target, he was able to compose an idea. It may not have been purest, but it would keep them off the streets for the time being. When he jumped over a fence, Caroline looked to him with a disbelieving glare.

"I can't jump over that with this skirt on!" She hissed.

"Do you see another way round?"

"The front door!"

"If I bust it in, it'll look suspicious."

"And the back door won't?"

Tommy exhaled loudly. "We haven't got all day. Hurry!"

When he put his hand out for her to take a hold of again, she used it to support her jump over the brown picket fence, and when she landed on the ground, she barely glanced around the small back garden of the terraced house and when she turned to see Tommy opening the window, she raised a brow.

"How did you open that?"

"The couple who live here are away on holiday and they keep the back window open so their neighbour can come in and check to see if things are in place."

Caroline snorted. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why didn't they just give their neighbour the keys?"

"I don't have time to talk about logistics, now, get in."

The old house must have been little more than a glorified shed even in it's hay day. But now it looked for all the world like a giant had sat on the roof, for it sagged terribly. The windows were gaping holes for the wind to rush in and out through and the door hung on it's hinges at a jaunty angle, although now it was really just a frame. It was a rotting heap, bowing down, subservient to the elements.