Shelby Sister

Aftermath

Entering the house Riley was hoping no one would notice her as she wanted to clean up her hands and nose before she was hit with questions. But today just wasn't her day it seemed because as soon as she shut the door she heard John yell from the betting den. "Riley is that you? Come here!"
Cursing she wiped her nose with her sleeve and hid her face with her dark curls. Keeping her head down Riley slowly walked into the room which was budding with activity. Luckily Riley noticed everyone was too busy to notice her, including her brother whose head was in the betting books. "Count that money over there will ya lass. I don't trust Arthur to do it" he pointed to a bag of money to the side of him without looking up. Mumbling an ok she thought it was best not to disagree and cause attention to herself. Sitting down Riley spent the next 10 minutes counting up and writing down the money. That was until John hissed with delight "Tommy, will you just look at the board. Will you just look."
Riley tried to make herself even more invisible sheilding her face with her hair. She covered her hands with her jumper sleeves hoping her brother doesn't look at her and see the cuts. Fortunately for her before Tommy could look at the girl, Arthur popped his head out of Tommy's office shouting at him, "Tommy! Get in here!"
Wonder what Arthur's mad about now she thought. Arthur slams the door. Tommy follows their angry older brother into his office. Breathing in relief Riley stupidly forgot that she had another brother still in the room. Lifting her head her hair moved away from her face, allowing John to see her bruised nose.
"Jesus Riley what the hell happened to you?!" he angrily exclaimed as he rushed forward grabbing onto her face. Shit! She thought, so much for getting away with it. Standing up Riley released her face of her concerned brothers grip and inspecting eyes.
"Nothing I couldn't handle"she replied.
"Really because that bruise on your nose says otherwise. Does Tom know?" John asked. She shot him her signature cold glare.
"No and he doesn't need to." Chuckling at his sister John replied "Sure Riley like he won't see it soon enough. In fact why don't I go tell him now. See if you'll tell him what happened." Knowing he wasn't bluffing Riley tried to make a run for it, only for John to grab her and throw her over his shoulders. "Let me go!" She shouted whilst punching his back. "Sorry sweetheart but you know I can't do that." Hearing the commotion Tommy slammed the office door open "What the hell's going on!" Still screaming and hitting John, Riley ignored her older brother. "Riley here has something to show you" John chuckled as he walked into Tommy's office, past his curious older brothers. Letting her down, Riley realised she was fucked. No way was she gonna be able to hide what happended from them. Straightening up Riley allowed her nose to be seen.
"Who the hell did that?" Arthur exclaimed as he and Tommy finally saw what the fuss was about. "No one" Riley mumbled.
"Riley." Tommy said sternly knowing his younger sister was the least likely to lie to him. Shuffling awkwardly Riley replied "Just some idiot boys. This is nothing compared to what I did to them." Sighing, Tommy stepped forward grabbing his sisters chin and inspecting the dried blood and purple bruise. "I don't care what you did to them.You know the rules, no fighting without our prior knowledge or one of us with you." Jerking her chin away Riley huffed "what if I get jumped?"
"That's different"
"Do I just take it? Let them have their way with me?"
"Enough!" John said. Knowing she'd gone to far by the stormy expression on Tommy's face Riley shut up. "You done?" Tommy tightly asked.
"Look I know the rules but they were asking for it! Beating on some innocent girl. What was I supposed to do? Let them rape her?!" Tommy's face if possible turned colder."And what if they had raped you eh? You never think before you act. Your like Arthur here and it's going to get you into some serious trouble some day."
Trying to match his cold glare Riley locked eyes with her brother. "I can handle it."
Not breaking eye contact Tommy addressed John. "Make sure Pol cleans her up."
Before turning and storming through the betting den. Arthur follows shouting "Tommy, there's some news from Belfast... Tommy!I'm calling a family council tonight at eight o'clock. This time you be there Tommy! You hear me?There's trouble coming."
If only Arthur knew.