𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘 ➵ M. Gray

Chapter Eight.

Sat at the table in Tommy's house, Liz taps on the glass in front of her, taking in the surroundings of the kitchen. Tommy sits down opposite her, a glass of whiskey in his hand. 

"I thought I would let you know something. I am telling you the exact same way I told the others." Liz sits and nods, waiting for him to continue. "Grace is back. I know you hadn't met her before, but i know what Polly has told you. So I would like you to put those thoughts behind and welcome her to the family"

"But she fucked you over Tommy" Liz sits with her arms folded, trying to keep as much emotion out of her face as she could.
"She's carrying my child Liz" he downs the whiskey in one and pours another glass, this time not just one for him, but one for Liz too. Soon enough the others start to pile into the kitchen and around the table. Michael catches her eye as he sits next to her. Since they have come to an understanding of each other the last time they were in Michael's office together, they get along much better, but they don't actually talk very much. They always give each other knowing looks like they are on the same page, but that's as far as it extends. At the moment anyway.

When everyone is seated, they all stare at Tommy expectantly, knowing he has further news.
"Grace and I, are getting married"
Polly scoffs at this announcement,  but bites her tongue. John is rolling his eyes, where as Arthur on the other hand...  "are you fucking crazy Tommy?" He basically shouts, his face turning red.  Everyone else took this as their turn to start shouting back. Liz places her elbow on the table and put her head in her hand. This is so typical of everyone. Some decent news and everyone goes mental. Michael notices Liz's reaction and grabs her other  hand under the table, going unseen by the chaos surrounding them. He gives it a tight squeeze.

A knock at the door makes everyone go quiet. Michael drops Liz's hand, as quickly as he grabbed it, much to her disappointment. They weren't expecting anyone else to arrive. Liz gets up from the table and walks towards the door, grabbing a sharp knife off the kitchen side and hiding it behind her back. She looked back to see Tommy, John and Arthur all have their guns out pointing them towards the door. Liz puts her hand on the door knob and turns it.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Her eldest brother Robbie, looks at her confused. He almost didn't recognise her, seeing as she had grown so much over the year and a half, possibly even 2 years that he hadn't seen her. She was more of a women now, looking a lot more mature, even for 19.
"What the fuck are YOU doing here?!" Arthur gets up from his seat and stands behind Liz, taking the knife out of her hand that was now shaking. She felt nervous, as she hadn't seen her brother for so long. She also didn't expect for his reaction to be the way it was. She hadn't been told the full story as to why her brother wasn't really around anymore, but she knew something had obviously happened when she was away.

"Why is my baby sister sat in with the Peaky fucking Blinders!?" Robbie jabs his finger on Liz's shoulder hard. Arthur steps in front of her so she can't be prodded again. "For the last time Robbie. What the fuck are you doing here?" Arthur growls. "I came to talk to Tommy" Robbie nods behind Arthur. Tommy's jaw is clenched, but lets him come in. Robbie doesn't even acknowledge Liz as he walks past her.

"Fuck you" she hisses. He stops and turns to face her. "You what?" he asks, cocking his eyebrow.

"I said fuck you. FUCK YOU ROBBIE. You don't see me in almost two years, and this is the welcome I get?!" Liz feels a tear fall from her eye, mentally kicking herself that she was letting him get to her. She steps forward and pushes Robbie back. He doesn't retaliate, but she can tell it was angering him. She pushes and pushes until he is hitting up against his chest. He keeps trying to grab her wrists to stop before he lost his temper, but it was doing no good. "Liz! Liz come on, calm down" Michael places his arms around her small waist and picks her up, carrying her into the other room. He places her on the sofa, and sits down next to her. Staring at her face, he had never seen Liz look so sad. The tears were pouring down her cheeks. Michael's heart ached for her, not wanting to see her so upset. He wipes a tear away with his thumb, causing her to look at him. 

"What did he do?" she croaks, her voice slightly gone from shouting. 

"He left Tommy to die Liz. That's what he did" Michael sighs, bringing her in for a hug. 

Tommy took his gun out of his jacket, walking as slowly as he could so he could keep his footsteps as quiet as possible. The hallways were so empty, the slightest sound would of triggered Johnny, and he would of known they were there in an instant.  

bastard, Tommy thought in his head, the closer they got to Johnny's office. He glances across the hall towards Robbie, who also had his gun out. They finally reach the door to the office and barge in, only to find it completely empty. A single desk sits in the middle of the room, a bookshelf to the left that was half empty, and a car cart to the right. 

"Something's not right" Robbie sniffs, walking around behind the desk, Tommy following. "Why is it all empty? where is our fucking money?! he's a god damn robber!" Robbie starts to raise his voice. 

"Don't you mean my money?" Tommy glares at him

"yeah whatever, 'boss'" Robbie mocks in a sarcastic tone. 

Suddenly the sound of something rolling along the floor alerted them. Tommy saw a hand grenade and ducked under the desk, Robbie following. The explosion almost deafened them. Clutching his ears and blinking hard to stop his head from ringing, he picks his gun up and starts to shoot into the smoke. Shots were fired back, but it seemed it was only Tommy's gun that was firing this side. He tried to search for Robbie in the smoke, feeling around the the floor with his foot as he still fired out of the door, but he couldn't find him. Little did Tommy know that Robbie had crawled into the nearest corner, and curled up into a ball. He had his gun in his hand, but was too afraid to stand up incase he got shot.

"Ahh fuck!" Robbie heard Tommy yell, but still kept his mouth shut. The 'stupid boss' had been shot. The big man. The one in charge. Maybe it was time that changed. Robbie took a small photo out of his pocket that he always carried around with him. It was a photo of two women, but from separate photos that he had stuck together. One was his girlfriend. Her long blonde locks swaying in the wind as she stood outside their house in Small heath. The other was his sister, Elizabeth. Her auburn hair looking dark on the black and white photo. She had a big smile on her face and suitcase beside her. It was the day she took off to New York. He kisses the photo, and places it back in his pocket. The shooting had died down, so he took a deep breath, and ran out of the room, sneaking out of a near by window, and running all the way to watery lane. 

***

"Tommy's dead" Robbie's head hangs low, a small tear falling down his cheek. He could hear Polly and Ada trying to muffle their cries. Arthur was swearing and John punched his fist in the wall. "We were ambushed. Office was emptied out, only the desk for us to hide behind. Once the grenade went off I couldn't see him through the smoke, I just kept  shooting at the fuckers, trying to kill 'em off as I couldn't find Tommy. I couldn't hear him. It wasn't until the shooting stopped I saw him lying on the floor not breathing..." Robbie explains the story he had rehearsed on the way over. 

"FUCK" Arthur swears once more. "We're going to have to go get his body" He pinches the bridge of his nose, sniffling. Robbie nods in agreement, praying that Tommy was actually dead. They wait a while, letting the news digest, before getting up and walking out into watery lane. 

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD" Tommy comes storming down the street, he had been shot in the arm, his white shirt soaked in red blood. "YOU FUCKING LEFT ME" He takes out a knife, holding it up against Robbie's throat as he pushed him against the wall. John and Arthur didn't have a clue what was going on. First the shock of thinking Tommy was dead, and for him to now be stood infront of them. 

"I-i saw you on the floor, you weren't breathing..' Robbie stutters, feeling the pressure of the knife.

"You LIAR" Tommy spits "you ran off as soon as the Grenade went off!" a real tear falls down Robbie's cheek. This was it for him. He had fucked it. He closed his eyes, waiting for the knife to slit his throat, but it never came. 

"I swear to god, if I ever see you in Small Heath ever again, you're fucking dead. You hear me?! Dead" Tommy spits, his voice dripping with venomous anger as he drops the knife, and throws Robbie to the curb. In shock, Robbie gets up and starts to run towards his house, already planning on everything he needed to pack, before leaving the cobbles of Small Heath behind for good.