My Bella - J.Shelby

VI

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*TW: Mention of attempted suicide.*

"Hello Mrs Shelby." 

"Fuck off Harry." Arabella laughed as she took her position behind the bar. "Leave me marriage alone." She rolled her eyes as Grace laughed walking passed her.

"How is being married to John then? Bet he enjoys it." Harry joked with her. She shot him a look, warning him with the stare. The doors barged open to reveal Tommy and his brothers.

"Arabella, beer please." Tommy ordered as they three walked into the back room. She rolled her eyes grabbing a bucket.

She opened the hatch. "Dark or light?" She asked.

"Dark." John replied, swiftly kissing her on the lips. She chuckled at him, turning back to fill the bucket.

She brought it through to the back room, placing it upon the table followed by three pint glasses. She scooped them one-by-one into the bucket, handing them out. She handed John's his last before kissing him lightly.

"On the house, Mr Shelby." She joked, tone laced with a fake sweetness. The brothers laughed as she walked out.

"Fuckin' hell John, she'll be the death o' ya." Arthur howled loudly. John merely watched his wife leave, returning behind the bar. "Look at him, Tommy. He's fuckin' smitten with her."

John's mind returned to the room, hearing Arthur before punching him in the arm. "Fuck off ya." 

Arabella laughed from the open hatch before returning to her job.

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Arabella wrapped her coat around her figure as she bid goodbye to Harry and Grace. The brothers had left a few hours ago, family matters back at the house being the reason. She had ended up staying longer than what she had meant, losing track of the time. 

She walked into 6 Watery Lane to, surprising, silence. Hanging her coat on the stand she looked around, walking quietly into the living room, not wanting to ruin the odd silence within the household.

"They're asleep." John slurred from the couch, causing Arabella to jump. She hadn't seen him. "Went up about an hour ago." Arabella joined him, her eyes catching onto the half empty bottle of whisky and glass on the table.

"John." She turned her body to face him. "What's wrong?"

John shook his head, staying silent as he reached for the bottle again. Arabella stopped him, removing it from the table and away from his grasp. "Bella...Give me the bottle." She shook her head. "Bella, give me the fuckin' bottle." He was getting angrier.

She stood her ground. "Not until ya tell me what's wrong." She instructed, pushing the bottle further out of his reach. He grumbled, refusing to speak as he folded his arms like a sulking child. "Looks like ya not getting this back then." She stood, waving the bottle in her hand.

She heard John audible sigh annoyed. "Me fuckin' dad's back." He grunted.

Arabella turned back around, sitting herself down. She placed the whisky bottle on the table. "He's back after ten fuckin' years. We don't fuckin' need him now, we needed him ages ago an' he left. Just fucked after our Finn was born. He's a cunt." He continued. 

Arabella couldn't deeply smell the drink on his breath but she knew he'd had some. She turned his face to look at him, her hands remaining on his cheeks. "Listen to me. Ya despise ya Da. He's a cunt an' ya wish he'd fuck off back to where he came from, but he hasn't, not yet at least. Drowning yaself in drink ain't gonna help ya John, especially when ya fuckin' kids are upstairs." She chastised him.

John was shocked by the woman's words. He didn't expect her to do anything, so when she took the bottle from him, he was at a loss for words. "Why do ya care so much?" 

Arabella sighed, running her hands through her hair and over her face. "When Leo came back from war, all he did was drink. Didn't eat. Didn't sleep. He just drank, would've been to his early grave if A didn't stop him. I came home from work, me Ma were shopping an' me Da were at work. It were just Leo an' Cassie in the house. Or he thought. He was that drunk he hadn't realised Cassie leave the house an' come get me."

John listened intently, knowing the story would take a turn. "A might as well as broken the door off the fuckin' hinges when he didn't answer. He terrified me. I ran into the kitchen an' he's just sat there at the table, bottle in hand, sobbing. There was glass on the floor, the table. He'd taken a shard an' put it across his wrist. A had to stop the bleeding while trying to stop Cassie from seeing. He sat there sobbing, apologising to me as I cleaned his wrist. He hadn't spoke about war at all when he came home, until then. A forced it outta him."

John held Arabella's shaking hands. "He just broke down in me arms, we were sat there for...what felt like years as he just spilled everything. Every gruesome fuckin' detail o' war. He said he just wanted to go, leave an' never come back. Just die an' disappear. It makes me feel sick even remembering it. A think A care so much cause seeing me brother in such a state it scares me. So, A get ya pissed at ya Da, but drowning in booze ain't gonna help ya in any way."

John was silent for a moment, just comprehending what his wife had said. He soon pulled her into him, kissing her passionately, picking her up to straddle him. He leaned his forehead against her's, the pair breathing heavily. "Thank ya."

She raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"For trusting me with that. An' thank ya for stopping me, no-one really does that." She smiled at him, kissing him again. She held his face in her hands. He sighed. "Anyone A care about either leaves or dies, Am just pissed that one o' those people have tried to walk back into me life."

Arabella grazed her thumb over his cheeks, feeling his slight stubble forming. "A won't leave ya, John. A promise, as long as ya don't leave me."

He smirked, kissing her again. "Promise. Now let's go to bed."

She nodded, standing. "Don't have to tell me twice." 

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