Cigarettes And Trouble//PeakyBlinders

Chapter One

The brim of my peaky hat managed to disguise me from Birmingham, alotta enemies here, but alotta close mates here too. I already ditched what little I had brought in a small building my family owned, we once ran business there, and on occasions we still do, usually ends up dirty though. I strode over to the Garrison, needing somewhere to calm my nerves, never slept well, and without the comforts of home it was incredibly challenging to get any shut eye.

I pushed open the large door, escaping from the evening and into the warm comforts of a familiar place, few memories made their way to the front of my mind as I entered, many drinks and laughs that were once familiar before everything went wrong. After standing and gazing, I went to get a drink, something strong, probably a whiskey. Wonder if old Harry Felton still owns the place. A very attractive woman, likely a bar maid was standing at the bar, touching up on some of the glassware.
"Jesse!" I heard a familiar voice call out to me, I turned to meet eyes with Harry, now noticing the amount of people who had their attention directed to me.
"Harry, a familiar face for once." I replied as Harry stood aside the woman, walking from the back door, who was looking at me almost confused yet understanding, an odd look.
"Pour old Brubaker some Irish whiskey, on the house." Harry ordered the bar maid to do, as she obeyed and got down the whiskey. "How are you anyways? Business going well?"
"Williams managing things at the moment, we're doing too well as a matter of fact, I've decided to get out for once." I stated, taking out a cigarette and a match box as the barmaid placed a glass of whiskey in front of me, I lightly nodded my head in response as a thanks.
"Sure William can handle it, heck he's older than you. Older brother got short end of the stick?" Harry joked, I lightly nodded with a small smile, a man randomly approaching me from the corner of my eye, I lit my cigarette and took it to my lips, taking a drag and breathing it out from the side of my mouth.
"You brubakers still around then?" He asked, completely ruining the mood of our conversation.
"Here in the flesh." I responded, not bothering to face him.
"Not for long, us in Birmingham don't like cross dressers." He joked, a laugh from the corner following his words.
"Can't teach a old dog new tricks, hey?" I bluntly responded, already fed up with the lack of respect, little does he know.
"Couldn't do that with the other women filth of your family name eh? Can't teach the dead new tricks, can't teach women nothin'." He rudely responded roughly. I took a drag of my cigarette, does this bloke know how to shut his gob?
"Why don't I teach you a thing or two?" I sighed, turning to him, "firstly manners, secondly respect, and third how to keep your fucking mouth shut you absolute bastard." I looked directly at him, resting my left hand against the bar, the whole place was silent, but I could feel the tension in the room. My temptation to punch him across his smug face was unbelievable, but I just got here, don't wanna have a bad first impression.
"Fucking talk to me like that again you whore."
He retaliated, obviously losing his temper, I needed to dial things down a little.
"No need to loose your temper over a bit of a misunderstanding, you get on your way and I'll get on mine." I calmly responded, he snickered at my words.
"Or what?" He confidently said, trying to intimated me, trying to make me look pathetic, weak even.
"Don't forget your place." I muttered, turning to face the bar, taking a sip of my whiskey, surprisingly it's very good, different to say the least.
"You brubakers can't tell me what to do, after all if it's so easy to kill of nearly all the whores in your family, how difficult will you be?" He tempted, who does he think he is talking about my family like that, we didn't go down without a fight.... I hope.
"You really wanna find out?" I asked, tilting my head towards him, looking him dead on.
He smiled and turned to his friends, nodding him on. "Any day." He responded, looking me up and down.
"How about now?" I asked, rolling up the cuff on my button up shirt, turning to face him.
He nodded towards the door, noises from surrounding people further fuelling this new event of the night, brubaker vs whoever this is.
"Won't be a moment Harry," I told him, he nodded, he knows what's gonna happen. "What's your name?" I asked the bloke, as I put my cigarette in the ash tray.
"Lawrence, my last name." He replied, as we made our way to the door.
"Let's hope the Lawrence's can scrape you up." I taunted, walking out the door first and standing furthest from the door, Lawrence following, standing across from me, alongside nearly the whole population of the Garrison, Harry and the bar maid watching from inside.

I cracked my knuckles, as Lawrence whispered to his nearby mates, making them laugh.
"Let's get this show on the road." I muttered, taking off my hat and placing it on the ground.
Lawrence launched first, going in for a right hook, I grabbed his fist and twisted it backwards, leaning into his face I muttered.
"Let's see if you remember your place now, Lawrence." I kicked him in his right leg, making him tumble to the ground as I let go of his fist. "Just tell me when you give up." I confidently informed him, watching him slowly get up, half way going to tackle me, I kicked him straight in the face, I mean he was launching at me from the floor. He muttered under his breath as the crowd followed every move with a reaction, he was stood up now, after lightly stepping backwards from my foot to his face. He shook his head, gathering himself,  this was too easy, I'll give him a good chance. He came towards me again, as he went for a left hook this time, I sucker punched him with my left fist, making him almost flip onto the ground. I then saw the blood trickle from his nose, he put his sleeve over his hand and wiped his nose, wonder if he regrets testing me yet? He was standing shakily, kinda looking at his hand, then suddenly looked at me.
"You giving up yet?" I sighed, lightly shaking my left hand, hurt a little from all the force. He lightly nodded, his friends immediately entering the small circle to help him get away and hide in the garrison, everyone slowly followed him, chatting among themselves. Some congratulating me, others disapproving of the violent act that was just performed before them. I made my way back inside after adjusting my hat back onto my head, once I entered it was almost as if nothing had happened. I walked over to the bar and went back to my drink, the bar maid trying to make it not obvious that she was watching me, trying to only glance, instead it looked like her eyes were darting from her patterned cleaning of glasses to me sipping my whiskey, looking down at the bar and just thinking.

A couple drinks passed, and I'd begun informing Harry on why I was travelling around.
"You see Harry, I got bored of smooth sailing, I got bored of the same old business, I never really had much interest in doing the finances, it just all got too repetitive. I'm travelling around Britain if this don't work out, looking for some work, in my lane." I nodded towards him, he knew what I meant.
"So you're looking into the Peaky Blinders?" He responded, keeping his voice down.
"Hit the nail on the head," I took a sip of my whiskey, surrounded by a couple empty glasses, "us Brubakers have done business with em before, me dad had a bit of a deal with em before the war, but cause he went, they gave us a last parting gift as the deal ended." I twisted the ring on my finger, one of many. Harry looked down at it and back up at me.
"Want me to talk to Thomas for you?" He offered, I thought for a second.
"Let him know an old business partner from Donny is around, and is interested in some new business I s'pose" I responded, taking another drink of my whiskey.
"Will do Miss Brubaker." Harry replied, taking away my empty glasses as I finished the last, I gave him a nod and walked out the doors as I lit a cigarette.

1495 words! hope this is alright, sorry no peaky blinders action yet, I got things planned though!