Peaky Blinders One Shot Collection

Michael Gray x Reader - Prompt 5

Prompt 5 – Until you can return the time I wasted on you, I want nothing to do with you

Michael x Reader

Numb. That is what you were. Completely numb. There was a lump in your throat and your eyes were brimming with tears but you couldn’t feel the ache or the sting. You couldn’t hear Polly trying to help you calm down, or the sound of the kettle whistling, or John cursing and swearing. All you knew was that you needed to get out of the kitchen of Polly’s house and as far away from him as you could manage. So that is what you did. You stood and you ran. Harder and faster than you ever had before. Barefoot, no coat and raining beating down on you. Knocking past the blonde American, stumbling over a step on the way out, clawing away from Tommy’s arm as he tried to grab you.

That was 3 months ago. Well, 3 months and 13 days. But that wasn’t important. You’d managed to find a new job in a bakery. Polly had almost cried when you gave her your notice at the betting shop. Tommy had called every day, attempting to get you back working for him, disguising it as a phone call to check on you. John saw you in passing every day and always made an effort to talk to you. They had invited you to several of their get togethers, always hopeful but understanding when you had politely declined on every occasion.

As for him, you had seen him, almost every day. Recently, he had been without his blonde accomplice, even attempting to say hello to you. You had ignored him, busying yourself with getting to work on time. He had also tried to call you, only having received an answer when you thought it had been Tommy. As soon as you had realised it was him, you had hung up, instantly unplugging the phone so that you didn’t have to answer for the rest of the evening.

This morning, you’d actually been on time for work. Usually you slept in or were rushing because you had dawdled. Today felt like it was going to be a good day. You had woken before your alarm, managed to get dressed and have your coffee almost an hour earlier than usual. You sat, staring out of the window of your apartment, watching the children on their way to school and the workers getting ready to go into the yard. You sipped your coffee and took in the steady pace which you hoped the rest of your day would continue in.

A knock at the door pulled you from your thoughts and you placed your coffee on the table. You weren’t expecting visitors this morning. Anyone who knew you, knew that you were very rarely awake this early in a morning, and if you were then you certainly were not good company. You made your way to the door, brushing down your dress as you went. You looked through the peephole but could see no sign of anyone. You sighed, opening the door and expecting to see children playing games in the halls before they rushed to school. To your surprise, there were no children.

Instead, sat directly in front of your door, with no note or other wrapping, was a singular daffodil. Your favourite flower. People didn’t usually think that you were a flowery type of person, and very few people actually knew that you loved daffodils. You bobbed your head through the door way and looked both ways, trying to identify where the lonely flower had come from. There was no sign of anyone. You leaned back in to the door and frowned, a small confused smile playing on your lips. Shrugging, you bent down, picked up the flower and returned to your flat, heading for the kitchen to fill a vase with water.

You spent the rest of the day wondering where the flower could have come from, distractedly packing orders for customers and being chastised by your boss when you messed up the occasional order. On your way home, you had bumped into Polly who you had told about the surprise gift. Polly had smiled warmly and said she didn’t know who it could be. Her reaction had seemed quite suspicious but you had thought nothing of it and carried on walking home.