Arthur Shelby- Love at First Sight

Arthur Shelby- Love at First Sight Pt 4

"There's been too much activity with Changretta's men, I'm not saying you can't handle yourself Y/n, but I'd feel more at ease knowing you were staying somewhere else than that hotel. It's too easy to pay someone off to look the other way." Pol had taken a deep liking to her in the week she'd been in town.

"I won't argue that," Y/n laughed glancing down at her phone. She'd hacked into the CCTV feeds throughout the city tracking Changretta's movements, getting a feel for his routine.

"You could stay with me," Ada smiled from across the desk in the betting shop. John, Finn and a few of the other boys had been listening in to their conversation intently.

"You have children Ada, I won't bring that sort of trouble anywhere near your kids." Y/n shook her head frowning. "Changretta is a man with no moral compass, he'll tear through anything to get his way."

"You could always stay with Arthur," John added his two cents into the conversation with a shit-eating grin.

"I could also stay in the local whore house with you John-boy, but I'd hate to see your face when the women find me more appealing than you," Y/n snipped back smirking at John.

"Y/n will stay with me," Tommy's cool calm voice rolled in from behind. Y/n turned swiftly to see him standing in the doorway, a cigarette between his lips and Arthur standing beside him with a curious look.

"Right well then, hope your internet access is good because I'll be sucking up the bandwidth tracking Changretta's movements and his routine further." Tommy only nodded his head and walked away, Arthur in tow with an odd look on his face.

**********

Arthur paced inside his office in the betting house, Tommy seated in front of his desk pulling out another cigarette. Tommy could feel the tension oozing off Arthur, the rigid way he held himself. The angry jittery look in his eyes. Arthur was sweaty and buzzing with emotions. His facial expressions changing more often than Ada's hairstyles. One moment he was pacing with a furious look upon his face, the next he was staring out his office window trying to hide the muffled cry stuck in his throat.

"Arthur, what in the hell is going on with you? Have you gone off the bloody deep-end again?" Tommy kept his calm, asking in his usual low monotone voice.

"My skins bloody crawling, I'm in a mood to punch some poor sod his ruddy throat," Arthur growled watching the people pass by on the street outside.

"Craving Y/n that badly are you?" Tommy's laugh was low and harmless but it set Arthur off turning on Tommy.

"DON'T!" He pointed a finger in Tommy's face. "This ain't nothin' to do with what I have or have not done with her." Arthur started visibly shaking, hands trembling as he sat behind his desk. Too shaky to light his cigarette, Tommy leaned across lighter in hand.

"What's happened Arthur?" The concern hardly noticeable on Tommy's face, but it was enough for Arthur to see.

"I've got the shakes right, been days since I've last done a line. Bloody withdrawal is the worst thing I've gone through since the war." Arthur couldn't sit still, his legs bouncy up and down, ashes fell from his smoke landing on his pant leg.

"You were using again!?" The frustration in Tommy's voice as it raised glaring at Arthur.

"Keyword Tommy, was," Arthur squashed his cigarette in the ashtray and sighed. "Something about the way she looked at me right, talking bout her... jus the way she was sittin there and I chucked it in the river. Haven't touched a thing but alcohol in days. I'm up, I'm down, I'm sideways. I wanna scream, and cry. I wanna fight or curl up in heap on my bed, but that all stops when I'm near her Tommy. I can't explain it."