Underneath My Feet [T. Shelby]

Too Late For Me

Tommy had been boxed in by his whole entire family who had camped out in his office. It hadn't been a surprise, they had been circling him like buzzards for weeks. What surprised him the most was that Ada was here, he had expected her to hate him with everything that she had.

As Tommy walked through his silent family he took his seat as his desk and began lighting up a cigarette before pouring himself a large whiskey.

"Tommy-" Arthur started.

Tommy slammed his hand down on the table which made Esme and Linda jump but he didn't care, not a single part of him cared for their fear.

"Fucking what Arthur!? what the fuck do you want?"

Arthur lurched forward and leered down at his brother, suddenly too angry to remember why he was there in the first place. It was Polly who stepped in to prevent an argument with a hand in between the brothers.

"Tommy, we're worried about you. You've been missing for weeks. We also need to know how you want to proceed with business"

Tommy let out a vicious laugh "Business as fucking usual eh? our little brother died and you all wanna talk about business. Well fuck the business and fuck you all"

"Oh shut up Tom!" John barged in "You're not the only one grieving so get a fookin' grip of ya self. It's pitiful"

"Oh ere' we go" Esme mumbled to herself.

Tommy decided against speaking, afraid that the next words to come out of his mouth may just rip his family to shreds. Having quickly realised that his selfishness had swallowed up his whole family for months, he decided now was not the time to let it continue. Instead he sat back and ran his hands over his face, feeling the stubble that was growing across his jaw.

"Look, Tommy we need to get past this as a family. We cant fall apart now. Our Finn wouldn't have wanted it"

"He jumped in front of me Arthur" Tommy mumbled as he took a large pull of whiskey.

"So you're going to repay him by swanning off into the open, killing yourself every mile that you go?" Ada hissed from the back of the room. Ada stood firm with her arms crossed and her lips in a straight line.

"I had business to take care of" Tommy spat his lie back.

Polly slid in between them both to prevent Ada from flying off the handle "Well you're back now. Let's focus on what we do best okay?" and she slid a piece of paper across his desk.

"Or we could focus on Amelia?" Ada spat as she made her way over to Tommy's desk full of gusto "We could talk about how you left her in that hospital all alone"

"Ada!" and Arthur began to pull his sister back by her arm but she shoved him back and continued.

"How about when you let her leave Small Heath with a bullet wound to the arm and a broken heart ay Tommy?" and she lunged forward to grab the letter opener on the table but Tommy was too quick as he slid it across the other end of the table.

Arthur took no chances this time and picked his sister up, throwing her over his shoulders and rushing out the room. Ada hadn't even tried to fight him, she knew by the look on his face that she had verbally punched him. That was satisfaction enough. 

"Come on Linda lets go" and Esme grabbed Linda by the arm and dragged her out the room. It was clear that the core family members needed to discuss matters further. 

"Tommy she's living back in London" Arthur said as he took a seat across from his brother, trying to find an inch of emotion in his face.

"Good" was all Tommy said.