Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
☾ 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑅𝑇𝑌 𝑇𝐻𝑅𝐸𝐸
Bonnie met Anna and her mother halfway between the hospital and the car when they stopped in confusion. Polly looked the boy up and down warily, sharp eyes not missing a thing. Her reluctance to trust the Golds would not stop just because she had finally gained her position back in the Shelby company.
"Where's Finn?" she asked, her voice low and brows high.
"Finn is at Charlie's Yard. The car broke down. I was asked to pick you up," he said, eyes trailing back to Anna momentarily.
Polly nodded, leading them back to the car, a cigarette now between her lips. For a moment, Anna watched Bonnie. She remembered what Tommy had said inside, during the meeting, about how he was taking him on to be a boxer. And just as she had thought at the table, she could not see the boy as a fighter. His arms were lean, not bulked with muscle, and his power seemed to lay within his quick tongue and observant eyes.
"Like what you see?"
Anna's head twisted quickly, instead looking to the cobbled floor beneath her feet as Bonnie held the door open for her, as Polly already sat in the seat across.
"Get in," Polly shouted.
"Where to?"
"Drop me to Finn, then Anna to Watery Lane," Polly said, not sparing a look to her daughter.
Anna protested. "I can-"
"I want you at home," she said. "It's the best place you can be."
The car ride to Charlie's Yard was silent. Anna could feel the weight of it all on her shoulders: Polly's anger toward the world, the memory of the conversation she'd been apart of in Michael's hospital room, and the feeling of Bonnie's eyes on her, as he glanced back through the mirror every few seconds. She didn't stop to catch him and send him a withering look as she should have done. Instead, she let him look, keeping her head turned toward the window as she attempted to fight the deep blush from her cheeks.
The car rolled to a stop at Charlie's Yard and Polly got out, leaning into the open front window. Finn hung back behind her, waving to his cousin through the gap.
"Straight to Watery Lane," Polly ordered, lingering for a moment before she stepped back.
Bonnie grinned. "Yes ma'am," he said, then glanced back. "You can sit up front if you like."
Anna blinked, taking in the offer. "I'm alright here."
Bonnie went back to driving, pulling the car onto the grimy streets of Small Heath. He didn't speak, nor did he glance back to her as he had been only moments ago. Anna frowned. Typical boy, she thought, getting upset over anything. But something about the quietness made her feel as if she needed to talk.
"I heard Tommy is taking you on," she said, cringing as the words left her mouth.
Bonnie smirked, finally lifting his eyes momentarily from the empty road. "Yeah. I'm going to be a fighter."
She must have made a face, because Bonnie's eyebrows shot up, his chin tilting defensively.
"You don't like boxing?" he asked.
Anna thought about her answer for a moment. "No. I think there's enough fighting in the world without doing it for sport."
Despite what she'd said, Bonnie Gold smiled. "I suppose you could look at it that way. Or, you could look at it like this:"
"You're beginning to scare me with your driving," Anna said, half truthful and half teasing, before he could continue his sentence.
The car swerved to the side, making Anna clutch to the back of his seat. Bonnie pulled into the side of the street.
"Is this better?" He said, turning around fully so his face looked directly back at hers.
"This isn't 'straight back to Watery Lane.'"
He spoke tauntingly. "Your mum won't mind. Forgive me, but it's not often I drive."
"Then maybe they should have sent someone else."
"I don't think that's what you would have wanted," Bonnie said, eyes lowering. Anna felt her breath hitch.
"But look at it like this: boxing as a sport is an easy way to make light of the fighting. Do it in a ring with a bit of fun and suddenly the real stuff on battlefields don't look so glorious anymore," he said, making her brows raise in surprise.
"You're smarter than you look," she said.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"I'm not sure." Anna bit her lip. "I haven't decided yet."
"You know you've got more about you than I thought you would have," Bonnie said in turn, letting his eyes slide across her face, from her watchful eyes down to her neck.
"And is that supposed to be a compliment?"
Bonnie shrugged, turning back to the wheel, pulling back onto the road with a jagged swerve.
"I haven't decided," he said, using her own words against her.
☾
Sorry for the shortness. It's biased but these two already have my heart.
