Roguish Women- Tommy Shelby

Permanent Reminders

            Tommy almost knocked over the phone as he pushed Kate up against the wall as she kissed him so roughly that he could feel his lips bruising. But he didn't dare let her let up.

He groaned against her lips when she tugged on his hair playfully. "Don't rush." He murmured when she pulled away to start undoing his shirt buttons.

"I'm fine." She frantically rid him of the shirt and dropped her hands to his waistband.

"Kate..." He took her hands in his. He realized there was something wrong. It was almost like she was forcing the act, pushing through to prove herself something. "There's no need to rush."

Her lower lip quivered. "He's not taking this from me, Tommy. He doesn't control me anymore. He-he can't ruin me anymore."

He could feel her hands trembling. "Sh, love, just take a deep breath."

"It's not fair!" She cried out of frustration at the things she couldn't control.

"Kate, just sit down for a moment and take a breath." He coaxed again.

"Unzip me." She huffed turning around with her arms crossed. He did and she stepped out of the dress, leaving it on the floor. She walked to the in-suite bathroom and turned on the sink to splash water on her face. Grabbing one of the washcloths, she scrubbed at her face.

"Kate, just come in here and talk to me." Tommy waited in the middle of the room, not sure what else to do.

"Look at this, Tom. Look!" She held out her arms.

It was hard not to see what she was referencing. She was riddled with scars, ones that looked old, and ones that looked more recent. Each one of them told a story that Tommy wasn't privy too, but he knew that they haunted her.

"He left his mark on me. That bastard took everything and I still remember him every time I look in the mirror." It almost felt like each scar that Santo had left was burning with anger. Granted, she had acquired some of the scars from much earlier in her life. A bicycle incident as a young girl, a knife wound from an attempted mugging as a young ballerina, and other minor nicks and marks. But the freshest ones were the most painful. The scars around her knuckles from when she shattered the bathroom mirror. The time Santo threw a vase at her and it cut her arm as she ducked. When he pushed her so hard into the sidewalk it shredded up her knees. Of course, there were times that he never left a mark. Like when he pressed a knife to her cheek and threatened to cut her if she didn't sleep with him.

"Good." He purred when she finally agreed. "Wouldn't want to ruin that pretty face of yours. It's all you're good for."

Kate's breathing became shallower and she started to lose all sense of where she was. The memory wouldn't stop playing over in her head and it was consuming all of her senses. It felt like every inch of her skin was crawling as the memories charged into her brain.

She finally collapsed in on herself, crumbling to a ball on the floor. Sobbing, she wrapped one arm around her stomach and knotted the other in her hair.

When she felt Tommy try to embrace her, she lashed out. Pushing him away, her breathing became more warped and frantic. But he didn't push the matter because she didn't feel him try again. She was having a hard time hearing him if he was even talking to her at all. Her mind felt too loud to hear anything. Tommy could've gotten up and walked out of the room without her fully knowing.