The Sweetest of Hearts.1| T.S

•The baker.

XXI. The baker.

Once the boat arrived in London, Tommy had already gotten much better. The swelling around his eye had gone down, most of his cuts properly closed up and his bruises were starting to fade away. Maude could still see he was in pain when he moved around too much, and a blood vessel in his previously swollen eye had popped, leaving the white of his eye nearly completely red. But Tommy insisted he'd be alright.

It was a Wednesday morning when the two of them stepped off the boat, leaving Curly alone while they went to meet with Alfie. Maude still had Tommy's gun with her, now tucked safely into her black boots, hidden beneath her long dress.

"So we're off to meet the baker, ey?"Maude asked as she glanced at Tommy with raised eyebrows, sending a wave to Curly before she followed Tommy down the road, hooking her arm in with his.

He hummed, nodding his head in response before glancing at her. "Just don't ask him about bread, I've heard he doesn't like that."He warned her softly as he cleared his throat.

Maude pursed her lips as she slowly nodded her head. "Noted." She muttered as she took a deep breath.

Upon entering the bakery, two men immediately began searching Tommy, handling him roughly as they patted him down. A third man took Maude's purse, searching it just like she knew they would. When it came to patting her down, the man was a little reluctant, especially as Tommy watched him with a pointed look. The man opted for giving her a quick pat down, his hands never straying past her hips or down her legs. A true gentleman, although it was a mistake on his part, Maude silently thought to herself as she felt the cold metal of Tommy's gun against her ankle.

"Fucking hell, lads. Calm down." A Jewish man called out with a thick London accent called out as he approached them, eyebrows deeply furrowed. "Put him down, Ollie. Put him down, mate. He's only little." the man scolded and with how fast the three men around them stepped away, she figured he was Alfie Solomons "You two on your own?" he asked them as he grabbed Maude's purse from his man and handed it back to her.

Tommy looked around him before turning towards Alfie. "Seems so." He muttered as he quirked an eyebrow.

"Well, you're a brave pair, ain't you?" He asked as he looked between them again before turning around and walking in the direction he came from, and both Maude and Tommy followed after him.

"You want to take a look at my bakery? We bake all sorts here mate, yeah." He spoke as he lead them through his factory. "Did you know we bake over 10,000 loaves a week? Can you believe it? We bake the white bread, we bake the brown bread. We bake all sorts." He insisted as he came to a stop by a table with two bottles of Rum on it. "Would you like to try some? Bread?" He asked.

Maude's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Alfie. If she hadn't known he ran a distillery, she'd have thought he was truly a baker who was very passionate about bread. Tommy stared at Alfie before turning to the table, tilting his head to the side. "All right." Tommy reluctantly agreed.

"What would you like, brown or white?" Alfie asked as he quirked an eyebrow at Tommy.

Tommy stared at the table before turning back to Alfie. "Try the brown." He replied, truly not wanting to but he had heard of Alfie's temper before so it was easier to just play along.

"Brown, right," Alfie muttered in surprise before his gaze turned to Maude. "And for you, darling?" He asked her politely as he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Brown as well." She replied with a nod of her head as she turned to the man standing by the table of Rum, pouring two glasses of brown Rum.

Tommy took the glass offered to him and Alfie took Maude's glass, handing it to her, "Right, here you go darling." He said and she politely thanked him with a soft voice.