love without warning | Michael Gray

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CHAPTER NINE

Alison had found herself pacing through the streets of Small Heath as always, away from the convent and instead towards the Garrison, where she and Michael are permitted to meet. The time was currently half past six, precisely half an hour after the said time Michael had given her to actually meet him. However by the start of the night she had plenty of doubts, unsure on whether she was even going to turn up at all. But in the end she decided to let go of all the negativity and peruse her way into getting what she wants, Michael, and if that includes facing his horror of a family then so be it.

The nerves were still brewing up inside of her stomach whilst growing closer and closer to the pub, with each step she took a brand new wave of sickness washed over her body. Although Michael wasn't particularly in presence just yet, the main source of feeling that was swelling up was actually butterflies and flattery. This was all down to the fact that his family seriously wants to meet her, as in Alison, an ordinary woman who clearly has no idea of how dangerous their way of life can actually be. Either way, she may not physically feel ready but mentally? She knew she had this in the bag.

She thanked her lord, theoretically, along the way towards her destination as no questions were left unanswered tonight nor was any even spoke of in the first place. To Alison's surprise she had finally managed to leave the nightmares of the convent without anyone uttering a word to her about where she was going and who she so happened to be meeting.

In all honesty she was most grateful for the fact that Theresa and Cassidy were no where in sight the second she attempted to escape, giving her hope that they had no further intentions of pestering her this fine evening giving her a chance at freedom for once.

Despite all of these downsides, apart from the last one, she's brought upon herself there actually did so happen to be a wide variety of positives. This consisted on getting to meet Michaels family earlier than expected giving the girl the privilege of getting this night over and done with as soon as possible. She must admit it's rather intimidating meeting the family of another whether it's Michaels or not, being the Shelby's just makes those nerves ten times more effective.

Another upside was getting to spend more time with Michael himself whether other people were around or not. This finally gave her the chance to explore him more, open him up to new happenings and fingers crossed give her the advantage of knowing him more than she already does. Of course there was their date night which seemed to be going rather smoothly until the final hiccup at the end giving it a full finish, that night was supposed to be a night of questioning, getting to find out more about one another yet in reality it mainly consisted on one being lost in the others eyes, i know, more than cringey.

At last Alison had found herself only a few feet away from the grand doors to the Garrison, although from first glance those doors did not appear to be anywhere near as grand as she had expected them to be. She didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't this.

Originally Michael had first stumbled upon the girl outside of this very place, leaning against a wall looking as if she'd caught more than a fever yet in all honesty she never once took a glance of the building that night, she was in her own struggles being too focused on the way that man was behaving towards her to even take in any of her surroundings. The pub looked foreign to her, as it should do considering she's never set foot in the place so she could only imagine how it looked on the inside.

This wasn't the place for her, and it never shall be. This was a place for the drunks, men who would rather spend their time locked up inside a small enclosure with nothing but a pint of whiskey than to go home and provide for their wives, men would much rather find themselves taking a pit stop to the pub every single day after work instead of locating their way back to their family, and finally for women who know nothing about the world and instead dedicate their life into wondering whether their husband was going to make it back in time for tea or not, wondering whether they're going to have to make it their duty to walk their husband home from the drunk state their in even if it was supposed to be the other way around.