To Be Alone | Tommy Shelby

Chapter 13

Celia awoke the next morning to the smell of cigarette smoke and the feeling of a warm body underneath her. Her eyes opened to focus on her hand, which was splayed against a bare chest. The same chest her head was half-resting on. She smiled as thoughts of last night came back to mind, her body subconsciously moving closer to Tommy's.

"Morning, love," he spoke when he felt her move, his voice hoarse. "How did you sleep?"

"Mmm, good morning, Tommy," she breathed, tilting her head slightly to peer up at him. He looked equally as breathtaking now as he did when he was dressed in his fine suits. His hair was mussed slightly, and his blue eyes were bright as he looked down at her. A cigarette hung lazily from his lips as he smiled at her. "I slept just fine. How about you?" she asked him then.

"I slept for once. No sounds of shovels," he answered, a tone of contentedness laced into his words. Celia's heart swelled at him saying that. She was happy she was able to bring him a sense of calmness.

"I'm happy to hear that," she smiled up at him.

Tommy wished he could stay in this moment forever. With her laying against him, her hair splayed out on the pillow above, her eyes bright and glimmering. "I can't help but think you're the reason behind it," he spoke, taking the cigarette in between his fingers and blowing out the smoke before he leaned down to kiss her forehead. Celia closed her eyes, smiling at the feeling of his lips pressed to her skin.

He pulled away and she wanted more, so she scooted up in the bed slightly so that she could be more level with him. Her hand moved to the space where his neck met his collarbone as she leaned in to kiss his lips. She quickly tasted the cigarette he was smoking, but didn't mind it, as it only added to the dizzying nature that his kisses produced. Tommy broke away from her with a slight chuckle before his eyes met hers. "Might need you to live with me so that I can wake up to that everyday," he breathed, his nose bumping against hers due to the closeness.

Celia couldn't help but giggle, "if you play your cards right, you will," she teased then.

"Then you must know that I'm a betting man who never shies away from a challenge," he told her, leaning in for another kiss then.

She moved back down on the bed to rest her head against his chest then, her fingers drawing lines between each of the freckles that were littered across it. "What does this tattoo mean?" Celia questioned then, her fingers moving over the black rays that had been permanently etched into his skin.

She felt Tommy peer down at her before he cleared his throat and spoke, "'s supposed to be a sun's rays. I've had it for a while now," he explained, and she nodded her head as much as she was able to with it being pressed to his skin.

"You've one on your arm too," she remembered from when he was undressing the previous night, "does that one have a special meaning?"

"I got that one right after the war. Some of the men in my company got it also, signifying our service. The other one is newer, from when our business became legal," he explained his other two tattoos.

"I like them," she whispered, "they tell the story of who you are," she pressed a kiss to the tattoo on his left pectoral. "Does your scar still hurt you?" she questioned then. When she lifted her head from his chest, she noticed the scar she first saw last night. It took the shape of a circle that was the size of a coin, the skin of it slightly pinker than the rest of his chest.

"Not really. Sometimes it's sensitive, others there's not much feeling there," he answered nonchalantly.

"You were shot?"

"Yes. In a dispute a few years back. Bullet was a through-and-through, so I've got a scar on my back where it exited," he explained how he'd gotten it. "But enough about me, love," he stated, moving in the bed so that he could turn to be on his side and facing her. She smiled at him, closing her eyes out of happiness as she reveled in the feeling of his hand rubbing her arm gently, her legs now tangled with his. "What happened to you here?" she heard him question, his fingers tracing the part of skin where she knew the only major scar she had was. He must've been able to see it due to the shirt she was wearing hanging off of her shoulder enough to expose it. She couldn't help but laugh as she remembered how she got it. Tommy was confused, immediately thinking of danger or violence when scars were mentioned. Laughter wasn't something that was produced by either of those words.