𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

22 | The Repercussions of My Own Actions

(A/n: Hey y'all, here's the first chapter I've written since my surgery so I apologise if it's badly written. Im on a lot of pain killers right now. Sorry for the delay in chapters!)

TOM

It's barely even passed a week of house arrest and I've run out of things to do. I have a pretty similar routine to when I was in prison, minus the fear and constant eyes in the back of my head. I wake up, I make myself a tea that is always subpar to Y/N's teas and then I make breakfast. I really enjoy making breakfast nowadays.

I was never really a breakfast person given a lot of my work occurred at night and I'd sleep in for most of my mornings. But now, now I relish in the morning light with a healthy breakfast on the balcony. Today, I blended up a thick smoothie bowl with protein powder, antioxidants, fruit and nuts. I sat outside to eat it, flicked through my phone for a little while and headed downstairs to the buildings gym.

I prayed that nobody would be in the gym the same time as me because I didn't want them seeing my ankle monitor... It's embarrassing.

I came back upstairs, showered, got dressed for the day and decided to go to one of the few places I was actually allowed to go to; the supermarket. I texted my parole officer saying I was going, just to keep him updated and he responded with a single thumbs up emoji which really irked me.

Mum came over this week which was nice and she brought Paddy with her. She didn't really ask me about prison because she didn't want to hear about it. Fair enough I guess. Sam and Harry came over a few days ago as well to see the new apartment and update me on how their lives were going.

They're both still so sheltered from The Family, given that Dad mainly trained and mentored me out of the four boys. It was kind of lucky for them, they knew that their chances of having to run the mafia were slim, so they never had to do too much dirty work like Haz and I did.

And that brings me to now, sitting on the couch with Haz anxiously fidgeting with my fingers as he sat with his head in his hands. Robyn in the mean time, was now heavily pregnant and in the kitchen rummaging through my fridge for a snack.

"Dude, I can't be the godfather when I'm stuck in here. And I can't make all my business deals happen in the fucking 7/11 down the road or the cafe in my building... I need you to step up and then I can step down..." I sighed to Haz as he shook his head.

"Mate, I can't do that to Robyn... Maybe before we got pregnant I'd say yes to running this shit but I don't want to be away from her so much when the baby comes," Haz declined.

"Fuck, I don't know how this is going to work... Dad made it look so easy when he was at home... But he lived near one of the businesses so it was easier for him. I just- I can only do so much from inside my apartment, it's not safe doing shit online," I shrugged, leaning back into the couch and groaning.

Robyn came waddling back into the living room holding a wheel of Brie, a box of crackers and a bottle of Orange Juice, sitting down slowly next to Haz as he chuckled at her cravings.

"Aren't you and Y/N back together? Get her to do meetings for you," Robyn suggested as she cut a wedge of cheese and placed it on a cracker.

"I couldn't ask her to do all that work for me, she already has a full time job doing uh, whatever she does now," I said rubbing my face.

"Yeah and doesn't she like hack systems and stuff? Why don't you just do video calls with your clients and get her to make them super secure... And then get your boys to do the physical stuff like pick ups and deals," she continued, her mouth already full as she began cutting a second slice.

"You know that's not a bad idea actually... Surely she can make something work in the meantime. When do you get off house arrest?" Haz asked.

"Whenever my lawyers exchange the information for the plea deal. If the government finds it useful, then they'll reconsider my sentence and shit," I explained.

We sat and talked about The Family business for what seemed like hours, in between talking about golf, movies, sex and their impending birth. Honestly I couldn't believe that my best mate Harrison was going to be a father to an actual human child. A kid that's going to look like him and grow up in this fucked up world of ours. I should get the baby a present...

After they left, I messaged Y/N who was at her house working. She had visited me a few times here and there, coming over to keep me company and help me settle back into daily life. But we still hadn't had sex and it was killing me inside. Her reasoning was that psychologically rushing back into sex in our relationship would alter my acclimation to society and make me fill the void with sex or some bullshit. I don't know, it made sense when she explained it in her psychologist brain.

She said she was going to come over tonight for dinner so I sent her a risqué photo to insinuate what I was secretly hoping on doing tonight. Sex.

TOM
Is it bad that I'm still
craving your touch darling?

I saw three dots appear on the screen as she opened the message and started typing back to me. Although they swiftly disappeared and my message was left on seen. Rude. Maybe she's just not horny. Or maybe she's driving over here and can't type. I sat on the couch and turned on the football, wasting time until she got here. I wasn't paying all that much attention because my team was losing, which sucked for me.

Unlocking the door with the key I had gotten cut for her, she waved at me quickly as she entered. Her hair was ever so slightly wet from the drizzling rain outside yet her makeup stayed in tact. With her leather overnight bag slung over her shoulder, she took a deep breath and smiled at me finally.

She was wearing a large winter coat to brace the classic London weather outside; a soft matte black puffer from Prada's newest collection I presumed. I smiled back, asked how her day was and watched her disappear into the bedroom to dump her bags down.

"Yeah it was alright, kind of busy though. I'm a bit stressed out if I'm being honest with you," she sighed, calling out to me as I stood up from the couch to get us both a drink.

"You want a glass of wine Darling? Might relieve the stress a bit," I called back, turning towards the bedroom as she stood against the door frame. With her coat now open to reveal she was wearing nothing but lacey baby blue lingerie underneath, I admired the way her body leant against the wall, posing elegantly yet seductively.

"I was thinking about a different type of stress relief."