Birmingham | Tommy Shelby x Reader

Part 7

She only was able to give him a nod before he was walking again. "But, Mr. Shelby, what if..."

"Mr. Shelby sounds a little too formal coming from someone I'm supposed to be the servant of, eh?" he stopped her before she was able to finish her sentence.

(Y/N) pursed her lips to stop a smile from forming on her face. "What if I'm just a really nice master?" she proposed another way of looking at the situation.

"Call me Tommy," he told her, his vocal tone telling her that he didn't want an argument. So she settled for the name change.

"Can I help you two?" the guard at the door stopped them from going any further.

"Yes, I'm looking to get in here," (Y/N) tried her best to act proper while motioning to the banquet hall's entrance. "My husband's in there. His horse is running today. I was back at my seat until now."

"And him?" the guard motioned to Tommy.

"My servant. I never go anywhere without him," (Y/N) recited what Tommy told her to say, hoping that it was believable. The man looked between the two before he stepped aside and allowed them to enter the room.

Tommy's hand ghosted her back again and she sent the guard a smile before they both entered the banquet hall. (Y/N) was immediately hit with the sound of an up-tempo, swing song as Tommy moved them along to one of the upper balconies that the room held. Once he found an opening, he surveyed the room, surely trying to find the man he wanted to talk business with. (Y/N) just stared at the crowd in awe. She hadn't been in a room like this since she was a child.

"Kimber's here?" (Y/N) asked after they'd been looking around the room for a few moments.

"He is. He's sitting with his men at the table over in the corner," Tommy answered as he nodded his head in the direction he was referring to.

"Men?" she asked another question, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. When Clay went to meet with Kimber, he didn't mention much of a posse joining him.

"Yes. His accountant and a few other cooperators. They join him at the races he's had a hand in fixing as a way to ensure things go how he wants them to," Tommy explained as he lit himself a cigarette, "him and his accountant are the two that I'll be bothering with. The others are just numbers...they don't do much of anything anyway," he added, after taking a drag.

"And you'll be approaching him?"

"I intend to," Tommy nodded.

"With a plan of your own?" she questioned further.

Tommy pursed his lips as he thought of his answer. He didn't expect (Y/N) to come with questions on how he went about his business. But at the same time, he knew that her brothers had attempted, and failed at, going into business with Kimber. Therefore, entertaining her questions may give him the things he needed to succeed. "I was going to put my offering on the table for him...to physically show him what I'm capable of doing," he then told her the rough outline of the plan he had.

(Y/N) nodded along as she listened to what he had to say. "He'll appreciate that you'll have something to show for what you're proposing. My brothers came with nothing but words...to him, they were empty promises," she gave him her opinion on his idea before adding, "make him seem like he's the one directing the moves though. If you go in over confidently, he'll think that you're trying to overstep him."

"And if I am?" Tommy raised an eyebrow as he challenged her statement.

"Don't let him know it," she answered him, her words as straightforward as they can get.

"Understood," he nodded his head before leaning on the railing in front of him. He brought his half-spent cigarette up to his lips and took a drag as silence fell between the two of them. A few moments passed before he stood straight and looked at (Y/N) again. "How do you know this about Kimber?" he asked, his one eyebrow cocked in intrigue.