March // John Shelby x Reader - Peaky Blinders

Chapter 28

The door clicks open. I move for the first time since I curled up in the armchair, lifting my head, bleary-eyed. My head is pounding, and everything's slightly dizzy. My stomach rolls with nausea.

All three brothers enter the room, Tommy bringing a cigarette to his lips, Arthur drinking from a flask, and John laughing at something. They stop when they see me. Tommy's hand lowers to his side. John's face hardens.

"March?" He asks me, kneeling beside me. He weaves his fingers through my hair, tilting my head in the lamplight. His jaw clenches. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"Nothing," I say stupidly, embarrassed.

"Who fucking did this to you?"

I whisper, "I don't know."

Tommy speaks. "Arthur, get the guns."

"I don't know who it was," I repeat, stilling them, my voice a little louder. "They wore hoods. I couldn't see their faces."

"They?" John repeats, colour draining from his face. "How many of them were there?"

I swallow. "About six. Maybe more."

He's unable to tear his eyes away from my face as Tommy speaks.

"Arthur, get her an aspirin." He clears his throat and addresses me. "Did they talk like Gypsies?"

"I don't know," I whisper. "I don't think so... they sounded like anyone in Birmingham."

"What did they say?" John asks, his voice surprisingly and devastatingly soft.

"Some man had paid them to—to scare me." I meet his eyes, and my voice breaks slightly. "They had crowbars."

John brings both hands to my face, holding me like I'm the most important thing in the world. Arthur returns with a glass of water and a fizzing aspirin. I take it from him, and John releases me as I sip.

"Pol," Tommy says, his voice loud enough to snap her awake.

"What is it?" She asks, bleary-eyed as she sits upright.

"Family meeting," he says. "Now." He says to me, "You go on upstairs. Take John's room. Second door on the right."

"Like fuck I'm leaving her," John spits.

Tommy raises his eyebrows. "What do you think's going to happen to her under this roof?"

"Doesn't fucking matter."

The last thing I want is for John to fall out with his brothers, not over me. "It's okay," I tell him. "I need a bath anyway."

He inhales deeply. "I'll be up as soon as I can."

Tommy shuts the door behind me as I leave.