working girl » tommy shelby.

chapter eight

It had been over a month since Rosie had last seen Tommy and every single day, she found herself moving further away from the life that she could have had. Often, Rosie would lay awake at night and picture different fantasies in her head, all of them involving Tommy. It only disrupted her work morale, which wasn't high in the first place, and Rosie found herself having less customers as the days went by. Most people were known aware of her connection with Tommy and did their best to stay away from Rosie if they ever saw her at the brothel or on the smog filled streets of Birmingham. They didn't want to risk having their face slashed.

That was until one Monday night when Rosie had an unexpected visitor. Her heart dropped when she saw the familiar Inspector walk into the small bedroom, his eyes full of danger and excitement. Rosie sighed and looked up at him, anger rushing through her veins before squeezing her eyes shut. Rosie didn't pray to God anymore, but she did in that moment. She pleaded with him, begging him to get rid of the Inspector before he could cause her any damage but of course, nothing was done. Rosie had to put up with his teasing comments as he turned her onto her hands and knees, she tried to block out the sounds of him moaning her name, but nothing was working, all she could do was think about Tommy until the torture had finished. When he finally pushed Rosie away from his body, he looked down at her with a mocking smile on his face. He was punishing Tommy but using Rosie to do it.

"Where's your partner-in-crime?" he asked, speaking as if he knew something that Rosie didn't. Rosie kept quiet, not wanting to get involved with the business that Tommy and Campbell shared. "I know where he is."

"Congratulations," she mumbled as she quickly pulled on a dress that had been discarded on the floor earlier on in the night. It was getting close to closing time and Rosie kept thinking about the decent sleep she would get once Campbell had fucked off. "Where's Grace? Oh, wait..." Rosie smirked over at Campbell as she watched the power leave his body. His one weakness was Grace and Rosie would use it to her own advantage if it meant getting rid of him as quickly as possible.

"Do you not want to know where Tommy is?"

"No, me and him have no connection anymore," she answered. Rosie looked down at the floor before back up at Campbell, her built-up wall falling as soon as she saw the smug look. It was as if he knew that something was Tommy and with a panicked voice, she asked Campbell for the answer.

"He's at the hospital," he finally said after leaving Rosie on edge for a few moments.

"That's not surprising, is it? Tommy has a lot of enemies around here and it was bound to happen eventually," she responded, doing her best to hide her shaky voice.

"He might die."

Rosie shot up instantly, her mouth agape as she tried to put together Campbell's words. Without even considering anything else, she grabbed her shoes that were neatly placed under her bed and slid them on. Campbell chuckled as he watched Rosie's anxious state running around her room as she collected things together.

"If you have done anything to hurt him then I will hunt you down myself," she threatened, not afraid of the man no longer. A protective and possessive streak ran through her as she thought about Campbell hurting the most important person in her life, even if they were on bad terms. She still cared for Tommy, more than anything, and would kill to protect the man.

"The reason he got beat up was partly your fault," he told her.

"What?" she asked, shocked at Campbell's statement.