working girl » tommy shelby.

chapter twenty-six

Tommy was already running nearly half an hour late to his meeting with Campbell and Rosie was too blame because of her mischievous antics. The two of them had been awake for most of the night, either checking in on Arthur or fucking as quietly as they could. The built-up tension that had been building up was all released in the matter of a few hours. After the last night, Tommy had managed to drag himself out of bed at around nine in the morning, but Rosie hadn't been able to leave his side. Whenever he tried to get dressed, her hand would slip over his shoulder and down his chest while she pressed kisses to his neck. Most of the morning had been spent wrapped up in sheets, talking about business, London and what was to come soon. Before he had left the house, Rosie had whispered in his ear that she loved him forever and always and no matter what happened between the two of them, she would always come running back to him – that statement alone scared Tommy more than anything else.

"What have I done to deserve this meeting with you?" Tommy asked as soon as he entered the dining hall. There was nobody sat at the tables, just Campbell and Tommy alone in the big room which was a recipe for disaster. Campbell scoffed at Tommy's question before pointing to the seat across from him. "How's your leg, inspector?"

Campbell sighed before looking at Tommy with a hard stare. "How's are you and that girl of yours holding up?"

"We are both doing well but I don't think that's any concern of yours," he answered, already feeling annoyed at Campbell's presence. They were here to discuss business, not Rosie.

A noise of glee left Campbell's body as he meaninglessly stirred the sugar into the cup of tea in front of him. "I wonder what your darling Rosie would say if she knew where you really were in London. You see, Thomas Shelby, I know everything and everyone."

Tommy leaned back in his shirt and smirked at Campbell. The man in front of him genuinely believed that he held power over Tommy, but he was wrong. "And I'm sure everyone down at the police station would love to know about your private escapades with your landlord. Oh wait, they do know. They were the ones who put you with that woman. Could have paid for a nice hotel for you but they do not respect you, Mr. Campbell."

"What woman?"

"Don't act stupid with me, it doesn't suit you. I am on about the woman that you are paying to fuck every night. A retired whore they call her. The men at the police station used to respect and look up to you. They believed that you were going to do good things around here and admittedly, you nearly fucking had me." Tommy widened his eyes and smiled widely. "But I had Grace and that broke your little heart. You couldn't bring me down, even if you tried because whichever way you look at it, I will always be bigger and better than you."

"Out of that nice little speech you've just honoured me with, I picked up on one thing and we have it in common, you know?"

Tommy tilted his head to the side and nodded, as if he was getting bored of the conversation which he was in all honesty. Tommy just wanted to go home and be with her partner and lay in the bed for the rest of the day. The last few weeks had been hectic for everyone and all the members of Shelby Company Limited deserved some sort of break. Tommy had plans for him and Rosie to spend sometime away in the countryside but the way that Campbell was looking at Tommy made him fear that it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"And what was that one thing?" Tommy sipped on his tea as he genuinely believed that he had one over on Campbell. However, the words that fell from Campbell's mouth next only lowered Tommy's confidence and authority which made him feel nothing but anger and hatred.