The Queen Of Birmingham

3.

3. go to hell for heaven's sake
'I'm begging you to spare me the pleasure of your company'
~

The day had come.

Ivy sat at the dressing table going over the plan again and again in her head. Her hair was curled, giving it a look of elegance far from how she usually appeared.

Armed with a gun and bright red lips, she was confident to take the town of Small Heath head on once more.

There was not one person on her journey who didn't stop and stare at Ivy. Some recognised her, others simply gazed in awe. Turning onto Garrison Lane, Ivy was met with a swarm of people fleeing the pub at the end of the street, just as planned. Smirking, Ivy walked towards where everyone else was running from.

Approaching the back door, Ivy made sure to open it quietly to prevent being heard. Once the outside world had been cut off, she could hear clearly what was happening inside the pub. Kimber was shouting about something, no surprise.

Walking closer to the door which separated her from them, she gripped her gun, ready to enact the plan she and Arthur had put in place. She felt her heart swell when she heard Tommy's all too familiar voice, the voice of home.

"Mr Kimber." Tommy said. The sound of guns being drawn got Ivy's attention. Arthur said to go in when the guns are drawn.

This is it.

Making sure the sound of her heels echoed off the wooden floor, Ivy made her entrance known. Kimber's face was the first thing Ivy saw, twisted into a sickening smile as he saw her. The next thing she saw was Tommy's frantic eyes.

"No." He pointed at her. "No, you can't be here, get out."

"Why Mr Shelby?" Kimber asked patronisingly. "Do you have a problem with Miss Thorne? Because she is a close associate of mine and so that would be a problem." Not being able to bare looking at her, Tommy sat back down so that his back was to the woman he once loved.

"I'm here to talk business, Mr Kimber."

"And what does that have to do with the Shelbys? I can come round yours any time you like my darling." Kimber's smirk was making Ivy's stomach churn.

"Well our partnership has been successful up to now." She began walking further towards the table they were all gathered around. "But part of our agreement was keeping the Lee boys off your tracks. My men aren't cut out for it, half of the time they're going to take the money and getting robbed themselves. The Peaky men are bigger and there's more of them. They could help us and in return they get two betting pitches. If you're not happy with their services after a year, the pitches are handed over to my company." Every man in the room stood in stunned silence. When no one said anything, Ivy felt as though she had to speak up again. "What? Have none of you ever heard a woman talk about something substantial before?"

"Why don't we arrange another meeting to discuss this further?" Kimber's accountant spoke up, clearly intimidated by the woman in front of him.

"Myself and the Shelby boys will be at the Cheltenham races."

"As will we." Kimber spoke up, moving closer to Ivy. Leaning down to her, she tried her best not to curl her face up in disgust. Tommy on the other hand was trying his best not to leap across the table and strangle the man. Kimber reached out and placed a coin in Ivy's hand. "For their ceiling." He mumbled in her ear. "Seeing as you seem to do all the fucking business around here." The men left, leaving Ivy and the three brothers alone in a room for the first time in five years.

"Nice to see you again Ivy." John smiled, making an effort to break the silence.

"You too John."

"Why are you here?" Tommy was sat staring at the table, looking as though he had seen a ghost.

"No 'thank you' for saving your arse?"

"I was handling in, Why the fuck are you here?" He raised his voice slightly but still didn't dare to look up at her.

"I asked her to come, Tom." Arthur spoke up, prompting Tommy's head to snap in his direction.

"Why the fuck did you do that, eh?"

"She has connections that we don't. There's too much going on and she makes it easier to cope."

"Well we've been coping just fine since she left us. You remember that, yeah? When she abandoned us and took half the company?"

"I'll just leave seeing as you're already talking about me as if I'm not here."

"No." Tommy yelled suddenly. The three of them looked at Tommy after his outburst. "I mean yes, go."

Doing as she was told for the first time in her life, Ivy left the pub, lighting a cigarette once she was outside. It wasn't a secret she was back in Small Heath now, meaning she could explore freely. Knowing there was another pub not far, she began walking in that direction, once again earning looks and whispers.

The journey there was only long enough for her to have finished her cigarette. She lit another one before walking through the doors with it hanging from her stained red lips. Everyone in the pub stopped and stared, nothing new. Taking a long drag as she walked over to the bar, she blew the smoke in the face of a man whose eyes were busy raking over her body. Getting the message, he moved aside while she ordered a drink.

"Whiskey." She barked at the man behind the bar, who ran off immediately to get it for her. Pulling out the coin Kimber had given to her, she placed it on the bar once the man had returned with her drink.

"T-That's not necessary m-miss."

"Take it or leave it." Reluctantly, the man took the coin off the bar, leaving Ivy alone, albeit not for long.

"You are unlike any woman I have ever seen." The man she had blown smoke at  leaned on the bar next to her.

"You should get out more then."

"Oh come on, you and I both know that if there were more women like you in the world, it wouldn't be ruled by men."

"What do you want from me?"

"To the point, I like it. I'm just looking for a bit of fun really."

"Well I'm not." She drank her whiskey down in one. "And I'm not a fucking whore." She earned the attention of everyone within earshot of their conversation.

"Get out." The bar man barked at the man next to Ivy.

"It's fine, I was just leaving."

"I'm ever so sorry Miss Thorne." She just about heard as she marched out of the pub and back down the road to where she now called home.