When The Boys Are Away

Part 36

Jay's bitter comment made everyone's heads dramatically turned to face the groom.

"Grace?" Michael questioned quickly and almost immediately Polly butted in, "Grace fucking Burgess. The Irish bitch that spied on our family and gave information to the police to send the Shelby's down."

Polly couldn't believe the pure stupidity that must have been running through her nephew's head when he decided to cheat on the love of his life with some skanky snitch. 

She hoped - trusted even, that out of all four of those brothers, Tommy was the one with the most sense. Clearly not.

"He's out of his fucking mind." John growled, clenching his fists as he marched over to Jay who was equally infuriated. "I don't care who the fuck he thinks he is, I'll beat the crap out of him." Jay threatened, marching back towards the door with strength in his step. 

Anxiously, Harlow removed her shivering hands from her tearstained face, which were now smeared with both makeup and tears, "Wait Jay. This is Lizzie's big day - you can't ruin it for her." The brunette's voice was hoarse, weak even; and caused her brother to stop in his tracks. 

Sighing heavily, Jay reluctantly turned to face the others and shared a conflicted glance with John. For a second, Polly thought he was about to leave the subject alone - not that Tommy deserved that courtesy, but it seemed Jay was much too wound up. 

"I'll take it outside." Jay announced toughly, before John followed him solemnly out of the tense room. 

Polly and Harlow gazed at each other worriedly. They both knew how destructive the boys could be, but never had a topic arose that could turn them against each other so badly as this one. A fight between Jay and Tommy was one they did not want to see by any stretch of the imagination; but the burning glint in both of their eyes informed the other that they would not miss this - not in a million years. 

Quickly, Polly pulled a clean, initialled handkerchief out of her purse and softly dapped Harlow's patchy eyes in a comforting manner. Soon enough, the damage done became less noticeable and the two women rose to their feet with their arms interlocked supportively.

"You don't have to come out and see this; you shouldn't have to." Michael attempted to persuade the women away from the violence, but only received a stern look from his mother which immediately had him speechless.  

"Thank you for your concern Michael, but I want to see this bastard get punched purely for my own satisfaction." Harlow muttered calmly, striding past him graciously and back towards the main room. 

Michael remained frozen and alone in the room a second longer, before snapping out of his thoughts and rushing to find the action. God knows what was in store for Thomas Shelby. 

******

"Harlow!" Ada called out worriedly as she pushed her way through a trio of dancing guests to reach her friend, "What's going on? I just saw the boys go outside. There's no trouble is there?" Her eyes glinted with concern, but it was clear she'd got the wrong end of the stick. 

Grabbing her hand securely, Harlow led Ada out of the crowded room as Polly spoke up, "Oh there's trouble all right, just not how you think." 

Ada stared at the two, clearly confused; yet for the first time in forever she chose not to pester, and instead let herself be led down the empty corridor and out of the front door to where four figures could be spotted. 

At the bottom of the steps, stood Tommy with a trail of blood running from his chiselled nose whilst Arthur remained between him and the others protectively. "What the fuck was that for? Are you mad?" He growled, taking an intimidating step towards Jay who lingered, completely unfazed. 

"He's the one who's fucking mad, Arthur." John responded disgustedly, throwing his finger up in the direction of Tommy. 

"Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?" Ada shrieked agitatedly, pulling her hand out of Harlow's grip and marching down the stairs towards her two oldest brothers. The harsh clicking of her heels caused Tommy to lift his head with a regretful glint in his eye. 

"God Tom, what have you done?" Ada whispered, seeing the guilt in his eye as clear as day. It wasn't something she'd seen in a long time. 

"I'll tell you what he's done Ada," Jay grumbled, glaring accusingly as Tommy who remained silent, "He fucking cheated on my sister with that Irish, back stabbing whore." 

Ada took a step back, only to send a harsh slap to Tommy's cheek, 

"For fuck's sake Tommy." 

I apologise for the short chapter. 

Hopefully updates will become more regular.