Tommys POV
I walk into the Garrison, hearing my brothers and Aurora laughing and joking from inside the snug. I walk up to the bar, seeing Grace cleaning out some glasses. "Glass of whiskey." I say firmly making her jump. "Off course, Mr Shelby." She says, pouring me a glass.
"You ever been to the races, Grace?" I ask and she shakes her head. "No." She tells me. "Good. Well, I'm extending a formal invitation for you to come to the races." I tell her and I see her lips tilt up. "With you? What about your girlfriend, isn't she going?" She asks hopefully. "Yes, she is. With me." I tell her firmly.
"I haven't got a dress, Mr Shelby." She says and I sigh, pulling some money out of my pocket. "How much?" I ask her. "Two pounds and ten shillings." She tells me and I place the money on the bar. "Buy a red dress." I tell her, knowing Kimber likes red. "Okay." She says smiling.
I pick up my glass and walk to the snug, not looking back. "Here he is. Fucking finally." Arthur cheers as I sit down next to Aurora, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. "Hi baby." I say, kissing her. "Do you two think you can go one day without doing that?" John asks and I scoff.
"No, I can't." I tell him as Aurora links her finger with mine, smirking. "Did you ask her?" She asks me lowly as Arthur and John continue their conversation. "Yep. She asked if I was taking her." I tell her and she scoffs. "Cheeky bitch." She grumbles. "Don't worry. I put her in her place." I assure her.
"You better have or she's gonna end up with a broken jaw." She warns and I smirk. "You're so violent." I say. "Would you have me any other way?" She asks and I shake my head. "You're perfect as you are." I tell her before kissing her again. "Oh for fucks sake. Seriously, you two?" Arthur scoffs and Aurora raises her middle finger at him.
******
Races day.
I sit on the edge of my bed, watching Aurora as she straightens her dress. It's a really gorgeous dress that hugs her body, reaching down to mid thigh. It's a thin strapped, mint green silk dress and it dips in the middle of her chest, showing some cleavage with a thigh split. "You look amazing, baby. Sexy." I compliment, biting my lip as I run my eyes over her.
Aurora laughs, looking over her shoulder and winks at me cheekily. "I am so not used to wearing this sort of stuff. I miss my Peaky cap." She grins, fixing her dress in the mirror. "You look good in that cap." I smirk as she shakes her head. She's also wearing a bit of makeup making her look more dolled up than usual.
She walks over to the bed, sitting down on the edge to put her black heels on. I lean close to her, brushing her hair aside to press kisses to her neck. She sighs softly, tilting her head more for me. "You look beautiful, Ror." I whisper in her ear and she smiles. "Thank you. You look very handsome." She says and I grin as we stare into each other's eyes.
******
John's POV
Me and Aurora walk around the corner, my arms out as I grin. I see Arthur stepping out of the van as we join him and walk to where the rest of the Peaky Blinders are. He jumps onto a wooden bench, looking around at everyone. "Attention!" He says in a sing-song voice. "Right, this is what's known as your final briefing before going over the top." He says as two lads place a wooden box in front of him.
"Sixty miles down that road is the Cheltenham race track." He points. "Johnny, what's our mission, boy?" He asks me. "To stick it to the Lee family, Arthuuuur!" I shout leaning back before I wink at Aurora who chuckles. "That's right." Arthur smiles. "The Lees are skimming money off the legal bookies. Running chalk, selling raffles, then beating them as they won't buy. But today, we're going to stop them."
"What about Kimber's men? I thought he had his own protection." I say. "Kimber has let his troops go rotten. They're on the take from the Lees to look the other way. We're gonna show Kimber how it's done." Arthur informs. "Now, take what you're good at." He points at the box of weapons.
Everyone starts to take a weapon except for Aurora, Finn and Jake. "So when do we share out the cash?" I ask. "We don't. We're not keeping the cash-" Arthur starts. "What's the point then?" I exclaim. "You're in Tommys army now boys." Arthur says. "Trust only kin, boys." Aurora adds firmly and all the men nod. "Let's go." Arthur says.
I help Aurora into the van before lifting Finn and Jake up, who automatically sit either side of her and I sit facing them. "Finn, Jake, behave today, okay?" Aurora tells them and they looks up at her. "Okay, Ro." They grin cheekily at her making her chuckle.
******
Tommys POV
I look around spotting the Lee boys, who are already making trouble, making me shake my head. Grace stands at the bar, taking in her surroundings, not knowing she's apart of my plan. I sigh before I see Arthur walk in followed by Aurora and John. My breath cuts short when I see my girl. I can't get over how breathtaking she is.
I quickly walk over to her as John and Arthur say something and she nods. They walk away to deal with the Lees as I stop behind her. "Hi Tommy." She says, not turning around. "How'd you know it was me?" I ask, smirking. "Because I know my man." She says facing me.
"Yes, you do. Do you want to dance?" I ask her and she grins. "Yeah." She nods as I take her hand, leading her to the dance floor. We don't take our eyes off each other as we dance but something behind her catches my attention. "Kimber's here." I tell her lowly and she sighs. "You remember the plan?" I ask her.
"Yeah. Go to Kimber's house with Grace and distract him. Then wait for you to get there." She says and I'm already hating this plan. "I'm sorry, baby." I say and she frowns. "Why?" She asks. "For putting you in this. I hate using you." I say, shaking my head. "You're not. It was my idea. Plus, that fucking barmaid is up to something. I'm sure of it. And it doesn't help that she fancies you." She grumbles.
"Are you jealous?" I ask her smirking. "No." She says firmly. "Yes, you are. Even though you don't have to be because I'm yours. I promise. No woman compares to you, none." I tell her and she smiles. "Always know how to make me smile." She says. "I'll always make you smile." I promise and she leans up, kissing me.
******
Auroras POV
Kimber's house.
I stare out onto Billy Kimber's back garden. His house is huge, bigger than any house I've seen before. Kimber stands close by making my teeth set on edge. His footsteps echo through out the room and I peer over my shoulder to see him putting a disc into a vinyl player, near where Grace is standing nervously. Music fills the opens silence before he speaks up.
"You showed me up back at there." He smirks as he walks across the room towards Grace, his attention dead set on her. He roughly grabs her arm and pulls her away from the wall. "Why don't you make it up to me?" He asks as she pulls her arm out of his grip.
"Don't ever grab me like that again." She warns him as he smirks. "You ever been in a house this big, pikey?" He asks me as my fists clench at the insult. He walks over to me and picks up a curly strand of my hair, wrapping it around his finger. "Look at you. You look like a film star, how on earth are you one of those gangsters? It baffles me, really." He says.
He wastes no time in places his lips on my neck, sucking my skin harshly before I push him back roughly. I glare at him as he smirks. He walks away towards the drinks table, picking up a glass before he drops it, shards of glass dropping everywhere as he looks at Grace in disgust.
"Oh, look. I've dropped something. Pick it up." He orders her as I glare at him, anger boiling up in me. "Pick it up yourself." I growl, answering instead of Grace. I don't like her but she looks terrified of him. I, however, am not. "You're a fucking woman and she's a fucking barmaid! If I drop a glass on the floor, you pick it up. I watch you pick it up." He demands as my eyebrow raises before I look him up and down. "You're no man." I spat, venom dripping through my tone as I glare coldly at him.
Kimber marches across the room grabbing me by the arms, pushing Grace out of the way making her slam into a wall and turns me over on the table but as much as I try to kick and fight, he's a lot stronger than me. "Right, you little slag. I have tried to be nice. If I drop a glass on the floor, you bend over and pick up the fucking glass." He says grabbing my hair and slams my head down making me dazed. "Okay?" He says as I feel my dress start to raise.
I try to wiggle away but he pushes me into the table harder, feeling it push against my ribs harder, to sure leave a mark. I kick my leg back feeling it hit his leg making him groan. "You bitch." He growls just as the door swings open and Kimber lets out an ungodly roar, his body still holding me as I shake.
His hold starts to relax and I forcefully push him back as I raise my self up. I turn around to see Tommy and relief fills me. "What are you doing here? I've got another hour." Kimber growls, eyes ablaze as Tommy steps forward holding his hand up. "Just wait! Listen to me. Just listen to me. I was going to let you go through it, but at the end my conscious got the better of me." He says.
He points towards Grace, his eyes not daring to look towards her. "She look good on the outside. But she has the clap." He tells Kimber who takes a step away from her in disgust. "Yeah syphilises. When you took a shine to her, I thought to use her. Someone told me she had syph, I thought 'what the hell'. Call it my better nature." Tommy adds.
His eyes finally move to me as he scans my body and I see anger flare in his eyes. My neck is red and blotchy and I can feel blood dripping down my face, from my eyebrow as my ribs flare in pain. "She's a whore." He says as Grace snatches her jacket of the table. "Now you just go wait in the car." He tells us as we walk by him and he goes to grab Graces arm. "You lay a hand on me and you'll lose it, Tommy." She threatens before walking out. "I'm sorry, baby." He says to me and I give him a soft nod before following behind Grace.