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'𝙎𝙇𝙊𝙒 𝘿𝙊𝙒𝙉,
𝘿𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂.'
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Victoria looked around in the hallway that she stood in for a moment as she took all of the details of the house in. A soft sigh escaped her lips, for a moment she allowed her thoughts to run away with themselves, so much had happened in such a short space of time, her mind was struggling to catch up with itself. But before she could allow them to run too far, she shook them away. Victoria then walked towards the room she had seen Tommy disappear into and lightly knocked on the door.
"Come in." Tommy called out as he looked up at the door as she stepped inside the room slowly. She cleared her throat and looked up at him, "is it okay if I take a bath?"
He nodded as he stood up from his seat, "of course. As a resident in this house, you shouldn't need to ask to do these things. There are some fresh towels that have just been taken up to the bathroom, help yourself. It's the first door on the left."
She gave him a soft nod before exiting the room, leaving Tommy to continue on with his paperwork. Victoria slowly walked up the stairs, looking at the framed photos that hung on the wall up the stair case. She then continued up the stairs and followed the directions he had given her only moments ago, closing the door behind her as she stepped inside.
She slowly looked around the bathroom and smiled to herself, it seemed a lot more modern than other bathrooms that she had seen before. Leaning over the bath, she gave the taps a twirl and they began to fill the tub up with warm water. It was the first time she had been in a bath that had taps, usually the water was heated on the fire and it would take a long time to get it to a good level.
Once it was to the level she wanted it at, she slipped her clothes off her petite body before slowly climbing into the bath. The warmth of the water sent shudders through her, it felt good against her cold skin. She leaned back against the bath tub and let out a soft sigh, her eyes began to feel heavy and before she knew it everything had gone black.
A short length of time passed, Victoria was awoken from her peaceful slumber by the sound of a rough voice. When she looked up towards where the voice had come from, her eyes were met a pair of cold blue eyes staring down at her body in a devious manner.
Victoria let out a shocked gasp and quickly threw her arms up over her chest to keep at least some of her modesty. The infamous smirk growing when she heard him call out his name.
"Michael!"
He cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, "just thought I would let you know we left your belongings in Tommy's room." He explained before leaving a pile of her pyjamas on the side, leaving the room and closing the door behind himself.
Victoria sat still in the water for a moment as she processed what had just happened. She then slowly climbed out of the bath and kept an arm over her chest as she drained the water out from the bathtub. Humming to herself, she picked up one of the towels from the pile at the side and began to dry herself down.
Once she had finished drying herself, she picked up the pyjamas Michael had left her and slipped them on over her petite frame. She then cleaned up the mess she had made before stepping out into the hallway again. The cooler air caused small prickles against her skin as she adjusted to the difference in temperature. After a moment passed, she then began to walk down the stairs, admiring the framed photos for a second time.
"Mr Shelby?" She called out when she had reached the bottom of the stairs, not knowing where he would be.
A few seconds later and the three older Shelby brothers stood in front of her. Victoria shook her head and let out a weak smile as she realized her mistake in forgetting to specify which Shelby she meant. "Sorry, I meant Thomas." She replied, a light blush appearing across her cheeks.
"Please, don't bother with the formalities, call me Tommy." He nodded with a smile before shaking his head. The other two brothers gave them both a smile before walking back into the living room, leaving the pair to it.
Once they were alone, Victoria looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "When Michael came up before he said that he put my belongings in your room, so I was just wondering about where I will be staying?" Tommy kept his eyes glued on the smaller lady, part of him was scared to look away in case it was all just a dream and she was going to disappear from his sight.
He shook his head and cleared away the thoughts from his mind. "Well due to your surprise arrival, the spare bedroom hasn't been set up yet. So in the mean time, you can take my bed, it's the best one on the house. Don't worry I'll take the couch." She put her hands up to protest and frowned slightly. "I can't allow you to do that, not in your own home. You've already been too kind to me."
Even when she frowned, the breath was still knocked out of him as he admired her effortless beauty. The way her freckles scattered across her cheeks, like stars in the night sky. The way her wavy brown hair hung down over her shoulders.
He hadn't ever seen anything quite as beautiful as the angel that stood only a few feet away from him. He shook his head as he realized how much time had passed since she had spoken, making it obvious that he was admiring her.
Tommy cleared his throat and looked down at her. "Then how about we share my bed?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "don't worry. I promise you won't have to see me in me starks, and I'll stay on my side of the bed."
Victoria smirked before spitting on her hand putting it out for him to shake, but what shocked her was seeing him copy her actions, spitting on his hand and lightly shaking her hand. "Sorry, it's something my brother and I always did, seals the deal." She nodded as a soft blush washed over her freckled cheeks.
He shook his head and smiled, "Don't apologize, it's something I used to do when I was little. Seems we are getting more and more alike, Miss." Victoria bit her lip before turning and walking back up the wooden stair case to the bedroom, Tommy's gaze still stuck on her.
Once she entered the bedroom, she instantly went over to the trunk that had been brought over with some of her belongings. She began to wonder what clothes they had picked out for her to wear, so she walked to it and slowly opened the trunk up. Victoria then picked out the first dress and placed it to the side with a smile, but her smile soon faltered.
Her fingers reached out and ran over the familiar fabrics. It was something she had tried so hard to keep hidden, she had put it away in her house so that it would only would have been found if someone had been intentionally looking for it. The memories that were connected to that fabric, she had spent so long trying to forget about. Someone knew her secret, something that could have easily destroy her and the life she had spent so long trying to grow.
Victoria then let out a soft gasp as she quickly closed the trunk. Before she had a chance to process it, there was a soft knock at the door behind her. When she turned around she plastered on a smile upon noticing the clean-cut brother, John, stood in the doorway. "I know it's been a long day for you so I'm just dropping in to see if you're alright?" He asked, pulling the toothpick from between his lips.
Victoria gave him a polite nod stood to her feet, "the news of my brother hasn't properly sunk in yet. But yes, I'm doing well. I actually wanted to come and say thank you to all of you for going to get my things."
"I must confess, we were all just having a nosy at the things you had in your house. Arthur and I were busy admiring those paintings that you have hung on your living room wall. Aunt Pol' was looking at those pretty rings that you had boxed up in that glass cabinet. I'll give it to you, you have some pretty cool stuff. It was Michael that packed up your trunk, he insisted, nearly bit off Arthurs' head when he tried to offer help." John responded, shrugging his shoulders lightly.
She gave him a faint smile and nodded, "Well thank you all. The kindness that you have shown me has been of a tremendous help and is greatly appreciated."
"Blood don't make you family, but loyalty does. Over the years that we knew your brother, he did so much for us all, we could have spent the rest of our lives thanking him and it still wouldn't have been enough." John spoke, it was clear he wasn't finished, so she stayed silent. "Your brother was one of us Shelby boys, he was our brother. So, there isn't any effort we wouldn't go to to making his sister feel welcome in this family."
With that, John left the bedroom, leaving the door open and her thoughts running wild through her mind. She began to feel afraid that her dark past was coming back to haunt her and she quickly rushed to her feet, hurrying back down the staircase.
Victoria took it by chance and wandered into the main room, and almost instantly met with the cold blue eyes that she had been searching for.
"Now is it me that the princess is looking for?" Michael asked with a smirk across his face, stepping out in front of her. "Oh wait, you're no princess, you're a fucking gutter whore." He whispered so that only they could hear, his voice laced with poison. A small gasp left her lips as she took step back away from the devil himself.
Victoria then turned around so that she could leave the room, but before she had the chance, Michael grabbed her wrist quickly pulling her back to him.
"I mean I knew a pretty girl like you would have been keeping a secret, but I never imagined it to be something like this." He nodded keeping his eyes on her. "There is one way I would somehow forget about your dirty little secret..." He finally whispered into her ear, a frown inhabiting her face as she looked up at him.
"I would never be-little myself so far that I would ever consider getting into bed with you was an option." She whispered, yanking her arm out from his grasp. She leaned up on her tip toes so that she was eye-level with him. "Go ahead and tell Tommy, I dare you!" She whispered into his ear before walking back out of the room and up the stairs, this time at a much faster pace.
Her eyes had begun to fill with tears as she climbed into the bed that she was going to share with Tommy, instantly pulling the covers up over herself. After a few short minutes, she eventually gave in and allowed the desire for sleep to over-come her.
Later that evening, Victoria awoke to the sound of movement towards the end of the bed and she then heard a glass being set down. When she looked down she noticed a figure sat in an armchair in front of a lit fire in the fireplace. There was a table beside the armchair, on it was a now empty glass and a half full bottle of whisky.
"Tommy?" She whispered softly as she slowly sat up in the bed, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. His eyes remained glued on the window, even as she had spoken his name. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." He mumbled in response.
Victoria notice that his body posture was a lot stiffer, the colour was drawn from his face and he showed no sign of any emotion. Her heart began to beat a little faster as she began to think of her conversation with Michael earlier that evening. She had dared him to tell Tommy, so maybe he had done...
"Is everything alright, Mr Shelby?" She asked while climbing out of the bed, walking slowly towards where he sat. Her hands began to coat with sweat due to the increase of nerves. She knew that if Michael had told him, that he would no longer want to be in her company and she would have let her brother down.
A moment passed by before Tommy stopped staring at the window and glanced over at her. "I just have some work stuff on my mind that's all, nothing for you to worry about. Now I've told you, there is no need for any of that formalities, call me Tommy." He nodded with a weak smile.
Victoria bit her lip and raised an eyebrow, "well you know that I'm here to listen if you need to talk about it. I might be just Daniels' sister, but I can still be a friend when you need it." She spoke as she picked up the bottle of whiskey that sat beside the empty glasses. Not many people had dared to touch Tommy's whiskey when he was drinking from it. Yet here she was, picking up the bottle and pouring herself a measure into one of the glasses, without a care for it in the world.
Once the glass had a full measure in, she poured a measure in Tommy's glass before putting the bottle back on the table. They both held up their glasses and clinked them together with a light mumble of 'cheers'. She put the glass to her lips before tilting her head back, allowing the strong spirit to glide down her throat. Tommy downed the measure quickly before looking back at her with admiration. It made him wonder how she could make necking back the spirit so easily, look so beautiful.
Victoria then picked the bottle back up and poured herself yet another full measure, pouring it straight back down her throat like she had done only moments ago. "Slow down, darling." He spoke softly, standing up from his armchair. He removed the now empty glass and the bottle from her hands as he sat them back on the small table.
She looked up at him and shook her head, "when I struggle to sleep or I've had a bad day then I have a few measures of it and it helps to ease my mind a little bit." When he looked down at her he watched her eyes as she spoke, they were filled with so much pain and sadness, there was clearly something more than losing her brother. He couldn't help but wonder what had broken the precious lady so badly to make her that way.
He let out a soft sigh and sat them both down on the armchairs. "Let us help you through it. Grief is easier to process together." He spoke giving her a weak smile, putting his hand softly into her knee .
"How are you feeling? I understand you have been through a lot in just a short space of time, talking about it will help..." Tommy whispered, giving her knee a reassuring squeeze before letting go. "Things haven't really sunk in yet." She replied quietly before looking up at him with a light frown, her eyes already filling up won't tears again as flashbacks of her brother played in her mind.
So much had happened in such a short space of time, she couldn't bear it and couldn't even begin to imagine how much could continue to happen. Victoria wasn't going to let her past and her other problems to mess up someone else's life, like it had done for her.
She stood up and glanced over at the flickering fire. "I will be gone in a couple of days, I won't be here for long and will be out of your way." She spoke, wiping her eyes and slowly walked over towards the bed, climbed in and got herself comfortable.
Tommy walked to the end of the bed as a deep frown set in across his face. "Well what if I don't want you to go? Maybe, just maybe, I want you to stay with us." He spoke with a raspy voice, keeping his eyes upon her.
Victoria bit her lip and glanced back up at him as she shook her head, "I'd break your heart, Thomas Shelby."
"It's already broken." Tommy whispered with a sigh as he say back down in the arm chair, pouring another measure of whisky.