Talya had to blink twice to make sure her mind wasn't tricking her. But no, it was him. He seemed to be as uncomfortable as she was, based on the strained expression on his face as he passed a piece of paper to Mikhail, his eyes not leaving her own for a moment. It seemed that he hadn't taken his gaze off her since she had walked into the room, and it hadn't gone unnoticed judging by Alexei's frantic glancing between his sister and the accountant.
"Do you think I am a stupid man, Mr Shelby?"
Her gaze switched from Michael to her father when she heard his question. She was shocked. Her father was a peaceful man who rarely showed any aggression, much less in a business meeting. But right now, her father looked furious. He was still sat down, but his chest was puffed out in anger and his eyes were dark.
"I'd think you stupid to not take the deal-"
Mikhail flew from his seat and slammed his fist against the table. "Bullshit! Talya, Alexei, get up. We're leaving."
In an instant, Talya had risen to her feet and was packing up her stuff. Her father didn't even wait for her, he and Alexei just stormed straight to the car. Soon she was hurrying out of the room without a glance at Michael, desperate to get away from him and this house.
Just as she rounded the corridor that headed to the door, she heard running footsteps coming after her and soon after Michael's voice called her name.
With a sigh, Natalya stopped and turned around. "What do you want?" she hissed.
As he reached her, he didn't seem quite sure of what to say. "Uh, well, I-"
"Well?" She demanded. Talya was very aware that her brother had noticed her recognition of Michael, and that if she didn't emerge in the next minute or so he would surely suspect something.
"Meet me tonight."
"No! You're a Shelby-"
"I'm a Gray."
"You are basically a Shelby, Michael! Our families hate each other." She hissed.
He gritted his teeth and grabbed her wrist. "I'll be in the pub that was opposite the club we met at. Nine o clock. I'll wait for two hours."
With that, he released her and stormed off back down the corridor he had just sprinted down. Talya let out an exhale and hurried out of the door too.
——
As soon as she was in the car, her brother was eyeing her suspiciously. "You knew him?"
"Who?" She asked as nonchalantly as she could manage.
Alexei scoffed. "The accountant! He didn't take his eyes off of you the entire time we were in there. How did you know one of the Peaky Blinders?"
"He was only looking at her because she's so beautiful! Honestly, Alexei, you needn't attack her for every man that looks in her direction." Their father interjected merrily. "I apologise for my behaviour, children. But I won't be insulted in front of my family by a diddicoy thief who has gotten too confident in himself."
Talya couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as she watched her brother nod slowly at his father's comment about easing up on her. She knew he would soon be interrogating her once more, but she was grateful for the reprieve.
——
For the rest of the day, Talya relaxed in the drawing room with her favourite book, Jane Eyre, and let herself get lost in the enchanting story. But she couldn't ignore the huge grandfather clock which was stood next to the fireplace as its hands endlessly moved closer and closer to nine o clock. She kept telling herself 'no! You aren't going! It will cause more trouble than it's worth if anyone finds out', but she couldn't help but wonder what could be the worst that would happen if she was to go? She doubted very much that her family would find out, and if they did she could just pretend she was doing it to get information about the Peaky Blinders. The fact was that no matter how much she hated admitting it: she was intrigued by this boy, and she wasn't sure the burning curiosity would subside until she saw him again.
After a long internal debate, Natalya decided she would go. After all, it would be rude to keep him waiting on his own for two hours. But by the time she had decided, it was already half 9. She would need to get ready, persuade Anechka to drive her to the pub and sneak out without anyone noticing within the next forty minutes if she was to have any chance of catching Michael. So she leapt into action and sprinted upstairs to her cousin's room.
"Annie?"
"Come in!"
Talya pushed the door open and instantly rushed to her cousin's bed, which Anechka was lounging on with an exceptionally bored expression on her face. "I need to ask you a favour."
"What is it?" She asked, her interest clearly piqued.
"Please drive me to this pub that's just at the other end of the village. I'll give you the petrol money back and I'll do whatever you want, just plea-"
"Of course!" Anechka cried. "What are you going to a pub for? Are you going dressed in that?"
Natalya glanced around the room nervously, as though to be sure her brother wasn't listening, before lowering her voice. "I'm meeting a boy-"
"A boy!" Anechka squealed with glee. "I didn't think I'd ever hear those words after what happened last time..."
"Oh, shut up Anechka. And no, I'm not wearing this. I'm about to get changed, but we need to leave soon. I'm already so late."
"Go, I'll get the car ready!" Her cousin said, her eyes alight with excitement.
——
Talya got ready within minutes. She wasn't fussed on making herself look overly nice, she was more focused on getting to the pub before Michael left.
When they were in the car, Natalya was certain her cousin was breaking the speed limit with the breakneck pace she had the vehicle going at. She felt like she might fall out of the open-roof car whenever they round a corner too fast. But after a few minutes they reached the pub with Talya's neck still intact.
"What are you waiting for?" Anechka asked after Natalya spent a moment staring at the building.
Natalya shook her head. "I don't know... Alright, I'm going. Thanks for the lift."
"Do you need me to pick you up?"
As she got out of the car she shook her head. "I'll walk back.
"Alright." She started to drive off before slamming the breaks with such suddenness it made Talya jump. "I'll cover for you with your brother, so don't worry about coming home late."
Shaking her head at her cousin's suggestive wink, Natalya took a deep breath and entered the pub.
She spotted Michael in an instant. He was leaning against the bar in an expensive looking suit, a cigarette hanging coolly from his lips and a glass of whiskey in one hand and the other hand tapping impatiently against the bartop. Talya noticed his eyes were trained on the clock which adorned one of the bricked walls. "Michael."
He jumped in surprise but regained his cool in a moment. "Thought I wouldn't be seeing you tonight, princess."
"I wasn't going to come but-"
"You changed your mind. Why?" He waved the barman over as Talya gawped at him, a reply for his question not forming. "Two double vodkas, please. We'll be in that corner."
Completely thrown by his very simple question, Talya followed Michael in silence as he lead her to a pair of huge armchairs in the furthest corner from the door you could get. In all honesty, she was grateful for the privacy. If any of her brother's or father's friends came in and saw her with a boy, much less a Blinder, she would surely be grounded until she turned 40.
The barman came over and set the drinks on the coffee table which sat in between their chairs. Michael instantly took a huge swig from his drink, but Talya didn't even look at hers. Instead, she kept her eyes on her hands, which were folded delicately on her lap.
"That meeting was intense." Michael mused after a long silence as he lit a cigarette.
Talya nodded in agreement. "I've never seen my father behave like that in a business meeting. Thomas really angered him."
"Yep, that's our Tommy." He chuckled. "He could anger Buddha."
Again she nodded, making no attempt to further the conversation. It was becoming hard for her to ignore the voice in the back of her head that was telling her this was an extremely bad idea.
Michael houghed and finished his drink. He was half tempted to swallow her untouched one, but felt like there'd be plenty of time for alcohol during their conversation. "Have a drink, Talya." He watched as she did as instructed before carrying on. "What would your dad say if he knew you were sat in this pub with me?"
"Nothing good." She said through a wince as the taste of vodka settled onto her tongue. "I'd be more worried about my brother. He was the one who was at the meeting with us."
"What does he do in the business?"
Talya placed her glass down on the table, perhaps too hard, and lifted her gaze to Michael's. "Did you bring me here to talk about my business? Did your cousin tell you to do this?"
"No! No. I'm just trying to make conversation."
She nodded and mentally sighed. If this evening was going to be anything but boring, she supposed it was only right she make some effort towards the conversation. "Tell me something about yourself."
"I'm a trained accountan-"
"Do you ever talk about anything that isn't business?" She asked, her eyes glaring at him incredulously.
Michael rolled his eyes and stopped to think. "I lived with an adoptive mother until last year."
"Why?"
"I got taken off my mother as a child, and last year Tommy found me. I went to Birmingham and I haven't been back to my village since."
Both of them looked quite taken aback by his sudden sharing of information. It was hardly a light topic of conversation, but Talya decided to roll with it. "Why haven't you been back?"
He shrugged. "My mum wouldn't like it, I don't think."
"But that other woman was your mum. She raised you, no? Doesn't that qualify her as your mother?"
"I guess." He lit another cigarette and shook his head. "I've hardly thought about it."
Talya could sense that he felt awkward about the situation, so she tried to steer it away as best she could. "So, how many cousins do you have?"
"Five. One of them is living in London though, won't speak to the family."
"And do you like your cousins?"
He nodded and a slight smile crept to his lips. "They're different to anyone in my old village. But we get on," he paused. "Most of the time. Do you have any other siblings?"
"No, but I have a cousin. We all live together."
"Why?"
Talya smiled a bit. "How long do we have? It's a long story."
——
The pair of them sat for hours. They discussed everything; from the signs that there would be a purge of imperial families in Russia after a small revolution in 1906 that caused her family to migrate to England, to Michael's new life that is so different from the peaceful one he grew up with. Knives, death, drugs and booze had become his norm, which sharply contrasted with the life of pretty little meadows with pretty little flowers that he had grown up in.
He had managed to persuade her to have a few more drinks, so she was talking rather plainly and languidly at this point. She had even asked for a cigarette without being goaded, but Michael had said no. He'd hate for her to form a habit due to his coercion.
Eventually, their light and wistful conversation drew to a close and Michael stood up. "Shall we get going then?"
Talya nodded and shrugged on her fur coat before following Michael through the pub and into the cool outside. They both began to walk down the country path in silence until Michael spoke. "You don't suppose your dad will take the deal my cousin is offering, do you?"
"I don't see how that's relativ-"
Michael huffed. "Honestly, you'd think I'm asking for state secrets. I'm just asking for an opinion from someone who's on the inside."
Fury ran through Talya's veins as she heard the words 'on the inside'. She stopped in her tracks and scowled at Michael. "What the fuck did you think this was? You'd get me to come for one drink and I'd start telling you the ins and outs of my family business?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that! I just mean, there's no point in your dad being stupid over this deal stopping us from being friends."
"Oh, so my father is stupid now, is he?" With an offended scoff, she shoved past Michael and began sashaying down the road towards her house.
He instantly ran after her, but Talya just held up a hand to tell him to stop before calling over her shoulder: "If you think you're good looking enough to get me to spill family secrets, you are severely overestimating yourself, darling."
"Oh, fuck off you Russian twat!" He roared after her before turning on his heel and storming off in the opposite direction.
Talya couldn't help but feel glad that she and Michael had just fallen out. During their sit-down, she had wondered how things would work if they were friends and their families went to war, but now she didn't have that issue. In fact, she hoped they went to war. It would be good to see the gypsies be taken down a peg or two. And who better to do it than her own family?