three
slow dancing in the dark
"Mate you better not ruin this again for me tonight." Isiah warned Michael as they walked towards Polly and Anna's home.
"You know the blinders will kill you." By the blinders, he meant himself.
"I'm not worried about them." He knocked on Anna's door, leaning against the wall next to it. "They'll just be happy she's finally getting fucked by a real man." Michael involuntarily clenched his fists at Isiah's words. Before he got chance to reply, the door opened to reveal the woman in question.
She was wearing a red dress which fell to just below her knees. The black hat, coat and shoes gave her a look of danger, likely a positive thing in this town. Unlike Isiah, Michael kept his observations discreet.
The trio began walking to a pub a few streets away from the Garrison. At first she was confused as to why they hadn't gone there but as soon as they entered the room, Anna realised why. Isiah's attention suddenly went from being all on Anna to being divided up between every single woman in that room. Anna suddenly felt remarkably foolish for thinking Isiah had a genuine liking for her.
Michael noticed Anna's expression changing, placing his hand on her elbow and leading her to the bar. "Three pints of dark mild." Michael called to the barman.
"Fuck that, we're blinders. Three whiskies." Isiah insisted, finally pulling his attention back to the two he had come with. The three hadn't even got their drinks before trouble started rising.
"I don't drink with blacks." A voice came from behind them.
"Here we go." Anna felt bad that this was something Isiah had to go through regularly.
She stood back as both Isiah and Michael began to fight with the two men who had confronted them. She observed a fair amount of people glancing at her and whispering. She didn't know why until the barman returned to them, looking terrified.
"The girl is Polly Shelby's daughter." He yelled, a blend of anger and fear in his voice. "Are you fucking suicidal?" All eyes were now on her.
"Get the fuck out." Michael yelled.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." The apology was aimed more towards her. She felt it was her role to break the silence that had now washed over the bar.
"I believe we ordered some drinks."
*
Laughter was a rare thing to hear in Small Heath, which explains why Anna, Michael and Isiah received so many looks as they walked down the lane to the Garrison, arms linked and laughing over the situation they had just been in.
The three were met with respectful nods as they entered the pub. Anna was quickly realising the power her name had in these parts. Walking into the back room while the others went to the bar, Anna saw Arthur, Finn and John sat around drinking whisky and playing cards.
"I've got this one girl, she's a dancer right and she can do things with her-" Arthur stopped speaking as he saw it was Anna who had walked in the room.
"Don't stop on my account."
"Some things shouldn't be discussed in front of a lady."
"Good job I'm not one then isn't it." Anna smirked, placing a cigarette between her lips. Michael returned, placing a pint in front of Anna and sitting down beside her.
"You boys been scrapping?" John asked, noticing the pair's bloodied knuckles.
"Some men at the Marquis tried to stop us from drinking but we held our own and fought them off." Michael explained.
"Right." Arthur added, standing up along with Finn and John. The two older boys pushed their younger brother back into his seat before leaving the room.
"Shame." Isiah said, drinking his beer. "Was a nice pub." The four sat in silence, feeling guilty about what they all knew was about to happen.
***
By the time John and Arthur returned, Anna and Michael were both rather intoxicated. They were sat opposite Isiah and Finn as Michael attempted to teach her how to play cards. Needless to say he was failing miserably and the four just sat there laughing, drinking and smoking.
Each time Anna would make contact with Michael, she would sober up for a second. However, once the whisky came out, she became a lot more confident.
"No no no, you're doing it wrong." Michael insisted, trying to take her cards from her.
"Shhhhhhh." She put her finger to his lips with slight pressure to push him back into his seat. Once he had obeyed, she allowed her finger to trace his lips, which were now slightly parted as he looked at her. A smirk grew on her lips as she saw how he was reacting. Luckily for her, Arthur and John returned, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave Michael on edge.
"You didn't have to do that for me." Isiah said to the boys as they walked over and stole the glasses of whisky sat on the table.
"We did it for the good name of the company." John reassured, glancing over at the close proximity of Anna and Michael. Rather than bringing it to everyone's attention, he simply smirked, glancing between the two.
"Well excuse me boys." Anna chirped, walking out of the room, through the bar and to the bathroom.
She stood and stared at her drunken reflection in the small mirror of the bathroom. In that moment, she was unsure of what she wanted from Michael. He made her feel a certain way but she was struggling to work out what it was exactly. Turning back to the door, she reentered the dark room leading back onto the pub.
Before she could reach the doors to the main room, she was grabbed and shoved against the wall, forcing a sharp breath to leave her lips. She was extremely relieved when she saw it was Michael. But eventhough it looked like Michael, he certainly didn't act like Michael. The low light highlighted his clenched jaw and seemingly darkened his eyes.
"Did no one ever tell you it's rude to tease?" His voice came out as more of a growl than anything else. Not trusting her voice, she simply smirked back at him, playing his game. He moved his hands from either side of her hair to resting gently on her waist, pushing his body closer into hers.
They stood staring at eachother's shadowed forms. Before Michael knew what he was doing, he crashed his lips violently against hers, trailing a hand from her waist up to behind her head. Hers were now on his face, guiding him in the kiss but not allowing him to go deeper like he desperately wanted to.
He was having fun, even more so as he realised she had most likely never been kissed like this before. Truth was she hadn't but she wasn't going to let that stand in her way.
As he tried to push his tongue between her lips, she refused, revisiting the teasing game which had angered him before. Desperately wanting more, he squeezed her waist which caused her to gasp. He took the opportunity and deepened the kiss, savouring every sweet second of it. There was no way he was backing out now but she had other ideas.
Moving one hand down from his face to his chest, she pushed him lightly off her, stopping for a second to look at him before walking back through the bar without saying a word. She smiled to herself, not fully processing what had just happened.
She was met with some suggestive looks when she returned to the snug. These turned into full blown smiles when Michael entered. Anna turned to look at him, seeing what they were all sniggering about.
"Loving the lipstick Michael, red is definitely your colour." Arthur laughed. Anna joined in the laughter as Michael made an attempt to rub it off. The pair didn't speak much the rest of the night. This seemed to set the trend for how they communicated at the office too.
***
Three days after the incident with Michael, Anna laid awake in bed, practicing what she was going to say to him the next day. She didn't want to continue the game they had been playing and she really wanted to know how he felt about the whole ordeal. Once she did manage to get to sleep, it was soon interrupted by Polly's shouts.
"Anna! Anna!" She burst into her room without warning.
"What?" She slowly dragged herself up.
"They've got the boys. They've got all of them!" She panicked
"What? What do you mean they've got them?"
"Last night John, Arthur and Michael were arrested."