ten
I apologise if you feel something
Late into the night Anna found herself sat in Tommy's chair, drinking Tommy's whiskey. No one was in bed yet, even Charlie and Carl were still up running around. She could faintly hear the boys laughing outside, making her smile. At least they're happy.
She was relaxed, her mind swimming in whiskey and dreams until the sound of a gunshot ripped through it all.
Standing up, she put on her coat and walked out of the front door and in the direction of the sound. The silhouettes of the boys were lit up by the moonlight. As she got closer, she saw Michael holding a gun straight ahead of him while Arthur and John cheered him on.
"What the fuck are you boys doing?" Michael turned his attention to Anna but kept the gun pointed straight forward.
A playfully dangerous look had washed over his face, an expression Anna had never seen before. She had seen Michael handle a gun when he was instructed to but never before had she seen him shoot, especially not for fun like this. A sinister smile grew on his face as his arm moved to point in the direction he was facing.
Michael and Anna held eye contact as he pointed the gun at her. Strangely, she felt relaxed, like she knew there was no way he would shoot her. Even without their complicated relationship, he would be murdering a Shelby in front of two blinders. He may as well pull the trigger on himself.
"Michael what are you doing?" John seemed nervous, unsure at Michael's intentions.
"Shut up John." Michael's voice was deeper than normal. "What's your next move Anna?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"A gun is pulled on you and all you have is a knife in your boot, what's your move?"
"Quit being a dick."
"Exactly." Finally, the gun was lowered. Walking over to her, Michael held the gun by its barrel, handing it to the very confused woman stood in front of him. "Point it at me." He whispered, leaning down so that their faces nearly touched.
"You're into some weird shit Michael." She smirked, only half joking. He kept the same playful smile on his face as he stepped back from the woman he had just put in charge of his life. Arthur and John had moved aside, nervously watching the couple pretend to shoot each other...
"What are you waiting for?" Michael taunted as Anna failed to lift the gun. But she didn't like being made fun of. Matching his smirk, she walked forward, the gun gripped by her side until she was stood directly in front of Michael.
Following several seconds of eye contact, Anna raised the gun so that it was pressed against the bottom of Michael's chin. Holding it there, she forcefully kissed him, her tongue instantly wrapping around his the way she knew he liked it.
As soon as he tried to touch her, she pressed the gun further into him, forcing his mouth closed and subsequently breaking the kiss. Anna released the pressure of the gun, leaving it centimetres from Michael's face. Keeping it at this distance, she followed it up his face until it was pressed against his forehead.
"Now shoot." He instructed. Quickly moving the gun away from him, she shot off in the opposite direction, causing all three men to flinch in fear the bullet was coming their way. When she looked back, Anna was glad that the smirk had been replaced with a fearful stare.
"Don't ever underestimate me again." Anna had never felt so much power over this man, she was relishing every second of it. Placing the gun back in his hand, she sauntered off back towards the house, content with what she had done.
"What the fuck was that." She heard Arthur ask Michael just before she was out of earshot.
The house was much quieter when she reentered. Assuming everyone had finally decided to go to bed, Anna followed suit. She trailed up the grand staircase and down the hall to the room which had practically become hers since she had been staying here for so long.
She lit the candles on her beside table, allowing enough light into the room for her to see what she was doing. Removing her shoes, coat and dress, she entered the bathroom in only her undergarments to wash her face clean of the makeup she had painted it with. As her face was submerged in water, she heard the click of a door handle from the main room. Grabbing a towel to both dry her face and cover her near naked form, she walked back into the room to see Michael stood gazing out of the window. He was positioned so that he could see Anna in the glass' reflection.
"What kind of game are you playing, Anna?" He purred, seduction lining his words.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"No, don't try turn this around on me." He slowly moved so that he was now facing her. "You pull stunts like that in front of everyone, knowing what it does to me." He tediously stalked over to her, stopping when there was no space left in between them.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Stop playing fucking dumb, Anna Gray." He growled, pushing his body against hers, forcing her to lean against the door she had just come through. Unable to speak, Anna simply dropped the towel she was holding which was the final straw for Michael.
Lifting her by her legs, he turned around and practically threw her on the bed, wasting no time before forcing his tongue into her mouth once again. They both tried desperately to take Michael's clothes off while not breaking the contact between their lips. Working to undo his trousers, Anna made sure to brush her hand across his bulge on more than one occasion, causing Michael to grunt into her mouth.
Pulling his bottom layers of clothing off in one swift motion, Michael's hot, naked form pressed against Anna as if he would die if any part of his body wasn't touching her. It wasn't long before Anna's undergarments joined Michael's clothes in the pile on the floor.
*
Awaking to the glaring winter sun beaming through the bedroom windows, Anna felt Michael's hot, naked body rising and falling beneath her. She took a moment to admire the peaceful expression on his sleeping face before carefully retracting his arm from around her and shuffling to the edge of the bed, careful not to wake him. Throwing on the first items of clothing she could find, she quickly closed the curtains to prevent Michael from waking up in the same way she had.
Rushing down the stairs, voices grew louder and louder as she approached the main dining room. Arthur, John, Polly, Ada, Linda, Esme and countless children all sat around the table eating. They all greeted her as she sat down, bringing their previous conversation to an end and allowing Polly to begin a new one.
"The strangest thing happened last night." She began, purposely not looking over to her daughter.
"What's that then Pol?" John smirked.
"Well the room I've been staying in is in between Michael's and Anna's. Only I think poor Michael is getting confused because I saw him going into the wrong one." The sniggers began before Polly had finished up her story.
"You can tell you lot have been cooped up here too long." Anna fired back, tucking into the breakfast she had been brought. Anna was thankful that the conversation topic was changed until Michael walked in and it returned to them.
"You manage to find your way down here alright this morning Michael?" Arthur could barely keep his laughter in.
"What are you on about now Arthur?" He walked over to where Anna was eating, stroking her hair gently before taking a seat next to her.
"Just that you seem to have got a bit lost on your way to your room last night." Polly answered. Michael luckily didn't need to think of a response as everyone's attention was ripped away by the loud slam of the front door. The group looked to each other for answers that none of them had. Shortly after the slam, Tommy walked in the room with his usual trademark expression.
"Y'alright Tom?" John asked earning a grunt from his brother.
"What did you go to Wales for?" Arthur always knew when to ask the wrong questions.
"Anna, come with me." Typical of Tommy, he didn't stay in the room long enough for a response. Quickly finishing her breakfast, she rushed out of the room like a puppy to its master. She found him waiting by the front door for her.
"What the fuck are they all still doing here?"
"Erm, I don't know. Was I supposed to get them to leave?"
"No, no. Just figured they'd have gone by now, hoped."
"I'll mention it to them if you like, I'm sure they won't mind. They think they're doing as you'd want."
"Not now, we're going out." He handed Anna her coat before opening the front door.
The pair walked silently to the stable block. Anna loved seeing and riding Tommy's horses, it reminded her of her childhood. Leaving Tommy's side, Anna approached her favourite horse Jerry, named after Jeremiah. She smiled as she stroked his face and neck, earning the occasional noise from the gentle beast.
"Put those on, we're going riding." Tommy handed her some trousers which she kept in the tack room of the stables specifically for occasions like this.
*****
Once out riding, Tommy seemed to loosen up a great deal. Small talk was usually a mammoth task for Tommy but with Anna he seemed to manage it, he would even go as far to say that he enjoyed trivial conversations with her.
"Lovely day out isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's gotten colder since you left. Although that could just be the presence of my mother." Tommy sniggered in response.
"Have you thought any more on what I said before I left?"
"A bit, yeah."
"And?"
"I don't know Tommy. I really like Michael but..." Anna didn't know how to finish the sentence.
"But nothing, you want him. And you know we would be more than happy to welcome him into the family properly."
"It's not about whether I want him or not, it's working out whether to go with my head or my heart."
"You can change what you do but you can't change what you want. And you want him, that won't change. So cut the shit."
"I know that but you and Grace-"
"No." Tommy interrupted. "Neither you or Michael are anything like me. You're both kind and gentle and neither of you have men after you who are willing to murder the people you love to get to you. Using Grace is just making excuses."
****
Walking back into the house following their ride, Anna set out to go get what she wanted. She found John, Arthur, Ada and Michael all sat with drinks in the big room.
"Let me guess, you've been swimming." Arthur joked, referring to her attire.
"Very funny, Tommy and I just went out for a little ride." She explained as she poured herself a whiskey. Michael was sat on a sofa of his own, arm resting over the back of it. Anna didn't waste time in making herself comfortable in the space underneath his arm. Placing a hand on his leg, Anna sat so close she could feel the gentle warmth of his breath on her head.
Thankfully, no one questioned her sudden display of affection. It was going to be hard enough for her to convince herself this is right for her, she didn't need everyone else's ridicule on top of that. Luckily for both of them, everyone else already saw them as married, it was just a case of waiting for Anna to catch up to them.