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London was a full body experience. In each and every direction there was a new sight, sense, smell or anything. The city had a bizarre green tinge to it due to pollution and fog, but Rowan was lapping up every inch of it. The group were walking to the club that Tommy had demanded they attend, saying that there was a good reason why that particular club was so important.
What Rowan hadn't noticed, yet the brothers had, was that every male pair of eyes were locked into her, even some female eyes too. She spun around, staring up at the sky wistfully as she absorbed the city, oblivious to the attention her impeccable looks were drawing from the Londoners. Her dark eyes and hair along with slender frame made her an alluring object that they weren't used to.
"It even smells different." She remarked and waited for the boys to catch up with her.
"Smells like southerners. Don't like it." John spat on the floor as he walked past a young and adoring couple.
"Grow up John, southern people aren't all that bad." She rolled her eyes jokingly at him before turning back around and heading for the club entrance.
"They're all fucking staring at her." Arthur whispered to Tommy.
"They've all got good reason to Arthur, she's young, beautiful and single. Why wouldn't they?" Tommy shrugged.
"Don't you fucking start." Arthur seethed. "We all know she's far from single."
They watched as Rowan turned to face them. The moonlit caused parts of her hair to sparkle, and her gold tasseled dress she'd thrown on that morning caught the light of the street lamps, flickering under the shine. Arthur was falling deeper and deeper for her the more he gazed at her.
The boys over took Rowan as the approached the door. The bouncers on the door blocked the entrance way, presumably put off by the arrogance Tommy was exuding.
"She gets to go in." The talker of the bouncers spoke with a thick cockney accent, pointing at Rowan and winking at her. "She's got a good pair of tits."
The small girl slithered between Tommy and Arthur, pushing her way to the front and thanking the bouncer seductively. Tommy sighed before handing over a few notes to the bouncer before being let in reluctantly.
"Much obliged." Arthur removed his cap and stared the flirting bouncer down.
Once inside, they entered a whole new reality that was completely new to all of them. The men had seen some things in their time on the earth, but none of it could equate to what they were witnessing. Cocaine being snorted totally in the open, a young and drugged up couple having sex in front of everyone with gay abandon, and two men happily in the throws of passion as they kissed each other against a wall. The juxtaposition between the beauty and serenity of the marbled decoration and gold touch of the architecture and the rapid swing music and sordid activities in front of their eyes was like a drug to Rowan.
"It's a fucking freak show." Arthur remarked as he and his brothers followed Rowan as she sauntered through a gold curtain and further into the club.
"It's fucking heaven." Rowan beamed as she skipped up onto the dancefloor, immediately engulfed by the other dancers.
She could feel the musical notes rattling around her head as she let her body move along with the music. Arthur's eyes were locked onto her figure as he watched her move effortlessly in time to the beat.
"She's doing in on fucking purpose Tom, look." Arthur slapped his brother's arm and pointed towards her.
The men watched as Rowan loudly laughed and threw her head back, allowing the man that was charming her to lean in to kiss her neck. Her eyes met Arthur's as she rested her fingernail in between her teeth, her eyes turning even darker before winking at him.
"Oi Arthur, she's making me feel all sorts of things right now so I can't imagine what she's doing to you." John joked.
"I'll take his fucking eyes out." Arthur seethed as he stared at the man Rowan was writhing all over.
Tommy diffused Arthur's anger as they joined her up on the dance floor, explaining to Rowan that he needed to borrow her as a code for getting her separated from the man for Arthur's sake.
"What the fuck is this racket?" Arthur asked loudly as they approached in front of the band, trying to take his mind off of his boiling jealousy.
"This is what they call music these days." Tommy explained.
"Music?" Arthur scoffed as he watched Rowan's next moves.
Arthur, John and Tommy calmly walked between tables as they tried to gauge the atmosphere. Rowan on the other hand, was befriending a woman who was snorting cocaine from the back of her own hand.
"How much for a little bit?" Rowan asked the woman, leaning on the back of an empty chair and biting her lower lip.
"For a pretty girl like you? On the house." The woman eyed Rowan up with a smirk before offering up the back of her hand.
Rowan licked the tip of her index finger before lightly tapping the back of the lady's hand, letting the white powder stick. Not breaking eye contact with her, Rowan rested her finger on her tongue and let the bitter taste make contact. She could feel the eyes of the Shelby brothers burning into her skin, and the high from the attention was almost as good as the high she was waiting for with the cocaine.
"Look at her now boys, she's flirting with a bloody woman to wind me up." Arthur frustratedly yelled over the loud band.
Tommy forced Arthur and John to sit at a table after he had kicked a young woman and her boyfriend she was pleasuring under the table away. As they sat, John realised that he recognised many of the faces in the club. Tommy then revealed it was Sabini's club to his brothers, suddenly making the purpose of the trip so much clearer. Arthur had his mind elsewhere however.
"You're not from here, are you darling?" The same man that Rowan had clicked with earlier was up in her ear again.
"I'm meant to be on holiday, but they aren't being very much fun." She pouted and pointed to Arthur.
"Maybe me and you could have some fun then." He smirked and leant in to kiss her.
Rowan slammed both of her dainty hands into his chest and pushed him away, grimacing with disdain much to Arthur's pleasure.
"I just wanted someone fun to talk to, I don't want to kiss you." She sneered.
Before the man could show any hint of protest, all the attention landed on the Shelby brothers, as they bulldozed their way through clubbers, slicing their faces with glass and punching them unconscious.
"That's your fucking lot." The man next to Rowan screeched in her face and pointed at them.
"I fucking know." She laughed hysterically, the effects of the cocaine kicking in. "And I fucking love them for it."
Rowan watched as the man was pulled by his head to the ground before being repeatedly kicked in the body by Arthur. Her face showed no emotion as she heard him cry out in pain, and instead began cheering him on. Once the poor man was no longer making any noise and instead laying in a pool of his own blood, Arthur turned to the frightened looking crowd.
"Right." He bellowed. "Who's fucking next?"
Arthur then proceeded to knock a waiter out with a champagne ice bucket for no other reason than amusement, before dumping the ice on his head to cool the waiter down.
A large gunshot was fired by another waiter as he shot the ceiling. The entire hall fell silent, except for the sound of faint groaning from victims and Tommy's heavy breathing. The other waiter then proceeded to aim the shotgun at Tommy and demanded they leave.
"Are you gonna use that?" Tommy asked and confidently walked straight into the firing range of the gun. The waiter flinched as his hands shook furiously, but never once fired it. "Didn't think so."
Rowan left the side of the injured man, and walked slowly over to Arthur, all eyes on her as her heels echoed throughout the hall. She linked her arm with his and pulled his face to hers, kissing him deeply in front of everyone.
"We came here, not to make enemies." Tommy announced as they headed for the door. "But to make friends."
Arthur laced his hand with Rowan's as he kicked the man she'd been talking to in the head one last time.
"Those of you who are last, will soon be first." Tommy continued. "And those who are downtrodden, will rise up."
Tommy looked everyone in the room directly in the eyes. His icy stare made contact with every single last person, just to frighten them even more. He and his brothers seemed to get off on other people's fear.
"You know where to find us." Tommy concluded, before leading his family out of the club.
They walked out in silence, instead lapping up the attention and the stares from everyone else.
"You're sexy when you're jealous." She giggled into Arthur's ear as she wound him up.
"And you're an irritating little slut when you're high." He whispered back.
"That's so mean." She whined and snatched her hand out of his.
Once they were out of the doorway, and once John had realised he'd lost another tooth from head butting, Tommy invited them all to paint the town with the fifty pounds he had in his pocket.
"You go boys, I've got something to do." Arthur revealed.
"You taking the fucking piss? Come on Arthur." John sucked his teeth.
"I need to teach Rowan." Arthur scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Not to make me fucking jealous."
"Make sure she can't walk in the morning Arthur or you've done it wrong." John jeered before dragging Tommy away and leaving them together.
"I can't believe you got so jealous." Rowan teased and raked her nails up his back underneath his shirt.
"To the hotel we go."
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a/n: this chapter was WILD x