The makeshift bed consisting of two vanity table chairs pushed against the velvet round seat in the dressing room was by no means the comfiest thing to sleep on, but it did Verity for the few small hours she had rested – between the otherworldly feeling of the early morning and the first faint chirps of the blackbirds singing.
The dressing gown she often wore before shows had been used as a sort of improvised blanket, and as Verity stirred out of her light doze – she realised it wasn't by her own means she had awoken.
There was a bang somewhere from in the club – not one that would cause great alarm; perhaps just a slamming door or a chair being knocked over. Listening quietly, there was little else for a few moments before another series of clattering and some growling mumbles. It was then any suspicions or dwindling cautiousness melted away. She recognised that as Arthur.
Quickly darting her eyes across to the clock, Verity noticed it was now just gone 8 in the morning. She had been dozing on and off since about 5, and right now the world felt like another dimension altogether after a night of restlessness.
The natural reverberations and echoes of the sounds around her painted a clear picture in Verity's head of what might be happening. Hungover, in fact, probably still pissed up Arthur – fumbling around the club and crawling into his office like a werewolf after a night of bloodshed. At least he was accounted for, and safe.
She then decided to push herself up to stand, rolling her head a little to try and relieve the agonising crick in her neck – but with little effect. Languidly, she paced to the dresser where she sat and made herself up for the day ahead, going lighter with her makeup application considering the night before had taken her nearly 30 minutes to successfully remove the makeup from her face.
In her usual organised manner, Verity then proceeded to arrange the room back to its usual layout, got herself dressed into one of her pretty but casual dresses hanging in the wardrobe.
The grey swing dress in question was paired prettily with a simple pair of black heels, and before she knew it Verity felt a new woman once again.
The thing was, her head had been swimming all night – questioning and running over the events with Tommy. It had taken a while to sink in she had actually had a conversation with him that lasted more than 2 minutes and didn't end in a fight or her feeling sour about something. And he seemed so open to discussion about topics she had only ever previously wondered about.
After he'd tore from the room and Verity had gone to bed, she laid awake wondering what exactly had triggered his sudden exit. She took her mind down several long paths which eventually resulted in her practically losing an hours sleep.
However, it seemed she wasn't permitted to ruminate over this for much longer that current morning – for as she was sorting through her handbag and mentally preparing herself to return home – Verity heard the doors in the main function room of the club clatter of the wall. She was half expecting to hear Arthur shouting following that, as he was only usually the one to make such obnoxious entrances.
Although it seemed this was not the case, for the next sound was the unmistakeable click of heels on the expensive flooring, and then Verity's heart clenched happily in her chest. Thank god, she knew those footfalls were Scarlett's!
Like an excited child rushing into a toy shop, Verity lurched towards the dressing room door and had barely opened it a crack before she heard the shouting.
"So you managed to crawl back to your hole, huh?" That was evidently Scarlett.
Verity very carefully crept past the door and snuck into the corridor, hiding behind the concealing wall which meant she could peek safely into the large function room without being spotted.
Her hazel eyes eventually fell to the right of her view, where the small alcove entrance was to Arthur's office.
There stood Scarlett, just outside the door. Yet she looked different.
Her petite frame was encased in a large, black fur coat with a pair of her signature black over the knee boots. However, the most notable feature was her sleek hair, which was now ... dyed a brunette colour?
Scarlett had received no reply from Arthur it seemed, as she stood just outside his office door.
"Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you!" Her voice was filled with an animosity like Verity had never seen, not to mention the fact her New York accent really rung through in the rage more prominently for some reason.
There was a few moments silence, where Arthur was obviously using all his might to fend off the hangover to open his eyes.
"What the fuck?" The strong Birmingham tones grizzled back at the American. "What the fuck have you done to your hair?" Arthur evidently sounded more ... upset than angry.
"This isn't about my hair, Arthur." Scarlett snapped suddenly, angered that the observation seemed to overrule everything else at that precise moment. Verity instinctively ducked further back against the wall as Scarlett lurched away from where she was stood to walk over to the bar – as if she was really struggling at that moment to even be near Arthur.
"Last night, you really proved to me that you don't give a damn about me. Not really." Her tones ached as she reached the bar, leaning her back against it and turning her face away slightly, her long and over exaggerated pony tail swishing over her shoulder in a poker straight sleek shine.
Carefully, Verity watched as Arthur paced like a wounded animal out of his office – his face written with agitation and agony alike. Clearly his binge of drugs and alcohol had done him no favours, and now having to face Scarlett was an added strain for him.
"Why do you say that?" His voice was filled with that masculine nonchalance that straight away had Scarlett's back up. Her usual sweet and smiling face was stony, her jaw clenched and her eyes coldly set on the club owner.
"Don't play dumb with me, Arthur Shelby." She growled, her dark eyes shining. "You know I've been trying to hard to get through to you about taking that coke." The anger receded again like waves, and the sadness instead replaced it.
"It's hurting you, it turns you into someone else and then that hurts me." She explained, her hand clutching at her chest as if to exaggerate her point. "You keep saying you'll change but you never do."
It was Arthur's turn then to display remorse, and his blue eyes fell to the floor. Behind his expression it was clear to see he was trying to formulate the best answer.
"I... I can change..." there was an urgency in his tone, as his bedraggled form attempted to approach Scarlett. Even the stark differences in their appearance, Scarlett's pristine makeup, her ponytail – not a hair out of her place and her immaculate black coat; she was the example of togetherness, collected and grounded. Arthur however, with his ruffled hair, his unkempt suit and bloodied knuckles from the night before was just spelling out his own current state. Someone who wasn't in any position to call themselves stable.
Scarlett frowned at him and cocked her head, the cold gaze in her eyes was enough to stop Arthur walking any closer to her.
"How many times have I heard that?" She pressed, "and how many times have I believed you – stuck with you and then go and show up like an idiot." Her voice was distant and not at all warm. "I'm tired of going back to you when all you do is lie every time."
"I'm-" Arthur seemed to be growing increasingly frustrated – with Scarlett? Or with himself? It wasn't clear.
"I am fucking trying." His low tones were shaky, as his fists covered in dried red blood clenched tightly at his side. "It's not easy to just give it up. It helped me when I had nothing. When Linda left-"
"Shouldn't I be enough now to make you stop?" The question she put in place was a very valid one, and the way Arthur wet his lips and took a long pause was a solid enough answer for Scarlett. He was not quite ready to let his destructive and toxic love for the drug go in favour of her. Beneath her designer clothes her heart was breaking ... was this evidence all along that she had never really meant as much to him as she thought she did?
It was better now to walk away than be sorry, and be deluded by him any longer.
"That's all I needed to hear." Scarlett confirmed with a definitive sigh, pushing away from the bar as she descended the three steps back down to the main floor area.
Her eyes were on the ground she walked upon as she strode past Arthur. To him, it was like seeing a ghost of happiness once again passing him by on a busy street. Beneath the cloaking veil of the drugs and the drink, he saw a glimmer of sense.
One arm lurched out and suddenly grasped Scarlett's, the motion was enough to even make Verity jump, who was still onlooking.
"Don't do this, Scarlett." The hurt tang as clear as church bells in his broken voice. "Don't walk away like everyone else."
The two were locked in a stare for a moment, and Verity guessed this was the moment where they usually enveloped in a huge hug and brushed it all under the carpet again.
She was surprised when Scarlett gently prised her arm free of his grip.
"I'm still here Arthur, I'm still around." She said, indicating she wasn't planning on leaving her post, which greatly relieved Verity.
"But not in the way I was. Not until you really prove you can make a change." Scarlett's voice had returned to some form of it's usual gentleness, but there was still the strong assertiveness there from before.
With that, Verity watched with bated breath as Scarlett made her way out through the foyer doors, her figure shrinking into the light of the morning sun that was pouring through the doors.
She had left Arthur standing, a man who appeared so broken that Verity even considered for a moment stepping out to see if he was okay. Then it sunk in to her too that he needed to be exposed to this to fully appreciate Scarlett.
Within a few moments or so, Arthur's laboured looking form slumped back into his office – the door slamming shut seemed a good enough signal for Verity to take off home herself after what had been a rather delusional feeling night.
-
Oh how the rain poured around 10am as Verity eventually hailed a shining black cab to her home on Tenley Street. Her handbag rested on the seat beside her, yesterday's dress not a worry on her mind as it hung in her wardrobe at the club. There was nothing that could possibly give away the truth to her sister.
Verity knew deep down that sooner or later she'd have to come clean. It was the fear of Nina's reaction that prevented her from doing so.
Pushing these thoughts to the back of her head, Verity instead leaned her head against the cool glass window and watched the droplets race to the base of the glass, as grey and miserable London swirled past outside. Tommy had clearly left long before Arthur had returned that morning, for there was no sign of him or his car parked on the back street behind the club.
Verity was almost sad she didn't catch him before he left, she felt she'd really made some sort of progress with him and that was all but diminished in the blink of an eye when he'd left the room abruptly the night prior.
Slowing to a halt at the curb, Verity thanked the cab driver and paid her few coins. She cursed silently that the journey was not long enough; a part of her always detested coming home for it was a bleak reminder of the lie she was living.
Her heels clacked over the now wet grey pavement, as Verity made her way up to the front door and let herself inside. As always, her eyes never looked at the bronze plaque on the wall outside with her former details: Dr Verity Grant.
Stepping inside, the house was instant relief from the cold rain as Verity set foot in the large hallway, it's atmosphere filled with dull grey light from the miserable weather outside.
She turned her head to the right and followed the sounds of noise from the kitchen, pleased to see her sister Nina at the stove, the copper kettle boiling whilst young Harry sat in his high chair at the oak table.
"Hi Nina," Verity announced her presence so she did not alarm her sister who still her back turned at the stove. "Everything ok?" She asked, a trivial question with a friendly nonchalance as Verity instead planted a kiss on the cheek of her lovely nephew.
There was a pause as Nina lifted the whistling kettle from the stove in preparation for making tea.
"Yes, fine thanks." She replied, "how was the dinner?"
As yes. The ruse Verity had come up with. Her recent lies about doing some side psychology work had led to her creating a fake friend who invited her to dinner with some imaginary influential scholars from universities in the North. She'd also made up a little lie that the dinner was taking place on the other side of the city, and she didn't want to return late and disturb Harry (which was partially true) so she was to stay at her friend's house that night.
"It was quite fun actually." Verity laughed, turning to look out of one of the large kitchen windows. "I was expecting those old men to be much more stuck up-"
The loud thwack on the kitchen table behind her cause Verity to spin violently on her heels, her green eyes anxiously flickering down to the newspaper that had just been thrust under her gaze.
As she looked over the front page, her skin boiled hot and she felt dizzy with shame and nerves alike. Verity could not bring herself to look at Nina.
The picture was a clear as day image taken from behind the ropes outside the entrance of the club – and Verity was clearly depicted walking just behind Tommy and Arthur, Scarlett at her side. How she felt so angry and embarrassed that she was outed in this way. She wanted to tell Nina herself.
"You lied to me, Verity!" Nina yelled, her voice cracking and wavering with betrayal. "We were supposed to be a team and you have been lying to me this whole time!"
Verity backed away slowly, dipping her gaze and wrapping her arms around herself, as if it was her body's subconscious way of protecting her aching heart.
At this point she couldn't even sum up the words to speak.
"You were supposed to be helping him – I could tolerate that," Nina snapped directly, "but now you're working for him!?" She was beside herself, "you know just as well as I do what these Shelby's are like! They are brutal, savage, ruthless bastards who don't care about anyone but themselves." At this point her voice was laboured with heavy sadness, someone trying to fight off the urge to cry.
"I could understand you working to try and help Mr Shelby see the light of his problems," Nina was evidently tearful, the salty wetness trickling on her rosy cheeks, "yet here you stand indulging in them."
Plucked from her haze of humiliation, Verity finally summed up the clarity to speak her mind.
"Nina... It's not what you think it is," she started to explain, looking her distraught looking sister in the face for the first time in minutes. "I'm merely singing in that club for money. I'm not wanting to be affiliated with them really ... not with their wider businesses. I'm just trying to earn a living."
Nina wiped her tears furiously, sniffling hard.
"I doubt you can simply just 'earn a living' under their rule. They will use you how they wish." She retorted, shaking her head – her red nose and eyes telling a tale of total disappointment and sadness.
"Why did you have to do this? Surely there was other work – work with your Psychology-"
"Nina! You don't understand!" Verity suddenly bellowed, trying to remind herself her nephew was between them both as they squabbled. "No one wanted anything to do with me as a psychologist. How I cried night after night, I don't understand how it happened but no one would have me, okay?" She sighed. How she wish she knew what the hell had gone on so she could at least try to make a change. The fact was still crushing her immensely inside, day after a day. A raw feeling still, after some months.
"Long story short but when I went to see Tommy he heard me sing... he offered me a job but I declined. I didn't want to work for him, and I swear this choice didn't come out of selfish desire." Verity then explained, looking down at sweet Harry who gazed between his mother and aunt in confusion, a troubled look on his innocent face.
"I hated asking for money from mum and dad. I felt like I'd failed you and Harry." She exclaimed, "I wanted the best for us all."
After her plea, there was a rather long and laboured silence where only the sounds of the ticking clock could be heard, and Harry's soft gurgles.
"I'm sorry Verity but... I don't want anything if it's come from Shelby cash." Nina's tones were filled with bitterness. "They pretend to be decent people with their fancy new businesses and ventures, when they are not. They lie, they drink, they cheat and they bargain with the devil himself."
Judging by Nina's frosty tone and the way she didn't even look her sister in the face, Verity gathered she needed to remove herself from the house. It was technically her home but there was no way she'd see Harry on the streets with nowhere to go.
No. It was easier if she removed herself from this jagged puzzle for now and find her grounding in this confusing world where everything could seem so perfect one moment, and fall apart the next.
"I'll... I'll give you some space." Verity murmured, leaving the kitchen as she headed upstairs to collect a case of things. All through the packing process her mind rushed for a plan, a plan of where to go and what she needed to have with her.
For now, she collated the necessities into two big beige suitcases and dragged them down into the hall. Not one did Nina leave the kitchen despite hearing all the movement. That was confirmation in itself to Verity that she needed to go. The last thing she wanted was to stay and potentially make things worse than they were.
With that being said, she threw on her camel coloured tie waist coat and headed back into into the misty rain that pelted heavier than previously.
Marching through the depressing weather, her heels striding along the glistening wet sidewalk, Verity thought up her destination as she headed to the taxi rank. There was only one place she would feel truly safe and comfortable at that moment – and that was Scarlett's home.
━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━
END OF PART TWO
A/N: sorry this chapter was kind of depressing but I'm working towards building the story more and trying to do it in a way where we see the different aspects and storylines of all the characters relationships etc.
It just means that I feel like I'm writing like 2 stories in one! The next chapter is basically going to be some Scarlett and Verity friendship time and then a surprising event at the end which should tie nicely in the chapter following that!
Thank you all so much for reading x