Hope you enjoy this chapter - sorry if it took a while.

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I'm currently editing this piece of work - when I mean editing, I mean I'll be adapting the story and plot, and I will be checking for grammar and spelling mistakes, but I may miss some as my main focus is on shaping the story, so it flows well before I continue adding more chapters. I am sorry if it takes a while, but I do hope you'll all be patient with me.

I would recommend re-reading each new edited chapter as there may be changes that would fit in with future chapter and future edits.

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy.

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Edited: 01/04/18

"What the hell is your problem, Tommy?" I spat as I helped Joey bring Doug to his feet. Ignoring the stern look Tommy gave me, I lifted Doug's face to see the blood pouring from his nose. "You better get him back 'ome, Joey." I looked at Joey to see him looking at Tommy, a wary look on his face.

"Aye, sure Elsie, darling. I'll be seeing you soon," he muttered dragging Doug out of the pub.

As I watched Joey leave I could hear people getting up around me and glanced to see that the other gents in the pub had started to get up to leave as well. Had Tommy given them an order? Were they all leaving because of him?

"Elsie?" John called out, his hand resting on my shoulder lightly as he got my attention. "Tommy's sent everyone 'ome. Harry's gone too, but the boys will be 'ere for a few drinks later. You're fine to stay 'ere with Tommy, right?" John was being considerate to me, giving me the chance to turn down staying with Tommy on my own.

As I looked over to Tommy, I could tell that he wanted to speak to me without his brothers being around. There were a few things I needed to say to him as well.

"I'll be alright John," I assured him, rubbing at my wrist where Doug had grabbed me. I'd probably get a bruise there, I always bruised easily. "I'll see you later, right?" I asked wanting to know if John was planning on returning.

"I'll be walking you back 'ome later," he announced before leaving with Arthur, giving one last look to Tommy.

The silence was eating at me and it was only made worse because I could feel Tommy's eyes on me as I stood there. I was trying to sort out my thoughts before I faced him. Why did he have to make things difficult? Why did I have to make things difficult? Mah-mee would say we were as bad as each other. Polly would agree.

"Are you gonna look at me?" Tommy asked breaking the silence. His voice was irritating because it was the same as usual. Did he not care that he had just smashed someone's face into the bar?

Glancing over my shoulder at him, I let out a breath of disbelief when I saw him drinking his whiskey, leaning against the bar as if nothing had happened. It didn't bother me that he'd hurt someone. It bothered me because it had happened because of me.

"I could have handled Doug on my own. I didn't need you interfering Tommy," I told him, stepping up to the bar and snatching the glass away from his hand. His eyes locked with me then, the piercing blue stealing my breath away.

He was a dangerous man. I don't know why I kept forgetting that he was a man that killed. Tommy didn't care. That wasn't right. Tommy looked like he didn't care but there was something in his eyes that told me he did care. If he didn't care then he wouldn't have nightmares every night. If he didn't care he wouldn't be out there hurting people to get everything he could for his family.

"Didn't look that way to me," Tommy grunted, sliding John's glass across the bar, filling it with whiskey. He looked at me pointedly as he downed the glass, slamming it down when there was nothing left.

"You didn't give me the chance," I snapped, copying his action with the glass in my hand.

A sharp pain cut into my palm as the glass shattered under the pressure and I pulled my hand away, cradling it to my chest as I hissed out in pain. It seemed I would always be in pain around Tommy.

"Let me look," he ordered turning to face me as I stepped away from him. "Stop being stubborn and let me look," he argued, grabbing my hand and uncurling my fingers.

There was one large piece of glass sticking out of my palm and Tommy quickly plucked it from the cut, dropping it. His fingers were pressing down on the cut with the abandoned bar rag I'd left on the bar.

"That hurts," I hissed trying to move my hand from his.

"It's not too deep," Tommy said, gripping my hand gently in his.

I could feel his eyes on me again but didn't look at him. I don't think I could deal with him. Not now while he was being nice. It was things like this that made me wish everything was fine between us. It was this reason why I was finding it so hard to forget about him and move on.

"Thank you," I whispered as he tied the rag around my hand, keeping the wound covered.

"I'm sorry," Tommy replied causing me to look up at him to see him with a frown on his face.

"For what?"

"The way—"

"Mr Shelby," a familiar voice called out, interrupting the moment between Tommy and I. Glancing at the doors, forgetting that they had been left unlocked, stood Graves with three of his men. "Did we interrupt?" Not like he cared. It was easy to see that Graves was happy at the fact that he'd gotten to Tommy. And he did get to Tommy.

The tightness in Tommy's cheeks was enough to let me know that he was pissed with the interruption. There was also the way his eyes because as sharp as a knife. A knife that would be willing to slit Graves' throat.

"No, I was just waiting for Elsie to finish up," Tommy replied, as I turned to face Graves. His hand rested on my hip as he pulled me into his body, my back resting against his front. The possessive hold on my hip had Graves looking down with a smirk.

"Sounded more like an argument to me," Graves said making me wonder how much he had heard. "I thought your name was Edith?"

"The pub's closed," Tommy told him sternly. I had to bit my lip to stop myself from laughing at Tommy's change in subject. He obviously didn't want to be bothered by Graves.

"The door was open."

"We were just closing up," I spoke up not wanting to see where this could go between the two of them. They were both stubborn and it just seemed that Graves was aiming to piss Tommy off.

"Ah, so she does speak. I thought you'd lost your tongue for a minute there, Mrs Shelby," Graves laughed glancing at his son as he stood next to him. "Is your dear husband still treating you like a queen? Or does he get a bit violent to prove he's in charge?" Graves nodded down to my bloody hand wrapped in the cloth at his words. I felt Tommy tense behind me, his hand brushing against my back. I knew where he kept his gun and it felt like he was going for it.

"Tommy's never laid a hand on me, Mr Graves, this was just an accident from tidying up. My husband was kind enough to wrap it for me until we can get home," I told him reaching behind me and tugging Tommy's hand away from his gun. It wouldn't do us any good if he ended up killing Graves in front of his men. They outnumbered us and our chances of surviving were not good.

"Mmm," grumbled Graves, his eyes traveling from me to Tommy. "You've been ignoring me, Mr Shelby, and I don't like it."

"I've hardly been ignoring you, Graves," Tommy stated confidently, making my stomach flip at the confidence oozing from his voice. "I've been ignoring your men. If you want my time, you should have come to me yourself."

"My men told me they left you with my message," Graves huffed out, annoyed at the way Tommy was treating him.

"And I told your men that you can stick your deal up your—"

"Tommy!" I snapped cutting, him off before he could anger Graves more than he had.

"Did my men also tell you what would happen if you decided against the deal?" Graves asked, a slight smirking playing on his lips as Tommy tensed behind me, his hand gripping my hip tightly.

Tommy twisted me to face him then, his eyes flashing across my face before looking at Graves over my head.

"Elsie, go home," Tommy ordered, taking my hand in his and giving it a slight squeeze.

"Tommy—"

"Go home, now."

"No," I snapped, not caring that Graves was there to witness the way I was speaking to Tommy. "I won't leave you here alone." Tommy grabbed hold of my arm, tugging me closer to him, which also blocked him from Graves' view.

"Go home to Polly, now." The stern look in his eyes told me he wasn't messing around. It also told me that Graves was a lot more dangerous than Tommy wanted me to believe.

"I'm not just gonna—" Tommy cut me off as he moved his hand up my arm until he was cupping the back of my neck, tilting up my head. Our eyes locked and I could finally see something other than his calculated calm. It was fear. Tommy was afraid. Not for himself, but for me.

"El, you leave this pub and you pull one of the boys off the street. You tell him, 'Tommy said he has to walk you 'home to Pol'. You understand that?" I nodded my head, starting to feel the fear growing in my gut as Tommy whispered his words. It surprised me that Graves hadn't interrupted. "Good. When you get 'ome, you tell John and Arthur that I'm 'ere and you tell them who I'm with. Okay?"

"Okay, Tommy," I sighed trying to stop the panic as I thought of leaving Tommy here alone with Graves and his men. I wish I could stay with him, but I knew Tommy would never have me put in danger. It didn't matter if we weren't on speaking terms; Tommy would always put my safety before his.

Tommy placed his lips to mine, his fingers running through my hair as he pulled me closer. His breath fanned across my face as he lifted his lips from mine. He moved away then, his thumb running across my bottom lip as he gave me a small smile.

"Go home, Elsie."

I stumbled away from him, my teeth gnawing on my bottom lip as I glanced at Graves as I rushed out of the pub and into the dark street.

Tommy wanted me to find someone to walk me home. How was I meant to do that when the road was empty?

Rushing towards the direction of Watery Lane, I spun around the corner colliding with a figure and landed on the floor.

"Sorry, Miss Elsie," a familiar voice said, pausing the panic that had set in. Percy, the young lad that had knocked me over, helped me up off the floor, giving me a small smile. "I didn't mean to knock ya down, Miss Elsie. I didn't see ya until I'd walked into ya. Oh, Gods. Tommy's gonna 'ave me." His eyes flashed around in panic as if expecting Tommy to jump out of the shadows.

"It's okay, Percy, Tommy won't hurt you," I assured the boy, resting my hand on his arm gently. "Why don't you walk me back to the house and we won't tell Tommy anything except that you walked me home in the dark," I suggested offering my arm to him, hoping he'd go along with it.

"Okay," he mumbled, taking my arm and looping it through his. I had hoped that I didn't bump into anyone, then I could have run back to the house, but I suppose if Tommy had wanted me to find someone, then he didn't want anyone but John and Arthur to know about Graves. How did Tommy expect me to act so calm when I knew he was in danger?

"I'm 'oping Tommy will let me join the Blinders soon," Percy said, no doubt uncomfortable with the silence between us. "Jimmy and Al told me I might be in with a chance if I play my cards right."

Jimmy and Al were Percy's older brothers and members of the Peaky Blinders. Jimmy, or more commonly named Jimbo, was John's age and good with numbers. He was also good and forging numbers and switching things in a blink of an eye.

John had mentioned how Jimmy did some undercover work during the war as no one excepted him to be dangerous. Of course, I didn't know what it involved as the men never spoke about the war.

It was also a known fact that Jimmy was good with cars. He often worked on the Shelby family car, working with Tommy when it needed fixing.

Al, or Albert, was Jimmy's younger twin by a couple of minutes and was closer to John out of the two.

John and Al could often be seen fooling around in the shop when Tommy wasn't in. I had no clue what Al did for the shop, but I knew he was good with his hands – if Tommy needed something pinching Al was the man to go to.

"I'll be sure to put in a word with Tommy, for you Percy," I promised the boy giving him a smile as I tugged my arm from his when I saw the door for number 10. "Thank you for walking me back. Tommy will appreciate it." With a quick wave to the boy, I rushed into the house, not caring that the door slammed behind me.

"What the hell—" Polly started, rushing out of the kitchen only stopping when she saw me.

"John! Arthur!" I called, pushing past Polly and looking for the two Shelby men. They were sat at the table with a few of the Blinders, chatting and smoking. "You need to get to The Garrison now. Tommy's alone with Graves and his men. He sent me back," I snapped out pulling on John's arm to get him up.

"Fookin' hell," John grumbled, grabbing his cap as he, Arthur and the lads rushed out of the house, exclaiming about a fight. I could already see Arthur and his grin at the thought of a fight.

Pol rested her hand on my shoulder as I sunk into John's chair. It was meant to be comforting but I was still unsettled. I would be unsettled until I knew Tommy was okay.

"It'll be alright, love."

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