Chapter 4

What really happened?

WARNING: This story contains non-consensual disciplinary spanking/ corporal punishment of minors by a young adult.

Tommy did now feel bad for scaring his sister enough that she ran away. Why couldn't she be scared of the consequences of her actions before she committed to them?

She had always tended towards theatrics to avoid punishment, but never like this. But to be fair, he had never been this mad at her before. And if she had come in the house when he had asked, he truly would've whipped her with that belt, just as hard as he'd whipped their cousin. Speaking of Micheal, Tommy was twice as mad at him. Micheal had shown up at work piss drunk just the day before and fucked up some paperwork. Tommy had sent him home with a firm smack upside his head, and asked him to be at his desk at the crack of dawn the next day, not entitled to any breaks until they had cleaned up his mess. Not only should he have been above Ada's brand of shenanigans, he already had his own misdeeds to atone for.

Tommy truly wondered how Ada and Micheal were in the loop about their plans. God help John if he had been the one to spill the information, because he and Polly were careful to exclude Micheal and Ada from discussions of sensitive business. They were not even invited to such meetings. Ada must've learned some of the details by eavesdropping. Perhaps Arthur overshared with his favorite sibling. Arthur and John were to take some men to discreetly scope out the security situation at Alfie's. They would camp out for a few hours to collect intel, and report to Tommy before he came by in the evening. Tommy would then go by and try to strike a deal on the distillery issue. Imagine the confusion it caused when Ada and Micheal drove in there in the car they stole from Tommy.

The peaky blinders immediately reported to Tommy, who put in a call to Alphie, saying he should send them both home immediately with John. Apparently, it was too little too late, as Micheal had begun to pick a fight with one of Alphie's people, who wouldn't let them in the estate. The first shots were fired just as John got in there. He immediately took the wheel from Ada and turned them around, driving them all the way back home.

He had been harsh with Micheal, but Micheal was older than Ada and should've known better. It sure as hell wasn't his first offense that day. It also wasn't the first time Tommy had pulled a belt on him in the heat of the moment. With him, it was the same offense every bloody day. He was always somewhere he shouldn't be, and he and Isiah had taken many a thrashing for blatant disregard of orders.

Tommy remembered his angry words as he walked up on the younger boy, who held his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Tommy?" he begged, as Tom reached for his belt, and pulled it out of his trouser loops "Tommy please"
"Tommy I can explain!" He frantically backed towards the door. Belt in hand, Tommy was not having it today. With his one free hand, he frogmarched his cousin over to a table and bent him over it, pinning the boy's hands to his back "What the fuck did I say to you this morning, Micheal?!" He landed heavy lashes on the boy's backside. Micheal twisted and turned, trying to escape the line of fire that was Tommy's belt.
"I told you to sit your ass the fuck down in the office today, did I not?"
"DID I NOT?" He whipped Micheal's thighs this time, receiving a loud yelp from the boy in reply.
"Ah you did Tom, I'm sorry."
"Trust me you don't know sorry yet. I swear to God, Micheal Gray, by the time I'm done with you, you will never sit down again"
At this point, Micheal was crying hot tears. Tommy gave him one last whap, and released the boy. For now. Only seconds after, heard Polly start on her own chastisement, She had been worried sick, promising Tom fire and fury if her son did not return intact. With the earful Tommy had gotten, you'd have thought he was the one who had acted out.

He glanced around for his troublesome sibling. Ada was nowhere to be found. By God, she was going to feel his belt today. "WHERE THE FUCK IS ADA?!" he demanded from no one in particular. He flung the door wide open, meeting his sister's eyes dead-on. She sat in the car, looking like she was trying to negotiate with John. It was a wonder John had not sent her in the house with her bottom ablaze.
"IF YOU, ADA SHELBY, DO NOT GET YOUR SORRY ASS. IN. THIS. HOUSE." He shifted on his feet, and jabbed a finger at the inside of the house "RIGHT FUCKING NOW. I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL COME OUT THERE, PUT YOU OVER THAT CAR, AND GIVE YOU THE HIDING OF YOUR LIFE"

Behind him, Polly was laying into a tearful Micheal with a vengeance. "Mum please! Tommy already punished me" Micheal danced around, throwing his hands over his tender ass, to try and protect it from her assault.

Tommy turned his head slightly, and intervened, much to Micheal's dismay "Micheal Grey if you do not shut the fuck up, settle down, and take your punishment, I will come right back there, and give you something to cry about". With even more pitiful sobs, he actively tried to control himself, staying still to the extent he could manage, and keeping his hands out of the way. He still cried, but much more quietly.

By the time Tommy turned his head back to where he expected his little sister to walk up, she was slipping out of the car, and running in the opposite direction for all she was worth. John took chase immediately, but there was no use. Ada had always been the fastest Shelby. John would not catch her unless she fell. And Ada never fell. If Ada wasn't already in for the spanking of her life, she was now.

Tommy turned wordlessly and entered the house. As he passed his aunt and cousin, whose trousers had now been dropped in the course of his punishment, he noted the broken ruler she had been using. She'd switched it out for a cane. Tommy almost felt sympathy. Almost. Few things were worse than being on the end of one of Polly's canes. Micheal was trying to get her to smack his palms with the cane instead of his burning derriere. She insisted he turn around. As Tommy passed by, he threatened to help. Micheal could imagine no worse fate. "No!" He yelled, quickly presenting his bottom to his mother for further punishment. She would at least stop soon. Tommy would likely line up bedtime spankings for him for the foreseeable future.

Tommy went straight to his office, shutting the door behind him a little louder than he'd intended to. Arthur was seated on a chair, chin in palm. "Well? Where is she?"
"Your precious baby sister fled her punishment."
"Our sister, Tom. Have you figured out where she's going?"
"You're the only one in this house who spoils Ada, Arthur, this should be your problem, not mine"
"First of all, brother, where do you think she learned stubbornness from? It's definitely not me. Rejecting authority she disagrees with? That's all you. And who is it that buys her all this shit that no girl her age even needs?"
"Fuck you, Arthur"
"Watch your tone with me, Tom. We're both upset. I wouldn't want to escalate tensions just because the kids misbehaved."
"Misbehaving is playing football in the house, Arthur, maybe throwing a tantrum, talking back. This was endangering herself, direct disobedience, insubordination on so many different levels, this was sabotage of company business, theft, lying, and on top of all of that, she had the audacity to run"
Tommy sat in his chair and angrily picked up his telephone.
"I'm going to kill her"
"Hey. If her punishment gets out of control, you WILL answer to me"
"Are you going to take care of it, Arthur? As it stands, you won't even smack her. She's bratting out and you pull her into a hug?! You'd have put me over your knee for far less" Thomas challenged "Or should we talk about the fact that you took John out back the other day just for planning the wrong route?"
"I can't just hit her. She's a girl"
"Well, I can. She's my ward, and more importantly, she's a Shelby. She should be held to the same rules and standards as anyone else in this house. And if you're not going to help, you could at least make sure you don't stand in my way"

Arthur left the room fuming, upset that Tommy had called him out for spoiling their sister. Tommy spoiled her too. He was far too quick to give her whatever she wanted. If money could buy it and Ada wanted it, she would have it. Hardly a day went by when he didn't buy her one present or another, however small. He'd personally clear the neighborhood football field so she could play with her friends, and he'd leave his most trusted men to guard the pitch. He was quite protective of her.

Tommy picked up his phone, meaning to call Freddy to inform him of his sister's status. There were only a handful of places that Ada would dare seek refuge. And all of them knew to call him immediately.

He was newly upset by his brother trying to shift the blame for how spoiled Ada was. How dare he? Arthur was quick to undercut what little discipline Tommy tried to administer. Arthur who would make excuses for her misbehavior, "Let me talk to her", he'd often say, then proceed to give her a literal slap on the wrist where Tommy would've tanned her hide. Or he'd send her upstairs with five or six real swats, only to put her in a corner for ten minutes. Sometimes he would give her chores to do, but he would always join in so that she didn't feel bad. Arthur literally could not stand their sister's discomfort, and it often meant she could manipulate her way out of punishments for serious offenses, just by reporting them to Arthur herself. Or Tommy would find her hovering around Arthur all day, hoping that her punishment would fall to him once discovered.

A/N: Officially at a dead end with this, please come back for random Mid-month updates as I figure the story out.