The Girl and The Gangster
Summary: After being turned down from every secretarial role in Birmingham, Alice becomes desperate. Unable to provide for her sick mother, herself and more importantly, her young child, she takes a chance on joining the Shelby Company ltd. But when she runs into a familiar face, her whole world comes crumbling down around her.
Chapter Seventeen
With everything that had been going on, nobody noticed Nora as she stepped into the bar and like Alice's other sibling, she had already had a fair amount to drink. She ordered another drink and watched her sister for a moment as she danced in the middle of the floor, laughing as she was spun round and around. Nora took her drink and sat at a free table, her coat rested over her knee and her eyes scanning the room for a familiar face. When she laid eyes on Michael, she raised her glass towards him and got the same in return.
"Alice didn't think you were going to make it." He said as he sat in front of her.
"I didn't think I was either, but I was already in my evening attire and I thought, why not?" she sipped at her gin, wincing at the sour taste; it tasted nowhere near as lovely as sherry.
"When she sees you, she'll be so happy." Michael looked over at his wife, a warm smile crossing his face as he watched her dance without a care in the world.
Nora watched her sister, her head tilted upwards as she rested her fist below her chin. "Who is that man she's dancing with? Doesn't it make you jealous?"
He raised a brow at his sister-in-law and shook his head. "That's her brother on her father's side."
"Yes, she mentioned him. Danny." Nora nodded slowly and dropped her head so that she could get a better look at him. "I don't see any family resemblance."
"Lucky Alice," Michael commented as he lifted his glass, "I'll send Alice over to you when she eventually tires. But I doubt she will, she wants another drink." He stood up and went to walk away when he felt Nora's hand on his.
"Don't leave just yet, I don't know anyone else here."
She pulled the same sad face that Alice always pulls when he has to say goodbye. It was hard to reject, especially when he noticed how much she looked like his wife. "Fine, just until Alice comes over." He turned his attention back to his wife; he knew that she'd go looking for him when she realised she didn't have another stout.
Nora watched how Michael watched Alice; he was so protective of her and it made her miss her own husband. He wasn't the best husband in the world, and she had been a widow for a while, but she wanted someone like Michael. It could've been the mix of the sherry she had earlier with the gin, but she started to want Michael. He wasn't her usual type, but there was a handsomeness to him that she was suddenly starting to discover. She was going to test his loyalties, she didn't know when, but she craved his attention and the only person's happiness she cared about was her own.
"How about we have a dance? Shall we join them?" she had already stood up before Michael could give his answer.
He looked up at her with a raised brow; he knew that Nora was a bit strange, but he didn't see any harm in taking her up on the offer. If it was a way to distract Alice from her maniac of a brother, then he would do it.
"Fine, what's the harm?"
It was the first time in her life that she had saw Danny genuinely happy and she blamed herself for part of that. She should've tried harder to be a sister to him long before now. Alice couldn't change the past, but she could let him know how she felt about him now. Maybe he needed to hear it.
"You know, I am really pleased that you came. It took a lot for you to step into Shelby territory."
"You're not my enemy, you know that don't ya?" he watched her as she thought about her response. "I'm telling you now, you ain't the enemy."
"I just happened to be married to the enemy." She stated.
"Michael, I don't like the fella, but I never heard of him before I met you again. It's that cousin of his, he always thinks he's smarter than people like us."
"I'm not going to start a row with you." She shook her head and stopped dancing for a moment to give her brother a squeeze.
"Why are you hugging me?" he patted her on the back, eventually resting his head on hers.
"Because I want to. I think you need it."
Alice had no idea how right she was, it was just a shame that things changed in the blink of an eye.
From the corner of his eye, Danny could see Michael with another woman. To him, the woman was dancing too close to the married man and he wasn't going to let his sister be Michael's fool. "Wasn't Michael supposed to be getting you a drink?"
"Oh yes, I forgot about that, I was having too much fun with you." She let go of him and stared up at him, her brow furrowing as she followed his stare. "What're you looking at?"
"Just you wait here." He barged before storming over to Michael.
"Danny!" she called out as she chased after him, but by the time she caught up, he already had a grip of Michael's arm. She looked at her husband's angry face and felt a deep pit in her stomach.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Michael pushed Danny off him and straightened himself out.
"Do you think you're going to mess around on my little sister? You've got another thing coming to you, mate." He went to punch Michael, but he was too quick for Danny.
"Are you having a laugh? She's Alice's sister!" he regretted blurting it out when he saw Alice's face drop as she emerged from behind her brother. Danny didn't know and his face said it all.
"Alice's sister?" he turned around and stared down at Alice, towering over her. "You had a sister and you never told me?"
"She's my mother's daughter, I didn't think it was relevant. I was going to tell you, I swear. I just never had the right moment…" She was trying her best to explain herself, but the more she kept rambling, the angrier Danny got.
"And when did you come on the scene? What're you looking for? Money?" he said as he locked eyes with his sister's sister.
"Right, lay off her." Michael blocked Nora from Danny's view and held his hands up. "What're you even playing at?"
"You know, I bet you were just waiting to drop that bomb into my lap, weren't you, you weasel?" he took a step closer to Michael until their faces were barely inches apart. "You're just like your ma, pure gypsy scum."
They had attracted a crowd, but neither of them had noticed. They were ready for a fight and neither one of them was going to back down. They kept their eyes fixated on each other, trying to read what the other was going to do next. Michael was furious, nobody disrespected his family and got away with it. He spat in Danny's face and while he was distracted, he raised his fist to strike him, but Nora gripped onto his arm and used all the strength she had to stop him. It gave Danny enough time to wipe the spit from his face and gift Michael with a hit of his own, straight across the jaw. It horrified Alice to watch her husband take a blow like that and when Danny motioned to hit him again, she gripped onto his arm, hoping that he would stop. But he didn't realise that it was her that grabbed him; his attention was still on Michael. With one arm and his eyes still on Michael, he pushed her onto the ground. Luckily, Arthur broke her fall and more than likely stopped the baby she was carrying from getting hurt. But seeing his wife lying on the floor sparked something inside Michael and he was ready for blood.
Nobody was strong enough to hold Michael back, not even Finn and Tommy combined, when he broke from their clutches, he struck Danny as hard as he possibly. Over and over again until he too was on the floor, his nose bloodied and his shirt partially torn. Michael stood over him, ready to kick him while he was down but Alice was the one to stop him as she got back onto her feet and pulled him away from her brother.
"Enough! Both of you, enough." She was shaken and her lips trembled. She stared back at Michael as the fury disappeared from his face. "Nora, go out onto the street and tell Johnny to take you to our house."
Nora stepped over to her booth and picked up her coat before taking the key from Alice's hand and making herself scarce.
"Are you okay?" Michael placed his hands on her face, checking her over quickly with his eyes. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." She nodded at him and turned her face away from his caress. Alice held her hand out towards Danny, willing to put his accident behind her but he wasn't willing to put her secret behind him.
He got up without her help and wiped the blood from his nose. He didn't look at anyone else but Alice because she had hurt him more than Michael had. "You could've told me about your sister. You chose not to. You'd rather keep it a secret because of what reason?"
"Because I didn't want you to get hurt. Because I'm the only one you've got left and I didn't want you to feel like you were outcasted." She wrapped one arm around her midsection and placed her hand over her mouth. "I should've told you."
"Yeah, you should've because I'm sure you've told everyone else. And guess what, that and that alone makes me outcasted. You're not the only family I've got, I've made my own family with Theresa and I've got the kin of our father's kin." He tipped his head back and took in a deep breath, holding it before he said, "I am sorry that I knocked you down, I didn't mean that and I'm glad you're not hurt but when January comes and that shipment's ready to leave my docks," he watched her face drop, all he could do was shake his head at her, "stay the fuck away."
She watched her brother walk out of the pub, all the work she had put in to rekindle their relationship was blown up and she could blame only herself. Had this of happened to her a few months ago, she would've crumbled but this city had changed her, her skin was thicker, and she could take the hit. Alice looked over her shoulder at Michael and let out a quiet sigh. "I think it's time we all called it a night."
He couldn't sleep, the blood was still pumping through him and the image of Alice on the floor kept flashing into his mind. At least she was sleeping soundly, and she was in no pain, it didn't stop him from wanting to rip Danny's head off. He heard the faint call of his son and it made those nasty feelings retract from the surface. He got out of bed quietly and tiptoed towards Johnny's room. He peered in to see his son sat upright, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands.
"Is everything okay Johnny?"
"I had a bad dream." He said meekly.
Michael stepped into the room and sat by his son's side. He stroked the back of his head delicately and took in his sad face. "It's only a dream, whatever it was, it wasn't real." He pulled him close and buried his nose into his son's hair, Johnny's arms hung around his neck as he tried to calm himself down.
"Dad?"
"Yes?" he looked down at his pleading eyes, a small smile crossing his mouth.
"Can I have a glass of water?"
Michael nodded and motioned for Johnny to lie down. Once he was back underneath the sheets, he tucked the boy in again. "I'll only be a minute, okay? Try to go back to sleep."
He tried to be as quiet as possible as he made his way down the stairs. Nora was sleeping in the living room and he didn't want to wake her. But as he opened to door, he saw that she wasn't asleep; for her the party was continuing. Nora had found a bottle of whiskey and had a cigarette hanging from her lips as she danced around the room. Michael raised a brow and attempted to get into the kitchen without her noticing.
"Michael, come join me! I have plenty of drink left." She said sloppily, almost throwing half of the bottle around herself as she swayed towards him.
"I'm alright." He said bluntly. He lifted a clean glass and filled half of it with water.
"What're you doing up?" Nora leaned on the counter, her robe slipping halfway down her shoulder.
"Johnny needed some water." He went to head back upstairs but Nora was by the door in an instant, leaning against the frame provocatively. "What're you doing?"
"I was thinking, you know, when we were dancing together? I need a man like you. They way you protected Alice, I've never had that in my life," she sauntered towards him and placed her hand on his chest and gazed into his eyes, "and I crave it."
"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?" when she batted her eyelashes at him, he rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "I love Alice."
"I love her too… But I love me more and I think you would too." Nora pressed her mouth to Michael's before he had the chance to reject her.
He appalled by her but was frozen. He pushed her away from him, hard enough to make his point but not enough to make her fall. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" she pulled her robe over her exposed shoulder and pushed her hair from her face.
"If you thought anything of your sister you wouldn't have done that. I told you, I love Alice, I don't want anyone else." He stepped into the hallway, ready to close the door on her. "Be gone by the morning."
Alice had heard everything and when she heard Michael come back up the stairs, she climbed back into bed. This was what her mother was talking about and that was the test to see if Michael was going to be the one to betray her. She didn't doubt him, but she was still proud that he didn't take the chance. She would deal with Nora another day; she didn't have the energy to destroy another relationship.
"Why are you awake?" he closed their bedroom door and folded his arms across his chest.
"I thought I heard Johnny." She pulled the covers back and patted the space beside her.
"You did, he had a nightmare. I went to get him a glass of water, but he was asleep by the time I got back upstairs." He sat beside her, he wanted to tell her about Nora, but he figured that she had already dealt with enough tonight. He was surprised when Alice climbed onto his lap, her hands planted on his arms. "What're you doing?"
"I heard what happened downstairs and I will sort her out another day," she kissed his jaw and trailed them down his neck, "right now, I'll show you the reason why you'll never stray from me."
Michael woke up alone, the sunlight hitting him right in the eyes as he sat up. He could smell whatever Alice was cooking from upstairs and as soon as the smell hit him, his stomach roared with hunger. Once he was dressed, he stepped into the kitchen to see Johnny playing with his toys at the table and Alice standing over the stove. There were no signs of Nora, he didn't know if she had left of her own accord or if Alice kicked her out before anyone else woke up, he didn't care.
"Good morning." Michael said as he kissed Johnny on the top of his head.
"Morning dad." Johnny replied without even looking up from his toy car.
He stepped over to Alice and wrapped his arms around her. "What're you cooking?"
"Sausages, eggs and bread. I thought you'd be starving after last night." She smirked as she glanced over her shoulder at him. Alice closed her eyes when he placed a kiss on her cheek and rested herself against his weight. "Can you do me a favour?"
"Anything."
"Will you take Johnny to school before you head to the office?"
"Is everything okay? You're not sore from the fall, are you?" Michael started to panic and when he turned her around to look at him, she smiled at him.
"No, I'm not sore. I'm just exhausted. I only got up because you and Johnny needed fed before you left the house." She kissed him quickly and turned back to the stove. "When I'm feeling up to it, I'm going to speak with Tommy about last night. I don't want what happened between us and Danny to affect this deal. There's too much at stake."
"Don't be worrying about it, just go back to bed." He turned to the table and took his seat beside Johnny. He watched Alice as she served their breakfast and although she had seemed like she was fine, he could tell that underneath it all, she was worried that she had lost her brother and it was through no fault of her own; it was all Michael's fault, but he was determined to fix this.
A:N Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's took me a while to get it out. Do you think Danny can bring himself to talk to Alice again? What about Nora, can Alice forgive her? I have a lot planned for Nora, this is her rock bottom so the only way is up. Thank you so much for reading, let me know your thoughts!