Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Peaky Blinders characters, only the ones I have created.

A/N: Just a forewarning that I changed Jo's name to Kara... This will be explained later on!

CHAPTER 2

"Come on, Daniel, they're closing soon for the day," I yelled and knocked on his door again rapidly.

"Alright, alright," he shouted and came out. He wore a suit but without the jacket and he had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up. His hair was slicked back like always.

"Time to place a bet."

We walked our way to Watery Lane in silence except for the soft clicking of my heels on the sidewalk.

We knew what to do after gathering enough information the day before at the Garrison.

I smiled upon remembering our conversation with the infamous Shelby brothers.

"So, you're the Peaky Blinders."

Arthur had smirked at that. "See that, Thomas, the lady's heard of us already."

"We're bloody famous," John had laughed. It was clear that they already had a bit too much to drink before coming here.

Thomas had just stared at me with that unwavering look of his. "You want to place a bet, come by tomorrow at Watery Lane."

"Kara and I will be there," Daniel had answered and then, being the proper gentleman he was, had at that point stuck out his hand to the head of the Shelby's – because there was no doubt that this man, without being the oldest, was clearly the leader.

"Daniel Kelly."

At that point Shelby had pulled his eyes off me to shake the hand held out to him and with a nod he said:

"Thomas Shelby."

Thomas Shelby. He was an intriguing man – behind those blue eyes I could sense a storm brewing, but he managed to keep a straight face at all times.

Daniel opened the door before me and we stepped into a large room that was full of people shouting at each other, people sitting at desks and scribbling down names or counting shillings.

On one side of the room was a large chalkboard and John stood in front of it with a chalk in his hand he was writing the odds of the horses on the board.

He looked different when he was sober, more alert and focused on the job. We moved to a table up front where there was one other person placing a bet.

When it was our turn, I did the talking.

I was wearing a dark blue dress of the softest material I had, my lips were red and my hair was up.

I smiled at the young man at the table and I could see his mouth drop. Daniel sniggered.

"Hi, we'd like to place a bet," I said, dropping a small bag of coins in front of him.

He gulped, his eyes going over my legs before stumbling to get the bag open and to count the contents.

I placed a hand on the table and leaned forward a little. "We do have a teensy question, however."

The boy looked up again and I did pity him at that moment – he looked as if this was his first day on the job. "Yes, Miss?"

"Now, we favour one horse in particular," I continued.

"Monaghan Boy."

Daniel had crossed his arms and seemed more interested in John's writing on the wall.

"But what we would like to know is how many times Monaghan Boy has raced before."

The boy swallowed. "Eh, I don't know, Miss. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say,-"

I gave him a pointed look. "Surely, that's not such a strange question."

From the corner of my eye I could see someone coming our way – the smell of smoke and something else, something dark and mysterious, drifted over.

"Is there a problem?" The head of the Shelby's asked, looking down at the boy.

He was dressed formidably as always and his cap pulled low over his head so when he looked down, his eyes were shadowed.

I straightened up and noticed Daniel had walked over to where John was standing to get a closer look at the board.

Feeling the young boy shouldn't be punished for something I asked, I quickly said:

"We were just wondering how many races Monaghan Boy has done, Mr. Shelby."

His blue eyes focused on me, an eyebrow raised. "Does it matter, Mrs. Kelly?"

I refrained from telling him I wasn't Mrs. in fact but decided to wait.

"Come on now, Mr. Shelby, let's not play games with each other here. We both know that it does matter."

Shelby didn't respond, instead, he considered me, a calculated look in his eyes.

"I know that there was a sort of powder trick done on the horse," I teased, my voice making it clear that I didn't believe in such nonsense.

There was a hint of a smile on the man's face, making my heart skip a beat. "Times are hard. People need a reason to bet."

I crossed my arms and taking a step forwards, I softly smiled.

"Mr. Shelby, you and I both know how the races will go." His eyes followed my movements.

"Monaghan Boy will win his first race. And then the next time you do the powder trick he will win again and the whole of Small Heath will be betting on the horse. And then the third time the whole of Birmingham will be betting on it. A thousand quid on the magic horse."

His eyes stayed on mine, blue and piercing and my eyes dropped to his lips for a second.

"And then the horse will lose."

Thomas waved the young boy off who scurried away quickly. Thomas grabbed a cigarette and offered me one which I accepted.

After lighting it, I asked: "Tell me, Mr. Shelby. Do you have permission from Billy Kimber to fix races?"

"Are you working for Billy Kimber?" he countered just a beat later. I shook my head, trying not to show my clenched fists at the mention of that man.

"Billy Kimber hasn't heard of me yet. Now, do you want to place a bet or not?" I didn't miss the yet in that sentence.

So, he knew Billy Kimber would not be pleased with what he was doing and he did it anyway.

I blinked at him, taking a drag off my cigarette.

He sighed. "This will be Monaghan Boy's first race."

I smiled. "Then we will."

He glanced down at the paper. "Alright, two pounds it is on Monaghan Boy for Mrs. and Mr. Kelly."

"No," I said.

He glanced up, raising an eyebrow and taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Ms and Mr. Kelly," I explained. "Daniel is my brother."

I wanted to see his reaction, to see if this pleased him or, well, I just wanted to see any emotion at all, really.

He blinked at me and took another drag of his cigarette between his finger and thumb before nodding and dotting it down. Then he called out: "Arthur!"

Upon seeing us, his older brother was quick to come over. "Well, if it isn't our lovely Irish guests." He gave me a big smile showing off his teeth.

Tommy ignored this and said: "Go get John, why don't you, Arthur. I think we should give our guests a proper welcome and buy them a drink."

A/N: Thanks for reading!