Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter even though it didn't deserve it. I feel before this begins I should apologise profusely for the downright shittiness of the last chapter! But hopefully this one won't be as bad!
It was three pints and eight shots later that Allie Harding began to realise just how bad Pete was at hiding his annoyance. It hadn't taken her long to work out that Dunham men were far from being subtle when it came to their emotions but she hadn't been expecting this.
"What's got 'is knickers twisted?" Dave frowned, leaning against the bar behind her and making her jump.
"Take a guess," she snorted, her voice barely audible over the roar of the bar.
"Well you're 'ere so I'm taking it you didn't 'ave a barney," the dark haired man looked at her pensively. "The only other things that can piss him off more than that are getting fired, Hammers losing or the yank,"
"Third time lucky," Allie laughed and then turned so she was facing him. "Seriously, what's the deal with them? I know that Pete can be…" she glanced over to where he was currently shouting at Swill a little too loud over their game of pool. "Extreme but that doesn't warrant Shannon hating him as much as she does,"
"You don't know what 'appened last year, do ya?" Dave shook his head at her. Allie didn't answer, she just stared back at him too scared to ask what had happened but too curious to tell him she didn't want to know.
"Pete got into some pretty serious shit last year," Dave lowered his voice. "GSE took on the Reds last Christmas, just as the season was winding down. Now the Red's 'ave this front man, total fuckin' nutter…and I mean I've seen this bloke dive into meets with a fuckin' knife the size of Texas."
Allie shuddered lightly and fought the urge to tell him she didn't need to know the rest. Fuck it, she didn't want to know the rest.
"Anyway, Hammers were playing Man City and it got fuckin' fierce. We won 4-2 so it was a blindin' match but on the train 'ome this twat Jimmy, he's the 'ead of the Reds…he starts getting' a bit too wound up." Dave glanced over at Pete and shook his head lightly. "Pete was still pretty new to the GSE then, he didn't know when to back off so he starts shooting his mouth off, deliberately pissing this bastard off and believe me when I say that Jimmy ain't the type of bloke you want to piss off."
"So what happened?" Allie almost jumped when the words left her mouth, as if her own voice had somehow scared her.
"Same thing that always happens," Dave snorted. "It kicked off…Pete went straight for Jimmy not realising that the fat fuck 'ad a knife,"
Allie's breath caught in her throat and she bit her lip so hard she could taste blood.
"See Jimmy might be a fat old cunt but he's proper old school as far as firms go," Dave met her eyes. "As in he was about back in the same day as Pete and Steve's old man,"
"Pete's dad was in the GSE?" Allie blinked in surprise.
"In it?" Dave scoffed. "Sweetheart, he started all this. 'Ad it not been for Michael Dunham, the GSE wouldn't exist,"
She would never say it out loud but in her head, Allie added yet another reason to the list of things that made her hate Pete's dad. She felt guilty that the guy had died but to be honest when he had this kind of reputation she was pretty certain that she wouldn't want to meet him anyway.
"So Jimmy starts cracking on about Mike, getting in Pete's face, really pissing him off," Dave shook his head at the memory. "You know how much Pete hated his old man…and it 'ad nothing to do with the GSE or the beatings or nothin' like that. It was all down to the fact that if it ever came down to it, Mike would 'ave chosen Steve over Pete every time and they both knew it. So they start fighting and I mean seriously beating the shit outta each other,"
Dave cast his eyes downward at the memory and stared at the discoloured pub carpet as though it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.
"We knew one of 'em was gonna end up getting killed so we did the only thing we could do…"
"You called Steve," Allie nodded slowly.
"We thought we was doin' the right thing," Dave looked at her seriously. "We thought that if Pete would listen to anyone it would be Steve."
"So what happened?" the blonde half whispered.
"Steve showed up and Pete went apeshit," Dave snorted. "Steve kept trying to pull 'im away but Pete was avin' none of it. So Jimmy starts taunting 'em but where Steve knew to just tell 'im to fuck off, Pete got worked up again. None of us really saw how it happened…one minute Jimmy was a good distance away from 'em, next second he's on top of Steve with a knife pressed against his throat and Pete's lying on the ground with a fuckin' hole in his leg,"
Allie felt sick as she remembered tracing that scar with her fingertips when they were in bed, she remembered laughing as he fed her some bullshit story about how it had happened during a football match when he was a kid.
"Pete's lyin' there and he knows that if he doesn't move Jimmy would kill Steve," Dave shurgged. "There was no 'if' about it. So he does the only thing he can do…"
Allie shook her head and prayed that he would just stop talking so she wouldn't have to beg him.
"He grabbed the knife out of Jimmy's hands and threw it in his face," Dave felt a surge of sickness overtake him as he recalled it. "Jimmy almost lost his eye but it meant Steve got saved."
"But that doesn't…"Allie shook her head. "That doesn't explain why Shannon hates Pete…"
"Steve walked away from the firm," Dave looked at her and sighed. "He gave it all up for Shannon and in one second, Pete dragged him back in,"
Allie nodded slowly as it began to sink in. Shannon didn't hate Pete because of who he was, it was because of what he had the power to do. Pete was the one person who could get Steve back into all this.
"See as much as Steve loves Shannon, he'd do anything for Pete,"
"Even come back to this," Allie finished for him and he nodded.
"No one talked about it afterwards," Dave carried on. "Pete and Steve didn't talk for almost a month and now every time Shannon's in the room with 'im it's like the temperature drops. Silly bitch don't realise that even if it was Pete's fault it kicked off, he saved Steve's life that night,"
"Enjoyin' the little history lesson, are we?"
Allie jumped and spun round, gulping audibly when she came face to face with Bovver, his potentially handsome face marred by the all too familiar scowl he wore whenever she was around.
"Fuckin' ell Bov, ease up," Dave rolled his eyes. "I ain't tellin' 'er nothin' Pete wouldn't 'ave said to her before,"
"Well you should 'ave said so," Bovver smirked. "I've got some right ol' stories about your boy back in the day," he looked at her disdainfully. "Y'know, before you met 'im and turned 'im into a pussy,"
Allie glared at him darkly and opened her mouth to snap back at him but someone's hand on her shoulder interrupted her.
"Oi, oi gorgeous," Terry winked. "It's been a while since I saw you in 'ere," he looked her up and down and whistled. "Beautiful as always….so what's it gonna be tonight?"
"Uh…" she glanced to her left where Pete was still playing pool with the rest of the boys, his laugh was too loud, his smile was too wide. Everything about him was so false and it made her stomach ache. One of the things she loved about Pete was that he never tried to hide how he was feeling, even if he was pissed off with her. She'd never seen him like this before and what was worse was she didn't know what to do to help him.
"Actually, I'm not that thirsty," she mumbled, obviously not caring that she'd just spent a good twenty minutes queuing up to get a drink.
"Allie," Dave frowned, reaching for her arm as she walked away from them.
"I'm fine," she smiled, putting on her own little act. "I just need some air,"
Bovver looked pretty pleased by that and so stepped aside to let her though but she made a point of banging her shoulder into his chest anyway.
Casting a quick look over at Pete, she assessed that even if she set of a nuclear bomb as she left he wouldn't notice. He was too caught up in whatever was going on in his brain to notice her slipping out for a few minutes.
A quick yank on the door handle brought the cold rushing back to her skin and she shuddered, suddenly wishing she'd made a detour to the table just to pick up her coat. But that would have raised questions she wasn't particularly willing to answer at this moment in time, she didn't have the energy to lie to Pete about why she was upset.
Over and over the image of Pete lying on the floor with blood pouring from his leg as he reached for the knife assaulted her head. It wasn't that she was so naïve she didn't know how dangerous the GSE was, but she hadn't thought that…
"Cheer up," a voice called to her. "Never know, it might not happen,"
Looking up, Allie spotted a dark haired guy leaning against the bench on the opposite side of the door, a half smoked cigarette dangling from his fingers.
He didn't look like the kind of guy who should be at the Abbey, his tall frame swamped by a smart looking suit, his dishevelled hair falling into his eyes as he smiled politely at her.
"I'm sorry?" Allie shook her head.
"Its Christmas eve," he shrugged. "If someone as pretty as you isn't smiling then there can't be much hope for the rest of us, can there?"
Allie laughed and shook her head before looking up at the eerily clear sky and tracing the patterns of the stars with her emerald eyes.
"I was on my way to a party when my car broke down," the stranger pointed to a posh looking black car which had been pulled haphazardly onto the curb. "My friends are being shit and not answering their phones so it looks like I'm stuck here for the night," he looked at the doors to the pub and then back at her. "Should I be scared?"
"Terrified," Allie told him plainly and he making him laugh.
"I thought as much," he nodded, stubbing out his cigarette and leaning forward to offer his hand. "I'm Patrick,"
"Allie," she answered, shaking his hand and smiling. He seemed like a nice enough guy and if anyone knew what it was like to feel like an outsider in this pub, it was Allie Harding so talking to this lost cause made her feel like she was doing her good deed for the season.
"So Allie," Patrick rubbed his hands together and leant back against the bench. "You've got about half an hour before the AA come to get me to clue me in on why you look so sad,"
"I look sad?" she frowned. "Damn, all that money on drama classes…"
"Boyfriend troubles?" he cocked his head at her.
"How'd you guess?" she laughed.
"Look at you," Patrick snorted. "The chances of a girl like you being single are about as high as a pig flying over my head right now with a bag of cash in its mouth,"
"Thanks," Allie laughed. "I think,"
"It was a definite compliment," Patrick grinned. "So come on, if you can't talk to a stranger on Christmas Eve then who can you talk to?"
"It's a long story," Allie told him with a roll of her eyes.
"Ooooh, goody," Patrick winked at her. "Those are my favourite."
Allie laughed and shook her head, shoving her hands into her jean pockets in an attempt to keep them warm.
"Come on," he prompted her. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours and I take it from a guy in a suit with a fucked up car, mine will be much funnier."
"You really want to know?" she quirked an eyebrow.
"I need something to pass the time," he smirked. "And I think those messages on the fag packets are finally starting to sink in," he held up his packet of cigarettes which had an ever subtle 'smoking can cause low sperm count' label on the side of it.
"Alright," Allie sighed, already thinking up something to tell him so she wouldn't have to divulge the real truth. "But just remember that you asked for it…"
"Hey Pete,"
The man in question purposefully ignored the sickly sweet voice as he lined up his shot on the pool table and pulled his arm back.
"Pete?"
Gritting his teeth, he tensed and got ready to surge forward, determined to pot the red in the corner.
"Pete!"
The voice came again just as he took the shot and he winced as the tip of the queue scuffed the table top, sending the white over to the other side where it knocked and then rested uselessly against the wood.
Spinning on his heel, he looked at Georgie with unhindered disgust as she crossed her legs, pulling her tight red skirt even further up her thighs.
"What?" he snapped.
"Nothing," the brunette cooed, wrapping an over straightened lock of hair around her finger. "Just…as its Christmas and everything…"
She cast her eyes upward where a string of obviously plastic mistletoe was hanging from the ceiling amongst the tinsel and lights.
"You're fuckin' jokin' ain't ya?" Pete laughed. "Go bother some other mug, I ain't interested,"
He caught the look of hurt on her face before he turned back to the game but didn't care; Georgie was like one of those horny dogs that ran around the park having a go at anything that cast a shadow. If you weren't firm with them, they started to think they actually had a shot.
"Well I could go and chat to that nice bloke outside," Georgie tapped a long fake fingernail against her chin.
"You go do that," Pete told her uninterestedly as he watched Ike wrack up the balls for the next game.
"I would except last time I went out there, he was getting awfully cosy with Allie," she grinned when she saw Pete freeze. "Right little social butterfly your girlfriend, ain't she?"
Pete glared at her and saw the girl gulp, perhaps understanding finally that he was in no mood to be messed with.
"You 'ad better be 'aving me on," Pete warned her.
"Go see for yourself," Georgie advised him with a smug nod towards the doors.
Pete stared at her for a long moment, his mouth opening and closing a few times as though he was fighting to find something to say.
"Pete?"
He turned at the sound of Swill's voice and saw the younger, slightly heavier man staring at him in confusion.
"What's goin' on mate?" he frowned. "Are we playin' or what?"
Pete shook his head, cursing under his breath as he forcefully dropping his queue back onto the pool table and began weaving through the crowds, ignoring the shouts of the boys that followed him.
A quick glance at the bar told him that wherever Allie might be she definitely wasn't where he'd left her ten minutes ago.
"Fuckin' great," he muttered under his breath as he stormed towards the door. People in the Abbey knew him by reputation more than anything and so were fairly quick to step out of his way; despite being only 22 years old Pete had managed to wrack up such a reputation around here than no one, not even the old school hammer lads would dare piss him off when he was in this bad a mood.
But none the less he found himself fighting to get through the sheer density of the crowds as they shouted and cheered at nothing, spilling beer all over the floor as they stumbled and fought to regain their balance.
The stress of it all was causing what sounded like a ticking inside his head, a rhythmic beat which kept reminding him of why he was in such a shit mood in the first place.
"Fuckin' move will you?" he snapped at a dark haired guy who could have been no older than 19. Instantly the kid spun around to snap back at him, his eyes widening when he realise who he was talking to.
Wordlessly, he stepped out of the way and allowed Pete to finally reach the door. He yanked it open with a whoosh and ignored the slurred complaints that he was letting the cold in, stepping out onto the pavement and shivering heavily, suddenly wishing he'd thought to bring his jacket.
He didn't have to look hard for Allie, she was only standing a few feet away from him, chatting animatedly to some twat in a suit.
Her green eyes sparkled when Mr Suit said something to her and she laughed, the light giggle filling the air and momentarily banishing the hurt and the anger from Pete's mind.
Except then something happened with made the ticking noise inside his head come back with a vengeance, the sheer intensity of it almost making him stumble back from the scene in front of him.
Mr Suit had said something else, something too quiet for Pete to hear and it had caused Allie to frown before she moved to back up slightly. But she didn't get the chance to.
Because right at that moment even though all he could hear was the ticking in his head getting louder and louder, Pete watched as Mr Suit took a bold step forward and kissed Allie on the lips.
The ticking got louder again only this time when it seemed like it couldn't possibly get any louder without making his ear drums burst, Pete Dunham heard the bang that he almost positive had to be his last shred of patience and sanity snapping in half.
"So this boyfriend of yours," Patrick cleared his throat and looked at the stunning blonde in front of him, watching as she tucked a strand of soft looking hair behind her ear.
"Yeah?" Allie stared at the guy warily. "What about him?"
"Does he know how lucky he is?" he asked with a smirk as she blushed.
"I think we both have a fair idea of how lucky we both are," Allie made sure to phrase it carefully so as not to give this guy any ideas.
"Oh so it's like that," he laughed, rubbing his chin. "Fair enough, just wondered if he knew that's all. Girls like you are hard to come by these days,"
"Girls like me?" Allie laughed. "You've known me for all of about eight minutes, I could be a complete bitch for all you know."
"I doubt that." Patrick shook his head and looked at her seriously. "I mean you're smart, you're quick witted, and you're beautiful…"
"I'm with someone," Allie carried on for him, making him laugh.
"I know," Patrick shook his head. "I'm not trying anything on, just making a point,"
"Well that's nice of you," Allie nodded slowly, suddenly wanting to go back inside. "Listen, I should get back to my friends but hey if you're cold and the AA aren't coming for a while then you should come in and join us," she pointed to the pub. "The beer isn't great and it's overcrowded but its better than freezing your balls off out here,"
Patrick didn't answer her this time, instead he took a quick step forward and shocked her by meeting her gaze head on.
"Actually, I'm quite happy out here."
Instantly his hand was on her shoulder, his cold and slightly chapped lips pressed against hers. It took all of a millisecond for Allie to shove him back, her small hands slamming against his chest with impressive strength.
"Ugh!" she cried, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
He was still smirking as he looked back at her, licking the faint taste of her lips off of his own and making her feel sick.
"Oh come on," Patrick rolled his eyes. "It's just a bit of fun, I mean where's your festive sp-…"
His sentence was cut short when a large beige object hurled past Allie's eyes and slammed straight into Patrick, knocking him to the floor with a painful thud.
"You fuckin' prick!"
Pete's voice boomed through the frosty air and made Allie flinch, her eyes glued to the scene at her feet as she watched her boyfriend raise his fist and slam it down hard onto Patrick's jaw.
"Pete!" she shouted, quickly breaking out of her reverie and reaching down to tug on his coat. "Stop it! He's not worth it,"
"What the fuck do you think you're doin' touching my girlfriend?" Pete hissed at the smaller man beneath him, ignoring her pleas and yanking hard on Patrick's collar. "I asked you a question you prick!"
"Maybe if you quit strangling me I might be able to answer," Patrick hissed out as he fought feebly to remove Pete's hands from his throat.
"Mate, you do not wanna be fuckin' smart mouthing me right now," Pete hissed. "Christ, Pete just let him go," Allie snapped. "Come on, please…"
"Yeah, Pete," Patrick smiled mockingly. "It was just one little kiss…of course if you hadn't come out who knows what would have…fuck!"
He shouted as Pete mercilessly slammed his fist down onto his nose, a small cracking noise filling the air and suggesting that it may have been broken.
"Pete!" Allie shouted, hitting his back. "That's enough, come on!"
"If you ever touch 'er again," Pete stood up and glared down at the smaller man, getting some satisfaction out of the fact that his poncy looking suit was now covered in blood. "I'll fuckin' kill you, do you understand?"
"How about you touch me again and I'll call the fucking police," Patrick shot back as he shakily pulled himself to his feet.
"Go ahead," Pete smirked taking another threatening step forward. "But make it a good phone call, coz you can take my word on it mate that it'll be the last thing you ever do."
"Gee, you weren't joking, were you?" Patrick snorted, looking at Allie. "You really are a lucky girl,"
Pete lurched forward again but luckily Patrick had the sense to put his hands up and start walking away.
"I'm gone, alright?" he laughed. "She's not worth it anyway,"
"You what?" Pete hissed after him.
"Hey!" Allie shouted, grabbing his shoulder. "Pete, come on, let it go for God sake,"
She had expected him to turn around and ask her if she was ok, to cup her face in his big roughened hands and brush his thumb over her lips in the same way he always did.
What Allie Harding was not expecting was the one reaction she got out of him.
"Don't touch me!" he snapped at her, yanking his arm away from her touch and glaring at her harshly.
"What?" she shook her head. "What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" he repeated. "Nothin' sweetheart, I'm sweet as a nut. I mean I 'ave to admit it stung a little bit to see my girlfriend all over some other bloke but I'll get over it."
"All over some other bloke?" Allie snorted. "Jesus, Pete ok, first of all he kissed me and you were there, you saw me shove him back!"
"Why were you out 'ere talking to 'im in the first place?" Pete demanded. "I told you to stay inside with me and the boys,"
"You told me?" she raised an eyebrow. "I don't have to tell you everything, do I? I mean what do you want? Some kind of Allie update every time I move?"
"No, it's not about that and you fuckin' well know it," Pete spat at her. "I come out 'ere and find you with some other bloke, what the fuck am I supposed to think?"
"You're supposed to think that I'm your girlfriend and that you know I would never do anything behind your back," Allie shouted, losing what was left of her temper. "I mean for fuck sake what is it with you and being jealous of everything with a shadow that talks to me? Why are you so constantly bloody paranoid? Are you cheating on me or something?"
"Oh fuckin' 'ell," Pete rubbed the back of his neck. "You're tellin' me that if you'd come out 'ere and seen me all over some other bird that you wouldn't 'ave gone apeshit and assumed the worst?"
"Of course I would," Allie laughed. "But I would have waited until you told me what was going on before I went psycho and started beating people up!"
"Oh fuckin' ell, you know what, I'm done with this," Pete shook his head and stormed past her.
"Done with what?" Allie spun around and stared at his retreating back angrily. "Done with what?" she repeated. "Pete, answer me!"
He kept walking down the road and against everything in her body telling him that he was being a complete child and to just let him get on with it, Allie ran after him, her feet pounding against the pavement, the heels of her boots occasionally catching on some ice and making her skid.
"Pete!" she snapped, her patience fraying as she reached out and almost knocked herself over by yanking on his jacket. "Stop walking away from me you idiot!"
"I ain't exactly in the mood for a cosy little chat right now, alright, Allie?" he shot back.
"Well tough," the blonde glared at him. "I get that you're pissed about what Shannon said earlier but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like shit or to do everything on your bloody grounds, alright? So just grow up and tell me what the hell is going on with you,"
"It's not about Shannon," Pete hissed, pausing and scrubbing his face with his hands. "Its…" he looked at her and shook his head. "Forget it,"
"No!" Allie half laughed. "For God sake, Pete this is me you're talking to. If you can't tell me then you are you going to talk to?"
"Christ, do you ever shut up?" Pete rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets as he crossed the road.
"Hey!" Allie shouted. "Listen you me, you arrogant little shit, I get that you're annoyed but having a go at me for something I haven't even done isn't the answer."
"Remember what you were saying a minute ago about not having to explain every little thing you do to me?" Pete smiled sarcastically, getting in her face. "It's a two way street darlin' so how about you go curl your hair or whatever it is posh birds do when they ain't deciding which of daddy's Mercs to take for a spin,"
Allie stared at him, her mouth hung open in shock as he shoved his hands back into his pockets and continued walking ahead of her, dodging the traffic island in the middle of the road and making his way to the other side.
"Bastard," she whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. "Ok," she called, loud enough for him to hear her. "Fine, you want to be a prick with no friends on Christmas Eve, go for it. I might go back and find Mr Suit and shag his brains out."
"Good for you," Pete shot back.
"Ahhhh!" Allie screamed, clenching her fists and wishing she had something to throw at him. "Will you stop being such a fucking child and tell me what's going on with you?"
He kept walking so with a deep breath, Allie sprinted ahead and moved around him so that she was blocking his path, not in the least bit surprised when he still continued walking, apparently in such a foul mood that he was willing to let her crack her head open on the pavement by falling backwards.
"Would you stop this?" she asked, keeping her eyes trained on his face as she fought to keep from tripping over her own feet.
"Stop what?" Pete frowned at her. "I told you I ain't the mood, just go home and I'll call you tomorrow,"
"No," Allie told him simply.
"Fuck, why does everything with you have to be a debate?" Pete snapped.
"And why does everything with you have to be a bloody fight?" she hit back. "I'm not walking back to the pub on my own so unless you want me to get raped and shredded by some crazed homeless guy in a Santa suit, I reckon you should quit acting like a twat and walk me back."
Pete snorted and shook his head at her, stepping around her small frame and carrying on onto the footpath, leaving her standing in the middle of the road.
"Fine," Allie shouted, shrugging and letting her arms fall down by her sides. "Fine, I'll just wait here for some kind of white knight, shall I?" she stepped onto the white lines and rocked back on her heels. "Let's just hope I don't get mown down in the mean time, huh?"
Pete stopped walking and looked at her, his eyebrows raised as he fought the urge to shout. God, she was annoying.
"Allie, get out of the road," he growled.
"Why?" she shrugged. "Its not like you give a damn about me so I'm just going to wait here and see what happens,"
"I said get out of the road," Pete snarled, stepping forward.
"And I said no," Allie smirked when his brows furrowed, a sure sign that he was pissed off. "What's the matter princess?" she raised an eyebrow. "Its not nice when the person you love ignores you, is it?"
Pete glanced down the road and saw a car coming towards them; instantly his heart began pounding and he shot his hand out, waiting for her to grab it.
"Allie," he shook his head. "I ain't fuckin' about anymore. Get out of the road,"
"Not until you tell me what's going on," she eyed his hand warily.
"Would you give up?" Pete shouted. "Fuckin' move will you?"
"They'll stop," she shrugged, gesturing blindly to the car which Pete seemed to think had gained speed.
"And what if they don't?" he demanded. "This isn't funny!"
"Oh come on," Allie laughed. "You're Pete Dunham…Mr. I-like-to-beat-people-up-and-play-the-hard-arse…surely you're not afraid of little old me getting hit by a car,"
"'Ave you lost your fuckin' mind?" Pete shouted. "Allie, move!"
"I told you, they'll stop!" she glanced at the car and felt her stomach lurch when she saw the driver pick up speed, obviously not having spotted her.
"Allie!" Pete shouted and grabbed her waist, yanking her out of the road and onto the footpath where he stared at her as though she was insane.
"Fuckin' kids!" the driver of the now immobile taxi shouted as he turned the corner.
"See," Allie smiled, dusting off her coat. "Told you they'd stop,"
"You think that's funny?" Pete glared at her. "You could 'ave been fuckin' killed!"
"Oh my God, he was nowhere near me," Allie rolled her eyes. "But that doesn't mean you're off the hook," she cupped his face in her freezing cold hands but he didn't seem to mind. "Pete, come on,"
He stared at the ground for a long moment before his blue eyes shot up to meet hers and she saw they were full of tears. Not tears of sadness though, but ones of pure anger, anger she could never remember seeing in him before.
"I'm nothin' like him," he choked out. "Nothin',"
"Your dad," Allie whispered. It was a statement and not a question so he didn't respond to it.
"I'd never hurt you," he told her, his voice fierce with honesty. "Ever…you know that, don't you?"
"What?" Allie frowned. "Pete, of course I know that," she brushed her thumb over his lips. "Baby, what's this about?"
He didn't answer her, instead he lowered his head down to hers and kissed her. It took Allie less than a second to start kissing him back, desperate to rid her lips of the taste of Mr Suit, her hand coming up to cup the back of his head as he deepened the kiss and swept his tongue over hers.
"I need you," he whispered into her mouth.
All Allie could do in return was nod, letting him lead her back to his flat, letting him press her against the door of the flat before falling inside, his touches gentle despite their trademark roughness as they pulled at her clothing, his lips tasting the skin underneath.
Allie cried out softly, lifting her head to kiss him as he pushed inside of her, his hands holding on to her making her forget that anything other than the two of them existed.
"I love you," she told him as he began to move, his eyes on hers. He didn't say it back but she knew it was because whatever was going on inside his head right then was too much for him to handle. Pete often got like this, he would close himself off mentally and so the only way of getting through to him was via touch, which right now as Allie wrapped her legs around him and pulled him deeper, she had no problem with.
It was God knows how many hours later when they were laying together, side by side panting into the faint dimness of the room when Pete finally spoke to her again.
"He started the firm," he told her as they faced each other, his hand coming up to push a strand of sweat dampened hair off of her face. "My old man,"
"I know," she told him back.
"The violence never ended at the match though," Pete ran his hand down her side. "Nothin' I ever did was good enough for him…he used to beat the hell outta me, outta mum. I'd watch 'er come downstairs in the morning a black eye or a bandage on her arm and I'd 'ave to sit there and say nothin'."
"Baby…" Allie shook her head and placed her hand on his cheek.
"I need you to know that that'll never be me," Pete pushed himself up and looked down at her. "I would never do that to-…"
He was cut off when Allie pushed herself up to his level and kissed him, closing her eyes tightly and willing him to feel, to know how much she loved him.
"I trust you with my life, alright?" she whispered as she pulled back. "I love you more than anything else in the world and I know better than anyone that you would never do that to me…to anyone for that matter,"
Her fingers drifted downward until they were over his tattoo on his heart.
"This is too big for that," she told him with a soft smile.
"You're still talking about the tattoo, right?" he raised a cocky eyebrow and dropped his head down to her shoulder as she laughed.
"You're such a gentleman," Allie giggled as he kissed her collarbone. "Did you know that?"
"I tell myself every day," Pete winked down at her, bending his head to kiss her again, stalling only when his phone rang.
"Bov?" Allie guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"Swill," Pete told her, rolling his eyes as he flipped his phone open. "What?"
"Oi," Swill shouted over the noise of the bar. "I know you're in a fuckin' foul mood but d'you fancy getting' your pansy arse back 'ere? It's just gone midnight which means you're due to get the Christmas morning round in,"
"Alright," Pete laughed. "Fuckin' ell, sit tight and I'll be there soon, eh?"
The phone went dead and he laughed again, knowing how impatient the boys were when it came to beer.
"Lemme guess," Allie fell back into the nest of pillows and stared up at him. "Its your round,"
"You know those boys too well," Pete snorted, lowering his body back down onto hers and kissing her.
"You have no idea how much that scares me," she mumbled in between kisses, smiling when he moved down to her neck. "Hey," she nudged his shoulder. "Its midnight,"
"Yeah?" Pete panted as he brought his face up to hers again. "So?"
"Merry Christmas," Allie told him with a laugh.
"Oh, right," he smirked. "Merry Christmas,"
Present day
Pete sat on the bench opposite what had once been the Bridget Abbey pub, staring at the piles of ash and rubble which ultimately served as the memories of his youth as the cold danced about him.
"Hey good lookin'," a voice broke through the frosty silence.
He didn't bother tearing his gaze away from the sight in front of him as Allie slid onto the bench next to him and placed her mitten clad hands on her lap.
"How'd you know I'd be 'ere?" Pete asked her quietly.
"I'm not going to lie," Allie cocked her head to the side. "You're getting pretty predictable in your old age, Dunham."
Pete smirked long enough for her to catch it though it bled off his handsome face just as fast as it had appeared.
"I'm sorry for pushing you back there," Allie shook her head and sniffed at the cold air. "I just…I wanted you to be able to come to me if…" she laughed. "God, just give me a shovel will you, that way I can just dig my own grave and be done with it."
She turned and sat cross legged on the bench, boldly reaching over and taking his hand in hers.
"I know that you're supposedly over everything that happened when you were younger," she brushed her thumb over his knuckles. "But that doesn't mean that getting bothered by it occasionally makes you weak or anything…I just," she sighed. "I just miss seeing you happy,"
"You think I'm not happy?" Pete frowned at her.
"Well not tonight," she shurgged. "Although that probably has more to do with the fact you have a wife who spends 90 of her time with her foot in her mouth than it does anything else…"
Pete laughed, a real laugh this time; one that gave her hope she hadn't completely screwed things up for Christmas.
"Come on," Allie tugged on his hand. "We've got beer, pizza and a room full of hooligans back home to keep an eye on,"
Pete stood up and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her softly as the snow fell gently about them, creating a kind of misted curtain which hid them away from the rest of the world.
"I love you," Pete told her as he pulled back, licking the taste of her off of his lips.
"I know," Allie smiled. "I love you, too."
They walked back to her car hand in hand, falling into comfortable conversation as they drove back to the house, neither of them willing to touch upon the subject of Michael Dunham any longer, a man who had managed to create just as much havoc in death as he had in life.
The smell of food and the heat from the fire greeted Pete as he stepped through the door with Allie behind him, the warmth soon banishing the cold from his skin.
"Ay, ay," Dave winked as he strode out of the kitchen and handed them each a beer. "We were wondering where you two 'ad got to,"
"Just went for a walk," Pete shrugged.
"So you found 'im down at the Abbey then?" Dave raised an eyebrow at Allie who merely laughed at the look on her husbands face.
"Told you you were getting predictable," Allie took a sip of her beer and almost spat it out when Pete grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder before carrying her into the kitchen where Lara, Harry and the rest of the boys were waiting.
It was in the moments like this that Pete Dunham found himself unable to believe that this truly was his life. It had almost slipped away from him once yet all because of the woman next to him, he had held on and gained everything he thought he never wanted which had turned out to be everything he couldn't live without.
The kitchen buzzed with the excitement of Christmas as the gang resigned themselves to the table, packs of cards, harder spirits and camera flashes breaking up the animated conversations making it feel like any other night in the now seemingly perfect night of Pete Dunham.
The only difference was that unbeknownst to any of them, it would be the last time they were all together.
Ooooh, check out that final line. You know what that means, don't you kids? Its about to get dark, so leave me some reviews to cheer me up before I go all manic depressive on everyone's arses. Pretty please?? xxxx