EAGLE EYES // Thomas Shelby

Chapter Nine

I sat down beside John in Thomas's house. He had called a meeting for everyone. All his family and a few of his friends. Hell, even Lizzie was there. She told me she hates him.

"Before I begin," Thomas started, looking at all of us. "I want to let you all know I made a mistake." I never heard of that. "I made a mistake and I want to apologize to all of you." he stood up and looked at everyone in the room. This was going to be a long speech.

"Arthur, you warned me about getting involved in Russian business." he looked towards his brother with an apologetic look. "And you were right." Arthur agreed. "I doubted your wife, for that i'm sorry." he finished his apology. "Linda, ive added three thousand here in the hope that you forgive me." He tossed Arthur money.

"Apology accepted." Linda sassed him as she took the money.

"Esme I doubted you as well," Thomas looked at John and his wife.

"Now John's got innocent lives on his conscience." Esme retorted. As she fucking should. "Ordinary working men," John cut her off.

"Yeah alright Esme, got it." John attempted to shut her up.

"No, she's right." Did I just hear that right? Thomas Shelby isn't... right? "You and Arthur are going to share that burden." Thomas threw money at the edge of the table. "But I hope the house you can buy with this can become a place of contemplation." Thomas said as his brother got up. "Perhaps redemption." ha ha ha.

"Charlie, for lost tools, dangerous goods and Curly's wise words." Thomas tossed money to his friend.

"Johnny, for board and lodgings." he tossed more money.

"Lizzie," he slid money her way, but she threw it back. She wasn't a whore.

"Michael," He ignored it. "For the killings." he slammed down money on the edge of the table, Polly was going to protest and everybody knew it. "5 for the cuttings, 5 for the shooting." Polly protested, making Thomas yell because he was interrupted. Who the hell cares if he was paying her kid to kill people? It was him. Not fucking her.

"Same thing with Tavi, aye?" He pointed at me when he was talking about Ada. "You have to figure it out your own fucking way." He yelled at Polly. I ignored the rest of his speech. My head was pounding like a motherfucker. His yelling didn't fucking help.

"Tavi," he threw money in my lap, taking me out of my trance. "Go get your brother from New York. You've done countless jobs for me that I never asked you to do. We would be here all day if I named them." he made eye contact with me. I took the money and put it in my coat pocket, then returned my gaze out the window. There was a bluejay that was absolutely gorgeous.

"The boat leaves the dock in an hour," Linda broke my silence. "We'll get the boat to New York, and it'll all be in the past." She said, attempting to sound happy about it. It was just a depressing theme. They said their goodbye's while I stood staring out the window, my head still pounding. Black dots entered my vision every once in a while. Especially if someone is speaking loudly. Side effects of a concussion.

"He told me that the chief constable of Birmingham has issued a warrant for your arrest." My eyes widened. "Murder, sedition, conspiracy to cause an explosion." now I was out of a trance. My gaze was focused solely on the words coming out of Thomas Shelby's mouth.

"John, they're coming for you as well." Thomas looked at his brother. "Murder, conspiracy to cause an explosion." he finished off his brothers. "Michael-"

"What the fuck?" Arthur asked his brother.

"Murder of Hughes," oh so Michael killed that bastard? "Polly," Thomas couldn't finish his statement without Arthur butting in.

"Wait a minute. What the fuck are you talking about?" Arthur asked his brother.

"The murder of chief inspector Chester Campbell." Thomas finished his statement. Everyone was going ballistic. "The people we betrayed last night, they want to bring us down. Now they control the police," He was trying to calm everyone down. I just sat in my seat, ignoring everything behind me. My head hurt so bad.

"They control the judges, they control the juries, they control the jails." He explained in the background. My head was pounding so loudly it was hard to hear him. "But they do not control the elected government." Thomas's voice was hardly heard now.

The next thing I knew was Linda hitting Thomas and screaming at him. He ignored Linda and was looking at me. "Fuck you!" Arthur yelled as he slapped the door and closed it behind him. Once the door was shut, Thomas kneeled in front of me, looking into my eyes.

"They're not coming for you. You covered your tracks." he told me, looking up into my eyes. I felt as if I were about to pass out. My vision was getting spots. He noticed how I wasn't answering him, so he grabbed my face lightly so we were making eye contact.

"Tom," I lightly grabbed his hand, my voice breaking slightly. I could now feel the heartbeat in my head. It was crushing against my skull. It felt like I was getting stabbed over and over again by needles. My eyes felt like they were going to come out of my head and the lump in my throat got bigger and bigger.

"Yeah?" he asked, holding onto my hand, looking into my eyes. I tried to blink, but my eyes just wouldn't open. They just wouldn't fucking open. "Tavi?" He forced me back on the chair from where I had fallen on him. He checked my pulse, then sighed to himself. "Jesus fucking christ, Tavi. you scare the shit out of me sometimes." He said as he picked me up and carried me out of his house. He carried me through the scene of his family getting arrested. What a gentleman.