poison • thomas shelby

six.

THAILIANA WILKINSON

Saturday was a busy day. The men heading up to St Andrews for the football. Thankfully, Harry and Thailiana had an extra pair of hands to help them through the orders.

"Is it always this busy on a daytime?" Grace asked both colleagues, her hands rushing to fill pints for the energetic boys before them.

"No, these boys are all on their way to St Andrews." Harry replied, wiping his hands on his apron.

"To pray?"

"Oh , definitely!" Thailiana laughed at the clueless girl, shaking her head. Grace stared at her quizzically, wondering what could possibly be so funny.

"Thailiana." Harry warned as he shot her a glare, though she'd seen him let out a small chuckle. He politely answered the blonde barmaid. "That'll be the day. St Andrews is the football ground. The blues are playin'."

"That's the forward line and the goalie, believe it or not." The brunette gestured towards a group of men sat at one of the tables, drinking their pints happily.

Thailiana handed over a glass to one of the men on the other side of the bar, smiling at him as he thanked her. A tap on the snug window could be heard and before the barmaid could do anything about it, the new blonde was already there. Thomas soon appeared once it opened, looking at Grace which a confused look in his eyes. His eyes travelled over the girl's shoulder and met the soft brown ones he'd expected to see. The woman simply offered him a smile and went back to filling pint glasses.

"I need a bottle of rum." Tommy demanded, the strong voice he used with strangers echoed in Thailiana's ears. She joined Grace and leaned into her ear.

"It's on the house." The petite woman whispered in the irish barmaid's ear as she pushed away the coins that the Shelby man had placed on the bar. He watched her, carefully placing his money back in his pocket as he stared intensely at his newfound friend, or at least that's what he thought he could qualify her as.

"A whole bottle?" Grace stammered, anxiously fiddling with her skirt under the ice-like gaze he'd settled on her. "White or dark rum?"

"I don't care."

Thailiana rushed to find a bottle of dark rum, noticing how impatient he was growing with the new barmaid. She placed it on the bar in front of him.

"Are you a whore?" Thomas asked, leaving Grace staring at him in astonishment and the woman beside her gasped at his rude question. She said his name in warning but he simply brushed her off. "Because if you're not, you're in the wrong place."

The blue-eyed gangster grabbed the bottle of rum and exited the bar, the two barmaids staring at him as he left yet they were both thinking completely different things. Thailiana was simply wondering why he'd been so rude to her and her colleague asked herself why his mood had changed slightly in the presence of the beautiful woman beside her.

"He's one of the ones you told me about." Grace asked Harry, she'd quickly gotten over her interaction with the handsome man. The man closed the frosted window and turned to her.

"Grace, you're a friendly girl but be careful. If Thailiana or me," He gestures to the other barmaid and himself, "say that it's on the house, say nothing to whoever you're serving. If they decide they want you, there's nothing anybody could do about it."

Thailiana's calming smile dropped instantly, wondering what he could possibly mean by that.

"Lucky for you, since he got back from France, Tommy doesn't want anybody at all."

Her happy features broke, the frown on her lips deepening once more as she heard how Harry spoke about Thomas. Had she simply imagined the way that they spoke? How he had almost smiled when she joked with him? Thailiana plastered a fake smile on her face, why was she so affected by the bartender's words? She knew what Tommy was like with people, she listened to the gossip that women spread at the market. Maybe she'd hoped she could've been the one to bring out the friendly part of Thomas. The woman scolded herself for getting carried away, their daily talks in the snug meant nothing to him as they should've to her, yet she found herself caring about a man she'd met less than a week before.

Unfortunately for her, Grace had noticed her change in behaviour. She'd gone from a smiling face to a small pout, the happy atmosphere she usually radiated saddening. The blonde thought back to the way Thomas looked relieved when he saw her, and the soft smile the friendly barmaid had given him when she showed up beside her. It seemed as if the two got along, and Grace soon realised that maybe Harry was wrong, that the Shelby soldier possibly wanted somebody. He wanted Thailiana.