Heart of Gold | B. Gold ✓

12 | A-fucking-men

Thomas didn't move his arm as he practically scolded Alfie, "It's all right, Alfie. There's no need. It's all right, I'm, er... I'm getting a kestrel." Fawnie rolled her eyes at Tom's poor attempt to subdue Alfie Solomons.

Surprisingly, Alfie lowered his weapon and turned around slowly, "I hear that you've got Italians, mate." Fawn froze at the mention of Italians and felt her face blanch, "You've got a kestrel for them and all?" Alfie asked and Tom nodded. "Hmm..."

Fawnie couldn't look at either man and settled on watching the birds in the pipework. They hopped about happily despite their near dance with death just a moment ago. "I have a kestrel for them as well," Tom reiterated and Fawn could see Alfie nodding in agreement while stroking his beard. 

"Well, everything is confirmed, innit? Yeah. Weakness behind the eyes, didn't blink too much. All right. You smell of smoke and coal and horses." He poked his finger into Tom's chest, "Hmm? You are back where you belong, Tommy. And you?" 

She looked up at Alfie apprehensively, "You're fuckin' losin' it, aren't ya? I can see it, look at her, she's goin' mad, Tommy. Get her outta this shit hole and let her breathe some fresh fuckin' air," Alfie shook his head at Tom.

The youngest Shelby nodded, "A-fucking-men," Tom narrowed his cornflower blue eyes at Fawnie and she merely rolled hers back at him.

After a beat of silence, Tom pushed a glass toward Alfie, "I know you don't touch it, but you have a good nose."

Fawnie began tuning Alfie and Tom out as Alfie began going on a tangent about the similarities between himself and Tom. Hearing the word 'Italians' forced Fawn to face the music. The sound of her killing a man dead before dropping like a weight in the cut.

"What have you heard, Alfie?"

Alfie shrugged, "I heard a copper got shot. Who shot him?" Fawnie began chewing on her thumbnail as a way to busy herself while they spoke. "Right, oh, up the stakes, very good." A snort left Fawn's nose at Alfie's tone, he was clearly mocking Tommy and his 'kestrel'.

Her older brother nodded and continued, "Where are the Sicilians?"

"They're still using Sabini for vehicles and for places to stay."

Upon the mention of Sabini– Fawn flinched –remembering how her idiot brothers took the London club and sparked a war between the Peaky Blinders and the Sicilians. "Ah, they know the Sicilians, don't they? They don't trust nobody who ain't fucked a goat on the morning of their first pubic hair." Alfie's vivid description made Fawnie wrinkle her nose in discomfort. "They've got traditions. How many are here?"

"Eleven." Well, Fawnie thought, now there are nine, but who's counting?

"Enough to drop a man who wrapped his balls in an OBE, till they fell off."

Fawnie saw how her brother's eyes narrowed momentarily behind the lenses of his glasses, "Well, the real question is, Alfie, which side are you playing for, eh?"

Her jaw dropped, "Thomas what kind of question is that?!"

━━━━

"We've come to talk purse for the fight."

The man Tom told Fawnie was named Aberama sauntered in with Bonnie by his side, Fawnie's eyes are immediately drawn to the young man. Bonnie Gold's brown eyes meet those of Fawn's Shelby blue ones and it's almost as though the air had been struck by lighting. Fawn felt something change at that moment, maybe it was because she knew he had been the one that saved her in The Garrison.

Or perhaps it was because she saw golden flecks in those pretty eyes... Fawnie wanted to assume it was something else but knew it was both. Bonnie smiled at her and Fawn's cheeks turned a bright shade of crimson, she hid the blush by coughing into her elbow.

Alfie shifted back to Tom, who sat at the table with an unimpressed expression, "Your kestrel? Tommy, when a pikey walks in with hair like that, you've gotta ask yourself, 'Have I made a mistake?'" Fawn's eyes widened at Alfie's statement. She has always found his bold personality to be hilarious.

Aberama's eyebrows shot downward, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Who the fuck am I?"

He looked at Fawnie, who immediately found solace in the birds, "Who the fuck is this?" Aberama questioned.

It was like Aberama told a joke because Alfie's eyes lit up, "I, my friend, I am the uncle, I'm the protector and the promoter, of that fucking thing right there in whose shadow nothing good nor godly will ever fucking grow." Fawnie glanced over at Goliath, a tall and clearly awkward man who looked to be too strong for his own good.

"That there, right, is the Southern Counties welterweight champion. He is of mixed religion, therefore he is godless, he was adopted by Satan himself, before he was returned out of fear of his awkwardness. He is impossible to marry off due to his lethal dimensions, his mother terrified, she's fucking abandoned him."

Alfie's rant seemed to be coming to an end as he jabbed his finger at Goliath, "And there he is stood before you like the first of some brand new fucking species. Any man that you put before him, right, it'd be like entering a fucking threshing machine, mate. Now, will you offer your son?"

Bonnie Gold's smirk made Fawn feel a strange proudness surge through her as he appeared to be completely calm, "Name the day, Mr. Shelby." Maybe it was his confidence that made Fawn want to fan herself (and her hot cheeks) but something about Bonnie Gold intrigued the Shelby girl.