Arabella || Peaky Blinders [Michael Gray]

thirty six

Chapter Thirty Six
"This isn't forever."

"You're the worst."

"Well," Tommy released a heavy sigh of exasperation, lifting his stare to meet Arabella's narrowed eyes. "You're not my favourite person either."

"Fully aware," she said, her response almost prompting a brief smile to cross Tommy's lips. "But for the record, I had no idea he hadn't told you."

Tommy was sending Michael away.

Arabella was furious when she first found out, and some mild threats may, or may not, have been thrown Tommy's way, but eventually, once she'd taken a while to calm down, she had understood where he was coming from. After all, Michael had been very aware that Changretta planned to kill Tommy, and he hadn't warned him in the slightest. Though, the circumstances were, admittedly, rather complicated, and Arabella couldn't exactly hold it against Michael for protecting his mother instead of Tommy. In fact, the whole thing seemed like a very strange and vicious cycle of betrayal, one which seemed to be constantly playing out within the family ever since that day at the hospital.

"I know," Tommy assured her. Despite the fact that Arabella was there with Michael that day, she had been far too preoccupied going after Changretta to even think about what had actually happened in that hospital room. The next few weeks after that she'd spent entirely holed up in her house with Mallory, trying to come to terms with emotions and grief she thought she'd buried, but clearly hadn't.

"He had to choose between you and his mum, though," Arabella pointed out to Tommy, leaning her back against the wall. "That's not something he would have done lightly."

"He knew I was going to get shot, and he didn't say anything at all," Tommy reminded her.

"Tom, he was scared," Arabella argued, her features softening as she thought about the difficulty Michael must have had with that decision. The fact that she'd completely disappeared afterwards probably didn't help, and though she was sure he understood why she needed time and space over those weeks, Arabella knew he probably would have wanted to talk through with her what to do about the whole situation. She couldn't help but feel like she'd let him down.

Tommy was silent for a few moments, studying Arabella's expression. "Would you?"

"Would I what?" She asked.

"Would you have told me?"

Arabella shifted her eyes away from him, deliberating over her response, which Tommy took as 'no' until her lips eventually parted to speak. "Yeah. I would have, actually." Tommy was unable to stop his eyebrows raising, and she bit back a laugh as she looked at his expression. "Don't seem so surprised. Whilst I'm not above a little maiming and injuring, I never would have wanted you dead." Tommy nodded his head in acceptance at her words, stubbing out his cigarette in the ash tray. "You trusted me, when you told me about Arthur," Arabella started, peeling herself away from the wall. "Even after everything I've done, everything I've said. Why?"

"Because I trust you," Tommy told her. It was the truth, he was genuinely being sincere, and Arabella could see that, she could see it in his eyes. So when she quirked an eyebrow at his reply, he couldn't help but give her a pointed look. "You may be a royal pain, but but you're part of this family." He moved out from behind the desk, taking a step towards her. "Michael was right when he told you that you can't run from this family. You may not have our blood running through your veins, Arabella, but you are one of us."

"You mean that?"

Arabella hadn't forgiven Tommy for betraying her, and the entire family, almost causing their executions – though she wasn't entirely sure she ever would forgive him about that. Tommy did a lot of things that angered Arabella, and she wondered why she constantly gravitated back towards him, as if everything he'd done in the past was okay, buried under the hatchet. But she realised, in a way, that it was. It was, because he was family. He was fucking family.