𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙮, John Shelby

- 18

- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN -

- IN WHICH IT HAPPENS

. . .

SHE HAD SOME time left before the fighting would start, and with Polly deciphering between where she wanted to be at the time of the war, Tommy had given Rory the permission to greet her cousin at the top of the road, much too confident in saying that she needed to get her goodbyes done before he met his fate.

And so, with nerves rattling around her body, guilt growing every time another withering breath was inhaled, Lorelai Miller stood at the top of the lane, her dark eyes settled on the familiar group of men, dread floating around her mind.

She suddenly felt a horrible urge to sit down, her knees quite literally beginning to give way at the sight of a female head sticking out from one of the carriages. She couldn't even imagine how undeniably stupid Amor must be to join Billy in journeying to a war that would end tragically.

"Lorelai!"

Her enthusiastic voice was enough to send Rory into a frenzy, the girl unsure of whether to be upset that her best friend had travelled all the way there for something that couldn't finish well, or be excited to see her for the first time in a month or two.

"Amor?" Her voice was surprisingly hoarse, fingers instantly reaching to clutch onto the carriage door to stop herself from collapsing to the ground, her knees shaking uncontrollably. "Why are you here?" She asked, staring at Billy rather pointedly.

"Well aren't you happy to see me?" Amor giggled, an amused smile on her features, lips wrapped around a nearly burnt out cigarette.

"Of course." Rory threw her arms up, no longer feeling the need to sit down as frustration bled through her tone. "Of course I'm happy to see you... this just isn't quite how I'd imagined our reunion." She folded her arms, fingers clenching onto her waist. "Do you know what's going to happen here?" Her eyes were full of genuine curiosity, unsure of where they even stood anymore.

"You've developed a flare for dramatics." Billy mused, taking the cigarette off Amor to inhale some of it. "That's what happens when you spend too long with Thomas Shelby, though I suppose that's my fault. Don't worry Lorelai, by the end of the day the Peaky Blinders will be no more and we'll all be back at home again."

A scoff escaped Rory's lips as she took a step back from the carriage. "You're quite literally asking for death." She stated, brows raising out of surprise for his patronising tone. "Regardless of who dies today, the Birmingham Boys won't have the same respect they're used to. The Peaky Blinders really have made you look utterly ridiculous."

She shook her head, allowing her body to begin down the pathway back towards The Garrison. "Fucking idiot." She sighed, ignoring the lump in her throat, suppressing the unwanted urge to cry.

"How come all our police have disappeared?"

Rory heard the voice before she clocked how close she was to the pub, the girl narrowly missing the brown leather bag clasped tightly in someone's hands. A string of profuse apologies left her lips gaze not leaving her leather shoes as she tried desperately to push away the saddening resentment in her mind.

"Ror?" She was stopped, the familiar voice of John breaking through her attempt at self-loathing. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" She asked, paying little attention to the hand resting on her arm, gaze switching between the pair of brothers in front of her. "Oh yeah, fine... Billy's about fifteen or twenty minutes away." She directed the comment at Tommy, soon finding her eyes landing on the bag. "Whatever's in that, I hope it's powerful.. would be rather embarrassing if I had a go only for him to come out alive." She chuckled, though her tone held little humour.