Zablife Story Share - Chapter 6
Tommy Shelby x Solomons!Reader
written for @zablife's Story Share collab
Summary: A few months ago Tommy woke up to find his wife gone, along with half his fortune. Now he is prepared to make a deal with the devil himself if he can get her back...
Warnings: not edited, a mess of tenses, re-write of yet another scene or two, almost smut but… see the tag guide for the warning
note: so so sooooo sorry this took so f****** long, I still deleted a lot of plot so I could finally post this in a hopefully coherent version 😔
∼ 2,6K words
previous part by @shelbydelrey
Series Masterlist
next part by @look-at-the-soul
“My name is Luca.”
The man's every word was running on repeat in Tommy’s mind ever since the short conversation. Yet another person to underestimate him.
Tommy was not the man he was a few months ago. He was lacking the patience for anything that didn't advance his cause. He had only one thing in mind. You.
When he was about to leave this pretentious asshole behind without a word, Luca was able to get his undivided attention with a simple, mocking sentence.
"I heard you lost something, Mr. Shelby."
The treacherous truth cutting deep into the open wound that you left on his heart. It was his weakness, he knew it and accepting Luca's invitation to discuss business was a rather reckless decision. Tommy knew that well, despite his emotional state, his mind never quit the speed it was always working at but he was willing to take the risk.
"What do you want?" His quiet words resonated with barely hidden anger as the drive to this bar was anything but calming.
"I want to offer you a deal. What else?" The smirk that accompanied the condescending tone was not helping his case, though Luca couldn't care less about that. "A queen for a king. It's a fair offer, don't you think?"
Luca was enjoying every moment of despair he could inflict on him by prolonging this meeting but in the end, he finally cut to the chase.
"Why would you want to help me?" Tommy asked, finishing his cigarette and getting his coat to leave and end this conversation once again.
The sneer that followed the simple answer told him more than the words themselves. "It's business."
Tommy couldn't sleep, lying awake in bed, replaying the conversation again and building a plan occupied his mind while his heart was aching anew just like the morning he lost you.
The deal was simple, 'kill another Solomons king' and get the girl. Fools, Tommy thought as the plan started to come together.
If it was all about business he wouldn’t have shot Alfie when the Jew refused to tell him how he was involved in your disappearance. It was after he received the news of your deaht that he started digging deeper.
The trail you left with the stolen jewels led him to the king of Camden Town. It was not that surprising, you knew Alfie and he was inclined to help out his people. For the right price, of course. But Tommy knew his tricks by now.
There was only a moment, when Alfie’s careless gangster mask slipped. Tommy saw it and didn’t let it go. Alfie’s usual way of handling things, namely agitating him, didn’t work this time. The taunting of daring to shoot him ended up with both of them getting a bullet. Tommy to his side and Alfie to his face. Then Tommy was not only grieving the loss of his wife but the only friend who ever truly understood him. Or so he thought.
Tommy didn't tell his family about the stolen money reappearing in their accounts again. Only Polly knew, who handled all their finances for the time being. However, the money wasn't what he wanted. He needed you. He said that to Alfie as well, when he finally visited the ‘dead man’ at his Margate Purgatory as once again the trail of evidence led him to the Jew.
“Life is so much easier to deal with when you are dead,” Alfie graoned as he took a seat.
“Well, it isn’t easy for the living, Alfie. The ones who the dead left behind.” Tommy’s remark was met with a scolding grimace.
“Now, you are being silly. If you search for the dead, Tommy, who has unfinished business with you, yeah, you could soon become one of them, right?”
Alfie reached for the gun at the ‘unfinished business’ part and he was pointing it at Tommy now, who was standing by the balcony door, not at all fazed by the threat.
“Three, two, one, bang.” A pause on his part, just a second of silence as Alfie’s scowl returned, wordlessly questioning his sanity. “No? Fine.”
“Good Lord, your fucking condition has gone worse, mate.” Alfie exclaimed as Tommy finally sat down.
“And it’s gonna get a lot worse if you don’t help me.”
“Or what, Tommy? You want to give it another try?”
Another dramatic pause. But this time Tommy’s lips twitched with a smile, a genuine one after such a long time.
“Nah.”
Leaning back, Tommy pointed at the piece of paper he placed on the desk next to ‘holy book that gives a very, very vivid desciption (of the place they’ll both end up in the afterlife). “Is she there?”
When Alfie doesn’t answer or even look at him, eyes glued to the piece of paper he picked up for several, long minutes, Tommy decides to turn the tables on the Jew and give him his own medicine, of taunting.
“You told me you could see things. Or did you lose more than an eye?”
The comment gets the result he was hoping for, or at least partially. As Alfie starts to monologue in an ever increasing voice, Tommy strains to listen not just the words but the meaning behind them.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Does it seem like I lost an eye?” He leans closer, turning his head slithglty to shift the focus on his unseeing eye.“No. Right. Well, as you know I was shot. In the face… by some cunt.” Another pause, and a meainingful glance form Alfie and a hint of a smile from Tommy, then he continues.”Yeah, right, but I still have the eyes and I can see with this eye. I’m not blind. This eye is the eye of a dead man and dead men can see through life like it was a curtain that billows with the flicker of truth upon it.”
Alfie leans back, spreading his arms over the back of the couch, stretching out like a cat
“Tell me what you see, then?”
The question only results in a dissatisfied grunt at first, then a sigh as he decides to give crumbs to the man sitting across from him, starving for information.
“It is not what I’m seeing, Tommy, it is what you still don’t see, right, that’s what matters.”
At the questioning look Alfie sighs again.
“You are here. Again, yeah, asking about your wife, yet you never ask the right questions.” Getting restless, he leans on his elbows, eyeing Tommy. “I wonder, a clever boy like you, why did you never ask why are you here, hmm?”
Before Tommy can respond Alfie is back in his previous position, reaching for a little box next to the holy book.
“Never mind now.” He takes out something and throws it to Tommy. “Here, take this. When you find her, give this to her keeper and say that ‘you can always count on family’. Important words, mate, you do well to remember them.”
Done with the conversation, Alfie says goodbye in a typical manner.
“Right, off you go now. Fuck off from here, Tommy. This is the place for the dead, so don’t come back unless you are one too.” A dramatic pause before he continued, leaning on his elbows with a hint of a familiar smirk tugging at his lips. “Or you have one of us with you.”
“Goodbye, Alfie.” says Tommy with a grateful smile.
His mind was racing with chaotic thoughts for hours but replaying that last memory lulled him into a dream where he was holding you in his arms, safe from the outside world as you were sitting by the water, the calming waves of Margate’s beach surrounding you.
A few days later, as his plan started to come into place, Tommy found himself facing none other than Charles Solomons, pointing a gun at him.
“I come in peace,” Tommy says, raising his hands in surrounder.
“No, no, no.” You come running out of a room, trying to stand between the men but your uncle pulls you back. “Don’t shoot him, he is…”
“Oh, I know who is he.” Solomons looks at him with narrowing eyes before he turns to you with a stern expression. “He’s the man who shot your brother in the head.”
The revelation suprising you for different reasons but while you froze in place, Tommy was quick to act and twist the gun from your uncle’s grip.
“What’s a bullet to the face between friends, eh?” Tommy asked triumphatly as he aimed his own gun at the furious man who still tried to hide you behind him.
“How can you joke about that?” You exclaim and free yourself and march toward your husband, hitting him in the chest a few times before he is able to trap you in against him in a half embrace.
“I make no more fun of it then your brother himself,” Tommy murmurs into your hair.
Ignoring the accusation, you look up at him with eyes full of tear and hope. “He’s alive.”
“That depends on who you ask.” He continues at your frown. “And if you ask him, it depends on his mood, so the answer can change every once in a while. Or in a couple of minutes.”
“I think you spent too much time with Alfie.” You scold him with a huff of a laugh that you try to downplay.
Tommy smiles at you then but as a thought occurs to him it turns into a grimace. “I imagine I’ll be spending even more time with him in the future.”
You can’t hold back the laugh this time, earning another smile from Tommy as he leans in for a kiss but you are both distracted by the forgotten man behind you.
Your uncle clears his throat in impatience, folding his arms and stands there in imposing silence, showing his disapproval.
Tommy throws him the gift he got from Alfie, repeating the words he was told to remember. The older man was silently considering his options before reluctantly accepting that he didn’t really have a choice.
The debate of how to proceed with the war the Italians just declared has gone on for hours but eventually it was you who convinced your uncle to listen to Tommy, listing his previous victories as he conquered his place in the world of gangsters before was more than enough evidence.
Your husband somehow convinced your uncle to let him stay in your room before you depart the next day. Your husband took your hand and asked you to lead the way as soon as the men agreed to the plan.
In the privacy of your small room, he grasped you as soon as the door closed, pushing you against the hard surface and kissing you desperately until you had to pull away to catch your breath.
“Don’t do that to me ever again!” He practically growled at you while holding your face between his hands.
You try to look away, your gaze moving down in shame but he would have it. Forcing your head up to look him in the eyes again as he wordlessly demanded your promise.
“I didn’t want to drag you into my mess.” The whisper of the admission, except of the promise only calmed him down because your tone told him that you knew it was a mistake.
“You are my wife. Your mess is my mess.” That made you smile tentatively. An unlikely confession of love like that could only sound romantic from Tommy fucking Shelby.
“I love you,” you said softly. He heard the apology and the question in it too. It was like you said you were sorry while you also asked if he still loved you after all this. Silly girl, he thought.
Tommy took your hand in his, laying it on where his heart was ‘beating just for you’ as he claimed on your wedding night, and at the same time, he guided your gaze to his by hooking his fingers under your chin. His beautiful eyes shine with tears, betraying how much you’ve hurt him and your own heart breaks again as you wish you’d just told him everything in the first place.
“Always,” he declared as he is squeezing your hand to will you to remember his vow, to understand that he will be yours, always. Just like you were his.
He kissed you then. Slow and tentative at first, gentle and almost scared before the burning passion you always felt for each other took over. Tommy pulled you closer, body flush against his, already tagging at your clothes and trailing down kisses along your neck as soon as he got rid of the coat.
Your fingers glide into his hair, drawing him impossibly closer while you moan for him but when he fists his hand at the edge of your dress, sliding it up to reveal more skin, you freeze in his arms.
For a second you are back in the hospital, then another memory flashing up in your mind. The blood. The pain, physical and emotional alike. It’s too much. You can’t.
When you return to the present, only a second or two has passed as you refocus on your surroundings, stepping away from Tommy, who sits down the bed, waiting patiently for you.
He calls your name, gentle and soothing, like he is afraid you’d run any moment. Taking your hand as you reach out to him, he pulls you closer slowly, giving you a chance to stop any time you want. His arms circle around you, head resting on your middle while you hold him close too, standing there, letting the contact bring peace to both of you.
A shuddering breath leaves him when he pulls away, looking up and giving you a faint smile before he leans back, pulling you with him as he rolls over in the bed to have you by his side. Tommy cups your face, once again guiding your gaze to his, wordlessly asking if this is alright. Your answer is to pull him down and press your lips to his, telling him everything he needs to know for now. You love him, you missed him and you do not want to be apart again.
Despite the reassuring gestures, Tommy doesn’t let you go that night. You both cling to the other, legs tangled and body as close as possible while, for the first time in months, you and your husband have a good night’s sleep.
When the sun wakes him up, Tommy doesn’t disturb your sleep. He is only watching, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he found you and now he has a chance at the life he always dreamed about in secret.
But Tommy Shelby is no fool, he has carefully planned out this game and his enemies will not realise what hit them until it’s too late.
He can do this, he can win this. For you. For the life he will have with you.
Tommy finally felt more like his old self, with the prize so close. He had everything not long ago, and he will have it all again, even if he had to fight for it once more. War is coming but he is ready.
But first, he will take you to safety. Where the dead reside. To his brother-in-law.
After these many years, Tommy knew their peculiar friendship would last for their probably not so long lifetime but to be family with that man, now that’s gonna be an enitery different ride.
Fuckin’ hell.
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