𝐃𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲

MARIE BROWN MADE HER WAY TO THE SMALL HOUSE ON WATERY LANE. She rested her hand on the rough paintwork that coated the door and pushed. The hinges squealed as she stepped foot inside the narrow hallway where she saw Thomas Shelby standing at the entrance.

"Aye, well, speak of the devil." She heard from behind Thomas, further into the kitchen.

"How are you, son?" Arthur Shelby asked, before his face lit up and his eyebrows raised in mock excitement.

"Marie Brown, you've grown up to be a pretty little thing, haven't you?"

"Mr Shelby." Marie nodded subtly, before she made her way to over John pressing her lips against his for a short kiss.

A look of shocked surprise came onto the face of Arthur Senior. "Oh, I always knew our John would get under your sheets."

"Get out." Maries stomach shifted uneasily and she noticed that the hands that she was hugging herself with were pinching into her skin. She eventually released her hands but then she couldn't figure out what to do with them, so instead they clasped and unclasped each other as if in constant need of touch.

"Come on son, I'm a changed man. "

"This family needed you ten years ago, and you walked out on us." As the words left Tommy's mouth John frowned. Marie, catching sight of his frown, took his hand in hers, entwining their fingers together, and gave him a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"Tommy, he's different..."

"Shut up."

"It's all right, son. Arthur Shelby never stays where he's not welcome." The eldest Shelby spoke as he raised from the chair and grabbed his coat.

"Quite something you've become." Turning her focus away from the conversation at hand she looked up towards John who was resting beside her.

"Bye, son."

The silence caressed her skin like a cool summer breeze, smoothing her soul, taking away her jagged edges. Marie's gaze fell onto the table in front of her as she swallowed heavily.

Arthur's face was one of awkwardness. Thomas was not even hurrying to save his brothers feelings, to fill the void with a non-comital statement of appreciation. The void was a cruelty he inflicted unintentionally, but had he been aware he would not have cared one iota.
"He's our dad."

"He's a selfish bastard." He picked his eyes off the kitchen table and raised his eyebrows towards Arthur.

"I should get going. I'll see you later, John." And with a swift kiss to the man's cheek she left the house without another word, not wanting to be present during the families dispute.

...

Conversations swirled in a dirty cloud of smoke, the stagnant stench of cigarettes hid, within the collaboration of mephitic odours. A sharp smell of drink wafted towards Marie, like black plumes bellowing from the windows of a burning house.

The bar was hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all of them competing with the jazz music that dominated the atmosphere. The crowd was young, old. Members of the Peaky Blinders for the most part. Marie winded her way through the warm bodies to deliver drinks - the dark local beer. Before the drink was poured she felt someone melting their body to hers from behind.

Turning, she spotted Grace Burgess just hovering lightly over her shoulder.

"Morning, Grace." Although Marie wasn't extremely close to the blonde, she found herself liking the woman. She had a kind of brutal honesty that tested most friendships, but Marie appreciated it. She always knew where she stood with her. And she was generous to a fault, both with her time and her possessions.

"Hello, Marie. I just wanted to let you know I'm not going to be working this evening."

Marie shrugged as she poured another man his drink. "I'm sure I can manage fine on my own."

"I was just thinking maybe you should take off too. You deserve to take a break." Grace smiled softly, before turning and making her way out of the bar.

A short while later, Marie leaned on the bar, her blonde hair lying over one shoulder of her bygone dress. She rejected Grace's idea to go home early, thinking she would only stay inside and not do much else. She lolled her head to one side, pushing out her rose lips just a little as she twiddled her hair in a seemingly absent-minded way.

However, it was the banging of the door as Chester Campbell made his way into the small pub that brought her heart racing as fast as a gunshot. Her head snapped in an instant from gazing at the men with unfocused eyes to the police officers at the doorway.

"I'm looking for Thomas Shelby."

"Never heard of him." Harry responded in an attempt to casual however, Marie could see the beads of sweat building on his forehead.

The silence of the bar made her blood as cold as the autumnal air that crept through an open window.

"You'll never find him." The youngest Shelby spoke. Finns voice was quieter, less sure. He looked back up at Marie and then the unknown man; a gentle flush of pink had arisen in his cheeks that made him look vulnerable.

Campbell had moved his line of sight from the small boy to the woman that stood behind the bar.

"Miss brown, what a delight to make your acquaintance... Again." He smirked.

Grabbing his gun off the counter, Marie and the rest of the men watched as he loaded the gun and raised it slowly. "Perhaps I should ask that question again."

"On your knees."

Marie was helpless as she watched Campbell grab his gun and line it with Harry's forehead. "Now, understand this, barman. I don't care if you live or die."

In the grip of silent panic, Marie could feel it, building like an unstoppable snowball in the pit of her stomach. In that moment, she couldn't concentrate on anything else that she was doing.

"I don't know!"

As sweat started to happen all over her body. It felt like her skin had another hot skin on the outside. The negative thoughts keep coming like waves on rocks as it completely covered her body and her heart felt like it was going to explode.

"He left. With the barmade. He left with Grace. I think they were going to her place." Harry finally released.

And as Chester Campbell left, Marie couldn't help spot the coincidence that Grace had told her to leave the day the Inspector came.

...

"John, go to sleep." Maries gaze moved from the book in front of her to the beautiful man lying next to her.

He pushed a piece of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. "But looking at you is better." He smiled. "You going let me kiss you?"

"No." She grinned. "Not until you go to sleep."

"God damn, woman." He mumbled a smirk gracing his features. She giggled and began reading the pages once again.

"John." Marie called softly, shutting the book and placing it beside her. "I'll let you kiss me if you go to sleep."

"God, I love you so much." His eyes flicked with an unrecognisable emotion.

The two immediately pulled one another in for a passionate kiss. Maries hands immediately flew to his face as their lips met. They couldn't help but feel relieved to be with each other.

"Oi!" She pulled back, gazing at him. "You didn't let me say it back."

John shook his head and ran his fingertips along the side of her face. "You don't have to."

She slowly leaned in and pressed her lips against his, both of their eyes fluttering shut at the touch. Marie pulled away for a split second so her lungs could be filled with air, before her hands moved from his face to the back of his neck, deepening the moment they were sharing. The Shelby mans hands rested on the lower area of her back. He pulled her closer, pressing his body fully against hers.

Slowly, her hands moved down his chest and to the hem of his shirt that he had not changed out of when he had come home from the office with Tommy, slowly unbuttoning it. John pulled away and pulled it off his shoulders.

Marie had seen John bare many times before and every single time he somehow managed to take her breath away. Slowly, her fingertips traced every dip and curve of his abdomen and chest. She moved her gaze back up to his and he was looking right back at her intensely.

John began to unbutton his shirt that adorned her figure. He pushed it off her shoulders to see her bare chest. "God, you're beautiful." He whispered completely awed at the gorgeous woman in front of him. Marie blushed and gently kissed him, bare chests pressing together when her arms wrapped around his neck.

"John, the children."

"They're with Polly." He murmured softly before continuing to focus on Marie.

After a pleasure filled night, the couple lay in Johns bed. The white sheets over their bodies. Marie was lying on her side where she usually slept with her head towards the headboard. Her head was resting on her hand as she listened to her boyfriend talk.

John was lying the same way she was but he was down towards the foot of the bed. He used his fingers to trace patterns on her legs and her hips. The couple was talking about pointless things. Work, the children, what they were having for dinner. They listened to each other ramble about many things.

In that moment she just admired everything about him. His messy hair, his beautiful eyes sparkling in the dim light of the bedroom, the way his fingers made any movement on her skin. He was perfect. In that moment, everything was perfect.

Suddenly, she sat up and scooted towards him. He did the same and they met in the middle. John stared at his girlfriend, almost as if he was going say something as Maries fingers were still playing with the hair on the nape of his neck.

"I'm so happy with you, John." She began, placing kisses sporadically on his shoulders and chest.

His eyes scanned her face before he pressed his lips against Maries. Every kiss with him was something out of this world. He was able to send shivers through her spine when he just looked at her, but when he kissed her, her whole body ignited. Goosebumps would raise on her skin and the hair on the back of her neck stood straight.

"I love you, Marie."

Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. She hung on to every word John said. With an effort she glanced down to the sheets that partly covered her.

"I love you too, John." She whispered, a wide grin playing on her lips.

And she did, until their last breaths.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 !
i'm sorry this is terrible and
boring but john really isn't
in episode four !