𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎

Maeve sat in the Garrison snug beside John, wincing when the singing in the main part of the pub got louder. Grace entered with a bucket in hand.

"Go play snap with Fin," John huffed when Arthur continued complaining about the poker game. Maeve snorted and crossed her arms.

"Did you want whiskey as well?" The barmaid asked, placing the bucket onto the table. "No, just beer." Tommy said, placing his cigarette between his lips. Maeve tried her best to examine the woman opposite her but it was no good.

"Why no whiskey, Tommy. You expecting trouble?" Arthur asked, only to be ignored. The singing got louder again and Maeve groaned loudly, throwing her head back. "Jesus christ, Tommy. What the hell made you let them sing? Sounds like their strangling cats out there," John tormented, throwing his arm around his niece's shoulder.

"All right, twenty is the play come on." Arthur nudged Maeve, watching the barmaid leave, "but what did make you change your mind though Tommy, hm?"

"Yeah well it's about time, Tommy." John added. Tommy looked at the three of them, "time for what?"

"Time for you to stop shagging whores and get married, Tom." Maeve said plainly, earning a glare from him. "Yeah time you take yourself a woman." John agreed.

"Just play the bloody hand," Tommy sighed.

"You stay the way you are Tommy. Remember what dad used to say, fast women and slow horses.." Arthur began.

"Will ruin your life.." Maeve and John said in unison, a wide grin on both their faces. Lights shined through the frosted glass and they all turned their heads. "Coppers?" John asked.

"No.." Tommy said quietly.

A few seconds passed and footsteps entered the Garrison, the singing quickly quieting down. "Holy shit. It's Billy Kimber.." Harry muttered.

"Is there any man here names Shelby?" Billy asked. A gun fired when he got no response. "I said, is there any man here named Shelby?"

Maeve had a look of confusion plastered across her face and stood to open the door despite both Arthur and John trying to stop her. "She's all right," Tommy assured them.

"Right, you've got three. And a girl if that means anything. But there's no need to come in 'ere and start wrecking the place is there? Maybe if you were just patient you'd have gotten an answer," she said bluntly, standing at the doorway, her uncles and dad soon standing behind her.

"And who the fuck are you?" He spat. "Maeve Shelby." She crossed her arms and quirked one of her eyebrows up, looking him up and down.

"Harry get these men a drank," Tommy gently shoved passed her and nodded at the barman. "Everyone else go home." he ordered.

Everyone scurried out of the pub and Billy Kimber's eyes remained on the ginger girl who was scowling at him from beside the table. The Shelby brothers seated at the table beside Maeve and so did Kimber and his accountant.

Grace placed down a bottle of whiskey. "You go home," Tommy pointed. " But Mr Fenton said-"

"I said go home." He cut her off sharply. Grace glanced at Maeve before she walked away. "I never approved of women in pubs but when they look like that-" Billy said.

"You said you wanted men named Shelby. You've got three of them." Tommy said, clearly bored. Billy glared at Maeve, still unsure why she was there.

"Don't look at her, look at us." Arthur hissed, sipping his glass of whiskey.

Billy clicked his tongue. "Right, i never heard of ya and then I did hear of ya. Some diddicoy razor gang an i thought to myself so what? But then you fucked me over so now you have my undivided attention. By the one which one am i talking to? Who's the boss?"

"Well i'm the oldest." Arthur said. Kimber scoffed, "clearly."

Maeve lifted her head quickly, "are you laughing at my dad?" She asked, her eyes burning into his. It was only seconds before John joined in and said, "yeah..are you laughing at my brother?"

Kimber raised his eyebrows. "Right, he's the oldest," he pointed at Arthur, "you two are the thickest. I'm told the boss is called Tommy and i'm guessing that you cause you're looking me up and down like i'm a fucking tart."

"I want to know what you want." Tommy shrugged, completely not phased.

Maeve shifted from one foot to another whilst Kimber's accountant began talking about suspicious betting patterns at Kempton Park, the family's horse: Monoghan Boy.

"He won by a length twice then finished twice. With three thousand pounds bet on him." The man said. Tommy took a deep breath, "which one am i talking to? Which one of you is the boss?" He mocked.

"I'm Mr Kimber's accountant-"

"And i'm the fucking boss!" Kimber hit the table with his fist and stood up. "Okay, right end of parlay. You fixed a race without my permission. You fucking gypsy scum! What- live off the war pensions and these poor old Garrison Lane widows. That's your level. I am Billy Kimber, I run the races! And you fixed one of 'em so im gonna have you shot against a post."

Maeve snorted with laughter again and covered her mouth. Billy, who had began turning around, turned to her and tilted his head. "You got something to say?" He leaned close to her.

John went to stand up but Arthur ragged him to his seat. "Yeah," Maeve dropped her arms to her sides. Silence. Billy raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to talk. "Your breath fucking stinks, that's what i've got to say." She insulted.

His mouth fell open and she grinned, "what you gonna do, you gonna hit me?" She tormented, turning to grab the bottle of whiskey.

Tommy then stepped in, standing. "Mr Kimber." The men either side of Kimber raised their guns.

"Oh put 'em away this is a pub where people drink. We aren't about to have a shootout," Maeve whispered, swigging the whiskey.

Tommy threw a bullet at Kimber, watching him catch it. "Look at it, that has my name on it. It's from the Lee family. You are also at war with the Lee's, Mr Kimber, am i right? The Lee's are attacking your bookies and taking your money. Your men can't control them and you need help."

"Perhaps we should listen to what Mr Shelby has to say before we make our decisions." The accountant suggested.

"Right..the Lee's are doing a lot of talking at the fairs, they have a lot of Kin. They are saying the race tracks are easy meat because the police are busy with strikes. Now, we have connections we know how they operate. You have muscle, together we could beat them, divided maybe not."

"Mr Kimber, perhaps we could take some time for reflection. Perhaps make some time for a second meeting" His accountant spoke again.

"Wonderful speech that, uncle Tom, beautiful." Maeve sarcastically smiled at him, standing behind John's chair.

"I admire you Mr Kimber. You started with nothing and built a legitimate business. It would be an honour to work with you, Mr Kimber."

"Nobody works with me, people work for me." Kimber tossed a coin and it landed on the floor, "pick it up pikey."

Maeve clenched her hands into fists at the word. Both John and Maeve moved forward when Tommy kneeled down but he raised his hand, "sit, sit down." He stopped them, taking the coin.

"It's for your ceiling." Kimber said, turning and walking out the door. "We will be at Cheltenham." The other man said. Tommy nodded, "as will I."

After they all left, Tom locked the door. Maeve had taken his seat, her feet upon the table. "So you picked a fight with the Lee's on purpose- Tommy we can't mess with Billy fucking Kimber."

"It was your daughter who picked the fight, we just joined in. Get a decent haircut man, we're going to the races." Tommy grinned.

Maeve found her uncles behaviour extremely entertaining and also grinned. "You're too sensitive, i'm saying it's a confidence issue dad." Maeve said, standing and patting his shoulder.

"And where are you off to?" He called out as she headed for the back door. "I'm going out," she huffed, taking her peaky cap and jacket from the hook.

"Back by seven!" John shouted before she could walk out the door. "Yeah all right dad," she mocked, closing the door behind her and heading for the stables.

Where she would be meeting Theadosia and Max. Not Cameron though, she wasn't on speaking terms with him, again.

As she came round the corner, a scream left her mouth when a pair of hands wrapped around her sides and lifted her up, spinning her. "Ello Shelby," Max smiled like a child, placing her back on her feet.

She placed a hand on her chest and tried to regain her breath. "You scared the shit out of me," she shook her head and shoved him lightly.

"That's was my intention," Max teased, his arm draping over the back of her shoulders. "Well you're a prick if you wanted to do that to me," she shrugged, opening the gate to the stable where Tommy's horse sat.

"I suppose i'm a prick then," he admitted, sitting down on a hay bale and taking out a pack of cigarettes.

"Thea not come with you?" She asked him. Max looked up, "so youse are speaking again then?" Max questioned, lighting his cigarette.

Her heart dropped, "what do you mean?" Her heart pounded when she realised that Thea could've told him the reason they stopped talking in the first place. Max took the cigarette from between his lips and let out a breathy laugh, "well..it was obvious wasn't it? Youse hadn't spoken all week."

"Oh.." she let out a breath, "she wasn't well, that's all." Maeve lied. "But yeah we're talking, saw her last night actually."

"Oh yeah? What's been going on in her life recently. Considering she's not spoke to anyone."

"Not much, reckon she's made mates with that new barmaid though. Saw them speaking outside the Garrison yesterday. I'm sensing trouble." Maeve said lowly incase Thea was around.

"Of course you fucking sense it, you sense everything." Max chuckled, blowing smoke into her face.

A lot of time had passed and Thea still wasn't anywhere to be found. Maeve and Max were freezing in the stables and decided to walk down the the Garrison before Maeve had to go home.

"Maeve," Max nudged her as they took a seat, "eight o'clock." He whispered. Maeve frowned, "no it's not. It's half six."

He dropped his shoulders and sighed, "no you bastard i mean look over your shoulder." He hissed.

Realisation scattered across her face and she laughed, looking over her left shoulder and frowning when she saw Thea and Grace talking in the back room of the Garrison.

"What the fuck," she whispered.

"Yeah what the fuck." Max agreed, accepting the whiskey off Harry. The whiskey he was only being served cause he was with Maeve. "Somethings not right.." Maeve whispered.

Max was suddenly intrigued and leaned on his fist. "Go on, Shelby. Talk to me, what do you know?"

"I don't know anything. I just have a suspicion. Which i won't be telling you because we all know how much i hate being wrong." She finally grinned, flicking his forehead. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Maeve Lillian Shelby," John's voice rang out, both him and another peaky boy walking from the snug, "what're you doing 'ere- hello Max," John greeted, patting the boys back.

Max nodded at the Shelby boy. "I'm getting a drink," Maeve raised an eyebrow.

"Says who?" John interrogated, his arms folded. "Fucking says me, that's who," she scoffed, turning away from him. John chuckled and took her glass, handing it to the peaky boy he was with. "How old are you Maeve?"

"Fourteen."

"Yeah, exactly. You're not allowed to be drinking." He reminded her. "John!" She whined, "i'm fifteen soon," she waved her arms around dramatically when he turned away from her and walked back to the snug,

"Remember, seven o'clock is your latest. If Max isn't gonna walk ya home, you come sit in 'ere with us." He pointed a finger at her.

"They're so boring!" Maeve groaned, looking back and seeing that Thea and Grace were still deep in conversation.

Did she feel jealous? Maybe. Was she confused? Definitely. What did Thea have that made Grace so interested in her. Never once had Maeve seen the barmaid talk to anyone other than the Shelby brothers and the people who bought drinks. But Thea hadn't bought a drink.

Something was coming. And it wasn't good. Maeve had received a wave of shivers up her spine that refused to leave for a good five minutes. She could feel the trouble stirring as the time passed.

Only Maeve Shelby knew that when trouble was coming, it was fucking coming and it would come down on the family hard.

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