CHAPTER FOUR.

               THE FLAMES LICKED AT the sides of the building: creeping up the brick walls, devouring the greying stone slabs and swallowing each side of the building one by one. A scream was frozen in her chest and she couldn't tear her eyes from the sight of the burning property, her throat closing up as the smoke drifted through the already smog-ridden air and obstructed her breathing, causing her to cough and splutter. The chocolate fog was low and only the glow of the moon and the light of the flames were visible: the rest, as it were, was cloaked in darkness and obscured from sight as the locals were either asleep or out and roaming the more popular streets of Small Heath. Only Felicity Woods was there to witness the arson that was taking place, and the man who was committing said crime knew she would never, ever have the courage or the bravery to tell the police. Thomas Shelby had everything the way he wanted it to be, with the coppers on his payroll and the new, blonde Woods girl working at the very same place he spent his days, drowning his problems in the later hours with whiskey or smothering them with the smoke of cigarettes.

A soft babble soon filled the air: a sort of inaudible hum that swept along the streets just like the fog did. Felicity couldn't see where its source was, and her feet were frozen, preventing her from finding out. All she could do was stare at the building as the flames creeped up the walls with nothing to stop them.

The blaze grew, engulfing her vision completely. The humming stopped. The screams in her ears ceased to be heard anymore. The only thing that was left to pay attention to was the final point of the pub's roof: the one section that had yet to be consumed by the bonfire. It wouldn't take long for it to disappear like the rest of the pub. Not long at all.

Before it could occur, though, her eyes snapped open and Felicity sat up with a gasp, her heart pounding furiously inside her and a cold sweat beginning to take over her body. Flashes of the blaze streaking across her mind in streaks of crimson and deep orange. It had only been a dream, she knew that, of course, but that didn't stop her from knowing that it was at least a fragment of the truth. Thomas Shelby had burned down that stupid pub, and for what? So he could get her to work where he wanted her, when he wanted her, and all while he knew she didn't have an inch power to decline his offer.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and the shockingly cold floor hit her back to reality, unclouding her mind for just a moment, and that short space of time was enough for her to gather her trespassing thoughts and replace them with sensible ones. Felicity wasn't a genius, and yet she had realised long ago that she had no way of changing her new fate, and that the best thing to do was to get on with what she had to do: the sooner she did it, the quicker she could go back to living her normal - although incredibly dull - life.

By the time she was properly awake and had rubbed the exhaustion from her face with a cold towel, all thoughts and remnants of the dream had been pushed aside. If she had learned anything from the years she spent alongside her father, it was to make the best of everything. Not that John Woods had taught her that specifically - if anything, he had taught her the opposite - but growing up in a house where her father and five other siblings hardly noticed her, Felicity had adapted to think of it as more of a blessing than a curse. She could do what she wished to do, at least most of the time, that is.

And so, in the past week, Felicity had remembered everything she had ever believed in and had tied on an apron around her waist, pasted a pretty, innocent smile onto her face as she cleaned up after the early drunkards. She found that working at the Garrison was no different to working at the Black Swan, although she couldn't think of why that surprised her. The only stark difference was that she spent her days hoping that the infamous, blue-eyed gangster wouldn't reappear. As it happened, she had no such luck.

Now, as she slipped the key into the door of the pub and turned it so it opened with a click, a smile was the one thing that was not on her face. She wore a tight frown and her usual mask of optimism had been ripped off and discarded into the fire that was her last job. It had gone up in flames, spitting ashes and embers all over the place, just like the blaze that she had witnessed in her nightmarish dream. As she tied the apron over her dress and washed her hands in the small sink, Felicity closed her eyes in an attempt to block the world from her vision for just a moment.

Swarms of flames clouded her mind, making a groan emerge from her throat as she tried to push away the memory of the dream once again.

The door slammed open. "Morning." a well-dressed man entered with a cocky smirk upon his face, walking with such confidence that Felicity assumed he could only be a Shelby.

Despite never even uttering a single syllable to the man before, Felicity stretched her lips into a tentative smile as she shook out her blonde curls. "What'll you have?"

He waved away her question. "Nothing," the man clarified, "just came to see who Tommy's new barmaid is, see if she's pretty or something."

It was then that the name settled in her mind and Felicity realised that this was the eldest of the Shelby brothers. "It's a shame then," she smiled as she poured a drink for him despite his refusal of one, "because the last time I checked, I didn't belong to Thomas Shelby, so I suppose you're looking for the other one."

Arthur rested his elbow on the surface of the bar and glanced up at Felicity with an amused expression lighting up his features. "Grace?"

"If she's the one belonging to your brother."

He shook his head sorrowfully. "No, not Grace," Arthur replied, "'must be you, then, that Tommy pulled in to the Garrison."

Felicity smiled. "Pulled into, yes," she said, "but that's all there is to it. I haven't spoken to him other than asking him which bottle of rum he'd prefer."

It was true, partly. Felicity had made it a habit to avoid the man if she were to ever pass him on the streets and other than serving him alcohol, she refused to speak anymore out of the hopes that whatever newfound interest he had in her might disappear. Whilst she didn't know if the man actually minded her avoidance of him, she didn't make it her business to find out.

Arthur took the glass tankard from where she held it out to him and tipped the amber liquid back, and the silence that descended upon them for a few moments Felicity welcomed gratefully.

"Is there any other reason you're here?" Felicity asked once he had set the glass back down again.

He shook his head. "Just came to say hello, I suppose."

"That is incredibly sad."

"I like to call it 'being polite'."

Felicity wrinkled her nose up. "Alright."

Just ten minutes later, Felicity found herself alone again with nothing but the company of Harry, who was already murmuring about having to go somewhere in a few minutes time. She didn't mind the amount of time she spent by herself - it was a state she had grown used to being in, after all - because it gave her the time she might have once said she needed to be alone with her thoughts. Thoughts were quiet, and Felicity liked that.

Until, that is, the door to the Garrison crept open and Felicity was greeted with the view of another blonde. Grace Burgess, she supposed, although she had never met the woman.

"Oh," the Irish lilt crept upwards as the two regarded one another.

Felicity pasted a warm smile on her features. "I'm Felicity," she introduced herself, cringing when her words came out so much shorter than she had initially intended them to.

"Grace." The other blonde returned her smile and Felicity noticed the flustered expression that she was trying so hard to mask. "Has Harry gone?"

"He left, all while muttering something that I didn't care enough to listen to." Felicity shrugged slightly as she leant back on a table. She pushed herself upwards, hoping the frame would hold, and folded her hands in her lap as she swung her legs back and forth for the simple sake of having something to do.

Grace nodded and with that, silence descended once again. Felicity wished she had the courage to just allow words to blurt from her lips to anyone and everyone. . . but she didn't, and she despised that. She assumed she would soon enough learn to be comfortable alongside the other barmaid, nevertheless. It was either that or she would despise each moment of work that she had to spend with her. Felicity hoped that wasn't the case, because Grace Burgess looked to be a perfectly pleasant woman despite the awkwardness that had settled in between them.

The room soon filled with men and Felicity forgot all of the thoughts and doubts that had filled her head. Grace filled the time with pleasant conversation as the pair worked to fill tankards and pass them out to the men at such a pace in order to avoid the inevitable teasing that was to be directed at the two women.

It wasn't long before her eye caught sight of the three men entering the pub. As they approached the bar, Felicity glanced at Grace and nodded her head in the direction of the Shelby brothers, motioning that she would take care of whatever they wished for. Felicity hoped that the disappointment she thought she saw in Grace's eyes was only the Woods' girl's eyes playing tricks on her, and so she turned away without a second thought on the matter.

"Evening," she greeted the three.

Arthur and John returned her greeting with their own warm smirks whilst Thomas only cleared his throat. "White rum," he told her simply. Felicity responded to this curt request with a small nod as she turned back for a moment, grabbing the bottle by its neck and holding it out to the man with one hand, along with three glasses in the other.

"On the house, I suppose," she told him in a tone that was just as curt as his own, stacking the glasses on top of one another so that they would be easier to carry.

Thomas took the bottle and glasses without another word, snaking his way back through the crowd once again in the direction the three men had come from just a moment ago. Felicity tried not to watch as the other two brothers followed him into the snug, but she failed. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the man, no matter how hard she tried.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
happy new year !! i hope this year is amazing
for   you  because  you   deserve  it ,  and   i'm
hoping i'll get more updates out for this book
and for all the others i've started lmao. i miss
writing felicity and tommy and ugh i just love
them both , it's a problem , really. also if you
read the old version of this book then you'd
probably realise that i didn't include grace &
uh well here she is in the edited version bc i
need a character to bully. jk. maybe. anyway
i love you all so much !!!