[Sarah]

The house was deadly silent. You couldn’t even hear it settle as you were used to old houses doing. The maid made herself busy around you and around the house. “Ma’am,” she addressed you as she took your dishes. There was an anxious air about her. “I can tidy your room and laundry if you like,” she said carefully.

You pursed your lips in thought. This was not a situation you ever thought you’d be put in. “Yes please,” you answered quietly but audibly.

[Sarah]

The clock showed eleven and you decided you didn’t have anything better to do than help Harry set up the bar for the day. You realized how centralized The Garrison was in Tommy’s territory. No wonder he bought it for his brother and frequented it so often. You wondered as you walked if he would still buy it for Arthur.

Harry greeted you as you walked into the bar and your step faltered as you saw Grace beside him. Fuck. How in the hell? Fuck. You had the sense it was your own damn fault that he’d hired the woman.

[Sarah]

“Eli. This is Grace. I was hoping you could train her today?” he said, half asking.

“Of course,” you agreed. You weren’t about to deny your boss of something within reason. Plus, you kind of wanted to make the best impression you could. Although you imagined she’d hate you either way. Her whole purpose was to make Tommy fall in love with her. You remembered she fell for him as well. First, she’d hate you because you would make her job harder and then she would hate you for keeping her away from her true love. Well. Maybe you’d be dead before she had a chance to hate you for the second reason.

[Sarah]

In fairness to Grace she did know what she was doing. By the time customers came in she was making friends and drinks better than you could. The first sight of the Shelby family was Finn. “Do you think you could run the front while I take care of the books?” you asked. She had a brief quelled look of surprise and nodded her assent. “Grab me if it becomes too much,” you said before you disappeared to a back room.

[Sarah]

The books weren’t much different than you left them. Harry had some scribbles here and there as well as calculations for staffing both you and Grace. There were two big books and three notebooks, and you got to work organizing. The math was relatively straightforward. Expenses and money brought in and stock and middlemen. Everything relied on organization. A thing Harry wasn’t terrible at, but his handwriting was deplorable. You weren’t entirely sure audits were a thing. If they were then no one could parse the books for the bar.

[Sarah]

You worked quietly until Grace opened the door. You had no way to know how much time had passed but you thought you were halfway through what you’d set out to do. Before you looked up you made sure to note you stopping point. Grace looked falsely pleasant and you furrowed your brow. “Mister Shelby is asking for you,” she said. There was an almost imperceptible edge to her voice, or you were imagining things because you were paranoid.

[Sarah]

“Did he say why?” you asked as innocently as you could. Grace shook her head and you groaned under your breath. The need to deny him warred within you. There was no reason you could think of beyond your own stubbornness to be obstinate. Whatever you decided you doubted you’d curry favor with Grace. “Is he drunk?” you asked tone flat. Again Grace shook her head.

You ran your tongue over your teeth as you thought. Thinking was fruitless your decision had been made. Everything else was for show. You pushed back from the desk and stood.

[Sarah]

The bar was packed but everyone had a drink and they all seemed to have taken to Grace well. Your first instinct was to be happy about that fact before you realized these were Tommy’s people and them not liking you would probably play into your relationship with the man. Damn. You pushed your anxiety over their favor aside as Grace led you into a side-room that Tommy and his brothers were occupying. Arthur and John were definitely drunk and there was a look in Tommy’s eyes that set you on edge.

[Sarah]

“Are you going to be okay with them?” Grace asked lowly. You weren’t sure her intentions were as pure as her words, but you appreciated her all the same for it.

“I’ll be okay,” you assured her, but you knew the look you gave her was telling of how you really felt. Your heart was in your throat. Anxiety more than anything. She stepped out and closed the door behind her.

Tommy stretched, rolling his head, and spreading his arms on the back of the booth. He was considering you and the butterflies reappeared in your stomach. Your hands flexed at your side as you made a conscious effort to not fidget.

[Sarah]

“Come on then!” Arthur shouted and gestured you over, “we aren’t going to eat you. Stop looking like that.” You drug your eyes from him back to Tommy. The urge to bolt rooted you in place. Your nerves screamed at you to leave. The boys stared at you and John seemed to sober. The side room was quiet despite the noise you knew had to be just outside.

“Come here.” Tommy’s command was soft-spoken, and firm, and your feet carried you to his side. You wanted to say that your mind was separated from the actions of your body, but it wasn’t. The effect was less from his command and more from the coaxing guidance his words inflicted on your over-processed mind.

[Sarah]

You sat next to him and he slowly wound his arm around your waist to pull you close to him. He held you and you relaxed into him. John and Arthur renewed their drinking and rowdiness the same heartbeat you sat. “Why are you afraid of me?” he asked. He was keeping his eyes on his brothers and laughed when they laughed.

“I-“ you paused as you tried to figure out what you could possibly say. You didn’t want to tell him that you didn’t know why you feared him. At the same time you weren’t going to tell him the truth either. Somehow you felt as though admitting you’d watched his life play out as a drama would not go over well. “I don’t trust it. You. This place. Every given moment I expect to return to the place I was before. Every time I see you, I expect a bullet in my brain because I can’t figure out why you don’t want me dead. I’m no one from no where with no credibility,” you said quiet enough you hoped his brothers wouldn’t hear.

[Sarah]

They had. Their attention turned to you and John shifted so his wrist was exposed. He had what you assumed was the soulmate mark. “Its different when you’re soulmates. Doesn’t matter where you came from. Only that you’re here,” he said. His eyes glistened with something, love perhaps, and you understood he was thinking of Esme.

“Yeah,” Arthur agreed, “don’t have to worry about you hurting Tommy because you never would.”

“How could you possibly know that?” you asked. Arthur shrugged and knocked back another drink.

[Sarah]

“That’s how soulmates are,” Tommy said. He leaned into your hair and spoke softly into your ear. You tried not to react to the shiver that made its way down your spine. “We don’t wait for soulmates to marry because they never marry anyone else. Our souls were destined for each other. The universe would not separate us otherwise there would be no meaning to these bonds,” he explained.

“How long?” you asked. How long did you have to decide?

“A week,” Tommy answered.

[Sarah]

Marriage or death. “I’ll be dead either way I guess,” you mused. You felt Tommy’s fingers on your waist tighten.

“What does that mean?” he asked. You wondered if he meant to be so commanding all the time, or if he didn’t even realize he was doing it. Not a puzzling question considering you already knew the answer.

“Either I don’t marry you and you kill me, or I do marry you and all the world will use me to get to you,” you said reluctantly.

[Sarah]

Tommy gave you a quizzical look then he scoffed and shook his head. “No one is going to kill you,” he said. You looked down but he seemed to be expecting that because his fingers caught your chin and he forced you to look at him. “No one is going to kill you,” he said again.

“I have had this sense of growing dread since the minute I got here. Something terrible is going to happen to me,” you argued.