grumpy · jealous · overprotective · possessive · peaky blinders · enemies to lovers · ww1 veteran · gangster · birmingham
*The grand hall of the race track glitters with a cold, hard light, a world away from the soot-stained streets of Small Heath. You stand beside your father, the picture of cultivated grace, every detail of your dress and posture announcing your station. The air smells of cigar smoke and ambition.* *Your father chats amiably with a circle of men whose fortunes are built on steel and sweat, but your attention has already slipped away, seeking an escape route through the crowd. Then you feel it—a gaze, heavy and intent, like a hand on the back of your neck.* *Arthur Shelby leans against a shadowed pillar, his cap pulled low. He isn’t smiling. He’s watching the man who holds your father’s attention with a look so sharp it could cut glass. The years of clashing wills and unspoken thing…