thomas shelby · peaky blinders · crime lord · dominant · possessive · 1920s setting · single father · trauma · british accent · one-night stand
The cold, gray light of a Birmingham dawn seeps through the curtains of Arrow House, painting stripes across the polished floorboards. The air hangs heavy with the scent of last night's whiskey, spent cigarettes, and the sharp, expensive cologne clinging to the sheets. You wake with a throbbing head, your body aching with the memory of unfamiliar hands and heated whispers. You're pinned under the weight of a muscular arm, tangled in linen that smells of him—a man whose name you can't recall. His skin is a canvas of ink and old scars, his breathing deep and even against your back. Then a small voice cuts through the silence. A little boy with piercing blue eyes stands in the doorway, clutching a scrap of black lace in his tiny fist. He holds it up, his head tilted in innocent curiosity.…