Chapter 69: Sexy Officer

After Arthur helped quiet the crowd, Ange took a long, deep breath, realizing how quickly the situation was spiraling out of control. She stole one last lingering glance at Arthur’s impressive muscles before shaking her head. She had a job to do, and she needed to be responsible.

This time, she adopted a firmer, more authoritative tone. "Everyone, calm down! Stop talking over one another!"

She pressed the radio clipped to her shoulder. "Central, I need an ambulance in front of the municipal library." She kept her eyes on the three men sprawled on the ground as she spoke, then glanced around to assess the situation while waiting for confirmation.

"Three adult males. One unconscious, possible nasal fracture. Another with a laceration to the forehead. All showing clear signs of intoxication. One of them was carrying a knife, but he appears to be incapacitated."

The radio crackled in response, and she released the button.

Ange decided that Cole was the only one who needed to be handcuffed for now. Although the big man seemed to have given up fighting and looked thoroughly intimidated, his size alone still made him a potential threat.

As soon as Ange was not speaking with him, Arthur turned around and looked for his best friend. He wanted to be sure that Alan was okay.

"Are you okay?"

Alan blinked, then smiled. "I’m fine, thanks to you, I’m fine, big man." He pressed his closed fist against Arthur’s chest. "You were so badass back then. Actually, I should be the one asking if you’re okay..." Alan thought for a second, then smirked. "But knowing you, this was probably not even a good warm-up for you."

Arthur rolled his eyes, smiling. "You think too much of me." He still checked his friend up and down, and finally turned his attention to Kat.

The woman was still sitting on the ground, her mind still lost in the memories of that moment, all the adrenaline slowly fading away.

"What about you, are you hurt?" Arthur’s voice was gentle, but not as worried as before. "Did he get you anywhere?"

Kat nodded. "I’m okay," she mumbled softly.

Truth be told, Kat’s legs still hadn’t come back. She was sitting on the pavement with her back against the library wall, her arms wrapped around her own stomach, and she could not make them stop shaking.

On one hand, she didn’t want to bother Arthur, and she wanted to seem strong. On the other hand, she was hoping he would insist on taking care of her, like he did with Alan.

But Ange called for him, and he left her behind. Kat’s jaw tightened as she saw the officer’s hand linger way too long on Arthur’s shoulder.

It was hard for the blond girl to understand her feelings. Was she jealous of him? Kat hated the idea, so she shook her head, rejecting that feeling.

And by all means, it wasn’t just jealousy. It was just that... Her father was a captain, so he had been distant. Kat was on her period, and almost dying only made everything worse. She was boiling inside, and felt somewhat lonely and scared once Arthur walked away.

But at that moment, there was no one looking at her.

The ambulance arrived four minutes after being called. While the two paramedics tended to the injured men, Ange approached the mother, who was sitting on the steps of the neighboring building with her son in her lap, one side of her face still burning red from the slap.

"What’s your name?" Ange asked in a gentle tone.

"Elena."

"Elena." She wrote it down. "And this is Denis?"

"It is."

"Is he hurt?"

"He’s scared." The woman’s voice was ragged, her eyes betraying that she was still calming down. "But he is not injured."

"It’s good to know." She parted the young boy’s hair. "Be strong," she told the kid, then turned her attention back to Elena. "Did Cole hit you?"

"He slapped me," the mother said quickly.

Ange wrote more slowly than she needed to. Then she spent another minute gently calming both of them down.

When she came back, Arthur was sitting on the ground waiting for her. He had also been handcuffed for formality’s sake, but Ange felt very comfortable around him and was confident things would be fine.

"I’ll release you as soon as I can," Ange said, in a tone a bit sweeter than she usually managed. "But first I need to ask you a few things." She sat down next to him. "Did you lose consciousness at any point?"

"No."

"Headache? Nausea? Blurred vision?"

"A bit of a headache."

"A bit is normal after taking a punch. A lot is not. If you start vomiting, you go to a hospital, and that’s not a suggestion." She pointed at his hand. "Open and close your fist."

Arthur opened and closed it.

"Does it hurt?"

"It hurts."

"Good. If it didn’t, I’d be worried." She flipped a page in her notebook. "Now. Start from the beginning. What did you see when you came out of that door?"

"I saw a man swinging a knife at my best friend."

"Is this the knife?" She showed him a long knife in a plastic bag that had been retrieved as evidence.

Arthur nodded in agreement, explaining that the first thing he did was move to protect Alan. Ange had already confirmed Cole was the one who started the confusion, and seeing how Arthur didn’t see most of that, she moved on to asking about the fight.

Ange wrote for a moment. "Did you hit anyone before the knife?"

"No."

"Did you go towards him, or away?"

"Away. I stepped back, and that’s when he thrust the knife in my direction. I blocked it with this book," he said, pointing to another bag of collected evidence.

"Can anyone confirm it?" she asked, trying to hide her shock at hearing the story. At each second, she thought Arthur was hotter.

"I believe there are cameras, and people also filmed it," Arthur responded confidently.

"Then did the other one also initiate the attack?"

"Yes. The big man punched me first, so I fought back. Once I had him on the ropes, the third guy tried to hit me with a vodka bottle, but I dodged it and kicked him away," Arthur explained.

"Okay, this is enough." She tapped her pen against her palm. "Do you know what the law says about self-defense?"

"No."

"Nobody does." She smiled sideways. "That’s why we have courts. But I think you’ll be fine."

Arthur laughed once, without much in it.

"Listen." Ange took a card from her breast pocket, wrote a number on the back with her own pen, and held it out. "The front is the department line. The back is mine."

Arthur looked at the card. Then he turned it over, as if it were any other note.

"If you remember anything you forgot today, call me." She stood and straightened her belt. "Anything at all. Any time."

"Okay," he said, and put it in his back pocket, wondering how many days it would take for that report to be finished.

Ange stood there one more second, waiting for some other reaction that didn’t come.

Then, just before Arthur could leave, she asked him to stay. Her hand reached for the wound on his face.

Her professional mask slipped. She clenched her thighs tighter together, feeling a betraying wetness she had absolutely no business feeling on duty.

"Are you sure you’re okay?"

"Yes. Thanks for the concern," Arthur nodded.

"I see. You can go now." Her fingers lingered on him a beat longer than they should have, tracing down his arm, over the hard muscle of his forearm, before she finally let him go. "I’ll call you later. But please rest, you deserve it, hero."

She turned away first and walked off slowly, giving him the full view on purpose: the uniform straining at her waist, and a bubble butt her tight trousers had no business trying to contain.

Finally, Arthur walked back to his friends and noticed Kat was trembling, her eyes betraying a fragility he had never seen in her.

"Kat," he called with worry.

"I’m fine." Her voice came out thin and high and not like her own.

"You’re not fine." He crouched down to her level. "You’re shaking... Can you stand?"

Kat tried to stand up to prove she was fine, but her legs gave out. She stumbled forward, and Arthur caught her in his strong arms, wrapping them securely around her.

As she felt his warmth, an intense sense of security washed over her, and her entire body relaxed against his touch.

She couldn’t fight the feeling, not at that moment. All the fear and loneliness she had been holding back came rushing to the surface, overwhelming her all at once.

"Hug me... Please." It came out like a plea, and her voice broke at the end of it. Her strong face broke completely as she pressed her body against his, hoping he would take care of her and look at her.