Together

105. Lucky I love him

When you play it hard
And I try to follow you, there
It's not about control
But I turn back
When I see where you go
-Bastille

Kiara leans against the Kildare Police car that was called to the scene. She's handcuffed and left dazed from the whole ordeal.

Everything happened so fast. Luke attacking JJ, them fighting, her being struck when she attempted to pull Luke off him, JJ being pulled off Luke and put in handcuffs. She was put in handcuffs not one minute later, as the officers wanted to sort out the entanglement.

The rookie cops that responded to the call had no clue who the Maybank family was, that was clear. They called for an ambulance when they found Luke unconscious in the street and separated the two teens. Kiara was put behind the squad car while JJ was sat on the curb in front of it. Each of the officers took to guarding them lest they try and run off. That's the last thing that she's going to do.

Kiara's not able to think. Her whole body feels numb. She can't believe what she just witnessed; what just happened. Her head starts to feel fuzzy, and she has to focus on her breathing, taking slow inhales and exhales as she attempts to find her center.

"Ma'am."

Her ears are ringing.

"Ma'am?"

Her head is pounding.

"Ma'am, can you hear me?"

What the hell just happened?

Someone touches her arm, causing her to gasp and come back to earth. She's a little gun shy right now. On edge from the altercation.

"Apologies, ma'am," the officer says. "We can have someone look at that if you'd like?" he offers, indicating to her mouth.

Kiara goes to touch her split lip, feeling stupid when she can't because she forgot her hands are cuffed from behind. She pushes on her teeth with her tongue. Luke was not holding back when he threw his elbow at her, so she's thankful that she's not missing a tooth. She can still taste the metallic flavor of blood as she rubs her lips together, fairly certain that in addition to splitting her lip with his fist Luke may have made her cut the inside of her lip on her own teeth with with contact.

"I'm good," she says. "Is JJ okay?"

"JJ?"

She scoffs with shock. "Yes, the teenager you're improperly detaining right now," she bites. "The one that needs medical attention."

"I think you should worry about yourself," he suggests, pulling out a pen and paper.

She rolls her eyes, and looks over to the ambulance, spotting where Luke sits, being fussed over. They were treating him first, just because he was unconscious when they rolled up. It didn't take long for him the regain consciousness, but he looks like shit all the same. She's not unhappy about that.

He's got bruising all over his face, the swelling making him look puffy, and his nose had been gushing, clearly broken. She thinks they just got the bleeding to stop a moment ago. His clothes are stained with his own blood, and JJ's too, she's sure.

She tried to explain to the officers that Luke struck first, that JJ was defending himself and her, but that did little to appease them. When they got to the scene JJ looked like the aggressor. She's not sure she's ever seen him so enraged before. Really Luke is lucky the officers got there fast enough to prevent any serious damage from happening. She's not sure what would have gotten JJ to stop had they not.

The audience that had appeared at the start of the fight quickly dispersed once the police arrived. Everyone returned to their houses, shutting the doors and turning off their lights. No one in the Cut was keen on speaking to cops. Someone had called the police, but that's as far as their involvement was going to go. That meant it was Kie and JJ's word against Luke's. And he was the one on the ground when they rolled up.