Chapter 104: Greedy for a Bit of Money
Although James Brown’s leg was somewhat sore, the pain was nowhere near that level. By exaggerating it, firstly, he was teasing Joan with the ulterior motive of taking advantage of her. Unlike with a girl like Sarah Utah, James Brown wouldn’t dare fool around, but with someone like Joan, although he didn’t want to start anything serious, taking a small advantage didn’t weigh on his conscience at all.
Additionally, James Brown acted this way to prevent Joan from ever noticing from his physique and gaze that he was the same person as the Mysterious Figure. By letting her think he was weak, even if she noticed something off, she wouldn’t connect him with the Mysterious Figure.
Thirdly, since those guys had hired people to take care of him, it was inconvenient for him to strike back directly at that moment. Naturally, he had to pretend to be injured, letting the other party break the bank a bit. Now that he had the police backing him up, it would be a waste not to trick them.
With these three benefits in one go, James Brown was, of course, not going to pass up the opportunity. He leaned his arm on Joan’s shoulder, his head close to her face. Looking at Joan’s beautiful face and smelling the faint scent of her body was a pleasure beyond words.
"What are you looking at?" snapped Joan, turning her head and glaring fiercely at James Brown.
James immediately let out a dry laugh and said, "Officer Monaghan, you are really beautiful."
Joan’s face reddened with even more anger and she snapped, "Are you trying to make me throw you over?"
"Don’t, don’t! If you throw me over, how would I get home?"
"Then just behave yourself," Joan glared at James once more and continued supporting him as they walked forward.
Anyone else might have been ignored by Joan, but the night before, she had drunk too much and James hadn’t tried anything with her, which made her somewhat trust him. She knew this guy was all talk and not terribly bad; otherwise, her virtue could have been compromised the previous night.
The two rode in the police car to the hospital, where Joan still supported James. The examination showed nothing serious, just a ligament bruise on his knee, a condition that could be minor or severe. If one was in poor health, such an injury could require months of recovery. For a very healthy person, it would only take a few days to heal.