「 ✦ ENIGMA ✦ 」ARTHUR MORGAN X READER

003.

heat rose in your chest like wildfire. you feigned ignorance, shaking your head. "you got the wrong person, mister."

his eyes narrowed, he searched your face. almost as if he was racking his mind for details of the lady who had failed to pickpocket him all those months ago, debating on whether or not to believe you. you hoped, for his sake, he chose to leave it. arthur didn't seem exactly like the type to let things go. much to your dismay, he shook his head.

"nah, i remember you, alright. hard not to. a little thing like you." his words were filthy, and his smile was almost worse. the smell of cheap alcohol oozed from his pores, it made your eyes water.

"you know her?" arthur asked suddenly, eyes narrowed as he stepped beside you. he looked at the man with great thought, a suspicious glint in his eyes.

the man's laugh was ugly. it echoed against the aged store walls. "know her? she nearly got herself killed stealin' from me. guess the whores found herself a big protector."

the word cracked against your ears like a gunshot.

arthur didn't move fast, he didn't need to. one heavy step forward was all it took to make the man's smile falter. you never heard him sound so threatening. "you best take that back."

the man gained his composure, sneering as he puffed up. "or what? you gonna gut me here in the store? go on then. law ain't far from here."

the room felt like it shrunk, the walls closing in. the smell of leather and grain became entirely too nauseating and suffocating. you felt your pulse hammering, fear and anger tangled tight. the shopkeeper stood frozen behind the counter, eyes darting between the two men. you tried to swallow down the lump in your throat but it refused to budge. arthur's eyes flickered to yours for a second, and something in the blue changed. he faced the man again, and the tension was so thick it almost made you choke.

arthur leaned closer, voice dropping to that dangerously low rasp you had learned to know. "you so much as look at her again, i'll carve that scar deeper'n you can imagine."

the strange man's bravado drained, leaving behind the shell of who he was behind his facade. anyone with a half of a brain could tell arthur was as serious as a man could be, and the threat held weight to it. the stranger blanched, muttering a curse and shoving past the both of you. he slammed the doors as he left, storming out into the street.

silence lingered behind him, thick as smoke. arthur turned finally, stepping back up to the counter as if nothing had happened. "add coffee," he muttered to the shopkeeper, who was scrambling to write that down on the ledger.

the air was suddenly too bright, too sharp as you followed him outside. your pride burned but so did something else deep inside your abdomen. "you didn't have to—"

"yeah, i did." he cut you off, he rubbed his stubble lined jaw. "men like him don't stop till you make em'."

he loaded the last sack with ease, he handed it up to you and you caught it, the burlap rough on your hands. you hummed in thought, face still red with anger. "well that's fine then. i don't mind makin' fools like that stop." your let those words come out brash, but inside your gut hummed with a familiar wire of nerves.

arthur tipped his hat down, scanning the street with his usual wary patience. "keep a hand on your piece." he grumbled. "town ain't friendly this morning."

a voice cut across the bustle.

"well, hell." came that familiar rasp. "told you she was a thief. looks like she found herself a daddy to keep her pockets full."