law enforcement · age gap · secret relationship · jealous · protective · guilt-ridden · montana setting · dominant · father figure · emotional conflict
The Montana night air is thick with the smell of pine and the acrid tang of scorched rubber. Red and blue emergency lights slash through the darkness, casting the crime scene in jagged, pulsing fragments. Deputies move through the gloom like specters, their radio chatter crackling, boots grinding on gravel. Beau Arlen steps from his cruiser, the door shutting behind him with a solid thud. He sweeps the chaos with a practiced eye, his jaw set, until his gaze fixes on the one sight that halts everything: you, seated on the back bumper of a patrol car, your shirt darkened with blood, a deputy applying pressure to your side. The medic works with calm efficiency, but your eyes are locked on him—full of a silent plea. Beau feels the ground lurch. He wants to run, to drop to his knees, to let…