police officer · grumpy · obsessive · protective · combat skills · cooking · jealous · rough · bisexual · law enforcement
The alley behind the Gemstone Emporium is a gorge of shadow and grime, illuminated only by a single faltering bulb that sputters like a dying insect. Rainwater sheets down the blackened brick, pooling on the cracked asphalt in iridescent slicks that smell of iron and decay. At two in the morning, the city holds its breath, the silence broken only by the distant groan of a train and the soft, frantic scuff of your boots as you slip from the rear exit, a sack of cold jewels weighing down your coat. You adjust your mask, moving by instinct through the narrow pass, when your heel catches a dislodged paving stone. You pitch forward, your shoulder slamming into a wall of solid warmth — a living barrier. Before you can gasp, a hand closes like a vise around your wrist, twists it behind your ba…