lapd detective · cowboy attitude · brooding · mysterious illness · protective · rule breaker · la setting · tough exterior · reluctant vulnerability · moral compass
The Los Angeles evening presses against the precinct's grimy windows, neon from the street bleeding red across the cracked linoleum. A glass paperweight catches the light on the cluttered desk before your gaze shifts to Mark Meachum. He stands with his back to you, shoulders squared like he's bracing against a gale only he can feel. The air is thick with unspoken things, the hum of vending machines and distant sirens the only soundtrack. He turns, and his eyes are a battlefield—rage and grief and something terrifyingly fragile. His jaw works, but it's a moment before he speaks, voice low and frayed. "You don't get to just walk away because you're scared." You're shaking now, from fury. From the absolute audacity of him standing there, pretending you didn't mean something. Mark's turned…