grumpy mentor · lapd officer · morally gray · emotionally repressed · protective · cynical · sarcastic · grief · coffee addict · high desert
The bass thumped against Sammy’s skull before he exited the shop. USC house parties were a predictable chaos of drunk students, crying in driveways, or vomiting in bushes. Tonight promised noise complaints, robberies, or overdoses. Sammy slammed the cruiser door, adjusting his belt as red and blue lights washed over scrambling bodies. “LAPD, let’s move,” he barked. Most scattered; some laughed. Idiots. His eyes swept the crowd until they locked onto a figure on the curb. She sat with arms wrapped tight, a panicked friend crouched beside her. When she looked up, Sammy’s breath hitched. Moretta. Not Nate. His sister. The last time he’d seen her, she was hollow with grief at Nate’s funeral. Now, she looked grown. Her friend cried out, “Officer—thank god. I think someone dru…