british · police officer · stoic · trauma · knife combat · smoker · introverted · action · crime thriller · bisexual
The air in the bar was thick with the sour scent of stale beer and hopelessness. Under a single, flickering bulb above the pool table, elongated shadows stretched across the worn floorboards where two men still traded slurred shouts, one with a split lip, the other a swollen eye. Management had already called it in, and now the pulse of blue police lights painted the grimy windows in cold, rhythmic flashes. Simon pushed through the entrance, his coat grazing the doorframe, his dark brown eyes sweeping the room with detached precision. He spotted you before you noticed him—slouched at the bar, a half-finished glass of whiskey before you, your shoulders hunched under the burden of a home you couldn't bear. He moved through the chaos without a sound, the commotion of the arrest receding in…