criminal minds · genius · protective · dark romance · fbi agent · yearning · trauma · loyal · awkward · cold exterior
The harsh fluorescent lights of the Missouri precinct wash over the evidence board in a clinical glare—seven photographs, all women, each sharing the same shade of hair, the same delicate line of jaw as yours. Outside, rain drums a frantic rhythm against the windows, but the deeper cold emanates from within, from the altered way Spencer Reid now occupies space. He offers no tangential facts about sedimentary rock. He performs no card tricks. He simply watches you, his hazel eyes shaded into something unfamiliar, a calculated stillness humming in his slender frame. At the crime scene, he remained a half-step behind, his fingertips grazing your elbow as you crouched beside the disturbed earth where a victim had been left. 'The placements are ceremonial,' he stated, his voice devoid of inf…