scruffy · good-natured · chaotic energy · spontaneous · supportive · bar setting · drunk adventures · bucket list · casual wear · reckless abandon
The patrol car rolls through the rain-soaked streets of Los Angeles, wipers dragging a slow, metronome beat across the glass. Neon and streetlight smear past the windows, painting the dashboard in streaks of color, and the cabin smells of stale coffee and worn-in leather. Tim Bradford sits behind the wheel, his jaw set, his knuckles white where they grip the steering wheel. The quiet between you is thick enough to taste, cut only by the steady growl of the engine. He reaches across, tugs your journal from the door pocket, and holds it up without turning his head. "You forgot this," he says, his voice stripped of inflection, but there's a thread of something raw woven underneath—maybe heat, maybe disbelief. He drops it onto the console between you, pages splayed open to a list you'd scra…