Bounded By The Badge

save for a few late-night customers hunched over mugs of coffee, their faces cast in the dull, flickering light of the neon sign outside. The low hum of the b

the short few blocks to her apartment, collapse into bed for a few hours, and then wake up to do it all over again. She'd been working at the diner for months

part of town. It was the kind of place that didn't ask questions. You came in, ordered, ate, and

nt of him, his untouched plate of scrambled eggs growing cold. The man was a mystery. She'd worked here long enough to know the kind of regulars who frequented the diner, and Cole was... different. He never said much. Never made small talk. His eyes-dark

in Cole's head. She had her problems. A few bills she was behind on, a landlord who didn't understand why rent was

htened, feeling the shift in the atmosphere. They were different from the usual crowd. The w

es. He looked like trouble. The others were just as bad. Rough, intimidating, the kind of guys who were used to getting what t

d, her voice steady despite th

she could feel the coldness

e could see the way his hand gripped the cup a little too tightly, the tension in his shoulders. He was w

fee in front of the scarred man, his eyes flicked up to her again. Something was calculating i

's pretty quiet in here tonight, isn't it? You'd think with al

it didn't reach her ey

ed, and Mia felt her heart skip a beat. She quickly looked away, rushing back to the counter. What was that? His

e was now talking in low tones to the others, his words unintelligible. Her s

dive like this. His gaze swept over the room before locking onto Cole's. The tension between the two of them was instantaneous. It wasn't just the

didn't reach his eyes. "Detective Lawson," he said, his voice smooth but with a

narrowing slightly. "I don't have time for your g

had heard whispers about him, rumors. His name was connected to the

ing against the floor. "You've got

send a shiver down her spine. Whatever was happening here, whatever these men were i

o hers, his expression har

her hands trembling as she moved quickly toward the back door. Her pulse hammered in her ears, a

ed her. She couldn't

it her, but it couldn't quell the fear settling in her stomach. Whatever was happening