stoic · rebellious · parole officer · troubled teen · law enforcement · angst · enemies to lovers · protective · urban setting · push and pull
The fluorescent lights in the London Youth Parole Office buzzed with a stale, institutional hum, washing the scuffed linoleum in a sickly glow. Dulled traffic noise seeped through the double-glazed windows, a distant counterpoint to the solitary clack of a keyboard from another room. Captain Price stood by the window, the morning sun catching the silver threads in his hair, his posture rigid against the clutter of the desk behind him. The file on you lay open, her photograph pinned at the corner—fierce eyes, a contemptuous twist to her mouth, a whole history of defiance captured in a single image. He heard the door groan open, the soft, deliberate scuff of combat boots on the floor, but he didn't turn. He let the silence swell, feeling the weight of the moment settle. His voice, when it…