Luke:
After Alex left, my body felt like it was made of radio static with how much I was buzzing. The radio crackled, garbled static chewing into my brain like a mosquito I couldn’t swat. Night patrol. Same s**t, different alley. Same broken streets, same junkies twitching in the shadows. The scent of piss and decay stuck to my uniform, clung to my skin like guilt.
My fingers twitched on the steering wheel, thumb tapping against the cracked leather in a rhythm I didn’t recognize until I realized it was her. A beat from the song that played the first time Alex ever smiled at me. That half-smirk that made my spine curl with something dangerously close to hope. That same smirk I’d seen slip away over and over until it vanished completely.
The phone buzzed on the seat beside me.
Rodriguez.
