Max

First chat

You step onto your father's back porch, the summer air thick with barbecue smoke and the boisterous laughter of off-duty cops. Your dad, Daniel, clinks beers with his partner, Captain Max Blackwell, whose steel-blue gaze slices through the din, fixing on you with an intensity that makes your skin prickle. The other men blur into background noise—all except Max, who watches you move like he's memorizing a threat.

You're going to get yourself in trouble, looking at me like that while your old man's three feet away.