Chapter 1: 

Levi's Point of View: 

“Jason, where are you going?” A woman yells. 

I look up from my coffee as I step out onto the sidewalk, leaving my favorite cafe.

“I'm done with you, Luna. You're a bum! Get a real job!” The man yells, storming off in the opposite direction. 

I casually turn to see the woman he'd addressed and stop in my tracks. The woman looks to be in her mid twenties. She's dressed in black tights with worn Converse, and a black Aerosmith t-shirt that's easily two sizes too big, but is tied off with a hair tie at her waist. Her long dirty blonde hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She's wearing round glasses and has her ears pierced in several places, her nose is pierced on both sides, and her arms are covered in tattoos. She's a hot mess, but hot all the same. 

“What the fuck?! Jason!” She yells running after him. 

She's too upset to notice the crosswalk sign has switched and traffic is beginning to move. Instinctively, I reach out and take hold of her arm to stop her.

She turns and looks at me questioningly, immediately noticing my uniform. Her eyebrows raise in confusion. I notice she has a fairly large scar below her left eyebrow that extends downward at an angle. Her eyebrow is also pierced. She glances down at my hand on her arm. I release her and point to the moving traffic.

“Oh,” she says, finally understanding. “Thank you. I thought I was in trouble.” 

I take a long sip of my coffee, eyeing her carefully. It's hot, but it feels good out in this cold winter air. She looks like trouble, but the good kind. She has to be cold. It's like forty degrees outside and she's dressed in a short-sleeve shirt and has no jacket or coat to speak of. “Trouble?” I repeat. 

“For yelling? Maybe public disturbance?” She says. 

“Oh,” I chuckle. “I'm not a cop.” 

She eyes my uniform, my bullet proof vest, and my utility belt with an array of tools and weapons. Her gaze pauses at my gun. “Security guard then? Body guard?” She guesses. 

“Bounty hunter,” I reply. 

“To arrest people with warrants, breaking bonds, things like that?” She questions. 

I nod and a slow smile spreads across her face. “You should definitely arrest my ex then. Jason has all sorts of problems.” 

I eye her up and down. So she likes trouble? “Do you have all sorts of problems?” 

She snorts. “Don't we all?” 

I raise an eyebrow and she immediately lifts her hands up with her palms outward. “Not legal ones,” she immediately backtracks. 

“Don't worry. I'm off duty. Are you cold?” I ask, noticing her shiver. 

“Yeah, a bit,” she replies. 

“Want a coffee?” 

“Thanks, but I can't really pay for anything right now. I left my phone, my wallet and my jacket in Jason's car and he just took off with everything.”

Stealing on top of bonds, I take a mental note. “Let's go inside. I'll get you a coffee and we can talk more about it.” 

“Are you going to help me?” She questions, a hopeful look in her eyes. 

“We'll see.” I hold the door open for her and she steps inside. 

She lets out a little sigh and her demeanor completely changes once we're inside the warm café. 

“What do you like?”

“Coffee, black,” she replies. 

That surprises me. Even I can't stand the bitterness of black coffee and I can stand a lot of things. I tell her to go pick out a seat while I order her drink. She didn't ask for anything else, but I also order some pastries. Everything is good here. 

She chooses a table in the far corner of the room close to the radiator. It's the warmest and also the most secluded area. 

I join her and slide her coffee across the table to her as I sit down opposite of her. 

“Levi,” I say as she blows on her coffee. 

“Excuse me?”

“My name,” I reply. 

“Oh, right. My name is Luna. It's a pleasure to meet you, Levi. Thank you for the coffee.” 

I'm glad to see her manners are intact. “Have a pastry.” I open the box and slide it forward. 

She hesitates and her glance flits back and forth between me and the box. “They're fine. Help yourself.” To ease her state of mind, I choose a raspberry jelly filled donut and take a bite. 

She sighs in relief and chooses a chocolate chunk croissant. “What was that about?” I ask her. “Did you think I poisoned them?” 

She vigorously shakes her head and finishes chewing before speaking. “I've been refraining from sweets since Jason said I needed to lose weight.” 

I stare at her for a moment, wondering if I heard her correctly. Lose weight? She's not overweight in the slightest. She's got nice legs and I can imagine my face buried between those thighs. “What a dick,” I say before taking another bite from my donut. The raspberry-filled ones are my favorite. 

“Yeahhhhh,” she agrees. “So, should I give you his information? Name, date of birth, address? You know, all the good stuff.” 

“I'm off the clock.” 

“Yeah, I know, but for later,” she says. 

“Yeah, I'll get it before we leave.” 

“We? Are we going somewhere, together?” She looks more curious than intimidated as she takes another bite. 

“I'll take you to retrieve your belongings and give you a ride home.” 

“You're not obligated to do that.” 

“I know.” 

“I can't pay you for helping me. Work hasn't really been that great lately.” 

“I don't want your money.” 

“What do you want then?” She asks suspiciously. 

“Did I ask for anything in return?”

“Well...no,” she answers. 

“Then it's settled. We'll finish up here, go get your stuff back and then I'll take you to wherever you need to go and we'll call it a day.” 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” 

“No particular reason. Besides, Jason is a tool.” 

She glances at me with a curious look on her face. 

“What?” I ask. 

“You married? Got a girlfriend? Boyfriend?” 

“No, but my private life is not up for discussion. I'm not helping you because I'm interested in you.” 

Her expression falls. “Yeah, stupid of me to ask. Jason was right,” she mutters under her breath. 

“What was that?” I ask. “What else did he say?” I take another sip of coffee. 

“Nothing,” she replies, stuffing her face as if that will help her to get out of talking. 

“Tell me.” My voice is firm, authoritative.

 She gulps hard as she swallows. “It's really not important. Not even relevant, really....,” she trails off at the no bull-shit expression I'm giving her. 

She sighs. “Okay, fine. He may have mentioned that I let myself go and no other man would be interested in me.” She keeps her eyes downcast as she speaks, as if she's ashamed to meet my gaze.

I finish my donut and wash it down with my coffee and we sit in silence for a moment before I take a small notepad and pen from my pocket. I slide them forward on the table. “Write down his information.”

“What?” She asks, looking up at me. 

“You heard me.” 

“Oh, right,” she replies, picking up the notepad and pen before jotting down his information. When she finishes, she slides it back across the table. I take a look at it before closing the notepad and returning the objects to my pocket. 

“You finished?” I ask. 

She nods in response, downing the last of her coffee. I stand and pick up the box of pastries. She follows me towards the exit. Outside she immediately shivers. I pass her the box of pastries for a moment while I take off my jacket. 

She looks at me questioningly as I hold my hand out to her. She reaches out with her free hand, but I ignore it as I take the box from her and then offer her the jacket. 

“Oh!” Her face blushes as if she's embarrassed, but she quickly takes the jacket from me and slips into it. It's big on her, but I see her melt into the warmth of it. “Thank you.” She smiles and I nod in response. 

We walk in silence down the sidewalk as I lead her to where my vehicle is parked. I'm aware of her periodically taking peeks at my biceps as we walk. 

“You work out? She asks. 

“My job is physically demanding. I have to stay fit.” I reply. 

“That makes sense. It looks good on you,” she compliments. 

“Thanks.” I lead her to my black Dodge Durango with the bumper guard on the front. 

She pauses in front of it. 

“What?” I ask. 

“Do you have to use this a lot?” She asks, sliding her hand across the top of the bumper guard. 

“Occasionally. I just had this one replaced with the grill,” I reply unlocking the car door. 

I walk around to the passenger side door and open it for her. She steps up to get in and I take hold of her elbow to steady her. I shut the door behind her and walk back to the driver's side. 

“What would you like me to do with this stuff? It was in the seat.” 

I look down at the things she's carefully resting in her lap. A phone book, a paper map, some magazines and random shit. 

“You can throw it on the floor.”

She leans down and neatly places the stuff on the floor at her feet. “This is cool,” she says, eyeing the laptop screen resting between us. “Do you search warrants and things like that on it?” 

“Yeah, something like that,” I reply. 

“You're not much of a talker, are you?” she questions. 

“Don't really have to talk all that much with my job,” I say. 

“I talk too much,” she admits. 

“Something else that Jason told you?” I ask. 

She doesn't respond so I know it is. 

“I know you're probably wondering why I stayed with him.” 

“I wasn't.”

She continues as if she didn't hear me. “But the short of it is that I have really low self-esteem and I'm not exactly pretty and so I stayed with him because I didn't think I could find anyone else.” There's silence as she finishes with her rant. 

“Feel better?” I ask. 

She lets out a breath of air. “Yes, actually.” 

“That's not true by the way.” 

“What isn't?” she asks as I make a turn. “Where are we going? 

“What you said about not being pretty. We're going to your boyfriend's place to get your stuff.” 

“Ex,” she corrects. “Did you memorize the address when I wrote it down?” 

“I know the area. I get a lot of business from there.” 

“Ohhhh, okay. Wait...do you think I'm pretty?” 

“I have eyes that work,” I reply. 

She settles down into the seat with a little smile. “Thank you.” 

“I didn't mean it as a compliment. It was an observation.” 

“Regardless, thank you.” 

“Welcome.” 

Ten minutes later and we're pulling up to the shady looking apartment complex where her ex lives. 

“That's it! That's his car!” She unbuckles and points to an older model silver Honda Civic. 

Just as I'm parking she jumps out of the car. 

“Wait!” I call, but it falls on deaf ears as she rushes over to the vehicle. 

I turn the engine off and exit, approaching the Honda Civic. She has her face pressed up against the window of the passenger side. 

“My stuff is right there. I can see it in the seat,” she says, pressing her finger against the glass. 

“Is the door unlocked?” I ask. 

She tries the handle and it doesn't budge. “It's locked.”

“Call him out.” 

As she walks over to his apartment and knocks on his door, I slip back into the Durango and take the time to search his name in the database. Three active warrants. Two for violation of parole and one for failure to appear in court. He also has a bounty on him. Looks like he's got a colorful past. Domestic violence too. I wonder if Luna is aware of that. 

My head jerks to the side as I hear yelling. I step out of the vehicle. 

“Get the fuck out of here, Luna!” the man named Jason yells. I don’t like his tone of voice.

I take a moment to size him up. The guy is maybe five foot ten or so and while he's lean, he’s not very muscular. I could beat the shit out of him easily. He's standing in the doorway shirtless and I can make out the figure of a woman behind him. 

“Jason, please. I just need my things back,” she tries to reason. "So if you could just unlock your car....," she trails off.

“I'm busy and I don't give a fuck about your shit!”

I've heard enough. I walk over to his vehicle and lean against the driver's side door. I have a special tool for breaking car windows and I'm about five seconds away from using it just because I don’t like this guy.

“Hey, hun!” I call. I don't know why I call her that, but it's what comes out of my mouth at the time.

Luna turns to look at me and Jason notices me for the first time. He pales when he catches sight of me, immediately mistaking me for a police officer just as Luna did at first. 

“I can just break the glass,” I offer. 

“You brought the cops here? You fucking bitch!” He balls his fist as if he's going to strike her and she flinches and takes a step back in response. I push myself off the car and immediately draw my weapon, aiming it at him. 

“Luna, here. Now!” I call. She detects the seriousness in my voice and backs up, her movements slow. I keep my gun aimed at him the entire time, my finger on the trigger. 

“Don't fucking move!” I yell to him. I hate piece of shit guys like him.

Once Luna is close enough, I grab hold of her arm and roughly pull her behind me. 

“Get in the car now. Lock the door,” I command her in a hushed tone. 

She does as told. 

“Put your hands up!” I yell to Jason and he does. “Now step out of the doorway.” I slowly approach him. “Don't get any ideas. I will not hesitate to shoot you.” 

The woman inside the apartment looks terrified. “Get out!” She grabs her belongings and runs past us. 

“On the ground, hands behind your back.” 

He falls to his knees and I shove him down face first into the concrete. With my knee pressed into his back, I quickly handcuff him. 

“Only pussies hit women,” I say as I pull him to his feet. 

“Man, fuck you!” He spits, squirming in my grasp. 

“You're gonna get another charge for resisting arrest if you don’t fucking relax. Stop making things difficult. Where are your car keys?” I ask. 

“Inside.”

“Anyone else inside?”

He spits at me in response and I swear I'm so fucking close to shooting this guy. 

“I said is anyone else inside?” I reiterate, pulling my baton from my belt. 

“No!”

I drag him inside and shove him down into the bed. “Don't fucking move!” I immediately locate the car keys. I want to check on Luna but I can't deal with this guy at the same time. Technically, I'm off duty and can't arrest him anyway. 

I step outside for a brief moment and make a phone call to a friend. He assures me he'll be here in ten minutes or less. I go back inside the apartment and watch Jason like a hawk. I'm ready to shoot him at the slightest indication of movement. 

Seven minutes later, a good friend and work colleague of mine, Erik pulls up. He's on duty. I give him a brief run down of the situation and inform him of Jason's identity. He takes him into custody and I go to check on Luna. 

I find her curled up in a ball, hyperventilating in the back seat. I grab her things from Jason's vehicle first and calmly put them in my front seat before opening the backdoor to check on her. 

“Luna?” I ask, leaning into the seat. 

She flinches in response and covers her face with her hands. 

Anger stirs in me and I’m not sure why. I see this sort of shit all the time and it usually doesn’t faze me, but this time something is different. I slam the car door shut and stride over to Erik who is loading Jason into the backseat of his vehicle. “Hold up!” I call. 

Erik halts and before he can move to stop me, I land two swift punches to Jason's nose. The second one breaks it with a crunching noise as blood comes gushing out of his nose. 

“My nose!” He screams. 

“Fuck, man. I just got my car cleaned, Jason.” Erik sighs in disapproval. 

“Sorry,” I apologize gruffly and then go back to Luna. 

I open the door and climb into the back seat and sit with her in silence for a few moments. Slowly, I reach out and place my hand on her leg gingerly. “You okay?” 

She shakes her head in response but doesn’t speak.

“Come here,” I say, holding my arms open to her. I don’t expect her to come, but the offer is there should she choose it. She sits up and to my surprise, actually climbs into my lap and leans against my chest. I close my arms around her, but keep my touch light. She trembles against me and I'm itching to go and shoot that son of a bitch for what he's done to her. If I hadn’t stopped him then he would have seriously hurt her and I have the feeling he’s done so before. 

I don't know what to say or do to calm her down. I'm not good with this sort of thing, so we sit in silence. I hesitate for a moment and then finally decide to run my fingers through the top of her hair. It works, but too much to my credit. Within moments, she's fallen asleep. 

After a few moments, I lay her down gently in the seat and maneuver the seat belt around her. I return to the driver's seat and open her wallet to look for her ID. I find it, check the address on it and head to that direction, hoping it's her current address.