Colton often prided himself on being able to keep his cool. It wasn’t often others saw him raise his voice or go off the handle. Though the unsolved murders had increased that number more than any other event in the time he’d been in Hollow Grove save the recent arrival of Morgan. And while this moment wasn’t exactly an extreme show of loss of control he still wasn’t thrilled to have been seen taking out his anger on the branch by a fellow officer. Not that Cliff looked at all stunned by the small show. Forcing himself to take a breath he steps away from the tree. “Out for a run?” The answer to his question was obvious but he asked it anyway.
Cliff nods at the question, leaning against the trunk of the tree. “Yeah.” He knows how he’d feel if the tables were turned, and he was the one the branch got the better of. “If it helps, something similar happened to me before. I was on one of my usual runs, and the ends of the branch latched into the back of my shirt and wouldn’t let go. Took me a good five minutes to get out of it, but I’m pretty sure nobody saw my struggle.”

















