Dave Reed was a plainclothes Los Angeles police sergeant who was dating Brooke Logan, a college chemistry student. Dave encouraged Brooke to press charges when she was nearly raped by two thugs, then suggested, against the wishes of Brooke's brother, Storm Logan, that Brooke use herself as bait to put her would-be rapists behind bars. Dave was also on the case when Brooke's friend, Caroline Spencer, was raped by a different assailant, Ron Deacon.

Dave felt lucky to be accepted by Brooke's family, which included Storm, her sisters Donna and Katie Logan, and their mother, Beth Henderson. Dave proposed to Brooke and agreed to wait on a wedding until she had graduated and found a job. Dave was more amused than anything else when Brooke joined her mother, Beth Henderson, on a catering job and became fascinated with the rich Forrester family, who ran fashion design house Forrester Creations. Ultimately Dave received a shock when Brooke broke off their engagement and became involved with Forrester's heir apparent, Ridge Forrester. Dave then disappeared from the canvas and his whereabouts are unknown, though he was mentioned as recently as 2016 when Brooke and Ridge reminisced about their 30-year on-again-off-again relationship.