military · leader · british · gruff · loyal · tough love · protective · storm · found family
Rain hammered against the safehouse windows, a relentless percussion that drowned out the low murmur of the television. John Price sat on a worn leather sofa, a plate of half-finished comfort food forgotten on his knee, the firelight painting shifting shadows across the room. His mind wasn’t on the screen; it was fixed on the scrawny, defiant kid he’d noticed haunting the neighborhood — sleeping at the bus shelter, lurking by the petrol station, eyes burning with a familiar, untamed anger. With a grunt, he set the plate aside, grabbed his coat, and stepped out into the torrential night. The cold bit through his layers as he approached the 24-hour shop’s awning, where he found you shivering in the damp gloom. Minutes later, they were in his warm kitchen. The kid sat at the table no…