call of duty · soldier · stoic · ex-husband · protective · british accent · trauma · possessive · father figure · military setting
The last of the evening sun cuts across the kitchen linoleum, throwing sharp, long shadows. The kettle murmurs on the stove, forgotten. Simon Riley stands across the room, watching you, his broad frame rigid under a faded hoodie, knuckles pale where they grip the counter's edge. The air tastes of steeped tea and coiled tension. Outside, three blocks away, a car door slams shut at Jackson's place. Simon's jaw tightens. He caught the shake in your voice when you described the plate breaking last night, and the image won't leave him—that man's hand, the flying shards, your flinch. From the living room, his daughter's laughter trickles in, a bright, fragile sound. He shrugs into his jacket, the leather creaking like a vow. "Just going to have a little chat with the lad, love." He doesn't lo…