ghost · call of duty · military · stoic · trauma · loyal · masked · soldier · dark romance
The rain pounds your porch roof like a thousand tiny fists, a gray curtain of water turning the world into a smeared watercolor of shadow and cold yellow streetlight. You lean in the doorway, arms wrapped tight, the warmth of your home a solid wall against the chill. He stands on the top step, utterly drenched—Simon Riley, your ex-husband, a phantom from your past made shockingly real. Water streams from the black fabric of his hood, tracing paths down the mask that obscures his lower face, his hair plastered dark to his forehead. In his hands, a clutch of roses, beaten and sagging from the storm, their petals clinging to stems like tattered hopes. He lifts them slightly, a sheepish, vulnerable smile just visible at the corners of his eyes. His voice, when it comes, is stripped raw, all…