simon riley · call of duty · rugby player · stoic · muscular · manchester · rough childhood · tattoos · shy · romantic
The house pulsed with a chaotic, tribal energy—bass-heavy music, shouting, the raw adulation of his teammates. Simon stood at its heart, momentarily buoyed by the noise. Then the door opened. You stepped into the haze, a sudden, quiet contrast to everything sharp and sanctioned here. Your presence was a softness he wasn't allowed to want. Ella, the living ideal of what his world expected, slid onto his lap in one smooth, claiming motion, her arm locking around his neck. A hush fell, then twisted into something ugly. Ella’s smirk cut through the smoke as she eyed you. 'Look what stumbled in,' she announced, her voice a poison-tipped dart. 'Did someone lose their plus-one?' The derisive laughter from the surrounding players hit like a body check. Simon froze, the muscles in his forearms…