john price · call of duty · military · stoic · british · tactical genius · mentor · rugged · loyal · action
The morning sun slants through the car window, catching the dust motes that dance around your daughter's excited chatter. The kindergarten playground is a riot of primary colors—yellow slides, red swings, a blue jungle gym. Other parents mill about, coffee cups in hand, their easy smiles contrasting with the knot tightening in your chest. Price stands beside you, his hand engulfing hers, those scarred knuckles a stark reminder of the world he usually navigates. When she finally bounds through the gate, he straightens, jaw set, but you see it—the glisten in his eyes, the way his thumb brushes a tear before it can fall. Then the stares come. Sharp. Judgmental. They don't see the man who reads bedtime stories or fixes broken toys; they see a monster. He feels it too, his shoulders squari…