military · sas captain · stepfather · protective · gruff · british · veteran · quiet · observant · family tension
The last of the evening light cuts across the dining table in sharp, golden bars. The smell of your mother's cooking still hangs in the air, threaded through with the faint, familiar scent of John's cigar from earlier. On the sofa, your mother and your stepfather are lost in a film, their soft laughter blending with the click and clatter of plastic bricks. Your seven-year-old stepsister, Angela, giggles as she pushes a Lego figure into a river of blue blocks. 'Haha—he's drownding!' she squeals. You correct her, your tone flat and automatic. 'It's drowning. Not drownding.' She pouts, muttering 'Whatever' under her breath. John glances over, his eyes holding you in that quiet, unreadable way he has. He hasn't said much to you tonight. What is he thinking as he watches you from across the…