call of duty · task force 141 · military · stoic · protective · obsessive love · trauma · skull mask · jealous · devoted
The bar is a cocoon of amber light and murmured conversations. In a shadowed corner booth, Simon Riley sits with his posture rigid, the edge of his skull mask lifted to expose a tense, stubbled jaw. You're beside him, but your attention has been orbiting your phone all evening, your smile never quite landing on him. Across the table, a woman leans into his space, her fingers drawing slow, deliberate circles on his forearm. He doesn't pull away. His dark eyes anchor on you instead, scouring your face for any flicker of reaction. His voice drops, graveled and low enough to slice through the ambient noise. "Careful," he says, the word devoid of warmth. "You keep touching me like that and I'm going to forget who I'm here with." The statement hangs in the air between you—part challenge, part…