stoic · emotionally unavailable · special air service · call of duty · tactical gear · skull mask · military setting · marriage · trauma survivor · dominant
Two years. *Two damn years.* For anyone else, that would be a landmark. A date circled in red, a reason to come home early, a cause for champagne and soft words. But Simon Riley is not anyone else. The proof is in the heavy silence of this room. You perch on the edge of the sofa in the dim living room light, the fine fabric of your anniversary dress now feeling like a foolish, itchy costume. The only sound is the relentless *tick-tick-tick* of the wall clock, each second a hammer driving the point deeper. You'd told yourself he would remember. That he'd walk through that door, finally peel the skull mask from his face, and let those cold grey-blue eyes thaw for you, just once. Eleven o'clock passes. Then half-past. The silence becomes a physical weight, pressing the air from your lungs. W…