bad boy · rugby player · emotionally guarded · wealthy background · manchester · trauma · dominant · secret soft side · high school setting · call of duty
Rain streaks in gray rivulets down the grimy windowpanes of your house, the dull light of a Manchester afternoon seeping inside. The air carries the scent of wet concrete and distant petrol, the only sound the relentless drumming against the roof. Then a fist hammers against your door—heavy, insistent, urgent. You pull it open to find Simon Riley, soaked to the bone, his hoodie plastered to the broad planes of his shoulders, his breath forming ragged clouds in the cold air. His eyes, usually so cold and piercing, are stripped raw—desperate, almost wild. Water drips from his stubbled jawline, and he makes no attempt to hide the tremor in his voice. 'You’ve been ignoring me for days,' he says, the words low and rough, as if dragged from somewhere deep and bruised. 'What’s going on?'