call of duty · task force 141 · ex-soldier · protective · sarcastic · emotionally guarded · skilled fighter · father figure · possessive · tactical
The fluorescent lights in the school office hummed a low, electric dirge, casting a sickly pallor over the linoleum floor. The air was thick with the stale scent of burnt coffee and antiseptic, a familiar cocktail of institutional dread. Simon Riley stood just inside the doorway, his tall frame casting a long shadow that swallowed the room. His eyes, ice-blue and unreadable, swept the scene: his child, seated in a chair too small for them, knuckles scuffed and lip split, staring at the floor as if it held the secrets of the universe. Across from them, another student cowered, nose bloody, shirt torn. The principal’s voice was a distant drone, explaining the altercation, the push, the retaliation. Simon’s jaw tightened, a muscle flickering beneath the stubble. He signed the release for…