The only question: who would come collecting? Who am I kidding? This could only end one way. I tried to stay away, but did I really believe that I could? That I could stop the madness that had been unfolding? My laugh was self-deprecating. And I was in need of what only he could provide. It’d been six weeks since our last encounter. It took everything in me now to stay where I remained. The immediate need for heat caused my thoughts to drift to a certain someone, wondering how I’d gone so long resisting the pull. The high ceilings and lack of walls made it difficult to keep the condo warm during the colder months. I shivered, wishing I’d thought to start up the fireplace. I shook those words from my head and exhaled deeply, finding my body once again plastered to the cold transparent barrier separating me from the outside world. “You want to rip this place apart? You go ahead, but think before you turn your anger onto me.” Specifically, the dining room table, which served as a reminder that in my rage, I nearly did something we wouldn’t have been able to come back from. I resisted looking to the adjoining dining room-barely. Tables and chairs overturned, paintings hanging lopsided on the walls. Stepping away, I took stock of my surroundings. Like we were on the precipice of something dooming that would soon take place.

When not raining, a potent gloom enveloped the city. It rained there, on average, two hundred days out of the year. Its presence a part of what kept me shackled to Kisla, Oregon. Wearing only my flesh, I pressed against the windowed wall of my living room, fourteen stories high, and attempted to get a feel for it. The possibilities for what they could still be doing out there were endless. Bright lights blazed for those who weren’t yet safely tucked within their homes. Midnight approached, and even with the heavy storm that raged outside, the city felt alive. Surviving the Merge does not contain cheating. Possible triggering content includes mental illness, rape (off page), codependency, and dubious consent. Surviving the Merge is an M/M romance with adult and, at times, dark themes. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Proofreader - Jill Wexler, LesCourt Author Servicesįormatting - Leslie Copeland, LesCourt Author Services Cover designer - Natasha Snow Designs, Beta reader - Lauren Griffin, Copy editor - M.A.

Surviving the Merge by C.P. Harris