Title: Looking Forward
Author: Michael Bailey
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: August 22, 2018
Summary:Owen Hannity was nineteen when he lost almost everyone he thought he could trust. Each loss more painful than the last.
With the unwavering support of his best friend, Andy, Owen put the pieces of his life back together. Now, more than two decades later, Owen owns and operates a successful comic shop. Despite his modicum of success, he still feels like a shell of a man, carrying the emotional scars from his past.
Without warning, Owen’s past returns. Secrets come to light. Secrets that could either destroy Owen or finally give him the strength to re-evaluate everything he thought he knew about Andy, himself, and the way in which he views the world.
To see that he is truly worthy of loving himself and finally begin…
…Looking Forward.
I extended my hand for him to shake. He gave it an odd look, like he wasn’t understanding what I was doing. He gently batted it away. He laid his hands on my shoulders, and looked at me, almost like he was asking for permission. I shivered, either from the cold or the look he gave, I couldn’t tell. He pulled me to him, wrapped his arms around me, and held me tight. On instinct, I did the same.
My head was spinning with questions, but I pushed them away. There would be plenty of time for questions later, much later. Now was about being held, feeling his arms around me and memorizing as many details as possible.
I don’t know how long we stood like that, wrapped in each other’s arms with my drunk friend and his sister passed out in the car. Time seemed to stand still, and I found myself living in that moment, in that bubble, and in his arms. I don’t know if he realized at the time, but I breathed him in, studying the scent that I somehow knew to be uniquely his, vanilla and pine.
He loosened his hold and kissed the top of my head again, and for a moment I wondered why. There was no one around to impress, no one he had to demonstrate to that I was his. That kiss sent a warmth radiating through me, deeper than the one in the bar.
He pulled away slightly and looked down as if he were studying me. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was doing the same. Maybe I would see him before he left, and maybe I wouldn’t, I didn’t know. I did know, however, that something like this had never happened to me before, and I was determined to remember every detail.
Finally, he cleared his throat. “I should go.”
No! my brain screamed. Stay!
“Yeah. Okay. You should.”
He pulled away. “I hope to see you before I go.”
My brain was still playing catch-up. My throat felt constricted, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. “Me too.”
For the same reasons? I couldn’t be sure. I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
My head was spinning with questions, but I pushed them away. There would be plenty of time for questions later, much later. Now was about being held, feeling his arms around me and memorizing as many details as possible.
He loosened his hold and kissed the top of my head again, and for a moment I wondered why. There was no one around to impress, no one he had to demonstrate to that I was his. That kiss sent a warmth radiating through me, deeper than the one in the bar.
He pulled away slightly and looked down as if he were studying me. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was doing the same. Maybe I would see him before he left, and maybe I wouldn’t, I didn’t know. I did know, however, that something like this had never happened to me before, and I was determined to remember every detail.Finally, he cleared his throat. “I should go.”
No! my brain screamed. Stay!
“Yeah. Okay. You should.”
He pulled away. “I hope to see you before I go.”
My brain was still playing catch-up. My throat felt constricted, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. “Me too.”
For the same reasons? I couldn’t be sure. I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
I'm the oldest of three, from the Glass Capital of the world, Toledo Ohio.
Don't laugh too hard.
I've dreamed of writing since I was eleven years old when I wrote a truly awful Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. It sold exactly zero copies. I think my mother may have a copy lying around somewhere. Mothers keep that kind of thing.
Through junior high and high school, I wrote a number of short stories, one actually published in the first (and only) issue of his high school's literary magazine.
Life took control shortly thereafter, as it often does, and the dream of writing was put on hold. Then, in November of 2016, I took a leap of faith, and began writing my first novel as part of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) competition. The goal of the competition is to write a 50,000-word novel in a thirty-day period.
I failed.
However, on the advice of a friend, I "pushed through". And so, in September of 2017, my first novel was published.
No comments:
Post a Comment