While I’ve been pounding away at the keyboard, Timmy brings you Part IV of Raidean’s story, “Because It’s Freeing.” If you haven’t read Parts I, II, and III yet, you can find them here. Thank you for writing this wonderful, heartfelt story and for educating us, Timmy. I hope authorship always remains a part of your life. Well done!

God my head is pounding. As I roll over in bed, I’m sure it’s going to explode. Jez, how much did I drink last night? WHAT did I drink last night? Whatever it was I never ever want it again. I’m not a big drinker. As a matter of fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve drank at all, and I have never been so drunk I had a hangover the next day. I feel like there is a demon in my head trying to burst out. I need to pee, but I’m scared to get out of bed, or move at all for that matter. I groan as I move slowly to sit up. I have to sit for a minute because I think I’m about to see what I drank last night if I move again. I take a few deep breaths to try to settle my stomach and slowly get up and make it to the bathroom. After I finish, I decide to take a hot shower. Once I’m in the shower, I remember yesterday as the hot water works its magic and wakes me up….

Yazmin really opens up and tells me about herself, it’s surprising to me because I always hold so much of myself in. I’m not used to this level of openness, but I like it. It’s refreshing. She talks about her life before college. She’s from a small town like me, but unlike me her parents are very wealthy. Not that that helped shield her from the bullies in her school. She was bullied daily. They took it to the extreme. Like one time a guy she had a crush on invited her to a school dance. She bought a dress and got her hair done, and she was so shocked that he DID pick her up. The problem is he drove her six miles out of town and left her at the lake. Just left her there! That asshole! Unlike my parents, her parents are very supportive of her. They taught her not to hide who she is and not to be ashamed of herself. I admit to feeling a little jealous about that. How different would my life be now if my parents had been more supportive and hadn’t tried to hide me away?  She’s so strong and brave. I can’t help wondering if she would be that strong if she had had parents like mine.

She says her parents rent a small two-bedroom apartment for her a few blocks away from campus. The deal they gave her is they would pay all the rent for two months, but after that if she hadn’t found a roommate, she would have to pay half the rent and utilities herself. She said she worked a part-time job to save up in case she couldn’t find someone she could handle living with and had to pay her half. I remember her giving me a little look when she told me this, like she was sizing me up. I almost felt like I was getting fitted for a new suit or something. I didn’t say much and just let her keep talking. Her voice is so soothing, and it had really helped me calm down at this point. Oddly enough Taylor and his words weren’t even on my mind anymore. She will never know how grateful I am for that reprieve.

She has a boyfriend also. I think my chin hit the table when she said he was a football player. I mean really? College is so not like high school. In high school a girl like Yazmin would never be dating a football player. His name is Xavi. She even wrote it out for me because she said she loves the way it’s spelled. It sounds like Havey. Anyway, that’s how our little table was brought to her attention. Xavi was with Marc when he came in, so she was curious who we were when the guys took off. She said she was going to the party at The House and she would love if I came with her.

That’s when I decided that this was my chance. My chance to not hide anymore. It was the chance I needed to tell her about me. If I planned to move in with her, she would need to know, and let’s face it, I really wanted to move in with her. The freedom that would give me makes me ache with want. My own room? My freedom away from Taylor? Yes please, sign me up! So I do it. I open my mouth and tell her my story. I tell her about being homeschooled and how I found out I was different. I tell her about the abuse I suffered at school and about the hospital trips. I tell her about our family moving because I was such a disgrace, and how I hid myself at my new school. I tell her about Taylor, how nervous I was to tell him about me, and what his response to the news was. I just lay it all out there and tell her everything. When I was done and I finally looked up at her face, I saw not disgust, but tears. I was ready to run because I didn’t need her pity, but something stopped me. She leaned over and grabbed my hand and said, “We are so lucky to have found each other. Just remember after you move in, I don’t clean bathrooms.” She smiled so big, and I didn’t even know she COULD smile! That’s how I ended up planning a big move. But before that, we were going to go to the party and we were going to get wasted! Apparently, that’s exactly what I did. Continue reading here.

Raidean’s Story ©2015 Timmy Ashton. All Rights Reserved.

See you back here on Thursday, December 17th!

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Available in ebook and print from:
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Follow the burgeoning love of two teens during the worst year of their lives. Irish-born Declan David de Quirke II is the son of two ambassadors, one Irish and one American. He is ‘out’ to his parents but to no one else. French-born Jean Isidore de Sauveterre is also the son of two ambassadors, one Catalan and one Parisian. His four half brothers have been told to cure him of his homosexuality. Both teens have lost a parent in a London car bombing.

Declan and Isidore meet at the beginning of their senior year at a private academy in the United States. Declan is immediately smitten with Isidore and becomes his knight in shining armor. Isidore wants to keep what is left of his sanity and needs Declan’s love to do it. One is beaten, one is drugged, one is nearly raped, one has been raped. They are harassed by professors and police, and have fights at school, but none of it compares to running for their lives. When the headmaster’s popular son attempts suicide and someone tries to assassinate Declan’s mother, they are thrown headlong into chaos, betrayal, conspiracy, allegations of sexual coercion, even murder. And one of them carries a secret that may get them killed. Read Chapter One of Slaying Isidore’s Dragons

Available from: Harmony Ink Press
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Όμορφη. Ómorphi. Greek. Meaning pretty

Pretty. adj. /pritē/ Pleasing by delicacy or grace

~*~

High school senior Michael Sattler leads a charmed life. He’s a star athlete, has great friends, and parents who love him just the way he is. What’s missing from his life is a boyfriend. That’s a problem because he’s out only to his parents and best friend. When Michael accidentally bumps into Christy Castle at school, his life changes in ways he never imagined. Christy is Michael’s dream guy: smart, pretty, and sexy. But nothing could have prepared Michael for what being Christy’s boyfriend would entail.

Christy needs to heal after years of abuse and knows he needs help to do it. After the death of his notorious father, he leaves his native Greece and settles in upstate New York. Alone, afraid, and left without a voice, Christy hides the myriad scars of his abuse. He desperately wants to be loved and when he meets Michael, he dares to hope that day has arrived. When one of Michael’s team-mates becomes an enemy and an abuser from Christy’s past seeks to return him to a life of slavery, only Michael and Christy’s combined strength and unwavering determination can save them from the violence that threatens to destroy their future together. Read an excerpt of Omorphi

Title: Safe Available from: Harmony Ink Press
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Caleb had one mission in life.

To keep his boyfriend safe.

They met at ten, kissed at twelve, and were madly in love by eighteen. Caleb Deering is the captain of the swim team and the hottest senior in school. He comes from a loving home with a kind father and a caring, but strict, mother who is battling breast cancer. Nico Caro is small and beautiful, and has a father who rules with an iron fist—literally. One morning Caleb forgets himself, and he pecks Nico on the lips at school. A teacher sees them and tattles to the Headmaster. The accidental outing at school might be the least of their problems, because the ball set in motion by the school’s calls to their parents could get Nico killed. In the face of that very real danger, Caleb knows he has only one mission in life: to keep Nico safe. Read an excerpt of Safe.