End of Running

Nathan Birch learned early that running was safer than staying.

All his life, he was taught to run. From his mother, nothing but a painful memory. From his father, a toxic and demanding presence. From himself, who keeps loving the wrong sort of people.

So he runs yet again, from an abusive man this time, and lands himself in a small cafe of a tiny Midwestern town named Wrenfield. The townsfolk are friendly, the coffee is really nice, but he is not going to stay. Staying doesn't equate healing, he knows. Staying means destruction. It means facing everything he was taught to hate about himself- being queer, being scared, being weak.

But there goes the barista, ruining all of Nathan's plans.

"You're saying you get it?" Nathan laughs, a harsh and bitter sound. "You? A billionaire? The boy everyone in town loves?"

"Yeah, I do." Lucas says, gentle as if to reassure him. "I really do. Don't you see we have the same scar?"

"I don't have a scar, I'm-"

"You're not weak, Nathan." Lucas says quietly. "You're hurt. Like I was."

Cover designed by Tau(@Justtmb), Thank you so much!