RUSH

Sometimes, I wondered if there was ever a time when I hadn't cared about others' opinions, either the subtle ones that I'd heard through hushed whispers... or the harsher ones I'd fabricated within my own mind. If there was a way to appease the vicious hounding of my own worries as they nipped at my heels, it felt far beyond my reach. I longed for the peace of hearing something unpleasant and allowing it to rush through me without it tearing me apart. --- Bennett Oden had long ago grown accustomed to the numbing coldness of reality. He led a miserable existence at the hands of his father, but starving was all he knew. He understood how to navigate it... and how to survive on having just enough. On being just enough. Then, he crashed into Mason Locke-warmth incarnate. [Book 1 of The Rapture Series. Stand-Alone.)