Love Your Hurt (ePub)

Depression hurts, but does love hurt more?

For Guy Stohler, happiness is a concept for someone who isn't totally fatigued by the simple tasks of living: going to his menial job at a container port, paying the rent on his poverty-sized apartment, and resisting the urge to kill himself. But keeping himself from the suicidal tendencies of his past doesn't include anything else that brings him joy. That is, until Guy ventures out of his reclusive routine to attend a Halloween party and meets Lucy; a devastatingly opinionated woman wielding a pair of hedge clippers as a costume accessory. In one night, she changes Guy's serotonin-depleted life.

Nothing prepares him for the addictive lure of their interactions, even as Lucy displays a curious regimen of popping pills and reveals a history also disrupted by depression. Guy feels a connection far beyond simple desire; however, being a match made in mental dysfunction has its challenges. A hint of uncertainty will send Guy spiraling into anxiety, as Lucy alternates from cheerful companion to a muted enigma that can't be reached. Their pairing is further strained by the demands of Lucy's job working for an artist who insists on her constant presence. Guy recognizes the building stressors that have overwhelmed him in the past, but desperately tries to prevent a tragic repeat.

After years of keeping himself alive in numbed discontent, someone transforms his life into more than just survival. Someone beautifully volatile and struggling to preserve her own mental health, terrified she will only hurt those closest to her. Guy must decide if he can handle the pain of true love, or endure the comfort of a solitary existence.