Saturday, October 24, 2020

Charity Sunday for #LGBTQ youth - #CharitySunday #TheTrevorProject

Charity Sunday banner

Welcome to Charity Sunday, a monthly blog hop focused on sharing information about good causes and giving back to the world. Today I’m supporting The Trevor Project, an organization that operates twenty-four-hour phone and chat services for LGBTQ youth at risk for suicide.

It’s never been easy being a gay teenager, but COVID-19 has made things a lot difficult. Research shows that the pandemic has serious negative implications for the mental health of LGBTQ youth. Social distancing can isolate vulnerable teens from the positive connections they need for support. In addition, they may be necessarily confined with individuals who are hostile or abusive. The economic fall out from COVID-19 has hit gay youth much harder than many groups, partly because their employment or housing status is often shakier to begin with. In these uncertain times, many of us feel anxious and pessimistic about the future. These negative effects are often amplified for LGBTQ youth.

 


 

The Trevor Project provides professionally trained, empathic support via their help lines. They also help LGBTQ youth to connect with one another, including virtually, through TrevorSpace, the world’s largest social network for young LGBTQ people. Having a community where others are facing similar challenges can make the difference between hope and despair.

This month I will donate $2 to The Trevor Project for every comment I receive on this post. I hope you’ll also visit the other bloggers participating in today’s hop. Each of them has selected a worthy cause close to their hearts – and each will donate based on your comments.

Meanwhile, given the LGBTQ theme of my charity, plus the imminent arrival of Halloween, I have an excerpt from my MM paranormal erotic romance Necessary Madness.

Nineteen year old Kyle sees visions of disasters, visions that tear his world apart. Everyone assumes that he is schizophrenic, but Rob, the cop who picks him up off the street, knows better. Rob's own experience has taught him that psychic powers are real, and potentially devastating.

Since his telepathic sister's brutal murder, Rob wants nothing to do with "gifted" individuals like Kyle. Yet he can't deny his attraction to the beautiful, tortured young man - an attraction that appears to be mutual. When a brilliant, sadistic practitioner of the black arts lures Kyle into his clutches, Rob faces the possibility that once again he may lose the person he loves most to the forces of darkness.

 


Excerpt

Blackest night—no moon, no stars. A chill wind, rustling the piles of dead leaves and far away, the hoot of some bird swooping through the forest. Try to move, try to stand. Agony burns brighter than the sun, in the shattered leg crumpled underneath your body. Clutch at the steel rails, slippery with blood. Terrible, total weakness.

A single eye shines in the distance, diamond white, cutting through confusion. The steel sings underneath your body. The beast growls, hurtling closer. You scream, of course you scream. Your cry is drowned by the thunder of the engine, the wail of the whistle. The rails shake, grow hot as live coals. The eye bears down.

No! Help!” Kyle dragged himself out of the horrible dream just as the train hit. The headlight dimmed behind his eyelids, then flickered out. The roar of the engine gradually faded. He sat up in the unfamiliar bed, gasping for breath, his bare chest dripping with sweat.

The maple tossed in the autumn breeze outside the window. He heard a bump outside his closed door.

Kyle? Are you okay?” Even through the door, Kyle could hear the concern in Rob’s voice.

Yeah. I guess.” A twinge hit his left leg, the faintest ghost of the pain from his dream. “Come on in.”

His host sat on the bed, wearing nothing but snug white briefs. Kyle let his eyes travel over Rob’s sculpted chest, following the trail of blond hair that ran along his breastbone down to his navel. An impressive bulk pouched inside the BVDs. Kyle felt his own cock stir and thicken under the blankets.

So it happens while you’re sleeping, too?” Tousled and bleary-eyed from his sudden awakening, Rob looked younger. He smelt of mint toothpaste.

Sometimes. It’s different, though. In the waking visions, I’m a spectator, watching helplessly as disaster strikes. In my nightmares, I feel as though it’s all happening to me.”

Have you tried sleeping pills?”

Kyle laughed grimly. “They only make it worse. There was one night at Worcester State where I screamed for three hours straight without waking up.”

God, I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.” Rob shifted, turning more towards Kyle. The cop’s hands clutched compulsively at the bedspread. The lump in his shorts had grown.

Kyle remembered what he’d seen the day he’d awakened at St. Vincent’s. Himself, kneeling before Rob, sucking the cop’s dick. A wave of lust washed over him. He decided to be bold. After all, he had nothing to lose.

There is. Hold me.”

What?” Rob’s eyes widened.

Climb under the covers with me. Put your arms around me.” Kyle flipped back the sheets, exposing his naked body to Rob’s hungry gaze. “Please, Rob. I’m so alone.”

Are you sure?” Rob’s voice shook. The cop stared at Kyle’s rapidly hardening cock.

Kyle stroked himself. His cock swelled in his fist. “Do I look uncertain?”

Buy Links (only 99 cents!)

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XT5QYA/

Pride Publishing

https://www.pride-publishing.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=655

Please take a moment to leave a comment. You might actually be saving someone’s life.

17 comments:

Nightingale said...

You always choose a worthy cause for your Charity Sundays. Interesting excerpt!

Annette said...

I have this book in my TBR pile. What a great cause. unluckythimble at gmail dot com

Tina Donahue said...

A great project. Thanks for supporting it. :)

Dee S Knight and Anne Krist said...

Intense excerpt, Lisabet! COVID has done so much harm! Hope we're done with it soon.

Karinski said...

No worries; you support wonderful causes. Thank you for sharing the excerpt & also for all you do. I’ve shared on Facebook & Twitter

Author H K Carlton said...

Another wonderful and timely cause, Lisabet.
Thank you for all you do.

Colleen C. said...

You are such a kind and thoughtful soul

Debby said...

Excellent. My daughter is a member of this community.

Lindsey R. Loucks said...

Such a great charity! Thank you for all you do, Lisabet!
lindseyloucks at outlook dot com

Anonymous said...

It's an amazing charity, and more needed than ever!

vitajex at aol dot com

H.B. said...

A great charity to support. Thank you for the excerpt!
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

Sacchi Green said...

Good choice, and, um, gripping excerpt.
Sorry I couldn't participate this month. All my focus seems to be on electoral politics, and so do my contributions just now.

bn100 said...

nice cause

bn100candg at hotmail dot com

ELF said...

Nice excerpt. Thank you for the sale price and for your generosity. Early Happy Halloween! elewkf1@yahoo dot com

Lucy Felthouse said...

Great excerpt and fantastic cause, as always!

Fiona McGier said...

Great choice to support! And especially in today's political environment, where even the mayor of Chicago is worried that her marriage won't be legal for much longer, it's got to be even harder than usual to realize in your core, that you're different. LGBTQ kids need all of the support they can get!

Lisabet Sarai said...

Warm thanks to all of you for joining this Charity Sunday. As usual, I will round up and donate $40 to the Trevor Project. Great job!

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