Circles: An M|M Contemporary Romance

SIX

THOMAS

AFTER

March 2020

Oslo, Norway

Mundane. Everything is mundane.

Boring.

Repetitive.

Dull.

Exhausting.

Already, I'm having a crisis. And it's barely even 5 a.m., on a Friday.

Getting out of bed is a laborious chore. Taking a shower and preparing breakfast, a drudgery. And going to work at 6 a.m.?

Kill. Me. Now.

But, I need to get moving. I have to, because I had people relying on me. Right now, though, the idea of relying on other people to do everything seemed like a great idea.

Slowly, I turned to the other side of the bed, staring out the huge floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the museums and boat marinas surrounding the Bygdøy Peninsula. And with my apartment perched on the fifteenth floor of a luxury high-rise, I was graced with a breath-taking view of Oslo's skyline; the sunrise peeking up over the mountains.

It's a relatively small space for a luxury pad, but seeing as we're right at the heart of Oslo's commercial area, the space cost me an arm and a leg. Living in a place that's literally just a stone's throw away from my office, had been the main selling point for me. And waking up every day to this marvelous view in front of me? It's almost worth the trouble.

Almost.

Normally, this beautiful sight is enough to calm me. To keep the sad thoughts at bay. To give me a fresh start.

Right now, I feel anything but normal.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The deepest breath I could. I did that thing my therapist advised me to do, imagining the breath flowing through my body. Breathe in. Breathe out. Push out those sad thoughts.

I did the other thing that usually helped me feel as though I'm in complete control of the situation. I made a mental list.

THREE THINGS THOMAS SHOULD BE THANKFUL FOR:

1. A roof over my head. An expensive one at that.

2. Mind-blowing sex. Speaking of which, what happened to the guy I hooked up with last night? Hmm.

3. I'm thirty-one and still alive. A real survivor.

Am I thankful for the third one, though? Fuck if I know, but I want to feel like it's true. But as I pondered on it, I realized my breathing became more and more unsteady.

I cursed as I sat up in bed. And that's when the headache from the night before came back with a vengeance.

I was still a little stoned from the premium-quality weed I had shared with my bedmate for the night—Erik? Eirik?—but way too hungover to chase the high. I groaned and hunched over as I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes.