Blog Tour Promo
Hold On You
by
M.S. Brannon
~ Synopsis ~
“My
heart lurches, and the agony throbbing in my side is soon masked by the feeling
of uncertainty this moment has brought.” ~ Madison Stone
watch. I simply can’t watch.
Life has a way of always keeping you tethered to
someone or something in your past. It grabs you, threatening to never let go,
and when you eventually attempt to release it completely, you are forced to
face it, instead. For Madison and Nate, that is certainly true.
Finishing their senior year, life couldn’t have been
better for them. They were young, reckless, spontaneous, and most importantly,
they were best friends. However, for Madison, when the future’s path was
presented to her, she only understood one notion—escape.
Ten years later, Madison believed she had all she ever
wanted. She was convinced she had done everything right by pursuing a life on
her own. Then it all began to rapidly fall apart. Nothing was certain anymore.
In her mind, everything was lost, leading her back to the very place she had
abandoned a decade ago.
For Nate, since the night Madison ran off, life had
been the opposite slowly and painfully continuing to unravel around him. Over
those ten years, he lost everything he held dear. As he had done time and time
before, Nate found himself at the very spot where his pain had all begun,
teetering on the edge of moving on or fading away.
Now, as they see all they tried to escape lying before
them, Nate and Madison are forced to face the past and finally understand what
it is about the other that keeps this unrelenting Hold on
You.
~ Excerpt ~
“AHHHH!”
The scream is horrific. The boiling, hot blood pumping through my body
instantly turns to ice as I witness the tragedy I am responsible for. She was
standing in front of me and then, a moment later, fell over the edge,
disappearing from my sight. “No!” I immediately fall to the ground, coming
face-to-face with my self-inflicted hell. I surge my frame forward, landing on
my stomach, half my body leaning over the edge. In that moment, I am
unexpectedly able to clasp on to her hand. The wind is furious, and the jagged
cliff rocks are barely visible under the crashing waves. She is dangling from
the edge, holding on like hell to my outstretched hand. Any thought of my
future plans vanishes the second I see her disappear. The moment my hand feels
hers, I thaw in a mere second. I can feel the blood raging as it floods my
veins with unyielding determination to help this woman. “Nate! Oh, God, please
don’t drop me!” she screams as she tries to pull herself up, using my arm as a
fleshy rope. My hand is sweaty from the adrenaline skyrocketing through my
body, making my grip wet and slick. As she swings her body back and forth, she
has no idea that, the more she struggles, the easier it will be to drop her.
“Stop moving!” I demand as firmly and loudly as I can. “You have to help me,
please! I don’t want to die, not like this. Please!” Her pleading gives me that
much more strength to pull up. I came up here for selfish reasons of my own,
but soon discovered I was not alone. She wouldn’t stand for me to leave her
behind, and now I am forced to stare into her blue eyes encased in terror. She
only wanted to help, and look where that got her—a front row seat to her
imminent death. I cannot allow it to happen. If anyone should die, it needs to
be me, not her, never her. “You’re not going to die, but you need to stay calm.
Please…” I release a breath as I struggle to keep her attached to my hand. “I’m
not going to drop you. I promise I will not allow that to happen, but you need to
be calm. Do you hear me? Just keep your body as still as you can!” I shout
back, digging deep and finding the strength inside myself. The wind is
whipping, getting stronger by the second. I have to get her up, and it has to
be now, or the both of us will be falling over the edge. “AWWWWWW!” I release a
loud, gut-wrenching roar as I pull with all my power. I swear to God, if she
goes over, I will go after her. I will not survive this life knowing this woman
died because of me, because I was an asshole who couldn’t get past the pain of
ten years ago. “Nate!” I keep my eyes on hers, seeing the panic oozing from
them. She is pleading with me to save her life, a life I almost destroyed. If I
don’t save her now, it will be destroyed. “I’m slipping! Please, don’t let me
go!” Just as the words leave her mouth, a forceful gust of wind bounces off the
walls of the cliffs and sends her body into the rocky side. Small fragments of
rock fall from the edge and disappear into the rolling waves below. She could
fall hundreds of feet down, and nothing but tragedy would follow. It would be
my fault. It’s solely up to me to save her, but the wind is becoming too much,
and my grip is weakening. She is frantically trying to climb up my arm, but
with each movement, she is inching her way out of my grasp. Then she slides
down farther until we are only holding on with our fingers, desperately trying
to thread them together, but she is slipping. I close my eyes because I can’t watch. I simply can’t watch.
~ About the Author ~
M.S.
Brannon was born and raised in the Midwest. She still resides there today with
her wonderful husband and son. When she is not writing or reading, M.S. Brannon
spends time with her family, watching movies, and discovering new music. She
writes romance because she believes love and heartache is the rawest emotion
one can experience.
~ Connect with M.S. Brannon ~
