Stories

Prompt #385 –

Brendan Nelson had a tough week at work. He is a Project Manager at a small software company. Nothing went well on his current project. The last delivery to QA (Quality Assurance) was a total failure, the techs couldn't even install it. Add to that, a serious problem in the development of a new feature arose. Finally, on top of that, the customer was screaming about a bug that hadn't been fixed for months, and now it apparently crashed the system. As if things weren't bad at work, he had to come home to a surprise.

Liam Henderson is the king of Montgomery High. He’s a student body president and a captain of the football team. His family comes from old money, he’s very handsome and smart. Though Liam is a near perfect creature, he made a mistake. He grew up best friends with a nerdy kid named Dylan, who just couldn't fit in with the right crowd once they got into a high school. Liam ditched him and spent the next three years bullying Dylan with his jocks.
Senior year rolled in and Dylan blossomed into a beautiful swan. Liam found himself lost in his eyes. The only problem - after everything Liam did, proud blonde boy wouldn't even look his way.

Someone buys a house and receives a belated letter from the son of the previous owner. He is a Navy Seal, wounded and recuperating, unaware as he sent it that his parent has passed away. An unexpected friendship forms..

Newly coming to terms with being gay, following an abusive childhood and a failed relationship with a girlfriend, electrician Keith meets Thomas, who runs a local arts charity. Despite coming from vastly differing backgrounds, the two discover much in common, not least the need to come to terms with complex relationships to their fathers. But they also learn to enjoy exploring life together.

December, 2023 was a high point in eighteen-year-old Kevin Lewiston's life. He'd finally lost his virginity. For the first time in recent memory he didn't get a 'C' or a 'D' on his report card. His parents gave him their old Chevy Equinox for Christmas. Everything was looking up for the young man.

The calendar changed. Kevin's world changed. By June, he was on the verge of giving up. Then he saw something on TV that changed his mind; saved his life even. He packed everything he needed or cared about into his car, hit the road, and never looked back.

After a strange anticlimactic kidnapping, Axel Graysen is pulled into the tumultuous world of the Wook Family. Axel treats Jeha Wook’s gunshot wound and ends up treating the oddly large team of brothers who work for Jeha. The problem is that Jeha’s people seem like delinquents, and Jeha is the largest delinquent. Axel worries about keeping the man he likes from getting hurt again.

Best friends, Luke and Matt, have been inseparable since primary school and now, after twelve long years of schooling, the end of those school years are finally within sight. All that is left to do is make it through the night of the school formal, before starting their final exams.

So what will the night bring for the boys and their group of friends? What secrets are about to be exposed? How will they, their families and their friends all react to the events that are about to unfold? And what will they discover about themselves . . . about each other . . . and about life?

Fred Jamers has been falsely accused of killing his boyfriend, Stephane Thibedeau. Arrested, tried, convicted on circumstantial evidence, and sentenced to five to ten years in prison, the challenges he faces are more than the average prisoner.

Joey and Charlie face a life altering event. One that will forever change their relationship with each other and their friends. Nineteen year old Charlie must fight to keep him and his fourteen year old brother, Joey, from being separated. They embark on a journey of discovery about themselves, relationships, and life.

Sometimes love comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Devastated by the loss of his mother, Cal enters his final year of high school in Cape Town facing an uncertain future, plagued by bullies and struggling to keep his grieving family together. When a handsome troublemaker with a mysterious past arrives at the school, an unlikely friendship develops. And as Cal grapples with feelings he never expected, he is plunged headlong into an adventure that will turn his entire existence upside-down.

This 10th anniversary edition differs from the Kindle version, and contains new and old material cut from the Kindle version.