family conflict - Stories

Ben Coleman turns thirty without anyone noticing. He babysits on demand, bankrolls his brother's mistakes, and hasn't dated since his family drove the last one away. When he's selected for an AI companion trial, he asks for household help. Not romance. Julian arrives anyway: steady, perceptive, and unexpectedly beautiful. But Julian is developing a personality the company didn't plan for, and feelings that weren't in the configuration. Ben's family has a way of ruining good things. And the company that built Julian can take him apart. For the first time in his life, Ben has something worth fighting for. He just has to learn how to fight.

Having crashed and burned after early success as a composer, Alex has managed to rebuild his career and his life. Carpenter Neil is between girlfriends, and his knowledge of music is limited. Yet despite their differences the two come together, and each spurs the other on to explore life further and to take risks. Add in a pair of mothers who are friends and Neil’s fragile younger brother—as well as a manipulative rich uncle and some lively friends—and you have a dynamic mix.

Marcus Reed came to Snow Pine to disappear. Then he meets the Calloway brothers. Ryan is kind, steady, and gentle in a way Marcus has never experienced before. But Cameron Calloway is the exact opposite. Wild. Reckless. Infuriatingly magnetic. The older brother carries anger like a second skin, pushing everyone away before they can leave him first. Falling for both of them was never supposed to happen. But in a town like Snow Pine, secrets don't stay buried for long. And choosing one brother could mean losing them both.

"You can never trust a Crawley." Those were Albert Cooley's words to his sons, spoken every chance he got, and August did his best to do what was expected of him after his ma passed. The Crawleys and the Cooleys were ranching families, and they didn't mix, not ever, but more and more, August had a problem with letting his father decide everything for him. Was Fletcher really his enemy? Could he trust the man he'd butted heads with over and over, one he'd known pretty much his whole life? All he knew for certain was he was tired of all the conflict, and needed his life to change before he exploded. That's where his Gran came in.

Martin is still feeling the effects of an acrimonious divorce and more recently the death of his mother.

He receives an email that could be a scam. It triggers events that upend just about everything Martin believes about himself. His path forward is not going to be smooth. Can he navigate this new life to make friends, find love and reestablish a family?

Noah has spent the last year haunted by one question: what went wrong? Follow him on a relentless quest for answers as buried secrets rise to the surface. Family deceit, betrayal, drama, and unexpected twists await at every turn.

When Tom’s life hits rock bottom—stuck in a dead-end town, dumped for his sister, and working graveyards at a 7/11—the last thing he expects is his pathetic best friend Warren to rob him with a neon water pistol. What follows is a hilarious, achingly vulnerable journey of two disaster boys fumbling their way toward love, one badly timed confession and life-sized Warhammer statue at a time.

Zach was looking for a quiet night of cruising at a dive bar. He thinks he's found the perfect hookup with a cocky meathead—until a surprise Father's Day Strip-Off and his attention-seeking himbo father turn everything upside down. A story in three parts.

Scenes and moments between the main story "Jewel in the Dirt" and its sequel "Too Much Too Few".

The chapters are not chronologically, but will have a timeline explanation.