Far From Texas

By Eric Gober

Tyler's been nothing but miserable since he graduated high school. While he slaves all day for crude roughnecks in a parched oilfield, his only real friend is about to escape barren West Texas for a big city college. Without Dillon around, what hope for happiness will Tyler ever have? None that he can see unless he takes the gutsiest chance he's ever taken.

Part of Take a Chance Anthology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781786451095

Eric Gober

Eric’s fiction often explores complications and entanglements in romance. His debut novel, Secrets of the Other Side, won three Reader Views literary awards, including Best Fiction Book of the Year. Described by critics as “an emotional journey of love, loss, and self discovery” and “an incredible coming-of-age story,” the novel chronicles one gay youth’s quest for love and happiness during the tumultuous eighties and nineties.Eric’s short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Stranded, Age is Just a Number, Encore, Three is Not a Crowd, Of Heaven and Hell, A Likely Story, Mix ‘N’ Match, Men in Uniform, First Time for Everything, and Best Gay Romance 2014. He earned his MFA in creative writing from Wichita State University.Eric grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today he makes his home in Los Angeles, where he enjoys trail running, spending time with friends, and working on new short stories and his next novel.

Book preview

Take a Chance Anthology

Far From Texas

by

Eric Gober

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

Copyright 2016 Eric Gober at Smashwords.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ericgober

http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

* * * * *

This story is a work of fiction and the characters and events in it exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination.

WARNING: includes mildly explicit scenes of intimacy between consenting young adult males.

* * * * *

Tyler’s been nothing but miserable since he graduated high school. While he slaves all day for crude roughnecks in a parched oilfield, his only real friend is about to escape barren West Texas for a big city college. Without Dillon around, what hope for happiness will Tyler ever have? None that he can see unless he takes the gutsiest chance he’s ever taken.

Part of Take a Chance Anthology.

Part of Take a Chance Anthology.

* * * * *

Table of Contents

Far From Texas

Take a Chance Anthology

About the Author

By the Author

Beaten Track Publishing

* * * * *

Far From Texas

Eric Gober

The old Ford pickup quavered and bucked, raising clouds of dust as Tyler drove the rutted dirt road that led out of the oil patch. He’d rolled down the windows before leaving the new well they were drilling in hopes of a cross breeze, but nothing doing. Sweat trickled down his muddied face, alkaline rivulets stinging his eyes, and he cursed the broken air conditioning. The truck shimmied over a cattle guard. Tyler braked on the soft shoulder of Kermit Highway, unfastened his seat belt, and pulled off his filthy T-shirt. He looked for a patch with no mud or grease to wipe his face, but even turned inside out, the fabric was soiled everywhere. Grumbling, he tossed the nasty rag onto the floorboard with a shake of his head. After five o’clock, still a hundred degrees, and not even July yet. God, was it going to be a miserable summer.

Tyler dug through the glove compartment and found a crumpled Dairy Queen napkin. He dabbed at his face until the paper turned soggy and brown. His body craved a cool shower and soft mattress, but driving home had begun to feel like trekking from a prison yard to a cell block, so he cut the truck’s engine, closed his eyes, and listened to the creaks and groans of a nearby pumpjack.

He hated his new job as a roustabout. Since graduating high school last month, he’d done nothing but