Cole in Distress

By Feral Sephrian

Sequel to Darryl in Distress

Eighteen years ago, Cole’s bigot father kicked him out of their Texas ranch for being gay, threatening to shoot him if he ever came back. Fortunately, Cole made his way north to the gay-friendly Seyda Ranch in Wyoming, where he eventually met Daniel. For the past six years, the two have been in a happy relationship with barely any contact with Cole’s family.

That is, until Cole’s father dies.

Though Cole won’t shed a single tear over his father’s passing, his siblings and their families invite him to the funeral so they can all be together for the first time in nearly two decades. With encouragement and support from Daniel, Cole accepts. The pair travel to the funeral together, but will Cole be able to face his past and move beyond the pain he left behind?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Aug 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781634866958

Feral Sephrian

Feral Sephrian is a self-described genderqueer liberal feminist independent open-minded autistic vegan Pagan furry who enjoys telling stories with diverse characters and cultures, especially ones that involve in-depth research. No minority is too small for representation. No majority is too large to be infallible.

Book preview

Cole in Distress

By Feral Sephrian

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2018 Feral Sephrian

ISBN 9781634866958

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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Cole in Distress

By Feral Sephrian

Chapter 1

Cole knew how a person was supposed to feel after their dad died. Daniel had lost his nearly eight years ago and he said there were still memories that hurt because he wished he could relive them or had time to create more like them. However, since the last interaction Cole had with his own father involved being threatened with the various weapons in his dad’s gun closet, the news that the old man had finally kicked it brought mixed feelings.

Cancer finally won, his sister, Evelyn, had written. It had taken a few years of coaxing from Daniel for Cole to look up his siblings on Facebook. She was the one to respond first. His two brothers, Owen and Jamison, weren’t on social media as much, but even so Owen never accepted Cole’s friend request, and Jamison only did so after their dad’s diagnosis came in. The old man himself, according to Evelyn, never touched a computer or smartphone unless he absolutely had to.

A similar conflict of emotions had struck Cole when Evelyn told him the news about their dad’s illness. It had started as liver cancer, but he stubbornly insisted it was nothing and it was in his bones by the time Jamison convinced him to see a doctor. This had been almost a year ago while Cole was caught up running the summer camp that took place on Seyda Ranch, where he was chief ranch hand. He spoke to his dad once during the treatment to apologize for not being able to visit. His dad’s response had given him more reason not to go.

You should be the one dying, not me. The anger in his low voice was the same as it had been during Cole’s childhood, albeit now his dad sounded raspier, more worn down. I thought I’d get the call from some slum in Austin saying the AIDS had killed you, and I’d tell them to keep the body. You and your kind have no business walking God’s green Earth.

Cole clenched his fists at the memory. Yet here I am, you old bastard. That’s more than I can say for you. He read the date on the funeral invitation again. March twenty-fifth, the service was at the church where Cole and his siblings had been dragged on odd Sundays followed by a private service at the family homestead. Evelyn had made sure he got the invitation, and Cole suspected he might not have received one without her influence.

As always, Cole turned to his better half for advice. Daniel was washing the dishes from dinner, and Cole waited until he was done to tell him the news. Saying it out loud made it more real, but it didn’t change Cole’s opinion about it.

My dad finally died, he said.

Daniel, who knew all about Cole’s past, sat at the table next to him, eyes full of sympathy. He was that far gone, huh?

Stage four’s a bitch. Cole shrugged. Now there’s gonna be a funeral, and… He turned his computer for Daniel to read.

That’s this weekend, Daniel remarked. "Would you…do you want to go?"

Cole shrugged again. It’s been nearly eighteen years since I left. Hell, I’ve been gone longer than I lived there.

It’s still your family. Daniel visited his mom in Michigan at least once a year. He had taken Cole a few times and honestly Cole felt more accepted and at home in that little suburban house than he ever did on his own family’s ranch. Then again, Daniel’s parents had raised him kindly, so family meant something different to him. Cole’s own mom had died in a car accident when he was a little kid, so the closest thing he had had to that growing up was his grandmother, and she died a couple years before he got booted out.

It’s also short notice. We’re at the height of calving season and we need all the hands we can get.

Daniel folded his arms on the table. Two missing hands can’t make that much of a difference.

Cole looked down at his two hands as he tried to think of more excuses. He wiped at what he thought was a speck of dirt and discovered he had a new freckle on his wrist. It was one of many, joined by a few faint scars and the callouses on his palms and the pads of his fingers. His dad had taught him how to use these hands in hopes