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    The Final Decree
    The Final Decree
    The Final Decree
    Ebook91 pages1 hour

    The Final Decree

    By Jeffrey Ricker

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Lockhart William “Bill” Templeton III needs a divorce. He’ll have to go halfway across the galaxy to get it.

    Bill’s impending marriage to Nelson Wolff could unite two of the most powerful industrial families on Terra Beta. The only problem: Bill’s already married. In his rebellious youth, he took up with Travis, a smuggler and all-around scoundrel, and wound up tying the knot. When he walked away from that life, though, he left some loose ends. Like a marriage certificate.

    Now, to get his estranged husband to sign off on the divorce decree, he’ll have to travel to a backwater world hundreds of light years away. When he gets there, he encounters a planetary blockade, instigated by one of his family’s unscrupulous business rivals, as part of an interstellar power play over an unprecedented energy source.

    Bill will need all the help he can get to make it to the altar in one piece.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJeffrey Ricker
    Release dateSep 28, 2020
    ISBN9781005113674
    The Final Decree
    Author

    Jeffrey Ricker

    Jeffrey Ricker’s first novel, Detours, was published in 2011 by Bold Strokes Books. His second novel, The Unwanted, will be published by Bold Strokes in 2014. His writing has appeared in the anthologies Paws and Reflect, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction, Blood Sacraments, Men of the Mean Streets, Speaking Out, Raising Hell, The Dirty Diner, Night Shadows: Queer Horror, and others. A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he is pursuing an MFA at the University of British Columbia.

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      Book preview

      The Final Decree - Jeffrey Ricker

      Detours

      The Unwanted

      The Unwanted

      Mixing action, danger and romance, Mr. Ricker chronicles Jamie’s more personal journey of coming to terms with the relationships in his life to write a page-turning young adult adventure story that has depth and underlying meaning, and one that I could not put down.

      —Indie Reviews

      … readers familiar with the Greek myths will enjoy this re-imagining of them in our world, as will anyone who enjoys a well-crafted story.

      —Keith Glaeske, Chelsea Station Magazine

      Ricker has crafted a wonderfully satisfying story that not only does his love of Wonder Woman justice, but brings the Amazon myth alive for an entirely new audience. He draws back the bow. He shoots. And he scores.

      —Jerry Wheeler, Out in Print

      Detours

      "Detours is a wonderful, gentle, sweet, and funny book. I enjoyed everything about it."

      —’Nathan Burgoine

      "Like Mel Bossa's Split, Detours does an excellent job of showing how different our lives are from the lives of our parents…. Humor and extremely touching moments left me hanging on for more."

      —Rebekah Weatherspoon

      THE FINAL DECREE

      © 2020 by Jeffrey Ricker. All Rights Reserved.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the author.

      CREDITS

      Editor: Jerry Wheeler

      Cover Design: Inkspiral Design

      Lockhart William Bill Templeton III needs a divorce. He’ll have to go halfway across the galaxy to get it.

      Bill’s impending marriage to Nelson Wolff could unite two of the most powerful industrial families on Terra Beta. The only problem: Bill’s already married. In his rebellious youth, he took up with Travis, a smuggler and all-around scoundrel, and wound up tying the knot. When he walked away from that life, though, he left some loose ends. Like a marriage certificate.

      Now, to get his estranged husband to sign off on the divorce decree, he’ll have to travel to a backwater world hundreds of light years away. When he gets there, he encounters a planetary blockade, instigated by one of his family’s unscrupulous business rivals, as part of an interstellar power play over an unprecedented energy source.

      Bill will need all the help he can get to make it to the altar in one piece.

      Thanks to ’Nathan Burgoine for being an early reader, and for all the encouragement along the way.

      For Mike

      1

      LEAVE IT TO Travis to find the one planet it was impossible to get a direct flight to from anywhere. To reach Kohmar Prime, I had to string together four different flights in progressively smaller liners, followed by two local charters just to get there and make him give me the divorce I wanted after leaving him five years ago.

      Or did he leave me? Five years wasn’t that long, but it was enough to make the details go foggy and, honestly, I tried not to think about that period of my life very often.

      Tracking him down took weeks and the help of a discreet private investigator. All of my old contacts from that life—the ones who were still alive, at least—either didn’t want to talk to me, or they didn’t know where he was. When I finally got him on the link, he looked momentarily surprised but recovered quickly.

      Hello, husband, he said, once the static finally subsided. Leave it to him to still know exactly what to say to get my goat, too.

      Don’t call me that.

      If you wish, Lockhart.

      I cringed. My given name was almost worse than husband. It’s Bill and you know it, so why don’t you knock it off and tell me what the hell you’re doing out there in the middle of nowhere.

      He shrugged and gestured behind him. It’s a nice place to get away from it all. He was standing outside, and the landscape was uniformly tan and sandy, dotted with a few stubborn, scrubby-looking plants.

      Lovely, I said. It was my idea of hell.

      How are you, Bill? he asked, his voice momentarily softening. What’s it been, four years?

      Five.

      A smirk. Not that you were counting.

      And the sarcasm was back like a reflex.

      Listen, I need a favor.

      Of course you do.

      I paused at that, raised an eyebrow. He continued.

      I figure you’re not contacting me because you wanted to catch up or reminisce about all the good times we had. I’m not sure what I could possibly have that you would need, though. You look like you’ve done quite well for yourself. Then again, you already had when we met.

      He raised his chin, indicating the room behind me. I was calling him from my office in the family house, which was on the grounds of company headquarters. House was probably understating things, and there was nothing understated about the home my mother designed.

      There was nothing understated about my mother, for that matter.

      So, what’s the favor? he asked.

      I raised my hand to show him my ring. It caught the light, its sleek obsidian surface glowing with an inner orange fire. In the days since Nelson had given it to me, a similar glow overcame me every time I glanced at it. I did my best to remain stone-faced, though. I had no doubt Travis harbored no feelings for me, but I didn’t want to rub his face in my impending wedding.

      Pretty, he said. So?

      I’m getting married.

      Won’t that be tricky seeing how we still are?

      That’s why I need you to grant me a divorce.

      He seemed to ponder that for a moment. All right, I’ll do it.

      Really? I tried not to let my excitement show, but on the inside, I breathed a sigh of relief.

      Yep. He nodded. If you’ll bring the docs to me to sign here.

      And just as soon as I’d breathed it, I sucked that sigh right back in and choked on it. "You want me to come there?"

      Hey, it’s the best time of year to visit this part of Kohmar. Besides, he said, leaning closer to the link, his words biting, you want a favor, you have to work a little for it.

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