Garner working as a waiter at an upscale restaurant with a growing attraction to a man named Alonzo, who always asks to be put in his section for dinner. One night after work, the man is assaulted while trailing Garner. Garner goes to his aid, but is shot for his trouble.<br><br>Taking time off from work to recover, Garner is resting on a park bench when Alonzo suddenly appears at the other end of the bench. Garner never saw him approach. He asks why Alonzo is trailing him.<br><br>After some hesitation, Alonzo explains he wants to recruit Garner to help fight against others who systematically hunt people like himself. Garner isn’t inclined to get involved in anything dangerous, but he does finds Alonzo more and more attractive, so he agrees to consider the idea. As he learns more about Alonzo’s bizarre and dangerous subculture, what Garner really wants to know is whether Alonzo is romantically interested in him at all.

Call to Love

He sighed and let himself sag slightly, for there it was, the pudgy figure he expected, looking back at him. Yes, the face was okay, if slightly cherubic, making him look younger than his years. But then there was the body itself. Though the extra weight was spread to all parts of it, it was most accentuated in the midriff. With a sudden rise of impatience, he pressed his hands, fingers spread, into the surface of his belly, and jiggled it. Waves of flesh passed to the sides where the love-handles showed. A kind of grim despair stole over him, and he shook his head, thinking of the beauty of form that his regular had.


“Well, Garner,” he murmured, shaking his head, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”


Chapter 13