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 became aroused by the sensation, at which the image of the regular popped into his mind. He saw the man’s form quite clearly: the slimness, the exotic, mysterious but masculine beauty; even picturing how his torso narrowed to those slender hips, made Garner’s heart beat faster.


But then, as the image of himself in the mirror became juxtaposed with the body of the regular, the fantasy came crashing down. With a sigh he put down the soap, rinsed himself off, and turned off the water.


He forced himself to take another look at his reflection in the mirror. But it was not the extra weight he noticed this time. It was the unusual expression on his face—a frown and tightly drawn lips, and it struck him that there was considerable determination in that person. He looked at himself and again pressed his fingers into his belly fat, shaking his head.


Chapter 14