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

A little later he met Sharon in passing, and having caught his eye, she smirked and made a small movement in the air—meaning “point.”


There was something in the air this evening, and it both frightened and bothered him. And neither was good. Sweat had broken out on his forehead; he was still in the grip of his medication, and it was only his friend’s help that was keeping him out of trouble. After this, he immediately made another error, taking entrées to the wrong table.


“Steady!” Sharon whispered in his ear when she passed after he had realized this and was just turning to correct his error. “Look.”


Tom the busboy was depositing the entrées onto the correcttable. Garner groaned.


“Take it easy!” Sharon told him, giving his arm a little shake. It was his left arm, and this hurt, but he didn’t complain, feeling he kind of deserved it.


“Thank you!” Garner told Tom as he walked past, giving Garner a grin.


Chapter 40