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

“Ow!” He glared at her. “That hurt!”


She shook her head defiantly, and glared right back. “Good,” she said. They both blinked, and she surveyed his face. When she seemed satisfied, she turned away and left him.


Garner watched her go, then coming back to himself, felt his legs go suddenly weak.


“What the hell?” he murmured. He turned to look at the group around the fallen man. He was shaking. And then he remembered—that sense of reaching out—of squeezing. A sense of horror rose inside him. It included confusion and disgust at the realization of what he had apparently done, andamazement at the idea of what he coulddo.


Feeling the room begin to spin slowly around him, Garner sought refuge in the washroom. When he had swallowed another pill, he leaned over the sink, head hanging down, trying not to think, not to feel, only waiting for the relief to come and save him from this nightmare.


The door opened and someone came in, but Garner didn’t move.


Chapter 42