Even the nicest of guys can decide to cut loose at some point, especially if he's at college and a frat brother invites him to a party. Unfortunately, that can end quite badly. Luckily for Dante ap Owen, it doesn't -- until he keeps needing to piss every few minutes and he sees blood in his urine. Another stroke of luck for him is the substitute professor, also a medical doctor he’s been crushing on, who happens to be there when he passes out in class and pushes him to come to his clinic.<br><br>But Dante and his beloved, critically ill mother are under the control of his bitter uncle, who also provides health insurance. If his uncle finds out Dante is being treated for anything, let alone what Dante fears is an STD, he's ... Dante doesn't want to think about that. So he flees the clinic before he has to make a follow-up appointment.<br><br>The good doctor shows up at his uncle's farm when phone calls do nothing. And when Dante's uncle invites the doctor to dinner and serves a meal worthy of Medea, the doctor urges Dante and his mother to leave. But will they? And will Dante realize the doctor wants him as much as he wants the doctor?

So Let Us Rejoice

I hadn’t grown concerned until a number of days before, when that nagging sensation started. And my nerves became totally shattered when I spotted the blood in the toilet. So I’d gone to the computer lab to see what light the Internet could shed on my mysterious illness.


I shuddered. Gonorrhea. How could I explain that to Mum? As for Uncle John, if he ever learned of it, I had no doubt he’d find that the perfect excuse to give me the boot.


Once again, I felt a pressure low in my abdomen, and I shut down the computer and raced to the men’s room to pee.


Not much came out, but yeah, definitely blood, and God, it hurt like hell.


Okay, Dante. Wishing isn’t going to make this go away. Man up. You have to see a doctor


Chapter 10