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corner, and he could feel it. In his navel, the way they always found him when he touched a woman and wasn’t careful.
    He was stupid this time, letting his absolute debilitating need for a woman’s touch take over him. He’d climaxed somehow without fainting, and they’d find him once more.
    Why had he done this? So stupid!
    “I’m sorry, Hannah . . . I love you, and our child.” He kissed her frozen, lifeless lips as she laid there unmoving, then he got up and ran.
    He ran until he was blinded by searing pain in his head.
    He ran until he barreled his way into a nightclub.
    He ran until he didn’t know who he was anymore.
    He ran because there was nothing else to do about who he was.
    And he ran most of all because his life was a nightmare with no touch and no hope of ever living as anything more than a monster.

Chapter 3
     
    Kel woke in a sweat, his breathing ragged and his heart feeling like it was trying to claw its way out of his chest. He ripped his shirt off and threw it on the floor.
    Without delay, he was out of the bed, grabbing for his bottle of Jack Daniel’s he kept nearby and was downing it in voracious gulps the second it touched his lips.
    Can’t do this.
    Can’t let these dreams happen again.
    He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, pushing his damp hair back and out of the way.
    His legs were unsteady, so he lowered himself to the floor and curled into a ball, rocking back and forth.
    One.
    Two.
    Three.
    Three more hours, and he could find a way to deal with this.
    It was three in the morning, and by six places would begin to open; he could leave, get something to eat and find a hotel to stay at.
    He banged his forehead on his knees over and over for what seemed like an hour, swallowing away his misery with each swig of his Jack between those jarring hits to his skull.
    When that warm, relaxed feeling took over and his mind went fuzzy, he reached for his phone on his nightstand.
    His other hand dove into his pocket, pulling out a little piece of paper and then he was dialing.
    Ring, ring, ring.
    “Come on, you bitch. Stop fucking with me and pick up,” he muttered into his phone.
    “Heh-l-lo?” a soft voice rasped.
    “Is this Casey Long?” He read her full name off the card.
    “Who am I speaking to?” she asked, sounding a little more alert.
    “It’s Kel, bitch—who do you think it is?”
    “ Kel ? I don’t know any . . . Oh, Kellll .” She exhaled and something scratched across the receiver end of her phone. “Why are you calling me?”
    “I . . . Fuck, I don’t . . .”
    “Did Jana give you my number? I told her to say sorry, nothing else. Jesus—I knew she’d do something like this.”
    “Apology accepted, you dirty cunt, so will you listen to me?”
    “I’m hanging up now. I don’t allow anyone to talk to me that way—least of all men like you.”
    “Men like me ?” His vision blurred so he lay down before he got dizzy. Too much Jack.
    “Yeah—the kind that abuse women for fun. I’m not into that shit, so you can just call some other woman to fuck around with.” She paused then added, “Besides, I’m sure you’ve got them lined up outside your club door nightly. It’s not like you’re hurting for women.”
    “I’m hurting from you.”
    “That’s not . . .” The line went silent.
    “You did something to me, and I want it back.” He closed his eyes and rubbed them with the heel of his free hand.
    “Want what back? Are you high—’cause you’re not making any sense at all.” Her breath pounded into the phone like she was exerting herself by getting up out of bed.
    “I’m drunk. I was puking after you left, and it almost caused me a huge problem, but I managed to get it back down quick enough so I won’t get caught.”
    “Kel, listen to me—I don’t know what you drank, but you’re scaring me here. Sounds like maybe you’ve been poisoned. You need to get to a hospital and get your stomach pumped right away,” she said, her voice