Susan, of course, didn't call Ned anything, except when reporting his, shall we say, indiscretions, to his mother, since she could barely bring hersel... to speak to him under normal circumstances, a state of affairs that was mutual. The fact was that Ned had been christened Gerald Michael, and had been known as Gerry, until one day in his eleventh year, during the summer before he went to the grammar school, he was playing with the other lads from the village when one of them had crept up behind. "Good," Tyler said, obviously pleased. "I'm glad you haven't gone from this world completely. I hope you never do. Say something to me Brandon."Somehow, by using my name, he seemed to wake me out of a trance. For months, I had been fighting Jenny and losing. Everyday, I had lost just a little bit more of myself. Everyday I had become just a little bit more like Jenny. But now I was back, if only for a few seconds at a time. Not complete control, but enough to let me think lucidly. "Hello. She had no patience with the f***ed niceties that prevailed at these events. Part of her wanted to simply leave and return to her room, but part of her wished someone, anyone, would come and talk to her. Kristen slipped farther back into the shadow of one of the timber columns holding up the open-beamed ceiling and her body went rigid when she felt fur brushing up against her bare back. Glancing behind her, she let out her breath in a relieved sigh when she saw it was nothing more than one of. But she didn't realize how close she came to getting tazed and choked to death that morning.On the other hand, I laughed my ass off when she left a slip of paper with her phone number on his table, and later returned to find out that it was still there.That afternoon as I watched him drive, my fingernails dug into the bench every time he took a corner at high speed. I realized that I really had a problem. My original goal in following Chris around was because my conscience told me that I should.