Chapter 3

The next morning Peter made sure he and his dad did their exercises before breakfast was served. As he was cooking, and his dad recovering, the young man made a mental note that he needed to either up the intensity of his workouts or start doing multiple sets; it had simply been too easy the last couple of days.

The drive to the jobsite was quiet and John joined the crew while Pete met with Mike and the other straw bosses for the daily briefing.

What followed for Peter was one of the oddest days he’d experienced in a long time. Maybe even the oddest truth to tell.

It had begun when he’d been gone to grab some bundles for the guys. He’d casually picked up one in each hand and was half way back to where his guys were working when he realized that that he wasn’t struggling like he normally would, despite them weighing over seventy-five pounds apiece. He shook his head wryly; maybe he had been exercising too much if this was getting easy.

The second incident however was less easily explained. He was bringing a second set of bundles when the strap he was carrying them by broke, dropping the entire weight straight on his foot. Steel toes or not that should have hurt. Instead, he barely felt it. He looked at the bundle for several seconds, before he shakily grabbed the ends of the strap and got back to toting it; trying, and failing, to put the whole thing out of his mind.

After work, Peter once more drove straight home. Again, he sent his dad to shower as he made supper. The young man’s mind was elsewhere during the meal and thus he ate lightly. He sighed, it being Friday night, he was feeling more than a bit restless, “Hey Dad, I’m going for a walk.”

The elder Bell was almost catatonic in his chair and grunted in acknowledgment.

Peter was chuckling as he walked out of the house. Day two of sobriety was kicking his dad’s ass. Still, he hadn’t made even the slightest move for a beer or anything else. Maybe the old man really had straightened himself out.

The miles seemed to slip away from Peter as he went through his usual run. His dad considered his ‘hobby’ of running Iron Men to be distinctly unnatural. However, the appreciative looks the resulting physique produced meant that he wasn’t giving them up any time soon. As was his habit, he’d taken a long route to the local park; it wasn’t much, just an acre of greenery in the middle of a small city.

It wasn’t yet seven, so there were a reasonable number of folks about and Peter could mentally classify them as he took a breather. There were five or six different couples enjoying an evening walk; the skeevy guy near the oak was the local pusher, good for weed but not much else, thus he was tolerated; a pair of teens about his age were necking near one of the bushes where people could at least pretend not to see them. The only one whom he couldn’t easily classify was the person in the grey hoody and faded jeans walking down the sidewalk coming towards him. Given that it was late May in Michigan, a hoody wasn’t completely unreasonable, but given the heat and humidity of the day just past, it was odd.

Destiny worried her lower lip as she walked towards the well-built guy in running shorts and muscle shirt. This wasn’t going to be her first lift, but something about him made her nervous. The rumble in her stomach however, put paid to any nerves she might have been feeling. It was simple enough, she passed close to the guy and her left hand quickly darted in and slipped his wallet out as they passed; easy enough. However, before she could get more than a step away, she felt a tug on the back of her hoody.

Peter scowled at the pleasant looking girl who’d just stolen his wallet, his right hand still firmly holding the back of her sweater. Without saying a word, he simply held out his left hand.

With a sigh, the young woman put the leather wallet in his extended hand.

With that matter settled, Pete took a moment to look the thief over. She was much shorter than him, maybe five-six; what little he could see of her hair was a dirty blonde; however, what most caught his attention were the sunken cheeks and the bags under her brown eyes. He didn’t know how he knew, but somehow he knew that she’d stolen his wallet for food. With a mental sigh he said, “Alright, you have two choices right now.” He was somewhat surprised at her downtrodden look, “Either I can release you and let you go on your way or you can let me spot you supper.” He smiled gently, “It’s your call,” he said as he let her go.

Destiny looked into her captor’s pale blue eyes; every instinct in her was telling her to bolt, to not let another man take control of her. Instead, she found herself saying, “Alright.” He had such a nice smile after the scowl she’d received first.

He held out his right hand, “Peter.”

She carefully took it, “I’m Destiny.”

The young man turned slightly and offered his left arm to the very surprised Destiny who took it with the look of someone completely out of their depth.

For her part, Destiny wondered just what the hell had possessed her not to run, just run. From the look of the guy, he wouldn’t have chased her if she had, so why oh why hadn’t she taken his offer and just gotten out of there? It was a question she still hadn’t answered when she was lead into a somewhat nice buffet. She could feel her cheeks burning slightly as she realized her ... victim(?) had realized just how badly in need of food she was.

Pete nodded to the cashier, “Hello Denny.”

The young man nodded, “Heya Pete. Two tonight? Just the buffet? Pops?”

“Yes, to all of the above,” he answered with a smile.

Destiny watched in surprise as Pete paid cash and lead the way to a small, out of the way table. Spotting the bathroom she cleared her throat, “Uhh ... you mind if I... ?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence.

Peter nodded, “Of course. I’ll wait for you here,” with that, he sat down and looked ready to wait patiently for her.

The young woman quickly scurried for the relative safety of the ladies room, trying desperately to sort out her thoughts, with a noticeable lack of success. She didn’t have to use the toilet, but she did take time to wash her hands and at least try cleaning up her face. With the worst of the grime off her face and her hands at least nominally clean, she slipped the hoody off. The black tee-shirt she was wearing wasn’t any cleaner than the rest of her, but it wasn’t as stifling as the identity concealing hoody. Her hands were shaking as she walked back out and saw that Peter was still waiting patiently. He stood up as she approached the table and draped her hoody over the back of one of the chairs.

Peter watched with carefully concealed amusement as his dinner companion filled her plate. He was much more careful with his selections. However, when they got back to the table and she started to wolf down the food he had to act. “Easy Destiny, easy,” he said in a gentle tone. “It’s not going anywhere and you can eat as much as you like. They’re not going to run us out of here anytime soon so you don’t have to make yourself sick trying to eat as much as fast as you can.”

The dirty blonde couldn’t help but blush slightly as she deliberately slowed down her eating.

Throughout the meal, Peter had deliberately avoided asking any questions that might discomfort Destiny. However, with her apparently filled to repletion, he finally said, “Now, do you want to talk about what’s going on with you?” At her sharp look he gave her a wan smile, “It’s plain as day that something’s wrong and I tend to listen well.”