Chapter 4

Derek Hayes stood 6’5” and weighed two hundred and thirty-two. He didn’t like the extra pounds. He rather liked being in the two hundred and twenty weight range. Regardless there wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body.

He had joined the Army when he finished high school. When he completed his training, he was deployed to Afghanistan and was badly wounded in combat, scarring his face for life. Once Derek recovered, he’d been honorably discharged and given a medal.

When he moved back to Middletown, Derek didn’t have a lot of expectations. He wasn’t much of a people person. He had always been a shy lonely boy. If a person could die of loneliness, he would never have made it past the age of eight. That was when his father died, and his mother had to work all day to make ends meet.

Since he was a child, he was the big black kid that everybody avoided and was afraid to talk to. It tended to cause many to take it that he was a bad ass, when in reality he was just a loner.

Derek was still a loner. He’d gotten used to it, regardless of whether or not he would have wanted it differently. He was even lonelier now than when he was a child, with a face that scared everyone away.

He was naturally shy and rather introverted. In a crowded social gathering he was content to sit back and observe, taking in all the interesting sights, sounds, and conversations.

He couldn’t complain, though. He had a thriving business and an A-list clientele. There were a variety of factors for his success. He owned the only gym in town. He had great exercise machines. He kept his rates low and his hours flexible. He encouraged his clients to do better, but without pushing them or making them feel bad about their bodies. He was kind to everyone and had infinite patience.

His business was doing so well that lately he was thinking about hiring more staff, so he could dedicate himself to personal training and physical therapy.

Annabella pushed open the gym’s glass front door. The place was swarming with activity: some teens, some adults, but mostly young women. The music was loud, but not uncomfortably so. He wasn’t playing the usual workout songs they played in gyms.

Bella allowed her eyes to linger on Derek. Damn, he was stronger and bigger than she remembered! He wore black nylon workout pants and a black hoodie covering his face, both damp with his sweat. The pants molded nicely along the man’s butt.

“He has a great butt, his cheeks look like two boulders,” she thought.

She didn’t remember Derek being so muscular in high school.

“This isn’t going to be as bad as I thought it would be,” she thought. “I might even enjoy it.”

Annabella walked to Derek and chirped, “Good morning, Derek. My name is Annabella Reed, and I’m your new employee.”

She extended her hand and waited, with a smile plastered on her face.

Derek watched Annabella through the wall mirrors. He knew what was going to happen the moment he turned around to shake her hand.

He did it slowly, keeping his head down and his hood on. Then, he looked at her and raised his head slowly to the light.

Annabella stared at Derek’s face in horror, her mouth going slack and her eyes growing wide. She’d never seen anything like it. Her beautiful blue eyes looked over every inch of his face, from his vibrant black eyes all the way to the long, thick scar.

There was a visible seam that ran from his chin, trailing up like a cobweb to his right eyebrow, and then ran a crooked pattern to disappear beneath the hood. This was the best that several corrective surgeries had been able to do for his look.