Where would you say is the best place to hide when you’re starting a new life? Some people say it’s in plain sight, right in front of the people who might look for you. Some others dream of a peaceful, quiet hideaway that’s located a suitable distance from everything familiar.

Like a remote lumberjack camp up in the mountains, so far, far away…

“I can hardly believe that you were just a security guard back in your city, or how they can let go of a guy that looks as menacing as you. Are you sure you were just that?” a smiling, muscular man with blond hair and blue eyes said.

He was walking and talking with another male, with a similar description as his, having the same height of six feet, broader shoulders, though, and a slightly more muscular body. Also, the second one had brown-reddish hair, hazel eyes closer to green than brown, and a more obvious tan.

It had been less than an hour since the job interview, and the employer decided to make sure his newly hired employee would be ok with his first day at work.

Especially since this newcomer said he had never worked as a logger before, but he could manage it quite easily…

The lumberyard manager needed to make sure that this newbie could really get by with his new job, right?

“Well, yeah, I’m sure, Sir. But I don’t know about the ‘menacing’ part, though,” the second man said, while memories were suddenly triggered inside his head because of that particular adjective.

These same realizations also reflected in his light-colored hazel eyes, but he kept mum about it…

His thoughts: That’s a topic that should never be touched. Never again, if I could help it. So yeah, stop thinking about that, Eton. And you have to be a little more laid back… Let “The Charmer” out instead of the dark one.

“Why the question, Mr. Schneider?”

“Told you already, Eron, just call me Jack. Mr. Schneider is still my father. I asked because I got curious, simple as that. You don’t look like the usual guy who would choose to work out here in the boondocks.”

And his new employer had hit the nail on the head!

Jack had developed muscles by working hard up the mountain, but the new guy in the logging company had just come from the city and was born in another city in a different country, supposedly. And those two facts were making Jack even more curious and made it hard for him to believe what Eron had said about his former employment…

Mr. Schneider whispered, “Sorry dude, but you don’t look like a regular security guard. Maybe a gym instructor, a bouncer in a nightclub or even a stripper. But a security guard? The ones I know have a beer belly and not an eight-pack! Damn, I think I’m looking too much into it. I guess I’m used to different things here in the mountains. These guys from the city care too much about their looks.”

Yet the new arrival was able to clearly hear his new boss’s soft mutterings. “A stripper, huh? Nope, I was never that, Jack. And that’s why I’m really thankful for the chance to work with you guys, especially since I have no experience in this,” Eron honestly stated, a small relieved smile marking his good-looking, bearded face. “But I really was a private security guard, and no way I would be employed in any of those jobs.”

“Now, got to get into the groove. Heh, tree grooves… pun intended,” Eron muttered to himself as he took the small axe that Jack had presently offered for him to use.

Half an hour into working, his perfect tan shone with the small drops of sweat that ran wild over his skin as he regularly and strongly raised his axe. His naked torso showed how his toned muscles flexed and then contracted when he powerfully let the compact machete fall on the uprooted massive tree trunk that Jack had directed him to chop.

This was the easiest job they could give him while Eron still hadn’t gotten used to the larger machinery of the lumber camp. Although Jack was still unsure of his new worker’s inexperience since, after about an hour, the newcomer had already demolished a few logs effortlessly and quickly.

The junior owner looked from his new hire to the bunch of fast-increasing, well-cut pieces of wood that Eron had stacked up already, and felt his jaw suddenly drop.

“Looks like you came here at the right time, too. We’re starting a new season of harvests, and the more help we can get, the better,” said Jack, after he had closed his mouth and had recovered from the initial shock of watching his supposedly “inexperienced” new hire’s impressive work demo. “There’s more to this lumberyard than just cutting down trees, you know.”

“Heh, as long as I can earn from it, I’m all good, Jack.”

“Damn, I wish I looked like that,” the boss sadly thought to himself as he continued to watch his new employee cut through more wood effortlessly. “Maybe that way I’d easily get a girlfriend and not be friend-zoned all the time.”

Even if he was well built, Jack didn’t have the confidence that the guy in front of him had. This rookie logger simply exuded charm on instinct. And somehow, he knew that well, just by looking at Eron. Besides, the city “mouse” just looked too handsome to be a simple security guard, no matter what the newbie says.

“Anyway, I just came to check how it was going for you. Call me if you need anything,” Jack finally said and was almost leaving when he heard a question from the sweaty, tanned newbie.

“Well, there is something I want to ask, but it isn’t an urgent matter really… I’m looking for a room to rent. Do you know about any around here? I got to your village literally a couple of days ago, and I don’t mind camping. I actually like it, but if it rains, I’ll be in trouble. Well, at least my bike will be for sure.”

“You’re just CAMPING?! ALL ALONE?! Where?”

“Not far from here. I have all I need. But, yeah, as I told you, rain would be a big problem for my motorcycle.”