It's lunchtime at our worksite, we're renovating an apartment building here in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The guys on our early shift are getting ready to leave while the crew I'm on still has half our shift to go.
My name is Justin James, but my friends call me 'Jay-Jay'. I'm a thirty-year-old construction worker. I live in an apartment building here in Atlantic City with my twenty-six-year-old wife Rose. She does part-time work at a nearby daycare center, she's trying to get a full-time position there soon, hopefully.
The three guys I work with in my crew are Bill, Tony and Davy. We all like to joke around, have the occasional bet on a game or sometimes something random, we all get along really well. There are also another four guys in our crew that work the early shift, they finish at lunchtime every day.
One of those guys is Petr 'Bear' Krakov. We call him 'Bear' because that's what he looks like. He's about 6'4" and is as big as a bear. He has massive shoulders, arms and chest, legs like tree trunks, and he's covered in hair. He even has hairy shoulders. Hence the name 'Bear'.
Bear is a quiet guy though, he doesn't say much and when he does talk, well, let's just say that he's not going to win any vocabulary contests. Not that we'd ever dare putting shit on him for that, we've seen him knock-out three guys in a bar by himself without raising a sweat.
"Hey Jay-Jay, check out Bear. Look at him, he's getting all on edge for going home again, I wonder what gets him going every time." Bill Spinetti said as we both looked over at Bear.
"Yeah, he must be going somewhere when he leaves work every day. He always looks like he's half-asleep until lunchtime. Then he gets all fidgety and shit, excited for something." I responded.
"I've seen that look before, I bet he's been into those fucking slot machines." Davy added.
"Yeah, my brother-in law's just like that. He hits the slots every day after work, the days he doesn't, he acts like he's climbing the damn walls." Tony said, backing up Davy.
"Nah, I don't think so. He doesn't seem like the gambling type to me. I bet he's got a woman, that's why he's getting all excited to knock-off, he's about to get some pussy." I replied while laughing.
"Bear? With a woman? I haven't seen him so much as even talk to a woman in the last couple of years. There's no fucking way his banging some piece of ass, where would he even meet her? He can't afford hookers every day either, that's for damn sure." Bill responded to me.
"I'm just saying, I don't think he gambles, so it must be a woman he's getting all excited for." I said, defending my position.
"Want to have a bet? I'll bet you one hundred fucking dollars that he's feeding a slot machine and not some fucking broad." Tony responded to me, challenging me to put my money where my mouth is.
I never back down from a bet, today's no different.
"Fuck yeah, you're on. Who else wants a piece of this? Davy? Bill? Care to put a hundred down to back-up your words?" I challenged them.
"Yep, I'm with Tony. There aint no way he's getting laid. He'd fucking crush the poor woman if he ever got on top." Davy replied, laughing at my idea.
"Same here, I'll take a hundred from you, it'll be the easiest hundred bucks I've ever made." Bill replied.
We all shook on it, the bet is on.
"Hold on, how the fuck are we going to figure out who's right?" Davy asked us, he had a point.
"We could just fucking ask him." Tony responded.
"Nah, depending on who she is he'd never admit that he's banging some chick, we need to see where he goes after work. One of us will have to follow him or something." I replied.
"Well, he lives in the same apartment building as you, right? Maybe you should be the one to follow him." Davy said to me.
"No way, if he goes to a casino, you think Jay-Jay's going to tell us that and lose three hundred?" Tony retorted.
"Alright, let's just think about it for a bit, if someone comes up with something, let the rest of us know." I replied as we got back to work.
It's an interesting bet, but I'm not sure how we find out exactly what Bear has been up to when he leaves work every day.
A few days later, I'd almost forgotten all about the bet we'd made about Bear, it was just a bit of fun after all. But Davy approached me at work in the morning, looking around to make sure no-one else was within ear-shot.
"Hey, I have a way to find out about what Bear gets up to in the afternoons." Davy almost whispered to me.
"Why are we whispering?" I whispered back.
"Because, if Bear finds out about this, he'll probably rip my arms out my sockets." Davy whispered back again.
"Fuck Davy, what are you planning to do?"
"Well, I got this baby camera see, well, it's more of a nanny-cam." Davy started as he handed me a small kid's toy.
"What? A fucking spy camera? Were you checking out your cute baby-sitter when you and your wife were out?" I asked him, a little surprised.
"Well, yeah. To make sure she was doing her job, of course. Not because she's hot as fuck. I swear." Davy said raising his hand like he was swearing on a bible.
"Don't you need it at home anymore?" I asked.
"No, Charlie goes to daycare now that my wife's gone back to work. It's your wife's daycare center too. I asked Rose to keep an eye on him for me while she's there in the mornings." Davy replied.
"So, what are you planning on doing with the camera?"
"Well, that's just the thing, it's not what I'm planning to do, it's what you're going to do." Davy replied with a growing smile on his face.
"You live in the same apartment building as Bear, just go visit him after work and place the camera down while you're there." Davy continued.