Underestimated Too(20)

‘Locked up where?’ I was the one to ask Michael.

‘The gym,’ he sadly replied. I knew that was going to be Michael’s answer. I just needed to hear it for myself.”

“Drew, did Michael hurt you?” Deidra interrupted Drew’s story.

Drew looked at her, sliding his hands in his pockets. “No, he never hurt me. Why would you ask that?”

Deidra held a straight face, staring him down. “When was the first time he didn’t hurt you?”

Drew turned back to the window, standing quietly for what seemed like hours. “Michael took me to New York City. I spent the entire day right beside him, watching him negotiate and snake his way into three very lucrative stores. I’ve never seen a grown man so excited about diamonds. That man was obsessed. We ate in a restaurant right in downtown Manhattan on a rooftop, overlooking the entire world. I knew right that moment, I was going to be rich and powerful just like Michael.

‘You like this?’ Michael asked me.

‘Yes, sir. I sure do,’ I beamed. I was a fourteen-year-old business man, playing a very important role.

‘You do what I tell you to do, and keep your mouth shut when I tell you to keep it shut, and you’ll have all of this. I’ll teach you everything you need to know about money, power, and women.’

‘But you have my mom. What about her?’ I foolishly asked him.

‘I’ll always have your mother, but that doesn’t change the fact that a man has needs. You’ll learn that soon enough. Men have many needs, some different than others, but nonetheless, we all want pretty much the same thing.’

I nodded, agreeing with everything he told me. I had no idea what I was agreeing with, I just knew Michael Callaway could do no wrong, not in my eyes anyway. His word was gospel, and he was the only one I needed to listen to. I would walk in his shoes someday. I was sure of it. Michael drank a lot that night. I sat alone most of the evening overlooking the city while he danced and spent money on beautiful women. We didn’t retire to our hotel room until almost two in the morning. Michael plopped his drunk ass to the white leather sofa and I retired to my room, exhausted. Stripping down to my boxers I crawled in and passed out cold.” Drew paused.

I placed my hand over my mouth, listening to Drew describe life with my father. I knew what he was about to tell us. I knew it in my gut, and my heart was already breaking for him. . No. Please don’t let it be what I’m thinking it is.

Drew continued, “I didn’t even wake up when Michael crawled in bed beside me. I didn’t wake up until I felt his hands, sliding through the elastic of my shorts.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked Michael, trying to move away from him.

‘Shhh, remember how I told you to do what you were told and keep your mouth shut? This is one of those times you keep your mouth shut,’ Michael reiterated. I was sure I’d never been so humiliated in my life. I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like I could defy him. He was Michael Callaway. I was afraid of him, of what he’d do to me or my mother, so I didn’t do anything. I lay there staring out the window into the dark night while my body reacted against my will and caved to the hands of Michael.”

“Drew you can stop,” I offered. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this, not at all.

Drew turned and looked at me. No, Drew looked through me. He wasn’t seeing me at all. He was in a dark place, recollecting things he’d tried to burry with my father and his mother.

“That’s all he ever did. He never made me touch him. He’d just climb into bed with me and fondle me until I was finished,” Drew stated, turning back to face the alley below. “He still treated me like a king during the day, teaching me everything he could teach me about success. It wasn’t like he was hurting me, and he assured me over and over that as long as I let him take care of mine and his need the way he wanted, he’d always take care of my mother. I did what I needed to do to insure that. Michael changed things up a bit shortly after I’d turned sixteen. I walked into his office one afternoon with a beautiful strawberry blonde, sucking his dick. He was instantly pissed.

‘Get the fuck out!’ Michael demanded. I turned, quickly leaving him and the female I’d known as Valerie.”

“How did you know her?” I asked Drew, forgetting that Deidra was even there. I didn’t feel like we were in the middle of a counseling session at all. I felt like it was just Drew and me. I wanted to go to him, hold him, and tell him I loved him. I didn’t do that. I knew he’d shut down, and as hard as it was to hear. I wanted to know. I wanted to know all of it. It was so surreal. Drew wasn’t the person I’d thought him to be at all. Yeah, he was strong and secure on the outside, but on the inside, I was sure he was a shattered mess. He had to be. What boy could keep all this bottled up and be okay? It instantly made me think about my own son. I’d kill anyone that hurt him.