Read Online Underestimated Too by Jettie Woodruff - Free Book Online

me under his wing and started teaching
me everything there was to know about Callaway Jewels,” Drew began, staring out
the window. “I wanted to be just like him. He was so strong and powerful with a
distinct façade. People watched Michael when he entered a room. Women flocked
to his side and bowed at his every command, not just any women, beautiful, goddess
looking women. Maybe it was my age and the hormones, but I wanted to be just
like him. I wanted women to treat me that way. Hell, I even wanted to treat
women the way he did, not just women, everyone. He talked to everyone like they
were mud on his shoes. I watched his every move, mimicked his walk, his talk,
and even started dressing like him. Imagine that one if you will.” Drew
snickered, turning to look at me. “I was thirteen, dressing in three thousand
dollar O’Brian suits, Richelieu leather shoes, and Rolex watches. If Michael
had it, I wanted it. I was the big man on campus. Kids at school worshiped me,
and the more power I acquired the more I wanted. I even charged twenty bucks a
day for stupid kids to wear my eight hundred dollar sunglasses for the day.  By
the time I was fourteen, I outgrew junior high. I didn’t fit in with those kinds
of kids anymore. Michael took me out of school and sent me to Breakon Ridge, an
all-boys school where I was surrounded by rich snobby boys just like me. I
didn’t see my mother for three days after that day. Michael had locked her up
when she argued that she didn’t want me in a private school. He didn’t care, it
wasn’t up to her. And, of course, I wanted to do what Michael wanted me to do.
    ‘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.