Chapter Two

Callum Johnson (P.O.V.)

Collette and I had been dating for approximately eight months. Before we became official, we were friends while she was involved with another guy. According to her, he was rather abusive and manipulative. Every time they would get into a fight, she would message me for advice. I personally thought he was not good enough for her, but of course, I did not express these concerns to her directly. I would consistently tell her that she should leave him, but she was blindly in love with the guy, so she did nothing about the poor treatment she was getting from him.

I had just gotten out of a relationship when I joined the dating website that Collette and I met on. When we met there, she expressed how she lost all of her friends due to the guy she was dating. She had explained to me that he was concerned about the assumption that both girls and guys wanted to take her away from him. He was so delusional that he did not allow her to communicate with her own siblings because he was under the impression that even her brothers wanted to be with her sexually. It was the craziest thing I had ever heard of.

There was just something different about Collette. She had a really great sense of humor and from what I could tell from the conversations we had online, she has a very big heart. Not to mention she is also breathtakingly gorgeous. It was rather unfortunate that she could not see this herself because her former boyfriend made sure to keep her self-esteem at a very low level so that she would be emotionally and mentally dependent on him.

After a couple of months of being in contact with Collette, we decided to meet for the first time. She said she was going to a club for the very first time and she was very nervous. At the time I did not have money to purchase a ticket to get into the event that would have taken place the night she decided to go to the club, but I did not let that stop me. I come from a family who is really supportive of my siblings and me and they are very loving. Although we are all adults, my mother made it her duty to ensure we were all well taken care of.

My mother lived in London with my two brothers, while my older sister and I stayed in New York. It was not the greatest arrangement, but she did what she had to do to take care of my brothers who had a different father from my sister and me. Their father was a citizen in the United Kingdom, so it was only fair that they got to live in a place that was easier for them to be taken care of properly. All of my siblings meant the world to me, and I loved the family I was blessed with. I missed my mother dearly, but I understood why she could not be with me. After high school, my sister and I traveled to the United Kingdom to be with our mother, but we could not stay there due to citizenship reasons. When my sister and I returned to the United States, I went on my own to rent an apartment after I got a job, and my sister went on to live with our grandparents. Our father was never around to take care of us and due to the fact that my mother lived in another country, we relied on our relatives to get by along with the financial help our mother would send to us whenever we needed it.

I know Collette may think that we were moving too fast when it comes to starting a family and I would agree but it is something that I miss a lot. This is not something I would talk to her about because I am really not one to speak about my feelings a lot. I wanted the chance to have a family of my own; children who would love me and cherish me. Someone to depend on me and who would always love me no matter what. I may have Collette for that, but I wanted to share a family with her.

My mother met my stepfather when I was just the mere age of five after my father had left her for good for another woman. I did not understand what was going on, but I did not care because my step-father was more of a father to me than my actual father ever was. I wanted to be like him when I got older. He was the perfect role model and he loved me like I was his biological son. He was a doctor and so he was able to take care of all of us. That is, until one unfortunate day when he passed away from an overdose. It was something that none of us was expecting as he had been receiving psychiatric treatment for depression and bipolar mood disorder. I was fourteen at the time when we discovered his body on the bathroom floor.

It ruined me. I do not think I ever got over it. My sister and I both started therapy after it happened but it was no use. As an adult now, when I think about him, it still aches my heart and I yearn to see him again. I wish he could see me…I wish he could see the type of man I had become. Sometimes I wish he was around to give me fatherly advice. I am not sure if I am doing the right thing at the moment, but I hoped that I am. Sometimes I felt like I would be a disappointment to him because I feel like I could never be like him. I dropped out of college within the first few weeks of attending. My grades were not the best and I just did not have the motivation to better myself.

A few years ago, before I met Collette, I started a new hobby. I was really into bodybuilding, and I was good at it. As a skinny teenager, I wanted to look good and feel even better about myself, so I became a gym junkie. Within a few months of vigorous training, I began to see results and I just never stopped. When I had achieved the body, I had desired for so long, I got a couple of tattoos and was then sought after by a large number of females. I do not want to sound like a jerk, but I was proud of my womanizing ways. I would date women while I slept with others on the side. I did not care if they had gotten hurt in the process. I only cared about myself. I looked amazing and I was able to get any female that I wanted. At times I would cheat with multiple women within a day. I had no intentions of confessing to my partner about my infidelities but if they found out I would not have cared either way. I was living for me.

At the time, I did not have a great job, but I lived alone so it did not matter. I made enough money that allowed me to go to the gym regularly and eat enough food to continuously gain weight. After my last relationship ended due to my constant cheating, I met Collette and I fell for her hard. I could tell that she was not really interested in me because sometimes she would take months to even open my messages but that did not stop me from consistently messaging her.

Then one night we met at the club. This occurred after she had broken up with her former boyfriend. When I saw her at the club, she must have been really drunk because she was making out with another guy. When she saw me, she stopped making out with him and walked over to where I was standing, speaking to another girl. Without hesitation, she grabbed me away from the girl and began to make out with me. I did not stop her. She then proceeded to dance on me and grind on me. I remembered that night like it was yesterday.

I remembered when she left me to go to the restroom. While I stood outside waiting for her, a few guys approached me asking for her. It hurt me to think that she was already leading so many guys on but at the same time, it was nice to know that I had competition. I knew she would choose me over them because we already had chemistry going on. When she returned outside from the restroom, she ignored the line of guys who were waiting on her and grabbed my hand before she pulled me away from the crowd. As she began to dance on me again, she must have felt my boner, because she asked me if I wanted to hook up. I would have been down to do anything with her that night but unfortunately, her heels broke soon after with all of the vigorous dancing she was doing.

It was funny to see her attempt to walk in her heels after because the straps had burst so with every stride she took, her entire foot would twist.

I remember holding her as she walked out of the club and into a taxi. I really thought that would have been the last time I would get to see her, then low and behold, the next day approached and she texted me. She said she would be in my area and wanted help with directions to get to the beach.

I immediately agreed to meet with her. This time, she was completely sober and did not have a ton of makeup on her face like the night we met. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. I became her tour guide throughout the city until it came time for her to leave to go on the beach. I really did not have the funds to go with her, so I simply left her to go on without me but with her friends who accompanied her. Before she left, she gave me a peck on the lips and went her way.

I had a feeling that if it were not for Collette, we would not have become exclusive. She made so many sneaky moves just to see me whenever she was in the city. Eventually, we got closer, and I asked her to be my girlfriend and here we are. We moved in together and now she is pregnant with our baby. I had introduced her to my mother and brothers over text and they had actually gotten really close which warmed my heart.

I really wanted to get home now to see her. I felt really excited about the whole thing. I could not wait to become a father. The news of her being pregnant had motivated me a lot to be a better man and to work harder. Since I met Collette, I had started to neglect work; so much so that I got paid like half of my basic salary but that is about to change. Although this meant that I would be spending less time with her, I am sure it would all be worth it in the end.