Obsessed

Chapter 28

Celeste
~ 9 months pregnant ~

February ,2025

"Wow, it's like you grew overnight." Kaleb tells me. I give him the stink eye as he hands me a bowl of fruit. "You think you're so funny." I said to him. He laughed at me and all I could do was look at him with disgust. "Aww, I'm sorry, baby!" Kaleb says, sitting on our bed and rubbing my ginormous stomach.
It was a warm Saturday afternoon and I was in bed all day. I was 9 months pregnant with baby number 2 and baby boy could be here any day now. Kaleb took off work to take care of me. Apparently there was this thing called "Paternity Leave". It was like Maternity Leave but for dads to be. Kaleb was telling me about it last week. I've never heard of it. I was relieved to have him home with me.
Kaleb and I decided to pick up our growing family and move to LA. There was no reason in particular, other than me wanting to get away from my mother and being closer to my sister and my niece. Kaleb was all for it. He wanted to get away from all of the bullshit going on with his family as well. His mother was just as toxic as my mother was, if not more. She hated me since day one.

"Where's KJ?" I asked. "He's in his room, playing on his iPad." My husband tells me. I take a deep breath and sip my lemon water. "Did he eat lunch?" I said. "Baby, I don't want you worrying about anything right now. I just want you to relax, aight?"Kaleb tells me. I smiled.
This pregnancy was a little bit harder than last time. I was way more moody and sicker this time around. I only threw up once or twice when I was pregnant with KJ. This time, I had morning sickness almost everyday during my first trimester. However, baby boy was healthy so that's all that mattered.
We were naming our little one Kamari Noelle Johnson. Yes, I'm going to be that mom that names all of her kids with the same first letter. Kaleb and I are gonna try for a girl when Kamari is at least 5. I love being a boy mom, but I wanna buy pink clothes and bows! Love my boys, though.

Krystal

"You know what you want, baby?" I asked my daughter. Ava looked at the menu and pointed. "Mama, I want a cheeseburger!" She tells me. "Okay, the cheeseburger comes with fries. You want fries?" I said. She nodded. I smiled. "Okay, birthday girl!"
It was Ava's 7th birthday and we decided to take her out to eat. She didn't want a birthday party this year, which was fine. My baby girl loves to eat just like her mommy so she told us that she wanted to go out to eat. Anything my princess wants, she gets. Ava was a good girl so it wasn't like we were rewarding bad behavior.
Anyway, we were eating our food when my phone rang. My neighbor, Lauren was calling me. "Uh oh." I said, looking at my phone. "What's wrong, babe?" Justin asked. I sighed. "It's Lauren. I need to take this." I said. "Go ahead." My man tells me. "Okay. Mommy will be right back." I say, standing up.
I went into the ladies room to answer the phone. "Hi, Lauren! How are you?" I say. "Hi, Krystal. I know it's Ava's birthday and you're probably busy celebrating. But I don't know who else to turn to at this point." Lauren says. She sounded like she had been crying. This wasn't good.
The last time I talked to Lauren was before she had the baby. She had a baby girl and named her Penelope. The crazy part is Penelope was a year old and Lauren had asked me to be the baby's godmother. I still have yet to meet my God baby.
"Lauren, have you been crying? What's going on?" I questioned. "It's Julian. I found out he had been cheating and I confronted him. He got so mad and he just... I-" "Did he hit you? Where are you and the kids?" I said. Lauren was panicking. "The girls and I are home." She tells me. "Is... is Julian at the house?" I ask in a low tone. "No, he left out a half hour ago." Lauren tells me.
"So, tell me what happened Lauren." I said. She takes a deep breath and gently presses the ice pack against the black and blue underneath her right eye. "Well, we were eating dinner. Everything was fine. Then, Julian's phone rings and he takes it to the bathroom with him. I already knew he had been cheating. So, as soon as he gets back from the bathroom, I ask him about it." Lauren explained. "Okay. Where were the girls while this was going on?" I said. "We were all in the kitchen. Everybody was in the kitchen. We were all eating as a family." Lauren tells me. "So, Callie, Caia, and Penelope all saw Julian hit you?" I asked. Callie and Caia were Lauren's twin girls. She had all girls. Lauren was a girl mom.
It was about 8 pm. As soon as we got home from the restaurant, I texted Lauren and to she brought the kids right over. She only lived across the street. Her twins were the same age as Ava. Ava loved Callie and Caia.
Lauren looked at me and started to cry. "Krystal, I don't know what to do. I'm scared! Not only for my own safety but for my girls as well. I can't keep living like this!" She says. I take Penelope out of her lap. "I know this is easier said than done. But you have to leave him, Lauren." I tell her. "I know. But he's crazy! We've been together 11 years and I've never seen him like this. Not until now."  Lauren says.
Lauren was such a nice person. She was the sweetest human being I've ever met. Her heart was so pure. If anybody was rude to Lauren I could never understand why. She was just an overall genuine being.
Lauren and I were in my living room while the twins and Ava were in Ava's room, playing. Justin had put Elian to bed, meaning he was out for the night, too. Lauren was afraid to go home, so she asked if her and the kids could stay over. I couldn't say no.
"Good morning!" Lauren says to me. "Good morning! Did you and the girls sleep okay?" I said. "We did! Thank you for letting us stay. We really appreciate it." She tells me. "Of course!" I said. Lauren took a seat at our kitchen island.
"Oh,no." Lauren says, looking at her phone. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I turned my phone off before I went to sleep last night. And I'm just now turning it back on. Julian blew my phone up." Lauren tells me. She looks really pale. "Lauren, I think we need to go to the police." I said. She looks at me with fear in her eyes. "Remember the last time the police got involved?" She says.
The last time the police got involved, Julian lied about everything. He made Lauren wear long sleeves to cover up her bruises. This motherfucker made the twins lie to the police. What kinda person makes their kids lie? To anybody? He really was a sick bastard.
Lauren and the girls left around 10 am. I told her to call me if anything happened. I felt so sorry for her, I wanted to help her any way I could. All I could think about were her and her children. What she was going through, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.