by W. S. Greer
I let out a loud sigh. “As long as you’re here, everything’s perfect. But, I can’t act like I’m not a little worried about this whole thing. Someone tried to blow us up last night. I don’t know how to react to that. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel.”
“You’re not supposed to feel any particular way. It’s fucked up, and I know you’re scared. I’m also not sure what we’re gonna do about it. I mean, The Family seems pretty convinced that it’s the Baskovs who did it, but we don’t know for sure, so it’s hard to try to figure out what to do next.”
“See, that’s the other part that I’m worried about. Let’s just assume that it was the Baskovs. What will your family do to them? Would they try to kill them? Blow up one of their cars?”
Kelvin put his head down and exhaled. I could tell that he didn’t want to say the real answer to the question. “I have to be honest with you’re here, Lilliana. If it was the Baskovs and we find that out for sure, it’s gonna be a serious problem. There’s no way in hell my family would let that kind of thing slide. My father would never allow it.”
“Has your dad killed people, Kelvin?”
Kelvin took a second to clear his throat. I knew the question was probably inappropriate, but I needed to know the answer. I needed to know what to expect from here on out.
“My dad’s been doing what he’s been doing for a long time—since he was in his late teens. He’s done a lot of things that I’m not proud of. Things that I’m ashamed of, and even though I love you more than anything in this world, there’s things about my dad that I can’t tell you. But, it’s not because I don’t love you or because I don’t want to share everything with you, because I do. But the less you know about him, the safer you’ll be. You just have to trust me on that, okay?”
I pretty much took that as a yes, and it scared the hell out of me. “This isn’t good, Kelvin. I’m not sure I can handle all of this.”
Kelvin wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. “Hey, I know you’re scared. I know it’s fucked up and it’s a lot of craziness in a short period of time. But think about how great everything has been since we got together. This shit just came out of nowhere. We didn’t expect it, and certainly didn’t plan for it. But, I assure you, I’ll take care of you. No matter what happens, I’ll take care of you. I promise you, Lilliana. I got you.”
I couldn’t help but smile at how comforting his words were. “I know you do, Baby. But what about you? Aren’t you scared?”
Kelvin smiled at me with an assured confidence. “All I’m focusing on is keeping you safe. I don’t have time for scared.”
Just then, Kelvin leaned over and kissed me. The second our skin touched, my worries were neutralized by my love and desire for him. It was true that we were in a mess, but no mess would ever dissolve our love.
I felt the heat rising within me as our bodies touched. Kelvin had a way of kissing me that seemed to instantly turn me on and make me forget about everything going on around me. But, just as my hand was lifting up his jersey, my phone rang.
I let out an exasperated sigh as we stopped kissing so I could lean over and look at the caller ID. It was Lexy.
“Shit, it’s Lexy,” I mumbled, accompanied by a frown. Kelvin smiled at me and then scooted back onto the bed and laid down with his hands behind his head, basically telling me he’d be waiting for me to get off the phone. I smiled back as I answered my cell.
“Hey, Lex. What’s up?”
“Did you hear about what happened at Red Lobster last night?” Lexy yelled in my ear. Apparently the news about the explosion was beginning to travel.
“Yeah, I definitely heard about it,” I replied, hoping she couldn’t hear the sarcasm in my voice.
“That was, like, right after me and Mike left. Were you guys still there when it happened?”
I thought for a second about what I should say in response. I hadn’t told Lexy that Kelvin was in the mob, and certainly didn’t plan on it, so I didn’t know exactly how much information I should give her about last night.
“Umm, no. We’d just left, too. So, it must’ve been right after we left,” I said. I didn’t like lying to my best friend, but what was going on with Kelvin and I was only our business. Not to mention the feeling I had that the more Lexy didn’t know about this, the better off she’d be in the long run. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.
“That would’ve been crazy if you guys would’ve seen that,” Lexy chirped. “The news said that some guy died in the explosion, and that the cops think there may have been foul play. But they’re withholding any other information about the investigation. That’s fucking crazy, right? I mean, we’d just been there.”
I immediately thought about Tony. From what I knew about him, he was only a twenty year old black kid who’d just started working at the Royal Flush for Senior only a couple of weeks ago. The memory of his hairless face jumped to the front of my mind, and brought a whole truckload of emotion with it.
“It’s really sad,” I said, my voice full of obvious sorrow.
“Yeah, it is,” Lexy replied. She seemed to pause for a second like we were giving the young man a moment of silence. After a few seconds she spoke again. “Umm. So, anyway, what are you two lovebirds getting into today?”
“I’m not sure, actually. We usually just hang out on Sundays, before I go back to my place to get ready for work the next day. We haven’t really talked about it yet. What’s on the agenda for you and Mike?”
“I don’t think we’re doing anything either. Mike’s on the couch screaming at the TV because the Bulls are losing. Plus I have a bunch of papers to grade for tomorrow.”
“Me too, actually. I need to try to get home a little earlier so I can get started on that. I don’t want to be up all night because of it, which is usually what ends up happening because I can’t pry myself away from this man.” I looked over my shoulder at Kelvin who was still lying in the same position. My eyes automatically went to his larger-than-life biceps as his arms rested behind his head. He was so unbelievably sexy. “But, I doubt today will be any different.”
I heard Lexy giggle. “Ugh, you guys are too cute,” she said. “I better let you go before you start fucking while you have me on the phone and I have to sit here and listen to it.”
“Even if we did start doing that, you could just hang up.”
“What? Why would I want to do that? I’d have to listen because I’m sure that would be hot. But it would probably piss Mike off, so I better go.”
I chuckled at my friend’s craziness, then we said our goodbyes and hung up. I placed the phone back on the nightstand and turned my attention to Kelvin, who was still staring at me.
“So, you’ve got papers to grade?” he said.
“Yeah, and as much as I want to spend all of my time with you, I really should try to get home a little earlier so I can get that stuff done earlier. My inability to pull myself away from you always seems to leave me in a rush on Monday morning.”
“I guess I understand,” Kelvin chuckled. “Okay, well, what do you say we go out to breakfast first? Then, I’ll take you to your house so you can get ready for work. I’ll talk to James and see if my dad gave him any instructions for the day.”
“Wait. Breakfast? You sure that’s a good idea after what happened last night?” I was still thinking about the explosion, yet Kelvin was ready to go out to eat again. His confidence that we would be safe was certainly comforting, but I was still terrified of what might happen if we went out again. After seeing the limo explode with Tony still inside of it, I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready to go out to dinner again.
“Nothing is gonna happen to us, Babe. James will be there, and there isn’t another guy that I’d want protecting us. Tony was new and didn’t think to make sure we weren’t being followed. James knows better, and I’ve known him since I was a kid, so I trust him. You don’t have to worry…”
Kelvin was interrupted by his cell phone ringing on
the nightstand. He stood up and started walking towards the phone, but when he got halfway, he stopped and came back over to me.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” I asked, just as Kelvin leaned over and kissed me again. When he pulled away, his naturally sexy scent was still lingering in my nose. After a quick smile, he ran over to his side of the bed and picked up the phone. When he saw the caller ID, his facial expression changed.
“Yeah, what’s up?” he said upon answering.
I couldn’t hear what was being said on the other line, but I could tell that Kelvin wasn’t happy about it. His jaw was clenched like he was trying to hold back saying something, so I assumed it was someone from The Family.
“I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not feeling it,” Kelvin said. “I’ve been in this situation before, and there’s no way I’m going back to… hello?” Kelvin pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen. “Son of a bitch.”
“What’s the matter?”
Kelvin put his head down and exhaled. His jaw was still clenched. “You should get dressed,” he said. I could hear the frustration in his tone. “My fucking dad is gonna be here any minute.”
Just as I was slipping my white sweater over my head, I heard the ding of the elevator. Luckily, I’d already put my face and my navy blue jeans on and felt ready to be seen by other people. It’d only been ten minutes since Kelvin had gotten off the phone, and the infamous Kelvin Carter Senior was already making his way up the elevator. He was the only other person who had a key to come up to the penthouse without having to get the assistance of the concierge.
I speed walked barefooted down the hallway and passed the elevator so that I wouldn’t be standing there when the door opened. Kelvin was already sitting in the living room on the couch with one leg crossed over the other. To my surprise, he hadn’t changed into anything fancy. He was still rocking his Jordan jersey, and his perfectly white Jordan shoes were on full display. I sat next to him and couldn’t help but notice his scowl.
“Don’t look so mad. He hasn’t even gotten here yet. Maybe it’ll be a good conversation this time,” I said. I wanted to help him ease up, because I didn’t want to see anymore father, son drama. When Kelvin’s facial expression didn’t change, however, I got the feeling that I might not have a choice.
The doors slid open, and I turned around in my seat to watch Senior stroll into the penthouse decked out in a navy blue suit with no tie. His round face was twisted into the same kind of scowl that Kelvin was wearing, and his eyes narrowed as he focused in on Kelvin and me sitting on the couch.
Kelvin stood up and nodded at his father as he approached the living room. “What’s up?”
“Morning,” Senior responded with a barely noticeable nod. “Good morning, Lily.”
I was surprised that he’d acknowledged me. “Oh, good morning, Mr. Carter.” I didn’t know if I was supposed to call him that or not. “How are you?”
Senior walked in and sat down on the single seated couch next to ours. “I’m good,” he said, crossing one leg over the other just as Kelvin had. His black shoes had a hint of navy in the stitching. The Carters sure knew how to match up an outfit.
Kelvin and I sat back down on the couch and I heard Kelvin exhale loudly, already letting his father know that he was annoyed. Senior glared at him for a moment, obviously catching on to his son’s resentment.
“I didn’t come to get on your nerves,” he started, “and I don’t plan on staying long, but there’s some info I thought you both needed to have before starting your day today.”
I leaned back on the couch and took a deep breath, attempting to prepare myself for whatever craziness I was about to experience.
“Alright, first thing. We don’t have any other info on whether or not it was the Baskovs who tried to make the hit on you. We all still assume that it was them, in fact, I’m pretty convinced it was. We haven’t come to a decision yet on how we’ll go about handling this situation with them, but we will come to a decision, and something will be done about it in due time.”
I started to open my mouth to ask just what he meant by that, but he cut me off.
“Second thing. You both will be under protection until this shit is resolved. That means James will become your best friend, and there’ll be more than just him around, too. Someone will be watching your house at all times, Lily. Just to make sure that nothing happens, even when you’re not there. You probably won’t see them, but there will be someone there. And when you leave, you’ll have a tail. I don’t want you looking for any signs that there’s someone watching you, I just want you to rest assured that someone’s there to make sure you’re good. The only time you won’t be being watched is when you’re at work. Ivan is a sick son of a bitch, but he would never endanger children. You’re actually probably safest at work.”
I looked over at Kelvin and his expression had actually softened a little. I knew that this was what he wanted, so he didn’t have any reason to be upset.
“As much as I don’t want to be under constant surveillance and protection, I’m grateful that you’re willing to look after Lilliana. That’s the most important part to me, so thank you,” Kelvin said. He still wasn’t smiling, but I could tell he meant it.
“I’m not doing this as a favor to you, Junior,” Senior snipped. “I’m doing this because you’re the only son I have left. I won’t lose you too. And if protecting her will help with that, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“Well, either way, I appreciate it, Dad.”
“It’s nothing,” Senior answered. “Now, with all this shit going down so recently, we still have to play this safe, okay? Stay inside today. Stay hidden. For all we know, they think that they got you. So if you keep a low profile, it might help cool things off until we can…” Senior looked over at me before continuing. “Until we can decide what to do next.”
“That makes sense,” I replied. I heard Kelvin exhale like he was doing it on purpose to get my attention. When I looked at him, he shot me a weird look that I couldn’t really read.
Senior rose from his seat and took a few steps towards the elevator. “I figured it’d be better to tell you all of this in person. Didn’t mean to just drop in on you. Just follow the rules and everything will be okay. Okay?”
Kelvin didn’t answer, choosing to nod at his father instead. Senior walked over to the elevator and pushed the button. He never said goodbye, but he nodded at Kelvin just as the elevator doors slid closed.
“Well, there you go. That’s what you wanted, right?” I said to Kelvin who was still glowering.
“Sure. Kind of.”
“What do you mean, kind of?”
“I’m glad he’s protecting you. He knows that’s the right thing to do, but I just hate having to stay inside all the damn time. This is a great penthouse and I love it, but I don’t want to be in this bitch twenty-four-seven. We said we were gonna get breakfast, and that’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll drop you off at your house right after, so you can do what you need to do for work tomorrow.”
Kelvin reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. He started texting just as I started talking.
“You really think that’s a good idea, Babe? They just tried to kill us yesterday. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with going out just yet.”
Kelvin slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked up at me. “I know, Babe. But, I assure you, you don’t have anything to worry about. James will be there, and we’ll be quick, okay. We’ll go to a spot where I know a lot of cops go, that way we’ll be extra safe.”
About a minute later, the elevator door dinged again and James sauntered into the room in a dark gray suit. His pudgy stomach was pushing the buttons on the jacket out, but he still looked like he could kick some ass.
“This is a bad idea, Kelvin,” he said immediately. “Your dad just left, and he told me not to let you go anywhere. Not even five minutes has passed, and I’ve already got you texting me about taking you
to breakfast at Mariana’s. And why would you want to go there anyway? It’s right next to Chicago PD. That place is crawling with cops.”
“I know. That’s the point,” Kelvin replied. “I don’t have to worry about some coward rigging a fucking bomb under the car if it’s sitting in the parking lot next to Chicago PD.”
“And what about all the cops who eat there every day?” James continued.
“What? I’m not under investigation for anything. I’m not worried about them. It’s just me and my girl enjoying breakfast together. After that, we’ll take her home, and I’ll come back here, safe and sound in my comfy little penthouse. Okay?”
“Ugh. Why do you have to make things so complicated?” James said with disdain in his tone.
“Look, I know it’s frustrating for you to have to drive me around, especially when you know I don’t want you to. But we’re both being forced into doing something that we don’t want to do. So, I’m rolling with it. Plus, I need Lilliana to see that if we go out, we’ll be okay. And until she sees it for herself, she won’t believe it. So, let’s just go.”
Kelvin stepped in front of me and pushed the button on the elevator. The doors slid open and James and I glanced at each other without saying anything. Then, James finally relented.
“Fine. But, only because we’re going to Mariana’s. So, eat fast.”
I let out a worried sigh, and jogged into the bedroom to put on my shoes. As I slipped on the lowest heels I could find, Kelvin walked past me and over to the closet. He opened it up and pulled out a pair of black pants, and a red and white argyle sweater to match the shoes he was already wearing. I couldn’t help but think that he was intentionally dressing down. Usually he would be donning an expensive suit with the flashiest shoes anybody’d ever see. The fact that he chose to avoid his usual attire today didn’t help my confidence any.
“Go ahead, Babe. I’ll meet you in the elevator,” he said with a cunning smile after he caught me staring at him getting dressed.
“Okay.”
