by W. S. Greer
Kelvin stopped and turned around just as I opened the door.
“I’m not separating from The Family,” he said, full of confidence and poise. “I’m just separating from you.”
I grabbed Kelvin by the hand and pulled him out the door with me, letting it slam shut behind us as we left.
Ilia could hear the occupants of the restaurant as they greeted Ivan from the other side of the door. He knew his brother would be coming in to talk to him about their plans to pay back the Carters for their disrespect, so he hung up the phone and waited for him to walk through the door, knowing this conversation would be too important for him to be busy.
When Ivan pushed the door open, Ilia stood up as a sign of respect, and waited for his brother to make his way over to the side of the bar where he was sitting. As Ivan stepped, Ilia could see that he was full of determination. It was written all over his face. His long black jacket swayed with every step he took, and Ivan grinned victoriously as he strode across the room.
“Dobryy vecher, brat,” (Good evening, brother) Ivan said as he nodded at Ilia. “How’s everything going?”
“It’s good,” Ilia replied. “I think everyone’s excited. Things are finally starting to happen.”
“Yes. Finally.” Ivan took a seat at one of the barstools, and nodded for his brother to join him. “I was very pleased with the way you handled things. You see, I told you they would focus their attention on the prince, and they’d never see us coming for the brother. You did well, brat (brother).”
“Spasibo” (Thank you), Ilia replied, hopping onto the tall seat next to his brother. “The payoff was definitely worth the wait. However, our work isn’t finished.”
“You’re right. Things worked in our favor this time. We were able to catch Deshaun at a time when the Carters weren’t looking out for him. But, there’s no way Kelvin Junior will be sitting outside a strip club texting on his phone, and not paying attention to his surroundings. So, don’t be under the impression that we’ll be able to obtain him and give him what he deserves the way we did his uncle. Things won’t be so easy this time. So, what’s the latest on the prince?”
Ilia leaned forward and placed both of his hands on the bar top, interlocking his fingers. “I spoke to Viktor twice today—once in the morning, and again just a little while ago. He’s been scoping out the girl’s house for the past few days, but she hasn’t been there almost at all. But, he’s seen her there with Kelvin Junior. When they’re there, they don’t stay very long, and they always leave together. I had him check the place again tonight, and she wasn’t there again. So she must be staying at his place. I assume Senior has put her under his protection as well.”
“Never assume anything, Ilia,” Ivan snapped, startling his brother. “We don’t know what that idiot, Kelvin Senior, is going to do. He’s an asshole, and has no idea the danger his own family is in. Do we have confirmation that the girl is staying with the prince?”
Ilia cleared his throat, still recovering from Ivan’s quick temper. “Yes. Viktor has followed them to a number of establishments, with the most frequent being the Red Chip Hotel & Casino. He believes they’re staying there. This, of course, is only his assumption. He hasn’t followed them in.”
“I see. Well, I see that we have an opportunity to finally avenge Abram. I don’t want to wait on this any longer than we already have. So, since we’ve already eliminated Abram’s shooter, it’s time to eliminate the one who put out the hit. Call Viktor, tell him that the next time he sees an opportunity to end this, he’s to take it.”
“And the girl?”
“If she’s with him, then fuck it. No witnesses.” Ivan scooted himself off his stool, and tapped his brother on the hand. “Don’t let me down, brat (brother),” he said with a sly smile. Then, he turned around and started walking towards the exit.
Ilia didn’t waste a second pulling out his phone and dialing Viktor’s number. He answered before the first ring was complete.
“Where are you?” Ilia smiled at Viktor’s answer. “Good. It’s time. No witnesses. The next time you have an opportunity—do it.” Viktor asked the question that Ilia knew he would. “If she’s with him when the time comes… so be it.”
I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but there was something different about Kelvin the moment he stepped out of the conference room at the Royal Flush. It wasn’t something that I could see or point out, but there definitely was something, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was.
After we left the casino, Kelvin and I had gone back to the Red Chip and went to bed without saying more than a few words to each other. We drove the Camaro down the road in complete silence, and rode the elevator up to the penthouse the same way. It wasn’t until we were getting ready to lay down that I decided to speak to him when I told him that I was proud of him and that I loved him. His response was a simple closed-mouth smile, and an “I love you, Lilliana. And, I promise that you don’t have anything to worry about. You don’t ever have to be scared again.” The look on his face was a very calm, but serious expression.
Before, I could see the worry in his eyes. The fear that something might happen at any given moment, and he’d been forced to act—to protect us both, and he seemed like he was still trying to convince himself that he was ready. Now, however, there was no more uncertainty. No more hesitation or trying to convince himself of anything. Now, he seemed more certain and in control than ever. He wasn’t angry. He just seemed ready. For what, I wasn’t sure.
We woke up on Friday morning at eleven o’clock, and Kelvin immediately ordered up room service for us. We had our customary steak and eggs, and then spent the afternoon and evening watching movies. First we watched The Wolf of Wall Street, which I had to admit was instantly one of my favorite movies. Afterwards, we took a little break to get something to eat, which Kelvin decided to order up from room service again, and then we decided to watch Lone Survivor. After crying my face off every time one of the Navy SEALs died, I found myself needing to take a few breaks just to clean myself up and not look stupid in front of my boyfriend, who hadn’t shed one tear at all. All of my crybaby breaks stretched the movie out to about half an hour longer than it was supposed to be, but Kelvin didn’t complain. He just smiled at me and told me it was cute, and that he loved how deeply I felt things. I didn’t know whether I should be embarrassed, or to feel loved, so I just gave him a hug, and then told him to shut up and play the movie.
After the movies, we had another meal, and it was then that Kelvin jumped out of his seat with excitement, like he’d just had the best idea ever.
“I think we should go out tonight,” he said, full of enthusiasm. “Yes! That’s exactly what we need to do. We need to go out.”
I laughed at his playful attitude as I chewed my food. “You want to go out? Where?”
“Ummm, I’m thinking to a night club. In fact, we can go to my Uncle Ant’s night club. It’s like two blocks away. We don’t even have to take a cab, we can just walk.”
I felt my heart jump and my eyes bulge at the thought of us walking down the streets of downtown Chicago. There was way too much going on for us to be so careless.
“You want to walk? You think that’s a good idea with all the shit that’s going on right now?” I said apprehensively.
“I don’t give a shit what’s going on right now. We’ll walk if we want to walk, and there isn’t a fucking thing anybody would do about it either.”
I felt my eyes widen as he finished his confident sentence. I didn’t know if this was just a mood he was in, or if he’d seriously just stopped giving a fuck. The feeling inside of me was one of excitement and worry at the same time. I liked that he was feeling so fearless—I could admit it was a turn-on—but his fearlessness made me worry that we could be caught off guard. However, I’d already decided that I’d support whatever he wanted to do, so I went with it.
“You’re right, Baby. If you want to walk, we’ll walk,” I said, placing my fork on
my plate and sliding my chair backwards to get up. “Maybe we should invite Mike and Lexy. What do you think?”
“That sounds great. You text Lex, I’ll text Mike, and we’ll see what they want to do. It’s still fairly early, so they still have time to get a babysitter if they need to.”
I walked through the living room and grabbed my cell phone off the counter in the kitchen. I unlocked my phone and texted Lexy.
Me: Kelvin & I are going out tonight. You & Mike should come hang out with us.
It only took her about twenty seconds to respond.
Lexy: Mike has to work tomorrow, but I’m definitely down. He’s been acting shitty today anyway, so I could use a break from him. Perfect timing!
Me: LOL. Well, at least you can come hang with us. We’ll keep you company.
Lexy: The way Mike has me feeling, maybe me, you, and Kelvin can get a little ménage going on. LOL! J/k
Me: LOL!! You are too much. Just get dressed, crazy woman! Meet us at Kelvin’s and we’ll all go together.
Lexy: Great! See you soon!
I put my phone back on the counter and walked into the bedroom where Kelvin had already gone and started to clean himself up. I sat on the front edge of the bed and watched him as he took off his shirt, revealing his beautiful body to me.
“You keep stripping in front of me and we won’t make it to the club,” I said with a seductive smile.
Kelvin smiled back at me through the mirror hanging on the closet door. “Don’t even get me started, Lilliana. You know we’ll be here all night if you get me started. Have you texted Lexy? I haven’t texted Mike yet.”
“Yeah, I did. She said she’s down, but Mike has to work tonight, so he won’t be able to make it. So, no boyfriend for you,” I said with a playful smile.
“That sucks,” Kelvin replied jokingly. “I was hoping to get lucky.”
I let out a heavy chuckle before responding. “Well, since that didn’t work out the way you wanted it to, if you play your cards right, maybe I can help you out with that.”
“Oh, if I play my cards right?” Kelvin responded, still smiling at me through the closet mirror. Then, he turned around and walked over to me, resting his leg up against mine. All of a sudden, he grabbed my hair and gave it a slight pull until my chin was pointed up at him. “I have all the cards, Baby. And I’ll be playing them all when we get back tonight. Both of us will be getting lucky, but no one in the world will feel luckier than you.” Then, he leaned over and gave me a passionate kiss. His tongue lightly grazed my upper lip as he teased me and backed away, just far enough that I couldn’t reach him as he still had a hold of my hair and was holding my head in place.
“I thought you said not to get started,” I said, struggling to contain myself.
Kelvin smiled at me as he looked into my eyes without blinking. “Oh yeah, I did, didn’t I? I just wanted to make sure that you know what’s gonna happen when we get back here tonight. Keep that in the back of your mind while we’re out.”
“How could I not?” I said with a smile. This man knew how to push my buttons in every way.
A little over an hour later, I got a text from Lexy saying that she was getting close. I let Kelvin know, and he appropriately called down to the concierge and told them to escort Lexy up to the penthouse whenever she arrived. A couple of minutes later she texted again.
Lexy: I’m on my way up, so don’t be having sex in the hallway when I get up there.
I heard the ding of the elevator, and the sound of some very fancy high heels making their way down the hallway towards the living room. I walked out of the bedroom and found Lexy leaning over, looking for us in the living room. Her dark purple dress was extremely tight fitting and seemed like it was being sucked up against her ass as she leaned forward to look into the living room
“Looking good, lady,” I said, startling Lexy, and laughing at her.
“Shit. You scared me,” she replied. “Thank you. You’re looking pretty sexy yourself. Love the red. You really have a thing for skirts don’t you?”
I looked down at my red skirt and did a little playful twirl. “Yes I do. Kelvin likes them, so, you know. And you have a thing for flaunting those ridiculous boobs of yours.” Lexy’s tits were popping up out of the top of her low cut dress. It looked like they were only inches from her chin.
“What? I can’t help it. I have huge tits, so sue me. You have the ass, I have the tits. We complete each other. So, where is the man of the evening?”
Right on cue, Kelvin came strutting out of the bedroom wearing a dark gray suit with black pinstripes, with a gray tie and black button up. I looked down at his black and gray shoes and smiled at how much they complimented his look. It was as if his shoes were made just for this particular suit. When I looked back up at him, he was smiling at me with that sexy look in his eye.
“You look good, Baby,” I said with a flirtatious grin. I wanted him to know what I was thinking just from the look on my face. He smiled and licked his lips much more sexually than anyone would ever need to, so I knew he was thinking the same thing.
“Thanks, Babe. You’re stunning, as always. You know I love how you rock those skirts,” Kelvin replied.
“Ugh. Get a room already!” Lexy jokingly snapped as she stepped between us. “Me and Mike are fighting, so please tone down the cute couple shit, okay. You’re making me jealous. We all look great, now can we get out of here and go get some drinks. It’s Friday, I’m annoyed with my husband, and I’m ready to get my drink on.”
“Sounds good. Let’s do it,” I said as I took Kelvin’s hand and we stepped into the elevator.
We decided to go ahead and take a cab to the club, which really was only a block or two away, but Lexy didn’t want to walk the distance in her four-inch, purple heels. So we endured a two-minute drive in a taxi that smelled like piss and fish, with a fare of six-dollars, which we forced Lexy to pay.
When the cab pulled up to the club, there was a line outside that was going down the sidewalk. The extremely large bouncer who was standing outside was directly underneath the bright red lights of the sign that read Turn Up, horizontally. The three of us stepped out of the cab and it seemed like the eyes of every person in line immediately focused on us. Lexy and I were out of the cab first, and the men in the line were quick to stare, and some of them even whistled at us, as if anything that immature would work on any woman.
When Kelvin stepped out of the car, however, all the whistling from the men stopped. Instead, they just looked at Kelvin from head to toe, probably wondering what the hell he did for a living that he could afford a suit that cost more than their entire wardrobe put together.
The women in the line looked at Kelvin like they wanted to strip him naked right there in the street, but of course, there was no whistling. There were some pretty hateful stares at Lexy and me, however. It was like they were mad at us for being with him. A black woman with long braids going down her back looked at me like she was ready to fight me over my own man, so I made a point of turning around and giving Kelvin a kiss on the lips, and then grabbing his hand and leading him towards the bouncer as I winked at the jealous woman.
I could see it in the eyes of everyone who was around—they were wondering if we were going to get in, because they obviously weren’t—so I was a little nervous when we stepped in front of the oversized man with the clipboard. First, he looked at Lexy and me like he was ready to tell us to get to the back of the line, but before he could speak, I saw his eyes shift over to Kelvin. The minute they made eye contact, Kelvin and the bouncer nodded to each other, then the bouncer moved aside and said “Right this way, Mr. Carter. Have a good time,” as he opened the large black door, and the loud music from inside came roaring at us as we stepped over the threshold.
Inside the club, it was unbelievably loud and packed. The DJ must have had the music on full blast, and I could feel every kick of the drums, and the bass made my heart feel like it was vibrating. The expansive room had a lot of flashi
ng white lights on the ceiling, but for the most part, the club was fairly dark, and had a very sexy feel to it. The entire perimeter of the room was one gigantic bar, and the huge dance floor was in the center of it all. The right side of the room was sectioned off by a rope that separated it from the rest of the club, and Kelvin pushed us in that direction.
We made our way through the crowd, bumping into loud, obnoxious patrons the entire way. One man walked past us and looked me up and down, then flashed a flirtatious smile. He stopped in front of me, and looked like he was ready to say something, but he stopped and focused all of his attention on something that was behind me—Kelvin.
“What up, Kelvin?” the short man said, sounding every bit as nervous as he looked.
“What’s good?” Kelvin replied from behind me.
Apparently, that was all it took, as the man nodded, then turned around and speed walked in the other direction. I turned around and looked at Kelvin, searching for an explanation, but all he did was smile at me and shrug, and we kept walking.
When we reached the rope, there was a tall, bald man in a black suit standing in front of it, looking like he was pissed off at the whole world. Kelvin stepped in between Lexy and I and spoke to the man.
“What’s going on, Marcus? We’re gonna kick it here for a while,” Kelvin said.
Before Marcus could answer, another group of guys came strutting up to the rope and tried to make their way past Marcus, but he held up his arm to stop them.
“Sorry,” he said to the group of young black men, “your reservation for VIP has been cancelled. We have to accommodate Mr. Carter and his guests.”
One of the men, who was wearing a bright red Chicago Bulls jacket, looked over at Kelvin and obviously didn’t recognize him. “Who the fuck is a Mr. Carter? We’ve only been here an hour. What the fuck do you mean it’s been cancelled? Man, you better let us in here.”
