by W. S. Greer
“Hey!” Marcus snapped. “Your reservation has been cancelled to accommodate Mr. Kelvin Carter Jr. Let’s not make this more trouble than it has to be.”
The leader of the young group looked over at Kelvin and glared at him, but he didn’t say anything to him as Kelvin placed his hand on my back and led Lexy and I past the rope and into the VIP booth.
“Alright then,” the young man said as he turned around and walked away, his entire group following his lead.
“Sorry about that, Mr. Carter,” Marcus said as we passed him.
“It’s all good, Marcus. Hey, make sure all of their drinks are on me for the rest of the night,” Kelvin replied.
The three of us sat down on a large black leather couch that was in the shape of a U. A waitress immediately came over and took our drink order, and was back with the drinks in less than two minutes, placing them on the round glass table in front of us.
“This fucking place is the shit!” Lexy screeched as she took her first sip of her Cosmo. “Your uncle owns this place, Kelvin?”
“Yeah, my Uncle Ant owns it. He’s had it for a while now. I don’t get to come here too often, but it’s a really nice place. Always packed, six nights a week. The seventh day is Sunday, the only day the place is closed.”
“Well, he’s done a great job with the place. I’m impressed,” Lexy said excitedly.
“It really is nice,” I chimed in. “I’m not too big on clubs really, but I could get down with this place. You planning on hitting the dance floor, Lex?”
“What? The dance floor? Have you seen my boobs? If I hit the dance floor, my tits are bound to pop out and hit somebody in the face. The last thing I need is a lawsuit for tit abuse,” Lexy answered. “What about you two lovebirds? I’d love to see Kelvin out there. Tell me, Kelvin, are you an Electric Slide kind of guy, or more of a pop & locker?”
Kelvin let out a hefty chuckle. “I’d have to say neither. When I was younger, I used to mimic Michael Jackson pretty good, but those days are long gone. I still know how to hold it down on the dance floor, but I’d only do it if Lilliana asked me to.”
“Ooh, ask him! Ask him!” Lexy said in a high pitch voice. “I’ve got to see this.”
I glanced over at the packed dance floor and found myself feeling intimidated by all the people. They were out there doing all kinds of dance moves I’d never even seen before. It was like every person in the place used to dance for Usher or something.
“I don’t know,” I said nervously. “Maybe later. Let me get a few drinks in me, then we’ll see.”
“Hell yes! Let’s get a few drinks in us!” Lexy exclaimed. “How about some shots? It’s Friday! Christmas break has officially started, so let’s celebrate! Titties and Patron! Whooo!”
Kelvin waved to the waitress who was standing close by. “Let me get three shots of Patron,” he said in her ear.
“Patron? That’s too strong, Babe!” I said loudly. I was never a big fan of strong liquor, and Patron had a reputation for either knocking people out, or making them do stupid shit. I wasn’t in the mood for doing either.
“We’ll only take one, then we’ll take it slow the rest of the night. Let’s just do it for Lexy.”
I looked over at Lexy and caught her smiling at me like an excited toddler, intentionally showing all of her teeth. “Ugh. Alright, but only because I love you, Lex. Let’s do it.”
Right on cue, the waitress brought the shots of Patron to the table. Kelvin tried to offer her a tip, but she refused, and then walked away.
The three of us reached for our shot glasses at the same time, and held them out in the air, waiting for someone to propose a toast. I saw Lexy take a deep breath like she was getting ready start talking, but before she could, someone spoke up from the other side of the velvet rope.
“Damn, you sure are gorgeous,” the short man said. He was a white guy, about five-foot-six, and he was wearing clothes that were entirely too big for his little frame. He had his hat turned to the side, and he spoke with an accent like he was from the hood. “That red hair is sexy. You wanna dance?”
Kelvin and I looked over at Lexy, who was still holding her shot glass in the air as she looked at the guy.
“Bring your shots back up,” Lexy said to Kelvin and me, and we quickly obliged. “I’d like to propose a toast to not having white, wanna-be black guys leaning over the VIP rope, staring at my tits while they attempt to talk to me. Here’s a toast to having a good time with my friends without being interrupted by idiots who are half my age. A toast to not robbing the cradle for little boys who don’t look half as good as my husband of the last twelve years. A toast to my husband’s big dick, and to ignoring jack asses who are about to be escorted away by security.” Lexy then downed her shot of Patron while I tried to stifle my laughter, and Kelvin stared at the guy to see what his reaction was going to be.
The guy looked pissed, but before he could say a word, the security guard leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and he turned around and walked away with a look of defeat spread across his face. Once he was gone, Kelvin took his shot.
“Wow. You’re fucking incredible, Lexy,” I said as I laid my head on her shoulder, still laughing. “You don’t miss a beat.”
“What the hell?” Lexy snapped. “It’s like I have a sign on my face that says my husband isn’t here, so please come and try to get in my pants. That guy was like seven years old. Are you kidding?”
“It’s the boobs,” I said. “Every time you bring them out, you get little boys flocking to you to stare at your chest.”
“Whatever. I get annoyed by all of that shit. I know there are some women who want to be pursued all the time, even when they’re married, but I’m not one of them. I don’t let these boys think for one second that they have a chance with me.”
“Aww, Mike would be proud,” Kelvin chimed in.
“He should be!” Lexy bellowed. “I’m only mean to guys because I love him. He better appreciate it.”
“Well, from what he’s told me, he definitely appreciates you,” Kelvin assured Lexy.
“Oooh, what does he say about me?”
“You know I can’t tell you that. It’s guy code, and shit like that. Just know that he loves and appreciates you, even when he doesn’t act like it.”
“Well that’s nice to hear,” Lexy replied with a big grin. “Because he sure does forget to…” the loud pop of a gunshot interrupted Lexy in the middle of her sentence. Everybody in the room seemed to stand still, trying to see if they’d heard what they thought they’d heard, and then their fears were confirmed as another shot went off. The loud bang of a third shot sent everybody in the club running and screaming for the exits, including the three of us.
Kelvin grabbed me and pushed me down on the ground, hurling his body on top of mine, and then forced Lexy down with us. We waited there for about five seconds, then Kelvin began pushing Lexy and I out of the booth.
“Stay low to the ground and go for the emergency exit to our right. Go now!” he said, full of intensity.
As Lexy and I crawled towards the emergency exit that was only about twenty feet away, I looked over and saw the young black kid with the bright red Bulls jacket standing in the middle of the dance floor holding a handgun up in the air. He looked right at me as he smiled and fired another shot into the ceiling. The screams of the remaining patrons grew louder as people tried to exit the club as fast as they could.
Kelvin shielded us with his body as we made our way to the exit. The second we reached the door, Kelvin got up and pushed it open, sounding the alarm to the building. The cold night air hit us, and the three of us quickly got up and started running as the door closed behind us.
We ran down the narrow alley until we got to the end of it and were standing on the sidewalk. We were on the side of the building now, and we could see mobs of people running down the street away from the club. Some were darting out into the street in front of oncoming traffic, nearly getting themselves kille
d in their panic.
“Fucking little asshole,” I said as we stood on the sidewalk and watched the people fleeing the club.
“Who? What are you talking about?” Kelvin said.
“It was that little dickhead whose spot we took in VIP. I saw him as we were leaving. He was standing in the middle of the dance floor, firing shots into the ceiling to clear out the place. I can’t fucking believe that.”
“Damn. I guess paying for their drinks wasn’t good enough,” Kelvin said with a small chuckle. “That was a bad idea for him to do that. He’ll be lucky if he gets arrested.”
“What do you mean?” Lexy inquired. “How would getting arrested be a good thing?”
“Let’s just say my uncle doesn’t fuck around about his club. That guy better hope someone has already called the cops, because my uncle won’t.”
I saw the confused expression on Lexy’s face and chimed in before she had a chance to ask any more questions.
“Here, Lexy,” I said as I noticed a cab approaching and waved it down. “Take this cab home, Kelvin and I will grab another one.”
“Are you sure? Why don’t we all just take this one?”
“You’re going the opposite direction as Kelvin’s place. It’s fine, we’ll get another one. Or, we can just walk. It’s only a couple of blocks back to the penthouse anyway.”
Kelvin leaned over and opened the door to the cab for Lexy to get in. “Well, I guess. You’re sure you guys are gonna be okay?” Lexy said. I could see she was genuinely concerned about our safety.
“Aww, we’ll be fine, Honey. Just go. I promise, we’re good,” I assured her.
Lexy climbed into the backseat of the cab and told the driver her address, then turned her attention back to us as Kelvin closed her door. “You call me first thing in the morning, okay? I just want to make sure you’re alright.”
“I will,” I said with a smile. “Thanks for coming to hang with us. Sorry it got ruined by an asshole.”
“Yeah, that’s shitty. It’s okay. It was fun while it lasted. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
The cab drove away, and Kelvin and I started walking in the direction of the Red Chip. Kelvin took off his jacket and put it around my shoulders as we walked, holding it in place by putting his arm around my neck and pulling me close to him.
“Well, that was quite a night,” I said sarcastically.
“Yeah. Loads of fun.”
“This kind of thing happen a lot in your uncle’s club?”
“Well, my uncle is my uncle. It’s not the first time shots have rang out at Turn Up. I was kind of hoping that tonight wouldn’t be crazy. With the way things have been for us lately, I don’t know what I was thinking,” Kelvin said with a small, soft chuckle.
“It’s fine, Baby. I had fun for the short time we were out, and it’s always cool to hang with Lex. I appreciate you trying to take me out for a good time. Now that it’s over, I get to go back to your place and get what you promised me earlier.”
I looked up and Kelvin and smiled at him, but my smile quickly faded when I realized he wasn’t smiling back at me. He was barely even paying attention to me.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked with a little attitude.
“Just keep walking, and do not look behind us,” Kelvin answered. His tone was dead serious and his face was tense and focused.
“Okay, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
“Someone’s following us. They’ve been behind us since we left the club. They’re driving a black BMW.”
“Oh my god,” I whispered, realizing who it was in the car. “What are we gonna do, Kelvin?”
“Just keep walking. Don’t speed up. Just keep walking at this speed. When I say so, we’re gonna run down that alleyway up ahead. Okay?”
I nodded my head as I eyed my destination in front of us, even though I was terrified of what was about to happen.
“Okay, ready? Run!”
Kelvin and I took off running. As soon as we started, I heard tires screeching behind us as the car sped towards us. Kelvin grabbed me by the hand and led me down the narrow dark alley, but the car was right on our tails, and I knew we weren’t going to get away. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw that the alley was a dead end. We were trapped.
My heart was pounding in my chest as we ran, and I heard the tires screech once again as the car stopped at the entrance to the alley, and Kelvin pulled me down into a narrow space between two dumpsters. If it wasn’t for the headlights of the car, the alley would’ve been pitch black. The lights cast shadows on everything around us and made the scene even more terrifying.
Just then, I heard the sound of the car door being opened, and then being closed, and I knew the driver had gotten out and was coming to look for us. I could hear the sound of my breathing as the fear gripped me and I felt like I was going to have some sort of a panic attack. I looked up at Kelvin, and even though I could barely see his face, I could tell that he wasn’t scared. There was no fear in his face—only anger.
The footsteps got closer and louder, but the driver was stepping very slowly. He had no clue where we were, and I knew he probably couldn’t see very well himself.
I had no idea what we were going to do. Was Kelvin planning on just staying put until this person just walked right past us? Or, was he going to attack him, and if he did, what was I supposed to do?
The questions in my head were almost too much, and all I could feel was fear, then I saw the tip of the gun, and I froze. I felt like I was holding my breath as the man walked right next to us, but had no clue that we were there. The headlights shined on him and I could make out who he was. Sure enough, it was him, wearing black pants with a black hoodie—the cop from Mariana’s. The man from my house. The tattooed man from my dream. He was looking for us, but I was right, the alley was too dark for him to see, and all we had to do was wait for him to leave—but Kelvin had other plans.
All of a sudden, Kelvin jumped up and tackled the man, knocking him to the ground. I didn’t know what to do as the two of them rolled around on the ground trying to gain control of the gun. I heard them both struggling and grunting as they wrestled on the cold pavement.
Then, Kelvin gained the upper hand and got on top of the man. I watched him as he reached up and delivered a massive punch. The sound of his fist hitting flesh echoed off the walls of the alley. My fear suddenly turned to excitement when I realized that Kelvin was winning, but that excitement faded when, somehow, the man pushed Kelvin off of him and stood up.
They both got to their feet and squared up. The gun was nowhere to be found, however. The man charged Kelvin and swung at him wildly. Kelvin ducked and punched him the stomach. The man let out a loud yelp, just before Kelvin hit him again, this time with an uppercut that knocked him back into a dumpster on the other side of the alley. The tattooed man stumbled back, and had to rest his hand on the dumpster to keep himself from falling down. He looked up at Kelvin and spit out a mouthful of blood.
I could see the defeat in his eyes, and I could tell he didn’t want to fight anymore—at least not a fair fight. Suddenly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a switch blade.
He and Kelvin squared up once again, and I felt my heart rate shoot through the roof as the déjà vu hit me all at once. This was just like what happened at my house with Tim, and it was too much for me to take.
I finally built up the courage to force myself to stand up and step out of my hiding spot between the dumpsters. Just before I stepped into the light, I felt my foot hit something that was still in the shadows of the dumpsters. I quickly glanced down and saw that it was the gun. Without hesitation, I picked up, just as the man ran towards Kelvin in a full sprint.
He swung at Kelvin, and narrowly missed. He swung again, and Kelvin caught his arm just before the knife could slice his face. Once again, the two men wrestled for the weapon, but everything stopped when they heard the sound of the gun shot.
Both of them stopped moving and looked
at me as I held the gun above my head just like the asshole in the club. When Kelvin saw that the man was distracted, he delivered a devastating punch to his jaw, sending him flying backwards and knocking his feet clear off the ground. He landed on his back with a loud thud.
Kelvin turned around and looked at me. His face was both surprised and scared at the same time. Then, he walked over to me and grabbed the gun out of my hands. As he took it, I saw a small grin take shape on his lips.
Kelvin walked over to the man and kneeled down next to him, grabbing him by his shirt.
“Who the fuck are you?” he screamed before punching him in the face once again. The man didn’t say anything, so Kelvin hit him again. Then, he grabbed him by his shirt and brought his face close to his own. “I know it was Ivan who sent you, and I’m glad he did. I have a message for Ivan, and that’s the only reason I’m not gonna kill you tonight—plus I don’t want to do anything that would upset my girl more than your presence already has. Now, you tell Ivan that my days of hiding from him are over. You just pissed off the wrong Carter.”
Just then, Kelvin stood up and pointed the gun at the man, and without any hesitation whatsoever, he shot him in the knee. I held my hand over my mouth as the tattooed man screamed in agony, twisting his body on the ground in pain. Then, Kelvin walked over to me and handed me the gun.
“I’m gonna go look in his car for something. If he tries to get up, shoot him in his other knee.” I took the gun and Kelvin walked over to the car. As I aimed the gun at the man, I realized my fear was gone. The only thing I felt now was anger. This was the second time that these people had tried to kill us, and I was fed up. So, as I aimed the nine millimeter at the man on the ground, I wondered if I could actually shoot him. Was I so angry that I could shoot a man in the knee with his own gun? If I was that mad, what kind of person did that make me? What was I turning into?
I could see Kelvin leaning over into the driver side of the car. I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing because the lights of the car were shining in my face, but when I saw the orange light in the car, I immediately knew what it was.
