by W. S. Greer
“And what if he doesn’t?”
When I ask the question, the confidence Lilliana was displaying suddenly drains from her face, and she stares at me blankly, as if she never thought it was even a possibility.
“What do you mean?” she says with a deep furrow in her brow.
“I mean, what if he never gives me the Red Chip? What if this is all some trick to get me to work for him forever, believing that I’ll get the casino in the end, when I actually won’t get squat? If there’s one thing I know about my father, it’s that he is not to be trusted. Just like my mom told us a while back, there’s always something going on behind the scenes with him.”
Lilliana thinks about it for a moment, her eyes darting back and forth from one end of the room to the other. I stare at her, waiting for her answer, and realizing that she’d made a big mistake and is just now realizing it. After all we’d been through together, and after everything that’s happened with my dad, Lilliana seems to have made the mistake of getting comfortable and forgetting who my father is.
“I guess I never really thought about that,” she finally says, still looking at everything except me. “He can’t. He just can’t do that.”
“Come on, Lilliana. He would. You know he’d do it. You can’t underestimate him.”
“But why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. But, since when does anyone ever know why my dad does what he does? All I know is that we can’t start trusting him just because things have been quiet. The last time he was quiet, he was secretly setting up a drug deal with the same guys who killed my brother.” I walk around the kitchen counter/bar and sit on the stool next to Lilliana. “Don’t let him confuse you, babe. My dad’s a fucking monster who doesn’t care about anybody but himself. We have to stay on top of our game if we’re ever gonna beat him. Never trust him.”
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Maybe I’m the one who should’ve known better,” she says with an adorable giggle. I lean over and give her a small kiss on the cheek, and she places her palm on my cheek as I do. I feel the warmth of her skin as she rubs my face gently. I love this woman more than I ever thought possible, and it’s my responsibility to make sure that she’s taken care of, and I will note fail.
“I think the best thing to do, is make sure that we stay two steps ahead of him,” I continue. “I have to stay clearheaded and open to the possibility that this might all be bullshit, and come up with a backup plan just in case it is. At the same time, I also need to be ready to prove myself to him.”
“Prove yourself, how?”
“My dad is all about loyalty to The Family, so the best thing would be to do something that proves how loyal I am. I’m not really sure exactly what that is, but the only way I stand a chance at getting the casino is by making sure that he thinks that I care about him. I have to be willing to do something outside of my comfort zone.”
Lilliana looks at me with concern and confusion. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this, but I hope you’re not suggesting hurting anyone just to prove yourself to your dad.”
“Nah, that’s not what I’m suggesting, but you know that’s what he’d expect. He’d want something on that level. So, I need to figure out how to prove my loyalty without taking it down that route.”
Lilliana jumps off of her stool and slides her body between my knees. She smiles at me as she wraps her arms around my neck, and even as I try to remain serious and focused, I can’t help but smile back at her.
“Listen,” she says as she rests her forehead on mine and looks me in the eye. My heart rate picks up as I stare back into her gorgeous blue irises. “No matter what happens, we’re in this together. We’ll figure all of this crap out together, and together we’ll make this dream come true. I’m here to support you however you need me to, okay?”
I take a brief second just to stare at her. Her pale skin is so perfect. Her alluring lips call out to mine and I feel distracted by her beauty alone. In the midst of all the drama, it can be easy to forget that you have something special—something worth fighting for. But, just from taking this second to admire her, I remember that it’s all worth it as long as it’s for her. As long as I have her by my side, nothing can stop me. So, as our eyes connect, I smile with supreme confidence.
“Okay, baby,” I respond. “I love you, Lilliana.”
“I love you, Kelvin.”
Suddenly, I hear the faint sound of my phone ringing and vibrating on my nightstand in the bedroom. Most of the afternoon has passed and the evening is approaching quickly, so my initial thought is that there’s something wrong down in the Red Chip. We’ve had a few issues with customer service at the front desk in the past week or so, so I hope that this isn’t another complaint.
I make my way down the hallway with Lilliana following closely behind me. As I approach the phone, I frown at the name displayed on the screen.
“Who is it?” Lilliana asks curiously.
“It’s Uncle Clarence.” Lilliana suddenly looks just as confused as I feel. I pick up the phone and take a deep breath. “Hello?”
“Junior, it’s Clarence,” the husky, irritable voice says. “Are you at the Red Chip?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Meet me in the lobby in an hour.”
“Meet you in the lobby? What for? What’s going on?”
“Business.”
“Business? Stop being all vague and shit, Uncle Clarence. Just tell me what’s going on.” When I don’t hear a response, I look at my phone and see that the conversation has ended. He hung up.
Lilliana’s look of bewilderment has grown even more dramatic as I place the phone back on the nightstand.
“What the hell was that about?” she inquires, frowning.
“I don’t know. He told me to meet him in the lobby in an hour.”
“What? For what?”
“I don’t know. He hung up without answering why.”
Lilliana sits down on her side of the bed, but the glower on her face lingers. “Well, that’s bullshit. What the hell could he possibly want right now?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll see in an hour.”
Sixty minutes goes by fast when you’re in a constant state of anxiety. Lilliana and I spent the entire hour sitting on the edge of the bed, wondering what kind of business required a meeting in the lobby with the Carter family’s new underboss.
In the six months that I’ve been working for my father, I’ve never had to do anything with Uncle Clarence. He’s never asked anything of me, and I honestly haven’t seen very much of him. He doesn’t do things the way that Uncle Mikey did them. Uncle Mikey was much more vocal in front of The Family. He wanted his presence to be felt, and I always felt like he thought that his job was to keep my father under control. Uncle Mikey wanted things to run smoothly, and he never wanted us to make hasty decisions that would endanger The Family in any way.
Uncle Clarence, on the other hand, is much quieter. When we have family meetings at the Royal Flush, Uncle Clarence doesn’t say much. He chooses to sit next to my father with that permanent scowl on his face, and those insanely intimidating muscles bursting through his clothes. He doesn’t say almost anything, but unlike Uncle Mikey, he seems to always be in agreement with my father. Whatever Dad says, Uncle Clarence is down for it, and he stares daggers into anyone who shows the slightest bit of doubt. Yet, I’m still not completely sure what he does as underboss besides agree with my dad. However, as I look over my shoulder at the clock on the nightstand, I realize that I might be about to find out.
Lilliana decides to follow me as I get in the elevator and travel down to the lobby, even though I told her it might be best to wait until I got back. When the doors slide open, Uncle Clarence’s oversized body immediately catches my attention as he stands in the middle of the crowded space and people struggle to maneuver around him. He’s wearing black slacks with a black button up that’s probably an XXL, but still looks tight around his arms, shoulders, and
chest. When he sees me and Lilliana approaching, he doesn’t smile or nod in anyway. He just glares at me, and then his eyes shift to Lilliana and I immediately feel defensive.
“What’s she doing here?” Uncle Clarence says once we’re within hearing distance. I suddenly feel hot all over, and I realize that this “business” meeting might start off on a very bad foot.
“She’s with me,” I snip. “Is that a problem?”
Uncle Clarence doesn’t seem the least bit moved by my defensiveness. “Yes, it is a problem. She’s not coming with us.”
“Coming with us, where?”
“I told you, this is business. Carter business. Send her back upstairs.”
“Hey!” Lilliana snaps before I can say anything. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not standing right here. And nobody is sending me anywhere.”
Lilliana and Clarence stare at each other menacingly for far too long, so I chime in just to break the silence. “Look, how about you just tell us what the fuck is going on and we can go from there.”
“No, you look,” Uncle Clarence answers angrily. “We have family business that needs to be taken care of tonight, and I was told by your father to bring you along to help handle this business. So, I don’t have time to do the typical arguing with you two that Senior does. I’m not in the mood for that shit, and that’s not how I operate. So, I’m gonna go wait in the car for sixty seconds. That means you have exactly one minute to grow some fucking balls, send her back upstairs, and meet me outside, or you can fucking kiss your little dreams of ever owning this casino goodbye. You want to prove to your dad that you’re loyal? It starts tonight. Right now. You have sixty seconds to make up your fucking mind.”
Just then, Uncle Clarence turns on his heel and walks out without ever looking back. Once he’s outside, I watch him through the sliding glass doors of the lobby as he walks up to a slender black man standing in front of a black Mercedes S550. When Uncle Clarence reaches the car, the young man opens the back door for him and closes it once he’s comfortably inside, before climbing into the driver’s seat and closing the door. When I turn around to face Lilliana, her mouth is agape like she’s stunned by what just happened.
“What a gigantic asshole!” she exclaims loudly, drawing the attention of a young couple as they walk past us. “Well, let’s see here—either go with him, or lose the casino. What a fucking ultimatum.”
“No shit. I guess I better hurry up.” I grab Lilliana by the waist and pull her close to me until our pelvises are touching. I hear her moan and look up at me with those eyes that tell me exactly what she wants. “I’m gonna go take care of this, and when I get back, I’m gonna take care of you—all fucking night.”
Lilliana smiles her seductively beautiful smile, and then leans in to kiss me. Her tongue glides over mine and I have to force myself to pull away from her.
“Well, you better hurry up then,” she says, grinning at me.
I kiss her one more time, and then I turn around and stride out of the lobby and into the Chicago air.
As I approach the car, Uncle Clarence is sitting on the side adjacent to the sidewalk, so I have to step out into the street to get in behind the driver. Once I close the door, the car immediately pulls off and we’re on our way. Yet, I still have no idea where we’re going.
At first, no one says anything. Uncle Clarence stares out of his window scowling like he’s mad at every person and everything that we pass on the street. So, I use this time to try to figure things out in my head.
I look up at the driver and see that he’s black, but pretty light skinned, and wearing a black suit with no pinstripes. I look up at the rearview mirror and see that he has hazel eyes with short, buzzed hair and a thin mustache. I’ve never seen him before, but I can tell from how comfortable he looks that he’s been driving Uncle Clarence around for quite some time. Uncle Clarence is quite intimidating, but this guy looks right at home.
After about ten minutes of driving in silence, I finally decide that it’s time to break the ice in the car. I take a deep breath and ask the question that’s been on my mind since the minute I walked into the Red Chip lobby.
“Alright, Uncle Clarence, so where are we going?”
Uncle Clarence exhales loudly, purposely letting me know that he doesn’t like that I asked the question, but he answers anyway. “We’ve got some business that needs to be taken care of.”
Now it’s my turn to exhale. “Business. Yeah, I got that part from when you called me on the phone. Care to elaborate?”
Before Uncle Clarence answers, the driver turns the car off the main road and into a housing area. The neighborhood is obviously very poor and broken down. I know we’re on the South Side, but I’m confused about what kind of business we could possibly have here.
“No need to say anything else,” Uncle Clarence says, looking out the window. “We’re here.”
I turn and look out my window and see that we’ve pulled up to a large public housing complex, otherwise known as the projects. When I see the run down building and all the other poverty-stricken buildings surrounding it, I get a terrible feeling in my stomach. I realize that this isn’t the kind of business I was expecting.
“Let’s go,” Uncle Clarence says as he pops open his door and steps out. I follow his lead, closing my door behind me and heading up the sidewalk towards the building. I take a quick glance behind me and see that the driver is still in the car, and the engine is still running.
We walk past a broken down playground that’s completely rusted out, and push our way through a rickety metal door that squeaks loudly and slams itself shut behind us. Inside the narrow hallway, it smells like pure piss. The lights that are mounted to the ceiling are flickering on and off, and it seems like every inch of paint on the walls is peeling off. I feel unbelievably uncomfortable as we walk down the hall on the first floor, but I find relief in the fact that there isn’t anybody in the hallway. This place is completely poor, so I know that Uncle Clarence and I look totally out of place with our suits and fancy shoes.
We walk all the way down the hall, passing decaying wooden doors on both sides of us. I can hear babies crying inside of some of the rooms, and I hear loud televisions behind other doors.
When we reach our destination, there is silence behind the door. I have no idea who could possible live here, but my heart is pounding in my chest and I feel tense and defensive, so I know my face holds a glower. I’m completely on my guard.
Uncle Clarence raises his heavily muscled arm and pounds on the door, and it shakes with every hit like it’s just waiting to jump right off the hinges. At first, there’s no answer and I feel relieved, hoping that maybe we can get the hell out of here now, but Uncle Clarence knocks again, and this time I hear movement behind the door.
About five seconds later, the door opens slowly, and my heart somehow begins to beat even faster when I see the man holding the door open. He looks like complete shit with a badly swollen bottom lip, but I immediately recognize him. It’s Derrick, the delivery guy from the warehouse who tried to steal a whole kilo of heroin from us. What the fuck are we doing here?
“Nice to see you again, Derrick,” Uncle Clarence says in a low, vengeful tone, then he takes a step forward and forces himself into the house. Derrick doesn’t say anything, he just steps back as Uncle Clarence and I walk into his living room.
The place is a complete mess. There’s full bags of trash resting in more than one location in the room, and it looks like every article of clothing that Derrick owns is strewn across the floor. In the tiny kitchen, the refrigerator is wide open, yet completely empty—except for a couple of cliché old boxes of Chinese food—and dark inside. Derrick owns a TV that sits up on a small end table, but it’s probably the smallest TV I’ve ever seen and doesn’t look plugged in. The place is a complete dump, and I suddenly feel two things: pity for Derrick, and an intense urge to get the fuck out of here.
Uncle Clarence carefully steps over all the debris on the floor a
nd stops next to a wooden coffee table directly in front of the TV. The table is covered with newspapers and soda cans, and even a plate of old, rotting chicken with flies hovering around it. Next to the disgusting plate is a spoon with a yellow substance in it, a lighter, and a syringe. When I see it, I know exactly what it is, and I feel like I just swallowed an anvil. It seems Uncle Clarence and I have caught Derrick getting ready to shoot up with heroin.
Uncle Clarence looks down at the drugs on the table and then over at Derrick who is still standing next to the door that he just closed behind him.
“Bad time, Derrick?” Uncle Clarence grumbles.
Derrick hesitates for a second, fidgeting, then speaks up. “Yeah. I, uh, was just getting ready to clean up. You know.”
“Getting ready to clean up? It looks like you should’ve cleaned up about a year ago. This place is fucking disgusting, man. But, I can see you’re a little preoccupied with this shit you’ve got on the table here. Getting ready to give yourself a little treat, huh?” Clarence says with a half-grin.
“Yeah, well, you know me, Clarence. I’m just finishing off this last little bit, then I’m going to rehab. I’m gonna get clean.” Derrick rubs his arm frantically. He’s both nervous and in need of a fix, so he can hardly control his own movements.
Uncle Clarence lets out a barely noticeable chuckle. “Clean. Yeah, that’s what you said the last time we met. Then you went out and tried to steal a key of heroin from the delivery that we hired you for.”
Derrick’s eyes bulge at the mention of the delivery from last night and he glances at me like it’s all starting to come back to him.
“That was an accident, Clarence,” Derrick says in a panic. “I lost control for a bit, but I’m good now. I’m gonna get rid of this last stash of shit, then I’m cleaning up. I’m done. I know I fucked up, but I’m gonna get it together.”
