Destroying Carter

by W. S. Greer

  “You’re one to talk,” Clarence snaps back with a wide smile. “I remember how you were when you were with Lula. You two were just like Kelvin and Lily. Don’t front.”

  “I don’t have to front. Yeah, I loved Lula, but she was too good for me. She didn’t want any part of anything illegal or dangerous. She didn’t deserve being cheated on all the time, and all the danger that always seemed to surround us. I loved her, but I knew I couldn’t be with her. So, when she left, I was glad because I knew that she’d finally be safe and she’d be happy on her own. Lula never tried to tell me how to run this family. She stayed in her lane, and when she felt like she couldn’t do it anymore, she left. Lily is nothing like Lula.”

  “I know. Nobody is like Lula. She was the best.”

  “Stop trying to make me feel bad,” I reply as I take a cigar out of the drawer of the table next to me. “Look, the shit that went down with Lily today was completely necessary. Junior needed a wake-up call. Hopefully that was it.”

  “If you say so.”

  “What the fuck? Do I have to be worried about you getting all soft now, too? What, do you feel bad for her poor little arm? You turning into a bitch on me now?”

  “Of course not!” Clarence bellows, snapping his head in my direction. “All I’m saying is that that might not be the way to get to Junior. I just don’t know that going after the one thing he loves is the answer.”

  “Fuck that, Clarence. He’ll fucking get over it. He doesn’t have a choice anymore. Junior is the kind of person that you have to take control of. You have to beat him into submission or he’ll start thinking on his own, and the next thing you know, he’s figuring out a way to take you down. He’s smart, and that’s why I have to stay tough on him. I have to rattle him. Letting him make his own decisions is bad. That shit can be bad for business. So, if he thinks he’s got it bad right now, he’s kidding himself. He has no idea how hard things are about to become. His ass needs to be broken. He needs to be put in check. I love him, but I won’t let him ruin this for me. For us. He has to know his place. So, from now on, I’m gonna make sure that he knows his place. And if he tries to step out of line because he has a mean streak, as you say, then the next time it’ll be much worse. If he gets out of pocket again, I’ll kill her. It won’t bother me one bit. Either he falls in line, or I’ll take everything from him. Starting with her.”

  “Oh my god! What happened? Are you okay?”

  “She’s gonna be okay, I think. Can you take a look at it, just to be sure?”

  “Sure, sure. Come on in.”

  Aunt Lauren closes the door behind us as Lily and I walk in and have a seat on the couch in the living room. Lily is able to walk on her own, but for some reason, I feel the need to hold her good arm over my shoulder and assist her. I just need to be able to help any way that I can.

  It’s been a month or so since I last visited my Aunt Lauren. I try to come by and make sure that she’s okay every now and then, because I know it’s been hard on her since Uncle Mikey got locked up. She goes to visit him all the time, and I know that he’s taking care of her even while he’s locked away, but Uncle Mikey is like a father to me, so I have to make sure that his wife is good to go as well.

  Aunt Lauren comes rushing into the room with a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a bottle of peroxide, and some gauze. She places everything on the coffee table and kneels down next to the couch in front of Lily.

  “What the hell happened?” she says with a genuine look of concern on her face.

  “He shot me. That motherfucker shot me,” Lilliana says. She’s still a bit in shock, and fully pissed off. I can’t even describe the emotion that I’m feeling at the moment. Right now, my main concern is making sure that Lilliana is okay. I’ll deal with the rest later.

  “What? Shot you? Who shot you?” Aunt Lauren inquires as she rolls up the short sleeve on Lilliana’s shirt.

  “That fucking son of a bitch, Senior.”

  “What?” Aunt Lauren screams as she stops what she’s doing and gawks at us both. “Senior shot you? What the fuck?”

  “It’s a long story,” I interject, trying to stay on task. “We’ll get into that later. Right now I just want to make sure that her arm is okay.”

  Aunt Lauren doesn’t respond. I know she wants to know everything, and I fully intend to give her all the information. I’d just rather do it after I know that Lilliana is good to go.

  We pull up Lilliana’s sleeve and see that she’s still bleeding, but just barely. To my surprise and relief, there’s no bullet hole. Instead, there’s a long, fairly deep scrape on her shoulder where the bullet apparently grazed her. I don’t know if he did it on purpose, but it looks like my father missed his mark.

  “Thank goodness,” Aunt Lauren says as she looks at the wound. “He grazed you. It’s basically just a deep scratch.”

  “Yeah, that’s great, but I don’t give a fuck!” Lilliana says, still fired up, and rightfully so. “He fucking shot me. He shot me! I don’t even know what else to say or think. He fucking shot me!”

  “I know, and I’m gonna handle it, okay. Just try to calm down,” I reply, rubbing her good shoulder.

  “How are you gonna handle this, Kelvin?” she replies. “This is a big fucking deal. How am I supposed to deal with this kind of shit? Your father shot me in the shoulder! Call it a hunch, but I don’t think there’s any getting over this.”

  “I know. I know. You’re absolutely right. Just please calm down. Let Aunt Lauren get you cleaned up, and we’ll talk about it. Okay?”

  Lilliana doesn’t say anything in response. She just shakes her head at me and goes back to staring at her bloody shoulder.

  Aunt Lauren gives Lilliana some medicine to help with the pain. Then, she uses the gauze to clean up the wound, and uses the rubbing alcohol and some peroxide to clean it out. Lastly, she dresses it and covers it with a large bandage. By the time she’s finished, Lilliana has finally mellowed out. I’m not sure if that’s because of the time that has passed or because of the meds kicking in, but after a while, she begins to doze off on the couch.

  “Let’s take her upstairs to the guest bedroom, so she can get some rest. Then, you and I can talk.” Aunt Lauren helps me help Lilliana upstairs. We put her in the same bedroom that we stayed in when I got shot and had to hide away from the crooked cops and Russians that were after us. I never would’ve thought that I’d be back in this same house for the same reason, but with the roles reversed. As I close the door to the room, I look back at Lilliana who’s already starting to fall asleep on the bed. Now, I know what emotions I’m feeling.

  I stomp down the stairs and sit down next to Aunt Lauren, who has already poured herself a glass of wine.

  “Alright, Kelvin,” she begins. “Explain.”

  I take a deep breath to compose myself, and rest my elbows on my knees.

  “He’s been trying to get me sell drugs for him. My father, I mean. Ever since they made this deal with the Russians, all he thinks about is how much money he can make. He doesn’t give a fuck about any of the rest of us, especially now that Uncle Mikey isn’t here to keep him under control. He’s caught up on trying to gain power and money. So, he’s been pushing me to start selling for him, even though I fucking told him that I didn’t want to do that. I never wanted to sell fucking heroin. That’s ridiculous and dangerous.”

  “You’re right, and that’s something that you definitely need to stay away from. You don’t want any part of that shit.”

  “He told me that he’d kick me out of the Red Chip if I didn’t help them sell the dope. So, I told him how I felt about it and that I needed to think about it all. When he called me to take in a new shipment at the warehouse, I still hadn’t made a decision. I told him that, and he started going on about needing to prove a point to me. Like he needed to prove to me how powerful he is. First, he had Uncle Clarence shoot one of my friends in the knee.”

  “Let me stop you right there. He had Clarence shoot somebody else? Fuck.
Why?” Aunt Lauren takes another sip of her drink.

  “He said he’d never hurt me, but that people around me could start getting hurt if I didn’t do what he wanted me to do. So, he had Uncle Clarence shoot Phillip, and then he shot Lilliana himself.”

  “Goddamn! What the fuck has gotten into him? This is too much, Kelvin. You guys have got to get away from all of that. This isn’t good. Your father is an evil bastard, and it’s only getting worse. If you and Lily want any chance of living a normal life, you have to get away from him. Just do what Mikey said a long time ago. Pack up and get the fuck out of here. Messing around with your crazy ass dad is gonna get you in a lot of trouble one day. You’re gonna end up either dead or in jail. I know you don’t want that.”

  “Of course I don’t want that. But, how the fuck am I supposed to just pack up and leave? Especially after this. I’m just supposed to pack my bags and leave like today never happened?”

  “Don’t you think that’s the best idea? Your dad is crazy, Kelvin. I know it’s hard to do, but you’re gonna have to just let it go.”

  I put my head down and think about what she’s saying. She wants me to just forget all of this. That’s fucking crazy. I know my dad is a very powerful man, but a line was crossed today, and there’s no un-crossing it now.

  “You don’t understand,” I reply. “He won’t just let me leave. He shot Phillip and Lilliana because I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do. He says I work for him now. Full-time. He told me he wanted the turnaround from the drug sales in a few days. I can’t just leave. He’ll send Uncle Clarence after me or something. It’s not that easy.”

  “Well you have to figure something out, because you can’t just keep getting involved in this crazy shit with him. It was you laying in that bed a few months ago. Now, it’s the love of your life. See a pattern? You have to do something.”

  “I’m gonna do something.”

  “Okay. So, you have a plan already then? Well, what are you gonna do?”

  Just then, we hear the sound of a buzzer going off. It’s the security system letting us know that somebody is at the front gate. Aunt Lauren gets up and checks the security monitor in her bedroom and then comes back out to the living room.

  “I don’t know who this is,” she says, waving for me to follow her into the bedroom.

  I take a look at the monitor and see that it’s Trey.

  “I know him. That’s Trey. I texted him and told him to meet us here.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  Aunt Lauren hits a button and the gates open to let Trey in. It only takes him a minute or two to drive up the driveway and park in front of the door. I walk over to the door and open it before he gets a chance to knock. When he walks in, I can see that he’s absolutely furious.

  “Hey, Trey,” I say, shaking his hand. “This is my Aunt Lauren.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Trey says with a forced smile. Aunt Lauren shakes his hand, and then the three of us walk into the living room and sit on the couch.

  “How’s Phillip?” I begin.

  Trey exhales loudly. “I took him to the hospital. They’ll probably have to do surgery on his knee to remove the bullet. Who knows how long it’ll be before he walks again, and he may never walk properly. But, he’s alive. How’s Lily?”

  “The bullet grazed her. It gave her a good cut on her shoulder, but nothing too serious, I guess. She’s upstairs sleeping.”

  “That’s good to hear. I’m glad she’s okay,” he replies, then his face hardens. “Okay, so how do we deal with this shit? Clarence shot my brother in the knee. I can’t let that slide, Kelvin.”

  Aunt Lauren immediately sits up and throws her arms in the air. “Wait, wait! What are you about to say? You can’t let that slide? Are you suggesting retaliating?”

  “Fucking right! He shot my brother!” Trey barks. “I don’t give a fuck who he is. I don’t give a fuck that he’s got a temper, and I don’t give a fuck who his brother is. I don’t give a fuck about anything. All that matters is the fact that he shot my brother.”

  “You don’t retaliate against the Carters. Senior will fucking kill you,” Aunt Lauren blares.

  “So I’m just supposed to act like the shit never happened? I don’t fucking think so!” Trey stands up and starts pacing around the room. “This is ridiculous. I can’t just do nothing.”

  Aunt Lauren turns her attention to me. “Look, you have to be smart about whatever it is that you do next. Your lives are on the line, Kelvin. This isn’t a fucking game. You can’t let this kid go after your uncle. Senior will kill him, and we both know it. Hell, that’s if Clarence doesn’t kill him first.”

  “It’s not Uncle Clarence’s fault,” I respond, finally getting my thoughts in order. “Uncle Clarence shot Phil because my father told him to. My dad controls everything. He’s the one running the show. Every time something bad happens, it’s because of my dad. It’s always him. Uncle Deshaun got killed because of Dad. This deal with the people who killed Uncle Deshaun happened because of him. Fab is dead because of him, and Uncle Mikey is sitting in prison right now because of him. It’s all his fault. Everything is his fault.”

  “You know, all I hear is complaining,” Trey snaps, still pacing with his hands on his hips. “My brother is sitting in a fucking hospital with a bullet in his knee. Your girlfriend is resting upstairs because your father shot her in the arm. Your Uncle is in prison! Meanwhile, all we’re doing is sitting in the living room and complaining. We’re not doing anything. This is bullshit! What I want to know is, what are we gonna do about it?”

  “I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do,” I bellow, my voice echoing off the walls. Trey stops pacing, and Aunt Lauren looks over at me, both of them waiting for me to finish. “I’m gonna kill him.”

  Neither of them say anything for a minute. All I can hear is breathing and the beating of my own heart.

  The image of Lilliana spinning around and falling on the floor flashes in my head, and I know that I’ll never forget that image. I’ll never be able to go back to how I was before. I’ll never be the same again. Too much has happened. I’m not going back now, and there isn’t a person in the world who could convince me otherwise. The Kelvin who needs advice and help is gone. Today, I start making my own choices.

  “What are you talking about, Kelvin?” Aunt Lauren finally says. “You’re gonna kill who?”

  I look at her directly in the eyes so that she knows that I’m serious.

  “My father. I’m gonna kill him.”

  “Good evening, Mr. Carter. How are you?”

  “I’m good, Simon. How about yourself?”

  “Couldn’t be better, sir. I’m feeling good. You remember that chick, Sharon, who called my phone that night at the airstrip. The one who almost got my head blown off?”

  “How could I forget that?”

  “Yeah, well I just left her house. I swear that girl sucks my dick like it’s got the cure for cancer in it. It’s fucking amazing, let me tell you.”

  “I bet it is, Simon. You’re one crazy motherfucker, you know that?”

  “I can’t help it. Sometimes crazy shit just pops out of my mouth. I apologize.”

  “Nah, it’s cool. Don’t worry about it. That’s why I like you. Hey, you know, I really feel like I should apologize for how shit went down that night. We get a little paranoid on those nights when we get shit in. Senior gets me all fired up. I shouldn’t have gotten suspicious of you. I know you’re cool.”

  “Hey, don’t worry about, boss. I understand. That’s really the only way to make sure that your shit stays safe. You’ve gotta protect your business. I didn’t take it personally.”

  “Good. Thanks for being cool about it. Hey, you know we’re going to the Royal Flush, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I just saw on my GPS that traffic is gonna be backed up going up Madison, so I’m just taking a little, tiny detour. Anyway, so how about you, boss? You seeing anybody? Hooking up with any good dick suckers?”

  “Nah,
not really. I really don’t have time for that kind of shit. I’m always busy doing something with Senior or the businesses. I might pay a few chicks to come and get me off every now and then, but I definitely don’t do serious.”

  “Bachelor for life. I like that.”

  “That’s the way a Carter should do it. It never seems to work out when we bring women into our lives. They can’t handle the lifestyle.”

  “I guess I can understand that. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll settle down someday. Have some kids. As long as the woman I marry sucks dick like Sharon, we’re good.”

  “Why not just marry Sharon then.”

  “What? Eeww. Sharon can suck a dick, but I don’t want to marry her. That chick is a seven, tops. If I’m gonna get married and commit myself to someone, she’s gonna be a dime. Not a nine and a half, a fucking ten. Top to bottom perfection. My wife will have beautiful hairs on her head, and sexy soles on her feet. When I get married, I want to try to be faithful, so I need my wife to be everything I could ever want so that I don’t get tempted to cheat. If the chick doesn’t check off all the boxes of what I’m looking for in a wife, then she won’t be my wife.”

  “I suppose that’d be the best way to do it.”

  “Yeah, man. I mean, I see guys all the time marrying these hideous looking bitches. Fat as hell. Sloppy as shit. Never doing their hair or makeup. Yet, these dudes are still married to them, even though they hate their guts and gawk at every chick that passes by. They stare at and lust after fives and sixes, because their wives have let themselves drop to twos and threes. Then, of course, they’re all unhappy in the marriage. That won’t be me. When I get married, my wife will be the shit, and we’ll fuck all the time because she’ll be hot as hell, and I will actually want to fuck her. She’ll care about her appearance and I’ll care about mine. It’ll be fucking sweet.”

  “Well, at least you have it all planned out. Hey, where the fuck are you going?”