Claiming Carter

by W. S. Greer

  “Okay, sure,” Kelvin replied. “But is everything okay?”

  “No, Kelvin, it’s not okay,” I said as the tears finally began to spill over. “Someone broke into my house.”

  I could hear the blare of the Ducati engine clearly as Kelvin came speeding down the road. I’d told him that my house had been broken into only a few minutes ago and he was already here—before the police.

  I sat on my couch, holding onto Meghan—who I’d found scared for her life in my bathtub—as Kelvin came barging into the front door that I’d left open for him. As he rushed in, my eyes immediately noticed his high-priced red suit that looked like it must have cost him a fortune. His black-and-red shoes were perfectly shined and didn’t have a scratch on them. It never ceased to amaze me that Kelvin’s clothes always looked like they had never been worn before. It was like he only wore clothes and shoes if they were brand new, and he threw away anything that had already been worn. Even in my emotional state, I couldn’t stop staring at him. I was totally distracted by his opulent style and his perfectly caramel skin tone, as I watched him pull off his motorcycle helmet.

  “Son of a bitch,” Kelvin exclaimed as he got his first look at my trashed living room, simultaneously breaking my trance. “Who did this, Lilliana?”

  “I don’t know. I have no idea who it could have been. It’s not like I have really nice things in here. I’m a fucking teacher. I don’t make tons of money and flood my house with expensive shit. I don’t deserve this.”

  “I know. Nobody deserves this, whether they have expensive things or not,” Kelvin sneered. It was then that I realized how bad my venting must have sounded to him.

  “I’m sorry,” I backtracked. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. You’re right, nobody deserves this. I just can’t believe somebody broke into my house. What if I would have been here? Or, did they think I was here, and that’s why they broke in in the first place? What if somebody was trying to hurt me?” It was the first time that the thought had occurred to me, and now that it had, I was terrified that it might be true.

  “Did you check to see if anyone was still in the house?”

  “Yeah, I checked. That’s how I found Meghan. She was in the bathtub, scared out of her mind.”

  “I’m so sorry, Lilliana,” Kelvin sympathized as he pulled me up from my couch and gave me a hug. I laid my head on his muscular chest and inhaled deeply, falling into his masculine, sexy aroma. As he held me, the comfort of his arms seemed to ease the pain I was feeling. In the moments that are the most frustrating, it’s the loving arms of someone that you care about that offers you the most comfort. It was true that I’d just met Kelvin, but it was also obvious that after the few days we’d known each other—and the amazing night we’d spent together—that Kelvin and I were certainly beginning to grow real feelings for each other. How fast he’d shown up to my house to make sure I was okay and offer me comfort proved that he cared about me, and the comfort his burly arms gave me in my time of stress and worry proved that I cared about him. Kelvin could have blown me off. He could have given me the best sex of my life and then never called me again. It could have been a one night stand, but it wasn’t. It was obvious that he wanted more than just sex from me. He wanted me, and I knew it because he was here now.

  Our romantic embrace was interrupted by the sounds of police sirens. The red and blue lights quickly filled the street and danced off of the garages and windows of my neighbors, who responded by staring out of their windows to try to see what all the fuss was about.

  The first officer to walk in was a tall, chubby white guy with a bushy brown mustache.

  “Lily Hayes?” the officer said as he approached me, pointing at me with the end of his flashlight.

  “Yes, I’m Lily Hayes.”

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Officer Jacobs from the Chicago PD,” the husky officer stated. “And this is my partner, Officer Jenkins.” Just as the first cop made the introduction, the second officer stepped over the threshold. This one was shorter but obviously in much better shape, and much older—at least mid-forties. His blonde hair was loose and obviously messy on purpose, and I could basically see the ego rising off of him as he strutted in.

  “Good evening, Ms. Hayes,” the pretty blonde said. “I would say that it’s nice to meet you, but I guess it would be better if it wasn’t under these circumstances.”

  “Sure,” I replied.

  “Okay, Ms. Hayes, let’s go ahead and get started,” Officer Jacobs continued. “First things first, is there anything missing from the premises?”

  “Not that I have noticed. It almost looks like they just came in and trashed the place.”

  “Interesting. Usually when we have break-ins like this, where nothing is stolen, it usually means one of two things: either it was just a vandalism—probably some young punks having their version of fun—or the break-in was personal, meaning someone broke in to look for something. Giving the circumstances and the evidence at hand so far, it’s pretty hard to tell at this point.”

  “It feels like vandalism to me,” Officer Jenkins chimed in from the kitchen. “Only some of the drawers have been pulled out and dumped onto the floor. If someone was looking for something in particular, they would have gone through all of your drawers. The ones that haven’t been dumped onto the floor, haven’t been touched at all. If I had to guess, I’d say vandalism.”

  “But you don’t know that for sure?” I said.

  “Well, nothing is for certain, but we can only work with the evidence,” Officer Jacobs replied. “We’re going to do a sweep around the house and take some photos, and then we’ll be on our way. Just sit tight.”

  The two police officers took a few minutes to walk around the house and look over everything, jotting down notes as they went. I knew that the chances of them finding anything of importance were slim to none, which only served to make me feel more uncomfortable being in the house.

  When the officers returned, Kelvin and I were sitting together on the couch. I stood up as the officers approached us.

  “Well, that just about does it, Ms. Hayes,” Officer Jacobs said. “If you find anything that the vandals may have left behind, or any kind of evidence at all, you be sure to give us a call.”

  “I will, but are you sure that there isn’t anything else you guys can do? I mean, I just don’t feel comfortable staying in the house after it has been broken into.”

  The pretty officer reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small card with his name typed across it.

  “Here’s my card. If you feel unsafe and you need someone to come assure you that everything is okay, you just call me. I’d be glad to come out and see you.”

  I heard Kelvin exhale loudly from his spot on the couch behind me.

  “You might as well keep your card, officer,” Kelvin snapped. “I’ll be here to give her all the reassurance she needs.” Kelvin’s voice had a harsh tone in it that I hadn’t heard before.

  “I’m sorry, and who might you be?” Officer Jacobs asked, as if seeing Kelvin for the first time.

  “Kelvin Carter Jr.” Officer Jenkins answered. Obviously he knew exactly who Kelvin was.

  “You know this guy?” Jacobs asked.

  “I’ve known the family for a while,” Jenkins answered, then he turned his attention back to Kelvin. “Staying out of trouble, Kelvin?”

  “Sure,” Kelvin responded bitterly. The expression on his face was menacing

  “Good. Keep it that way.” Jenkins then turned to Jacobs. “Let’s go, partner.”

  The situation had suddenly turned into something awkward and I found myself confused.

  Just as the officers were about to step outside, Jenkins turned around and spoke to Kelvin. “Say hi to daddy for me.”

  Kelvin didn’t respond, but the look on his face told me that he really wanted to.

  “Well, that was awkward,” I said to Kelvin as I heard the police drive away. “What the hell was that all about?”<
br />
  “Nothing. He apparently knows my dad.”

  “Seemed like he knew you pretty well, too.”

  “Actually, I have no clue who that guy was. Never seen him before in my life.”

  “Well then, how did he know your name?”

  “My dad has had some cop trouble in the past. Chicago PD knows my family pretty well.” I immediately thought about what Tim had told me. “That’s nothing, though. I’m much more concerned about you. How are you feeling?”

  “Well, physically I’m fine, but I’m not so sure about staying in this house tonight. It just doesn’t feel safe,” I said.

  “I don’t blame you. Why don’t you come stay with me for a couple of days? You know, until you feel ready to come back.”

  The thought of staying at Kelvin’s penthouse for any amount of time was appealing. However, I’d known Kelvin for less than a week, and although things were going well between us, I wasn’t sure I was comfortable staying in his house.

  “That’s nice of you to offer, Kelvin, it really is, but I don’t know. Seems kind of fast, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m not asking you to move in with me. I’m just offering you a free place to stay for a night or two. Once you feel good to come back here, you’ll come back and I won’t be offering you a key to the penthouse, either. This is temporary and strictly due to the circumstances.”

  “Won’t your other lady friends get mad?” I joked—at least I was half joking.

  “I know that you find this hard to believe, but there are no other lady friends. You are my lady friend.”

  It my head, Kelvin had just called me his girlfriend, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of how excited I was on the inside.

  “Well, since you put it that way, I suppose a day or two wouldn’t hurt. Let me go pack some things.”

  I packed a bag big enough to fit a couple of days’ worth of clothes plus my womanly essentials, then made sure Meghan had plenty of food and water, and fresh kitty litter, before finally following Kelvin in my car back to his place. The entire ride over, all could think about was how awkward things had gotten in my house. The cop knew who Kelvin was, but Kelvin said he had no clue who the cop was. And to make matters worse, Kelvin admitted that the cops knew his family well. I didn’t want to buy into anything that Tim had told me, but there seemed to be a rather large coincidence forming.

  When we arrived at Kelvin’s penthouse, he escorted me up once again, holding my bag for me the entire elevator ride up. The suite was just as clean and well-kept as it was when I’d seen it the first time, and I couldn’t contain my smile as I watched Kelvin take my bag and put in his bedroom, when he could have put it in either of the two unoccupied rooms next to his.

  Kelvin decided he’d had enough of wearing the fancy red suit and quickly changed out of it, opting to wear red basketball shorts and a white-and-red Derrick Rose jersey instead. As he came and sat down beside me on the couch, I marveled at his heavily tattooed shoulders and arms. This man was the very definition of sexy. His biceps bulged as he lifted his champagne glass to his mouth, and his triceps grabbed my attention when he lifted his other arm to change the channel on his sixty-inch TV that was mounted above the small fireplace.

  As I marveled over his muscles and his tattoos, I couldn’t help but glance down at the small tattoo that was on Kelvin’s left hand. Now that I was sitting closer to him, I saw that the tattoo was script—three letters that spelled Fab. I thought for a second that the word was obviously short for the word fabulous, but fabulous didn’t seem to fit the kind of thing that Kelvin Carter Jr. would have tattooed on himself. When my curiosity became too much, I finally built up the courage to ask the question.

  “So, what does Fab mean?” I took a nervous sip of my Dom Perignon when I saw Kelvin’s expression harden. He seemed to be gathering himself and contemplating whether or not he wanted to tell me the answer to my question.

  “My brother,” Kelvin replied dolefully.

  “Oh. I didn’t know you had a brother. Is he older or younger?”

  Kelvin shifted in his seat and stared at the TV in obvious discomfort.

  “He was older,” he answered.

  I immediately noticed that he said his brother was older, which meant that he was no longer living. I didn’t want to make Kelvin anymore uncomfortable than he already was, so I sat there in silence, kicking myself for asking the question.

  After about two minutes, Kelvin finally broke the silence. “His real name was Frank. Fab was just a nickname. He was twenty-five.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you or make you feel bad.”

  “It’s fine. It’s just tough to talk about because it wasn’t that long ago.”

  “Wow. I’m sorry, Kelvin. I feel so bad for asking.”

  “How could you have known? It’s perfectly fine, Lilliana. Don’t feel bad. It’s probably better for me to talk about, rather than keep it all bottled up.”

  “Okay. Well then, if you don’t mind me asking, how did it happen?”

  “I haven’t talked about this with anyone since it happened, so you’ll have to forgive me if I get a little choked up. Deal?”

  I couldn’t imagine a man as masculine as Kelvin actually shedding a tear, especially in front of a woman. “I will totally understand if you get choked up.”

  Kelvin took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “He was shot. We both were, actually. I was just lucky enough to have survived.”

  “Oh my gosh! Why would somebody shoot you? Was it a robbery?”

  “Umm, something like that,” Kelvin replied bitterly, before pausing to steady himself. “Anyway, I got the tattoo in his memory, obviously. Everything I do now is to try to make Fab proud of me. He was my absolute best friend.”

  “I’m so sorry, Kelvin. That is so sad. How long ago was it?”

  “It’s been a little over three months now. Sometimes I feel like the places where I got hit still hurt, even after three months.” Kelvin lifted up his jersey and showed me the three bullet wounds on his torso. He had taken one shot to the inner shoulder, and two to the stomach, from what looked like a small caliber pistol. The tattoos on his body did a great job masking the wounds, which would explain why I didn’t seem to notice them before.

  “Holy shit. I’ve never seen real bullet wounds before, and I didn’t even see this earlier. I can’t believe that happened to you. Did they at least arrest the guys that did it?”

  Kelvin put his head down and paused. After a second, he lifted his glass of Dom and chugged what was remaining, and poured himself another. “You could say they’re still working on it.”

  “Damn. Well, I hope they catch them. That’s just crazy,” I said.

  “Yeah. But, enough about me. Tell me a little more about you.”

  “There really isn’t much left to tell. My job is my life. It’s all I do, really. The rest of my time goes to the gym and trying to convince my mom that it’s okay that I’m not married at twenty-two.”

  Kelvin let out a soft chuckle. “One of those kinds of moms, huh?”

  “Yeah, she’s very interested in my love life, to say the least. She wanted me to stay with my last boyfriend, even after I caught him cheating. She thinks he’s my best chance at love.”

  “Interesting. I beg to differ,” Kelvin said with a broad smile.

  “You know, Kelvin, I don’t want to be a broken record here, but why would a rich, gorgeous man like you, be interested in a little third grade teacher like me?” I wasn’t sure why I’d asked the question, but I seriously wanted to know the answer.

  “Okay, I can tell that you really need to hear this, so I am going to be one hundred percent honest here, okay?” Kelvin exhaled loudly once again before beginning. “I’m interested in you because everything about you is different in every way. You are nothing like the women I have been with in the past, and nothing like the women I see my friends and family members hooking up with. You barely seemed fazed by all of the flash, and you didn’t jum
p out of your seat to try to talk to me when you saw me at Applebee’s. You’re confident, yet not full of yourself, but in that confidence comes a humbleness that shines through. You’re patient, and kind, and you love kids. You’re extremely mature, especially for only being twenty-two. You’re smart. Like, literally educated, with a degree and everything. And I recognize all of that before I even get to how physically beautiful you are.

  “When I talk to you, I feel grounded. I feel like everything that may have been stressful in my day is suddenly lifted the second I hear your voice. You’re the kind of girl that me and Fab would talk about. Someone who doesn’t care about the money, and isn’t distracted by our name and the casinos. If Fab were still alive, he’d be telling me to hang on to a girl like you.

  “I haven’t made the best decisions in my life, but I’m making up for that now, starting with you. Because when I look at you, it’s like I’m dreaming with my eyes open. Dreaming to be better—to do better. When I look at you I want to be better than what I am.”

  There were no words. No one had ever thought so highly of me, and then phrased it so eloquently. I was completely floored. I tried to think of how to respond, but my mouth wouldn’t work. My brain felt frozen. I couldn’t think of anything to say, so instead of thinking, I kissed him.

  The moment our skin touched, it was like a bolt of electricity sparked between us and we were both filled with an immense passion as we aggressively kissed each other. Kelvin’s lips were as soft as rose petals and I moaned lightly as he pressed them firmly against mine. My heart rate quickly climbed, and I could already feel Kelvin’s hardening cock pressing up against my leg as I sat on top of him. He was so strong and in control, and I was willing to do whatever he wished. And Kelvin was ready to lead me.

  As we kissed, Kelvin firmly ran his fingers across my back, pulling me closer to him as he buried his face in my chest. I brushed the back of his head with my fingers as he lifted my shirt and exposed my breasts. The warm sensation of Kelvin’s mouth aroused me as he sucked on my nipples, lightly biting one before moving on to the other. I felt like he was a professional and I was just an amateur trying to keep up with him, yet marveling at how skilled he was.