Becoming Carter (The Carter Series) (Volume 2) (11 page)

“You motherfucking asshole!” Kelvin screamed as his uncles struggled to push him towards the exit. “I know you’re up to some bullshit. That’s all you ever do is fuck shit up. That’s why Mom didn’t want anything to do with you, you fucking prick. Fuck you!”

“Shut the fuck up. Trying to come in here and be Fab, huh? You’re not Fab motherfucker! You’re not a real member of this family anyway!” Senior responded, pointing towards his son.

Mikey, Tommy, and Clarence finally managed to get Kelvin to the door and force him out. Just as they got him out, Mikey looked over at me and motioned for me to follow them outside. Before I left, I looked over at Senior, who glared at me as if I was the one who was trying to fight him. I’d felt unwelcome from the moment we stepped into the building, but the look on his face was pretty much the icing on the cake.

It took about ten minutes to calm Kelvin down in the hall. I wanted to console him and grab his hand, and tell him that I loved him, in hopes that it would soothe him and pacify his anger, but I knew he was too pissed for that. He paced back and forth while Mikey tried to talk him down. Tommy and Clarence both looked completely uncomfortable and looked at Mikey for a way out.

“I got it,” Mikey announced to them, and they didn’t hesitate to turn around and walk back into the conference room. As they exited, Deshaun and James came strolling out. Neither one of them looked very happy.

“Junior,” Mikey finally said to Kelvin, “you can’t do that fucking shit, man. I know you two have some serious internal shit going on, but he’s your father, and you’ve gotta respect him. There isn’t a person in the world who would ever get away with the shit that you just did. Now, I don’t agree with everything that your dad does, but I’m a member of The Family, and I have to respect it. You’ve gotta do the same thing. It’s better for everybody if you do.”

Kelvin continued to pace around the hall. “Fuck that, Uncle Mikey. He doesn’t respect anybody. I’m a part of The Family too. I’m not gonna let this guy shit on me just because he’s the boss. I’ve just got a feeling, Uncle Mikey. He’s playing us. I know it.”

Mikey looked over at Deshaun, who was standing next to me with an irritated expression on his face. Neither of them said anything.

Mikey then turned his attention to James. “Look, just follow him back to the Red Chip and make sure everything’s good over there, okay? I’ll get up with you later.”

“Got it,” James replied.

“I’ll walk them out to the valet,” Deshaun said, as he put his hand behind Kelvin’s back and began leading him towards the elevator. James and I followed suit as they began walking.

“I’ll talk to your dad and get him calm, and then me and you are gonna talk about this later, okay Junior?” Mikey said as we all walked away. Kelvin didn’t verbally respond, he just nodded his head as we stepped into the elevator.

The ride down to the lobby was quiet and awkward. Nobody said a word, and I felt like I was the only person in the small space to actually take my eyes off the floor.

When the doors slid open, we all stepped out at the same time and made our way through the lobby and out the sliding front doors. I could tell Kelvin was still irate as the valet took his and James’ ticket and went to pick up their cars.

James’ car arrived first, with Kelvin’s coming in right behind it.

“I’ll follow you wherever you need to go, okay. Just don’t take your anger out on the road,” James said as he climbed into his front seat.

“Yeah, sure,” Kelvin replied.

We walked over the Camaro, and Kelvin opened the door to my side for me. I slid in and watched as Kelvin and Deshaun walked to the driver’s side. I scrunched my forehead as I watched them walk together, wondering what the hell Deshaun was still around for. When Kelvin got in and closed the door, Deshaun leaned over and stuck his head in the window.

“What the fuck, Unc?” Kelvin said as his uncle got right in his face like he was trying to tell him a secret.

“You’re right about your dad, Junior,” Deshaun said. His face was deathly serious.

“What? Right about what? What are you talking about?” Kelvin replied, bewildered.

“I really can’t get into it right now, because I know he’s probably watching. But, you’re right. You’re right, and you need to watch out, because shit is more dangerous than you think.”

“What are you talking about, Uncle Deshaun?”

“I can’t talk about this here. I’m gonna text you tomorrow with a time and a place. You meet me there, and I’ll tell you everything.
Everything.
Until then, don’t let
her
out of your sight. You hear me?”

Kelvin looked over at me and then back to his uncle. “I hear you, Unc, but—”

Before Kelvin couldn’t even finish his sentence, Deshaun was already speed walking back into the building.

“So what did he say? Did he buy it?”

I put my cell phone back on the nightstand and rolled over in the bed towards Kelvin. “Yeah, he bought it. He just told me to get in touch with the school if I needed anything. Didn’t ask any questions.”

“Good,” Kelvin replied, reaching out and putting his muscular arm over my shoulder. “Now that you’re off work until after the Christmas break, I don’t have to worry myself into insanity during your work hours. I’m just glad he bought the emergency leave story. That’s one less thing we have to worry about.”

“Well, I don’t like having to lie, but I know it’s for the best. I just can’t believe all this shit is happening. Everything was going so smooth, and then the shit just hit the fan out of nowhere.” I furrowed my brow as I thought about how things had changed in a matter of a few days, and how I longed for things to go back to the way they were before the explosion at Red Lobster. I missed not having to worry and be scared for my life.

I’d called my boss, Principal Wayne Justice, and told him that I was going to have to take some emergency vacation time because of an illness in my family. I felt terrible about it, but with the way things were going, I didn’t feel comfortable going to school and failing to hide my apprehension in front of my class and my coworkers. Plus, I didn’t want there to be any chance of anyone I knew getting caught up in this mess and getting hurt. We were only three days away from the start of Christmas break, but taking the extra days made me feel better. I just hoped that after the New Year, I could go back to work and all of this craziness would be over.

It was only seven o’clock in the morning, but Kelvin and I were both wide awake in his bedroom, and unable to get back to sleep. After the huge blowup last night at the Royal Flush, and Deshaun’s peculiar behavior afterwards, both of our minds seemed to be racing about the same thing. There were just so many questions that we didn’t have the answers to, and I could tell by Kelvin’s body language that the unknown was starting to eat away at him. He wanted so badly to have access to all of the information, but his own father was standing in his way.

“I just don’t get all of this shit,” he said as he sat up in the bed and leaned his head back against the black headboard. “The Russians had backed off. I mean, I know Ivan was talking all that shit that night we saw him at Applebee’s, but he basically disappeared after that. Nobody has seen or heard from him since. Now, all of a sudden, I’m supposed to believe that Ivan is the one behind everything? With no proof, at that? It just feels so wrong.”

I scooted over and laid my head on Kelvin’s bare chest, breathing in his unintentionally sexy scent. “But, it’s really the only thing that makes sense, Babe,” I said. “Ivan had your brother killed and you shot. You retaliated by having his son shot, and he was obviously not over that when we saw him at Applebee’s. I mean, the guy threatened you outside of the restaurant that night. He basically admitted that he was gonna be after you and your father. It only makes sense to look in his direction when something like this goes down. Who else could it possibly be?”

“My father.”

My eyes bulged. “What? You think your dad would try to kill you?”

Kelvin took a deep breath, causing my head to rise and fall with his chest. “My dad’s not a nice man, Lilliana. I’ve seen him do some pretty terrible things to people. Things I’ll never forget. He and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms either, as I’m sure you can tell. I blame him for my brother’s murder. He thinks I should’ve done more to try to save Fab after he was shot, so he blames me. It’s a never-ending cycle. And I know he doesn’t want me around because I’m not Fab. When my parents divorced, my brother followed my dad, and I went with my mom, and my dad hated me for that. He still does. So, knowing him the way I know him, it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to pull some shit like this, just to get rid of me.”

“That seems really extreme, though. Couldn’t he just ban you from The Family?”

“I guess he could, but he won’t because Uncle Mikey wouldn’t allow it. He’s my godfather and he doesn’t fuck around when it comes to me. He always has my back, and shit would be a lot harder if he wasn’t around. Both for me and for my dad. He keeps everything in line, and without him, my dad would surely be dead or in jail by now. So, instead of having to deal with Uncle Mikey, he would just get rid of me all together, and then use it as fuel to wage war against the Russians, which he’d probably lose.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because the Russians have connections everywhere. They’re a bigger family and organization than us. They’ve got cops, politicians, and judges all in their back pocket. That’s why they never go to jail for shit. Going to war with them is a death wish, which is why my dad hasn’t acted on the fact that they killed Fab, and possibly Tony. He’s scared of them.”

I immediately remembered my dream and the cop I saw at Mariana’s with the tattoo on his hand. From what Kelvin was suggesting, that cop may very well have been one of Ivan’s guys. I felt a chill shoot down my spine.

“Do you think that that’s what Deshaun wants to tell you? Something about your father?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him act so nervous before. He actually looked scared,” Kelvin said with a frown etched on his face. I got the feeling that
scared
wasn’t something he’d seen too often in members of The Family.

A few minutes later, my text tone went off. It was Lexy. She must’ve heard about me taking the rest of the week off and was probably worried. My first thought was to text her back right away, but then I realized that I needed to come up with a believable reason for taking the time off. I wasn’t good at lying, and I absolutely hated that I had to lie to Lex. In the end, however, I decided that I just wouldn’t text her back until I figured out what I wanted to say.

The rest of the morning was pretty eventless. Kelvin and I stayed in bed watching rerun episodes of
Friends
until almost noon. We’d ordered up room service for breakfast and lunch, but we still hadn’t heard anything from Kelvin’s uncle. I could tell Kelvin was starting to become more and more anxious as the hours ticked by without his phone ever going off.

My phone, however, wouldn’t shut up. Lexy had called about five times, and texted about ten times wondering what was going on with me, but I still didn’t have the courage to answer yet. With each passing minute, I knew that whatever excuse I came up with was going to have to be pretty legit, because she was going to be pissed, and rightfully so.

At one o’clock in the afternoon, Kelvin’s phone chimed. He’d received a text message finally. When the phone went off he jumped up to lean over and look at the screen. I heard him let out a loud sigh when he read the name.

“Who is it?” I inquired nervously.

“It’s Mike. Lexy told him to ask me why you weren’t answering her calls.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at the situation. I knew Kelvin was pissed that he’d gotten so excited about the phone finally getting a message, only to see that it was Mike and Lexy. I held back a smile as I reached over and rubbed his back.

“I’m sorry, Babe. I know you’re stressed. I’ll text her and tell her that I’ll get in touch with her later,” I said.

I turned around and reached over for my phone that was on the nightstand next to me. Just as my hand grazed my cell, I heard Kelvin’s phone chime again. I exhaled loudly and turned around.

“Geez. I’m about to text her right now. Tell him to hold his horses,” I complained.

“It’s not Mike this time,” Kelvin replied. He unplugged his phone from the charger and turned over to face me. The look on his face was one of apprehension.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. The tension in his face was starting to scare me.

“It’s my uncle. He says he thinks someone’s following him.” Kelvin looked extremely worried as he glared at the phone.

I wasn’t really sure what to say after that. My body felt hot all over and my heart rate was starting to pick up quickly. The look on Kelvin’s face made me feel worried and sorry for him at the same time. I’d never seen him so stressed before, and all I wanted to do was reach out and give him a long hug, but instead, I waited for his next move.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. I could tell he was in dismay. After about thirty seconds of staring off into space and an eerie silence, Kelvin finally started texting his uncle back.