Becoming Carter (The Carter Series) (Volume 2) (21 page)

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.

The flames grew quickly inside the car as Kelvin slowly walked back over to me and took the gun from me, and grabbed me by the hand. We walked over to the man, who was still holding his knee and writhing in pain. We stopped next to him, and when he saw us, he glared at us. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to kill us. For a reason unknown to me, he hated us, and wanted to see us die tonight, but we’d turned the tables on him, and it only made him hate us more.

Just as Kelvin and I turned our heads and were about to walk away, the man tried to spit on us. Even in his predicament, he was still defiant. His act of contempt was a bad idea, as Kelvin looked back down at him with a look of disgust. Suddenly, Kelvin raised the gun and pulled the trigger once again. The shot startled me as the blood from the man’s other knee splattered across the ground, and he screamed in agony once again.

“Ahh!” he bellowed. “Goddamnit! Motherfucker!”

“That’s for Uncle Deshaun,” Kelvin said, staring daggers into the tattooed man.

“We’re gonna fucking kill you,” the man said boldly from the ground. “You hear me? This is
not
over! We’re not done with you. You
will
see us again.”

“I’m counting on it,” Kelvin replied as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we walked away.

I could still hear the man screaming as we turned the corner and started walking down the empty street, with the BMW now fully ablaze behind us.

Did that really just happen? Did I really just watch my boyfriend shoot a man in the knees with his own gun? Did Kelvin set his car on fire? And, did he do all of this in an effort to protect me?

Once again, the questions were overflowing in my head and I didn’t even know what to think. As we walked up to the entrance to the Red Chip, I was too shocked to say anything. The memory of the blood splashing across the cold concrete was still fresh in my memory, and I swore I could still hear the man screaming in pain. However, the most vexing part of it all was that I didn’t feel bad about what Kelvin did to him. It didn’t bother me that Kelvin beat the shit out of that guy and shot him with his own gun. Was it supposed to bother me? I mean, this guy was coming to kill us. Do you feel bad for someone after they try to kill you? Well, it may have been the only thing I knew for sure, but I knew for a fact that I didn’t feel bad for what happened to that man. As far as I was concerned, he had it coming, and I was proud and grateful of Kelvin for doing what he did. He did it to protect us.

We walked through the lobby of the Red Chip gathering stares as we stepped. Kelvin’s formerly flawless suit was now covered in dirt from the alley, not to mention he had blood splattered on his elegant shoes. Kelvin seemed to notice the extra attention as well, as I felt him speed up his pace to hurry to the elevator, and to keep any of his employees from saying anything to him.

Once we reached the doors, Kelvin slammed his hand on the button and they immediately opened for us. We stepped inside, and when the doors slid shut, I finally exhaled and found the courage to talk.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” I said, staring down at the floor. “Thank you, Kelvin. Thank you for protecting me.” I looked up at him and caught him staring at me with a blank expression on his face.

“You don’t have to thank me, Lilliana. I told you a long time ago that you’re my world now.” Kelvin walked over to me and rubbed my cheek with his palm as he stared deep into my eyes. I could see the emotion written all over his face. “I’ll never let them hurt you, Baby. You don’t ever have to be afraid again, because I’m always gonna be here to protect you. No matter what, I’ll always be here. I got you. Forever.”

Just then, I leaned forward and kissed him passionately on the mouth. The thrill of the night had filled me with more emotion and passion than I’d ever had, and the moment our lips touched, everything came pouring out. Kelvin pushed his tongue up against mine, and began to use his tongue to massage my own. My body reacted instantly and I felt hot all over, and wet between my legs.

The next thing I knew, Kelvin dropped down to his knees and began eagerly hiking up my skirt. There may have been a time in the past that I would’ve felt slightly embarrassed by this, or even nervous that the elevator might stop and someone would walk in on us. Now, however, it was a different time. Everything had changed, me most of all. So, instead of feeling nervous or shy, I grabbed the back of Kelvin’s head as he pushed my panties aside and immediately ran his tongue across my clit. The sensation hit me hard, and I had to reach down and grab the bar on the wall to keep my balance.