Becoming Carter (The Carter Series) (Volume 2) (25 page)

My eyes bulged when I realized that the left side of Kelvin’s body was completely drenched in blood.

“Oh shit,” Kelvin said, calmer than I thought he should’ve been. Then, everything changed and I could suddenly hear the panic in his voice. “Fuck! I’m hit. They got me, Lilliana. Son of a bitch! They fucking got me!”

The room was empty, and for some reason, it made me more anxious. It just seemed like time was going by so much slower than normal, and it was so much quieter than normal, and my heart was certainly pounding harder and faster than normal.

I sat in the chair with my elbows on my knees, and my hands covering my mouth as I waited for the doctor to come out and give an update on Kelvin’s status. Mikey was sitting next to me, and the worried look on his face did absolutely nothing to comfort me.

This was the first time I’d seen Mikey outside of a conference room at a hotel/casino, and he obviously left his house in such a hurry that he didn’t even bother to put on anything fancy, and the constant nervous tapping of his house shoe on the tile floor seemed to be raising my blood pressure to an all-time high, but I didn’t dare say anything to him about it.

As I waited in Mercy Hospital for an update, I couldn’t help having flashbacks about the copious amount of blood all over Kelvin’s clothes. The moment he noticed he was hit, he raised his arm to where the wound was, and just as he did, blood began spurting out of his upper arm like a sprinkler. I remembered the look on his face when he saw it, and how serious he became when he told me to call an ambulance, and his Uncle Mikey only. Mikey showed up before the ambulance did, and for a second I was relieved, but that all turned to shit when Kelvin passed out two minutes before the ambulance arrived.

I was in a panicked frenzy, and Mikey had to figure out how to contain me all by himself, while also trying to keep himself calm. Now, here we were in the private waiting area of the hospital—where we’d been for the last four hours—waiting for any kind of good news.

My head was spinning, and I couldn’t help but ask myself questions that drove me insane. Who did this—the Russians, or Senior? And the question that bothered me the most—what was I going to do if Kelvin died? The possibility of Kelvin actually dying sent a terrible pain shooting throughout my body and I struggled to force back the tears every time I had that thought, so I had to force myself to not think about it.

“He’s gonna be okay, Lily,” I heard Mikey say, his voice echoing softly in the quiet room. I turned to look at him and immediately noticed his eyes were red from trying to hold back his own tears.

“If that’s what you really think, then why are you struggling to keep from crying?” I replied. It only took me a second to realize that I was probably too emotional to be carrying on any kind of conversation.

“Nice observation,” Mikey answered. “I have faith that he’ll be okay, but I’m still torn up about this. I can’t believe he got shot again. This is the exact scene from when Fab died. We all sat here in this exact same waiting room, praying for a miracle. But Fab died, and Kelvin didn’t. So, I guess the miracle was that both of them didn’t die. It’s all just a little too familiar.” Tears slowly fell down Mikey’s face, and he quickly wiped them away and turned his head so that I couldn’t see.

Just then, the stainless steel doors swung open, and in strode the doctor. His white jacket was spotted with blood and I felt my heart rate spike as Mikey and I rose to our feet to meet him.

“Good afternoon, I’m Doctor Marshall. I apologize for the long wait,” the doc said as he wiped sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket.

“We’re not worried about that now, Doc,” Mikey quickly chimed in. “We just wanna know what’s going on. Is Kelvin okay?”

Doctor Marshall’s eyes darted back and forth between Mikey and me. “Kelvin sustained a fairly serious injury to his left arm. He was hit three times, all in his left arm. One bullet pierced his shoulder, another hit his forearm, and the third bullet hit his upper arm and just barely nicked his brachial artery. Anytime an artery is severed, it’s extremely dangerous and the patient must be brought into surgery immediately. Luckily for Kelvin, his artery wasn’t severed, and it didn’t take long to fix. He’s out of surgery now and is already back in his room.”

A wave of relief washed over me and I could no longer control my tears as the doctor continued.

“All of the bullets have been removed, and he’ll make a full recovery. I must say, however, Kelvin should consider himself very lucky. If the bullet would’ve been even a centimeter higher, it would’ve severed his artery completely, and he possibly would’ve bled to death before the ambulance arrived. Kelvin’s got himself a guardian angel.”

“Wow. That’s unbelievable,” Mikey said. “When can we go see him?”

“He’s already back in his room, so you can see him now, if you’d like. I’ll have a nurse escort you.”

We followed a tall, blonde nurse down the dark hall and into Kelvin’s room. The moment I saw him, my emotions took over again and my tears started to flow. He was lying in his bed, unconscious, surrounded by all kinds of wires and machines, and his left arm was completely bandaged from his wrist all the way up and over his shoulder. As comfortable as he looked lying there, I knew just how close he’d come to actually dying.
If the bullet would’ve been even a centimeter higher
…

Mikey and I walked over to the bed and looked down on Kelvin. I could see it in Mikey’s eyes that he was devastated by seeing Kelvin in a hospital bed again from another gunshot wound. He looked so tired—so defeated. It was a look that I’d never seen in him before, and hoped that I’d never see in him again.

“I just can’t believe this shit happened again,” he said as a tear rolled down his cheek. “He doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve to keep going through this. Especially by the hands of the same man.”

My eyes jumped from Kelvin to Mikey. “What same man?”

Suddenly, Kelvin’s eyes popped open and his body jerked like he’d been woken up out of a nightmare and he grabbed my arm, in apparent defense. After a second of staring at me and then glancing at Mikey, he finally let me go.

“What’s going on?” he said quietly, yet I could still hear the anxiety in his voice. “Where am I?”

“We’re in Mercy Hospital, Babe,” I replied, placing my hand on Kelvin’s chest. “Everything’s okay. We’re safe now. Just lay back and relax.”

“Are you okay?” Kelvin asked, looking me up and down, apparently checking me for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I said with a slight smile. “You protected me. You saved me.”

Kelvin finally relented and laid back down comfortably on his bed. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Good to see you, Nephew,” Mikey chimed in, grabbing Kelvin’s attention.”

“Hey, it’s good to see you too, Unc. I’m glad you came, man.” Kelvin looked down at his arm and inspected the bandages. “So, what did the doctors say about this?”

“They said you were hit three times in your left arm. One bullet nicked your brachial artery, which is what caused so much of the bleeding. The doc said it was an easy fix and that you’ll be good to go soon. You’ll make a full recovery.”

“Well that’s good to know. You didn’t call anybody else, did you, Lilliana? Nobody else besides my uncle knows I’m here, right?”

“Yeah, I only called Mikey.”

“Why is that, by the way?” Mikey interjected from the foot of Kelvin’s bed. “Why didn’t you call anybody else?”

The look on Kelvin’s face seemed to say it all, but Kelvin spoke up anyway. “I didn’t want anybody else, Unc. I’m having a hard time figuring out who can be trusted, and as of right now, the only people I trust are already in this room.”

“As much as I can appreciate that, Junior, what about your dad? You don’t think this is something that he’d need to know about? This is pretty serious,” Mikey argued.

Before Kelvin could answer, Doctor Marshall walked into the room and smiled at all of us. “Alright, you’re awake! How’s everything feeling Mr. Carter?”

“I’m okay, I guess. Arm is a little sore,” Kelvin replied.

“Oh, yeah. That’s to be expected after surgery. It looks like your vitals are doing well, and you’re already awake, so that’s good also. Is there anything I can get you to make you any more comfortable?”

“Nah, I’m good, Doc. Thanks.”

“Great.” Doctor Marshall turned around and started walking towards the door. Just as he reached the threshold, he turned around. “Oh, before I forget, we got a call from Chicago PD. Some officers are on their way to come ask you a few questions. They said they’d be here in the next twenty minutes or so. Just thought I’d let you know, so they don’t catch you off guard.”

Just as the doctor exited the room, Kelvin’s face suddenly looked extremely worried.

“We have to get out of here,
right now
!” he blared, staring at his uncle.

“What the hell are you talking about? Why?” Mikey replied.

“Damn it. I didn’t want anybody to know I was here, including the fucking cops. You know Ivan has people in Chicago PD. We can’t stay here and wait for word to get out that I’m alive and that I’m here. If they find out that I survived, they’ll try to get me while I’m in here all vulnerable. We have to go now!”

“Kelvin, you got shot in the fucking arm. You can’t just leave. You need a doctor to switch out your bandages and monitor your progress. You can’t leave. We’ll just tell the cops not to tell anyone that you’re here.”

“
No
!” Kelvin snapped. “I don’t fucking trust them! We have to go. They’re trying to kill me Uncle Mikey!”

Mikey stared at Kelvin in confusion for a second, but then his face changed to something else. He understood. He knew that Kelvin had gone through something very traumatic, and this wasn’t the time for trying to argue with him. Not to mention the possibility of Kelvin actually being right.

“Okay,” Mikey replied apprehensively. “But, we’re getting you a private, home doctor who can come out and make sure that you’re okay, because I don’t know shit about bandaging shot up arms.”

Fifteen minutes later, Kelvin was dressed, and Mikey and I helped him silently and secretly walk to the elevator. We couldn’t tell the doctor or the nursing staff that we were leaving, because we knew they’d try to force us to stay, if not for the healthcare, then at least to talk to the cops.

When the doors opened, we quietly helped Kelvin inside the elevator, and I hurried to push the button to take us to the basement, where Mikey had parked. Just as our doors began to close, I heard the sound of the elevator doors next to ours opening. Just before our doors closed completely, I saw two officers step into the hall and walk past us without seeing that we were there, and I couldn’t help but notice the tattoos on one of them. They were the same style of tattoos as the ones on the man from my dream—the man Kelvin shot last night. The only difference was that these tattoos weren’t on his hand—they were on his neck. Nonetheless, they were the same.

It took us damn near an hour to get to Mikey’s house on the edge of South Side Chicago. Kelvin had asked for him to drive us back to the Red Chip, but Mikey insisted that we stay at his house until Kelvin was well enough to at least lift his arm. Kelvin put up a little bit of a fight, but it didn’t take him long to give in, finally accepting that it’d be much harder for him to protect us if he couldn’t even use his left arm.

Before heading to Mikey’s, we made a quick pit stop at my house so that I could grab some more clothes, because there was no way in hell I was going to leave Kelvin’s side. I had every intention of being there with him while he nursed his arm back to good health. When we were on our way, I called Lexy and told her that Kelvin and I were going to take a quick trip out of town for a few days before Christmas break ended, and that I needed her to look after Meghan for me while I was gone. After scolding me for not calling her sooner, she agreed to take Meghan to her house and watch her until we got back. Before leaving the house, I left the key in a little secret hiding spot between two rocks by the door, so that she could get in and get the cat while I was gone.