Claiming Carter (27 page)

“Shit, Kelvin. That’s so good. Yes. Fuck me, baby. Yes!”

The next thing I knew, I wasn’t holding back anymore. I had my hands buried in Kelvin’s pecs as I worked my pussy back and forth, as fast as I possibly could. The sensation on my clit was phenomenal, and all I wanted was to have a massive orgasm. As I grinded, I felt Kelvin’s cock quickly harden, and I knew what was about to happen.

“Oh shit!” Kelvin yelled. “Damn, Lilliana. You’re going to make me come. Oh fuck!”

Kelvin’s cock hardened and vibrated as I felt him shoot inside of me, and he grabbed me and pulled me down on top of him. I kept on moving as he came, and as he pulled me and held me tightly, my second orgasm erupted just as his reached its peak. We both screamed as we came simultaneously, and I felt the mattress slip off of the edge of the box spring and Kelvin and I held on as it slid down to the floor.

“Holy shit,” I said, as we both began to laugh heartily. “I think we broke the bed.”

“Fuck it,” Kelvin chuckled. “We’ll buy another one.”

Once the mattress finally settled itself onto the floor, we didn’t have the energy to fix it, so I slid underneath the covers and laid next to Kelvin with my head resting on his muscular, tattooed chest. As he breathed, I felt his chest rising and falling with my own. In that moment, I felt like we were meant to be together. I knew better than to rush into anything, and I also knew that great sex would make a woman feel like she was meant to be with the man who gave it to her. But, with everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, my emotions were running on high, and I literally had Kelvin to thank for being alive. He was my savior. He was my hope for the future. And, I knew that this was only the beginning of something serious.

“That was so amazing, Kelvin,” I said quietly, as I closed my eyes to go to sleep.

“No,” he replied, “
We’re
amazing. Together, we are amazing.”

Kelvin inched his way out from underneath the covers as quietly as he could. It was five o’clock in the morning and he didn’t want to wake his sleeping beauty, Lilliana, so he moved very gently, and stepped as lightly as he could towards the door with his cell phone in his hand.

When he reached the doorway, he turned around and looked back at Lilliana as she lay in the bed asleep. She was so stunning. Even as she lay there, motionless, with half of her face covered by her short, black hair, she was absolutely flawless to him. It didn’t matter that he’d suffered a minor stab wound during his rescue attempt. All that mattered was that she was safe. He just wanted to keep her out of harm’s way. He wanted to keep a smile on her face. He wanted to keep her happy. Which was exactly why he needed to do what he was about to do.

Kelvin turned and exited the bedroom, tiptoeing his way down the dark hall. When he reached the living room, he took a seat on the couch so that he could see down the hallway, just in case Lilliana woke up. The only light in the room was coming in through the windows from the moon and the streetlights outside, but it was all he needed.

The cell phone in his hand wasn’t his usual cell phone. He wasn’t allowed to make this call on his phone. This phone was an old flip-phone, and he knew that once this call was over, he would throw it away, never to use it again, but it was a rule that he was beginning to get used to.

He wasn’t supposed to program any names or numbers into the phone, so he had to dial all seven of the numbers in. When the phone started ringing, Kelvin felt tiny butterflies beginning to float around in his stomach. His uncle answered on the third ring.

“This better be important, since you’re waking me up at five in the morning,” Michael Carter said, instead of the customary hello.

“Sorry to bother you so early, Uncle Mikey. It’s me, Kelvin.”

Michael sighed loudly into the phone. “What is it, Junior?”

“Hey, I just wanted to give you an update on what’s been going on with the break-in and vandalism. Found some stuff out that should put your mind at ease.” When Michael didn’t respond, Kelvin continued. “The other family didn’t have anything to do with the break-ins or the car. It was Lilliana’s ex-boyfriend, Tim. Apparently he went a little crazy after Lilliana dumped him, and couldn’t get over it, I guess. He broke into her house again tonight and tied her to a chair, threatening to kill her. Luckily, I drove by—making sure Lilliana was okay—and caught him before he could actually hurt her. I beat the shit out of him and he was arrested a little over three hours ago. I thought you should know.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that your little girlfriend is safe. I’m even happier to know that this didn’t have anything to do with the other family. But, it still doesn’t change anything, Kelvin. Just because it wasn’t the other family this time, doesn’t mean that it won’t be them next time. You still need to lay low and stop exposing yourself just so you can be with this chick.”

Kelvin was growing increasingly tired of being told what to do, and being treated like a child. Even though he knew that his uncle was only trying to protect him, Kelvin knew he was fully capable of taking care of himself. All that was left was for him to prove it to The Family.

“I appreciate your opinion, Uncle Mikey, I really do. But, I’m not ending my relationship with Lilliana just because
you
think it’s a good idea. There is something special about this girl, and I’m not ready to let go of it. Not for you, or for anybody else.”

“Don’t be hardheaded. You’ve seen just how fast things can turn ugly, so you need to keep that in mind when you’re riding her around on your fucking Ducati for the whole world to see. When you do that shit, you expose her to a life that she isn’t prepared to handle. You have a commitment to The Family, Kelvin.”

“I know I do, but I think it’s time for me to get my priorities straight, because they haven’t been straight for a long time. I’ve been lost ever since Fab died, Uncle Mikey. I’ve felt so lost without him being here. But, with Lilliana, I feel like I might have finally found my way. With her, I’m not lost anymore. I know you can understand that.”

“Of course I can, Junior. But you can’t compare how I feel about my wife of the last fourteen years, to how you feel about a girl that you have known a week. Your Aunt Lauren, might not be suited, but she is still very much a part of The Family. She knows everything, so I don’t have to hide anything from her that might scare her away, or potentially get her hurt. You don’t have that luxury. Use your brain, and do what you know you need to do.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Which is why I think I need to take a step back from The Family. I need to focus on myself for a while.”

There was silence on the phone for a moment, which let Kelvin know that he’d just pissed off his uncle.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Michael replied. Kelvin could sense his anger even as Michael tried to speak quietly.

“I know you don’t like it, but this is something I have to do for myself.”

“Bullshit! Don’t act like this is for you. This is for a girl that you don’t even know!”

“Yes, it has a little to do with her, but it’s not
all
about her. I love The Family, and I want to be a part of it, but I have to do this for me. I’m just trying to make my brother proud.”

“Kelvin, Fab will be proud of you, no matter what.”

“What? No he won’t. If I don’t take care of business the way I know that I should, he won’t be proud of that. I won’t feel like he’s proud if I’m doing things that I know he wouldn’t be happy about if he were still alive. Being with Lilliana is something that Fab would want for me. This is what he would want me to do. He would want me to be safe and happy.”

Another moment of silence passed as Michael thought about the weight of Kelvin’s words.

“You’re right, Nephew. That is what he would want,” Michael finally stated. “Unfortunately, there are things that have been set in motion, decisions that have already been made that will haunt every move you make for a very long time. You can’t just forget about the things that have happened and just act like the threats don’t exist. I’m happy you think you met someone, Nephew, but the threats are still alive. They are real. You can’t forget about that, and you also can’t forget about your father. You really want to present him with this shit?”

Kelvin’s butterflies in his stomach were in a full frenzy now. He hadn’t thought about what his father would have to say about him wanting to step back from The Family, and he wasn’t sure if he was prepared to have to tell him.

“I take it from your silence that you hadn’t thought too much about what Kelvin Sr. would have to say,” Michael chimed in. “You want to step back from The Family, you have to bring it to the table—the table at which your father occupies the head seat. So, you better think long and hard about what you really want.”

“I know what I really want, but what I
already have
doesn’t exactly leave room for what I want. So, what I need is your advice. What am I supposed to do, Uncle Mikey?”

“You’re just getting started in this game, Kelvin. Slow down and let things develop. I understand your situation. You want to be with this girl, and keep both of you safe? The only way to do that is to tell her. Tell her everything.”

Kelvin’s heart rate sped up and he suddenly felt hot. The likelihood of Lilliana ending it with him because of the activities his family was involved in made him feel extremely uneasy.

“You’re right,” Kelvin replied, “but I don’t know if I’m ready to do that.”

“Then you better tread very softly until you are ready. You need to do everything that you possibly can to keep the other family from seeing you, and that applies tenfold when it comes to seeing you with her. If you’re insistent on being with her, then you do it quietly. I know women like to go out and shit, but you better keep that kind of shit to an absolute minimum. Remember, Kelvin, out of sight, out of mind. Out of mind equals safe. You can use me and your aunt as an example. In order for you and this chick to be totally safe, you
both
have to follow the rules, and she can’t follow the rules if she doesn’t even know what’s going on. So, until you fill her in about absolutely everything, you two will never truly be safe.”

It’d been two months since I watched Tim Bulger being forced into the back of a police cruiser in the early morning hours of a starry night. Now, he was serving some pretty hard time for breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted murder. Meanwhile, Kelvin and I had been going very strong over the past sixty days. To Lexy’s surprise, he didn’t do a complete one-eighty as our relationship grew and we became more and more comfortable with each other. Instead, he continued to display the same amount of passion, kindness, and chivalry that he shown when we first met.

We’d spent most of our nights together when school was still in, but since school went on summer break, we’d been spending pretty much every day and night together. Kelvin preferred staying inside and hanging out together on most nights, but we occasionally still went on dates. Kelvin liked the idea of treating me to a dinner date where we were treated like king and queen, with our own VIP section, separated and secluded from the rest of the people in the restaurant. He’d grown increasingly private over the past two months, but I found it romantic that he didn’t want other people in our business, especially since we’d just had a run-in with a stalker like Tim Bulger, who was basically aware of every time I left my house. Kelvin was protective, and I never felt safer than when I was with him.

Tonight, Kelvin had invited me over for another dinner date, but we would be staying inside once again, and having dinner in his luxurious penthouse. When he called me this morning, he sounded a bit on edge and I wondered if maybe something was wrong with him. Things had been going pretty well with his business, as far as owning and operating the Red Chip casino was concerned, but he sounded much more anxious this morning. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that there was something that he’d been meaning to tell me, and that tonight would be the night that he would finally do it. The past two months had gone so well that I didn’t have a clue what he possibly could need to tell me that I didn’t already know. I still hadn’t met anyone in his family, and my parents only knew about him through our phone conversations, but I felt like I knew pretty much everything else about Kelvin Carter Jr.