41. Four #2
“He doesn’t know,” I told him. We walked back into the house and to the front door.
“Why not? Does Nine know he’s his brother?”
“Yeah, he knows, but we have to keep a secret.” We walked out of the house and to the car. “You might end up hearing some stuff about Eight and Trey, but I want you to hear from me first, okay?”
“Okay.” We sat on the steps. Judah was next to me. The house was far from the main road, and because the driveway was so long, I wasn’t worried about anyone sneaking up on us.
“Trey and Eight are safe,” I told him. “If anything was to ever happen to me, you call Trey. He will stop whatever he’s doing and come, no matter what.”
“I don’t have his number,” he said, looking at me.
“Here, give me your thumb.” I took my phone from my pocket and then scanned Judah’s thumbprint. “Now you can get into my phone.” I put my phone back in my pocket.
“So call your brother if something happens?” he asked, and I nodded. “Why don’t you talk to him? Why does everybody think he’s a bad guy?”
“Because Trey and Eight are doing me a favor and something happened. They did what they thought was right, and because of that everyone thinks they turned their backs on us.”
“But they didn’t?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Even though they did something wrong?”
“Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, kid,” I told him. “I know this is a lot to take in. I swear I’m not trying to confuse you, but I wanted you to know.” I pulled him to me and kissed the top of his head.
“If something happens to you, call Trey, and he will come, no matter what,” he said, nodding. “I can do that.”
“I know you can,” I assured him. “Which is why I told you about them and this house.”
“I’m ready to move in,” he said.
I laughed and let him go. “It’s not ready yet, but as soon as it is, we can move in.” I stood. “Now let’s go so we can pick up your mama from the shop.”
“Four?” Judah called my name as we walked to the car. I looked down at him. “You think I can get a dog?”
“A dog?” I replied, and he nodded.
“Yeah, One has Kitten, and Six has Casper. I want a dog too!” He pulled at my arm. “You think December can train it? He trained their dogs and Am's pig!”
“We will have to talk to your mama about that,” I told him.
***
“Are you going to look at your phone all night?” Cori asked me.
I looked up to see her resting her chin in her palm and leaning onto the table.
A small smile tugged at her lips. Any other woman would’ve been upset or annoyed by the fact that I’d gotten lost while looking into my phone. But not Cori; she thought it was funny.
“My bad, baby,” I said, shaking my head. I put my phone on the table, then picked up my water. “I was looking at a report.”
“Uri, it’s fine,” she replied with a smile. “You are a busy man; I’ve seen that over the last couple of weeks with you coming into the shop. Your work phone never stops ringing.”
“But I’m not at work right now,” I told her. “I’m sitting at a table, on the balcony of one of the most expensive hotels in the country, about to eat dinner.”
“A dinner my child has decided on,” she laughed and glanced at the door. Judah was sitting on the couch, remote in hand, casually flipping through channels to try and find something to keep his attention. “More than likely, it’s going to be a burger and fries.”
“Probably,” I agreed. We let Judah pick dinner for everyone. He got on the app, ordered what he thought we would want, and then told us to sit on the balcony. I guess it was his way of sending us away but keeping us close. “But I’m going to eat it because I’m starving.”
“I’m not surprised,” she replied. “Now tell me about your day. And before you start, yes, I’m aware of the fact that you sat in the corner of my shop all day. I want to know the details that I don’t know.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” she answered with a shrug. “I mean, I know what you do, but I don’t know what you do if that makes sense.”
“It does,” I nodded and told her. “My job is cut and dry. I make sure the money is right, down to the damn penny. Sometimes that means having hard conversations about spending habits, and other times that means cutting off lines of credit without prior auth.”
“You can do that?” she asked, surprised.
“Yeah, it’s one of the stipulations when I come on as an accountant. If spending isn’t necessary, I can cut the cards. My goal is not only to make sure a company is in the green but also to keep it there. And sometimes that means I have to cut some cards or break some fingers.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you enjoy that last part?” she asked, and I shrugged. “Uri, can I ask you a question?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“Do you ever wonder what your life would’ve been like if Robert hadn’t been your father? Like if you would’ve been raised by your uncle or in a different family completely?”
“Truthfully?” I asked, and she nodded. “No.” I shook my head, sat back, and picked up her hand that was on the table.
I played with her fingers, loving how soft her hand felt against mine.
“No, I don’t wonder what it was like because I can't think of a life without you. If I had to go through all the shit I went through to end up here, then it was worth it.” I looked at her and smiled.
“Now, do I wish you didn’t have to go through what you did?
Fuck yeah. You didn’t have to be where I was to end up where we are.
” I traced her ring finger. I planned to put a ring there very soon.
“You deserved happiness, a good childhood full of great memories. Even though we’ve never talked about him, I envy the moments of happiness you had with Judah’s daddy.
In my head, y’all had a good relationship.
You found out you were pregnant, and just after you told him y’all were expecting he died peacefully in his sleep from natural causes.
” I chuckled and shook my head. “I know it sounds selfish as fuck, but that’s the story I tell myself because then that way I can say that for a moment without me you were happy. ”
“Uri-“
“Let me have that thought,” I said, shaking my head.
“Just for tonight, let me have it because if that’s not it, I’m going to kill that nigga.
” I looked at her to see her eyes filled with tears.
And I knew that my story would be just that for the night.
Tomorrow I would have Nine do some research and find out who Judah’s biological daddy was so I could kill him.
“Four, the elevator rang!” Judah yelled.
I stood, rounded the table, only stopping to kiss her on the forehead before going to the elevator.
Because we had the entire floor, the elevator was locked, and the doors only opened with a card or if someone inside the penthouse opened it.
I pressed the button to open the doors, and one of the room service people stood on the other side.
He nodded, pushed the cart to me, and stepped back.
I handed him a tip, pulled the cart to me, and pressed the button to close the door.
“What did you order, Judah?” I asked, pushing the cart to the kitchen.
“Burgers and fries,” he answered, coming into the kitchen. I chuckled, handed him his tray, and he walked back to the living room. “I’m going back outside with your mama. You good?”
“Yes, sir,” he said from his spot on the couch.
“Alright.” I took the cart outside, making sure to close the door behind me, and handed Cori her plate. “You were right; he ordered burgers and fries.”
“I know my son,” she laughed as she uncovered her plate. We said a quick prayer, then started to eat. “I need you to look at my books for me. I probably can't afford your full services, but I’m getting there. I need you to look at my books for me to make sure I’m on the right path”
“Why, what’s wrong?” I said between bites of my food.
“Nothing,” she answered, shaking her head. “The grant that I won had a few stipulations for me to keep it. But if I did, I would own my business outright. A few months back, I got a letter saying the grant had been dissolved and that I owned my building. Outright, no loans, nothing.”
“That’s what’s up, baby,” I said, smiling. I knew Morning delivered the papers to her months ago and was waiting on her to say something. “I’m proud as fuck of you.”
“Thank you,” she said, then ate one of her fries. She covered her mouth to keep talking. “I’m pretty sure I’m doing everything right, but I want a second pair of eyes on my books to make sure. Do you think you can look at them for me and let me know if and where I need to improve?”
“Fuck yeah,” I answered her. “We can look at them tomorrow while we are at the shop. And tonight, when Judah is asleep, we can celebrate your success with you riding my face.”
Cori’s eyes filled with lust and excitement, and I smiled. Yeah, I was going to marry this woman.
***
“You get the video I asked you about?” I asked Nine as I drove through the city.
I was making my way to the other side of town to go check on some stuff at my office when it dawned on me that I hadn’t heard back from him yet.
Usually, I was patient when it came to Nine checking on things, but I had a nagging feeling I was missing something I couldn’t shake.
“Just getting the information back now,” he told me. “Where you at?”
“On the way to the office to pick up some files,” I replied as I switched lanes. “You?”
“Already here, stop by my office when you’re done.”
“Bet.”