48. Corinthians
Corinthians
We lay in the dark, as dark as it could be for us.
The TV was muted, the screen saver display had started a long time ago, but neither of us seemed to care.
The boys were asleep in Judah’s room. They’d played, ate, and played some more before I finally made them lie down.
That was hours ago; the sun was about to come up soon.
We’d fallen asleep sometime during the night, and now we’re both awake. Lost in our own thoughts.
I could feel Uri’s heartbeat against his chest. The feeling was soothing.
“Cori?” His voice was deep, so damn deep that it made me stop for a moment and let it wash over me. The fear I associated with hearing my name called by anyone other than my family was long gone thanks to him.
“Hmm?” I didn’t move because I was so damn comfortable wrapped up against him. His arms were around me, his chin resting on the top of my head. Feeling small while wrapped up in his arms felt safe.
“We need to talk,” he replied, and I nodded. I hated those words together; usually whatever followed was bad.
“What’s wrong?” I did move this time. I unwrapped my arms from around him and reared back. The light from the TV rolled over his face. His eyes sparkled against the light. This man was beautiful.
“It’s about when I went out of town,” he answered, then licked his lips. “I don’t want shit to be between us. No secrets, nothing.”
“You cheated?” I asked. That was the least of my worries, but it was a logical answer. If he did, I would kill her, then him.
“Nah,” he softly chuckled and shook his head. “I’m a lot of shit, but a cheater ain’t one of them.”
“Then what is it?” I traced the tattoo on his collar. Uri was covered in tattoos; I knew they covered scars from his childhood.
“I went to look for Robert,” he replied, and I nodded. “I found something else.”
“What?”
“Look at me.” He cupped my chin and made me look at him. “Before I tell you what I saw, I want you to know that you and Judah are safe. I’m right here. I ain’t going nowhere.”
“What did you see, Uri?” I asked him. His protection speech didn’t do anything but make me more anxious. “And don’t sugarcoat it.”
He nodded, then licked his lips. “Robert has a house,” he started. He moved his hand from my face. My stomach dropped. “He had a room, two rooms. One set up for you.”
“And the other?” I asked. His eyes left mine, and I knew the answer. “It’s for Judah, isn’t it?”
He quickly looked back at me. “Yeah, but I’m not letting anything happen to y’all. I promise you.”
I got up from his lap and started to pace.
I knew that this would eventually happen.
Robert wasn’t going to stop, no matter how much I prayed that he did.
He allowed me to get comfortable in life and then came and snatched that happiness away.
It’s what he did. Coming after me was one thing, but my baby? No, that wasn’t happening.
I ran my hands through my short hair and continued to pace. My thoughts were jumbled, but I knew I needed to protect my child. I could handle whatever Robert tried to throw at me, but Judah was never going to experience what we went through.
Ever.
“I should’ve known this was going to happen,” I humorlessly laughed. “He won't let me go. Ever. No matter what. From the time he saw me. I don’t understand the obsession.” I moved my hands from my hair and rubbed them against my thighs. “I can't let him touch my baby.”
“I didn’t plan on him touching either of y’all,” Uri said.
I didn’t stop moving; my heart slammed against my chest, and my eyes started to twitch. Every ounce of anger, pain, and fear I’d ever experienced bubbled to the surface, and just when I was about to explode, Uri’s arms wrapped around me.
“I haven’t always been the best mama,” I told him as I tried not to cry.
“I didn’t hold Judah for the first six months of his life.
I wouldn’t look at him. I couldn’t do it.
” I shook my head. “Everyone thought it was postpartum, but it wasn’t.
I was scared that if I looked at him, I would see Robert.
That the person who I carried and birthed would look like the man who made my life a living hell.
And I couldn’t let myself love him more than I already did.
That night, the night he was conceived, something broke in me, something I didn’t think I would ever get back, but I did.
Twice. The day I held Judah and when I saw you.
Y’all give me peace, Uri, and Robert is trying to take that from me.
He can’t take that from me. He took enough. ”
His mouth went to my ear. “He’s not taking shit,” he said. “I’m telling you what I saw because I don’t want to hide shit from you. I already decided to kill him and the niggas that were with him when he did what he did to you. I need names, Cori, that’s all.”
“The Kilmore’s,” I answered him. “Paul, Isaac, and Luther were in the room.”
“Anyone else?” he asked, and I nodded.
A slow smile spread across his face that didn’t reach his eyes. “I got this baby,” he said, then kissed my forehead. He pulled me into a hug and rested his chin on the top of my head. “I’m going to kill them all. I promise you that.”
I believed him.
***
“Mommy?” Judah sat at the table, eating a bowl of cereal.
His attention was split between his food and the TV.
Deuce sat beside him; his grey eyes sparkled with curiosity.
I used to chalk it up to Cross and me being related, but I knew it was the Strong blood in the mix too. I’d just been in denial.
“Yes?”
“Can we get a dog?”
“No,” I answered with a shake of my head. He’d been on a pet kick for over a year. I wasn’t giving in, and neither was he. “No dog, cat, snake, fish, turtle, bird, snail, lizard, rodent of any kind. That’s my list.”
“That’s your list?” he asked, and I nodded. For a moment he sat staring at me, then he nodded and went back to eating his food. “Okay.”
The doorbell rang, and I picked up my phone to pull up the cameras. Uri was in the back working out. Bradon stood on the other side of the door, his hands in his pockets, a mug on his face. He looked right into the camera.
“Y’all go get Uri and tell him Bradon is here,” I said, setting my phone down. The boys jumped up from the table and took off to the back.
I went to the front door, took a deep breath, then unlocked and opened it. Bradon stood there, waiting, but when he saw me, a smile that reminded me so much of Uri’s blossomed, and I couldn’t help but return it.
“I thought my nephew was going to open the door,” he said with a laugh. “I was about to cuss him out for making me stand out here so long, knowing it's hot.”
“You can't feel the heat,” Uri said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see him coming towards us. He wiped his face with the towel in his hand, then kissed me on the side of the head once he was close enough.
“Which means yo ass shouldn’t have left me out here,” Bradon laughed.
We stepped back, and he came into the house, making sure he closed and locked the door behind him.
“Man, bring your ass on, Unc. I was working out. You said you would be here in two hours, thirty minutes ago,” Uri said. He put his arm over my shoulder, and we all walked to the living room.
“I wanted to get this shit over with so I can start planning funerals and shit.” Bradon sat on the smaller couch while Uri and I took the big one. “Where are the boys?”
“I told them to go to Judah’s room and play the game,” he answered. “I didn’t want them hearing shit.”
“Smart move,” Bradon said, nodding. He looked over at me and sighed.
“My nephew told me that he told you everything. I’m glad.
Your relationship doesn’t need to be surrounded by secrets and shit.
What my brother put y’all through was enough.
” He sat forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.
“Look, Corinthians, I could apologize every day for the rest of my life, and it wouldn’t mean shit.
Robert and Logan are fucking animals. I didn’t know what they were doing.
I spent most of my time away. When I came back, I thought something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know for sure until Uri was hospitalized that last time. ”
“You don’t have to apologize for your brothers.”
“I do,” he replied. “I knew the type of niggas my brothers were. I saw how they treated women. How they discarded people they thought were less than them. We grew up in the same house; I knew the things our father did to them, so I should’ve known they were going to do it to someone else.
” He sat back, wiped his hands over his face, and sighed.
“I just didn’t think they would do that shit to kids. ”
“A monster will always be able to find a victim. No matter their age,” I said, and Bradon nodded. “I know Robert knew my father, but do you know how he was dragged into all of this?”
“Money,” he answered with a grunt. “Ruben was an errand boy for Robert back in the day. He wanted street-cred without the work. I’m not completely sure how they met Ruben.
One day he just started showing up. Robert would steal whatever he could get his hands on from SP and then have Ruben flip it in Turner Row.
Ruben didn’t have any connections, no family ties.
He was sleeping on couches when he could and, when he couldn’t, on the street.
Robert offered him money to be the face of his business in Turner Row, and Ruben couldn’t say no. ”
“And my mama?” I asked.
"We all knew of the DeCortes," he answered with a humorless chuckle.
"Your granddaddy's name scared niggas. He'd moved them out of TR, but that didn't mean nothing.
They still came through to kick it. Ruben caught your mama's eye.
They were locked in from the beginning. Robert tried to step between them, and I ain't gonna lie for a minute; it looked like it was a done deal. "
"What happened?" I don’t know why I needed to know, but I did. I remembered how my mama looked at Robert. As a kid, I thought it was fear, but now as a grown woman I recognized the longing in her eyes. "I mean, why didn't they stay together?"
"Our parents stepped down from SP," Bradon answered. "Our father is a mean-ass bastard. He had a meeting with Robert one day, and the next day we were sitting in meetings running shit. He didn’t have time for shit else. Or so I thought.”
“So, you knew my mama?” I asked and nodded. “Who else did you know?”
“It was a group of us that ran together, your parents, aunts and uncles, Tulane Forrester, Young Carlson, Micah and Diamond Stone, Carmen Carter, Xayne and Xia St. Thomas, and a few other niggas.”
“Wait, you know my cousin’s friends' parents?” I asked, confused, and Bradon nodded. “Their meeting, it wasn’t by chance?”
“Nah,” Bradon said, shaking his head. “After Four told me what he went through, we started making moves. Robert was lying low, but we didn’t know how long. Some shit was by luck, like Nine and Cross meeting, but the rest of it? Nah, we moved pieces into play to make sure y’all were safe.”
“Robert did the same thing,” I told them.
“I don’t doubt it,” Bradon agreed. “But now it’s time to start making moves. I can't keep on sitting after what we saw, and honestly, I don’t want to. Robert needs to die; that’s the only way you will have the peace you deserve.” He sat forward. “It’s only one thing I’m going to ask you.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t involve your grandparents,” he said and I reared back confused. “They asked us to protect y’all, and we tried, but they are older. They deserve to sit this one out. They’ve been through enough, seen enough, lost enough.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I won't tell my grandparents.”
***
A few days later, I adjusted the band to my bra strap, then walked out of the bathroom.
Uri had insisted on taking Judah and Deuce to school this morning, and I didn’t have to be at the shop for a few more hours.
Having time to myself was welcomed. My mind was still racing at what Bradon had told us.
The older generation knew each other, ran the streets together, and caused havoc before things went bad.
Bradon didn’t have a lot of answers, but he had enough to make me realize that they’d pulled a lot of strings over the last few years to ensure we all met.
“Cori!” Uri called my name then the door opened.
I quickly reached for my shirt but didn’t get to it before he walked into the room.
Even though he’d seen the crest on my stomach, I still didn’t want him to see me without a shirt.
I used my hand to cover it. Uri’s eyes dropped to my hand, then back up to my eyes. “Move your hand.”
“No,” I quickly said, shaking my head.
He rounded the bed, then stepped into my space. His large hand went to my wrist, and he gently pulled my hand away from my stomach. He sat on the bed, then pulled me close to him and rested his head on my stomach. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I should’ve killed him when I was younger, and this wouldn’t have happened.”
“And I wouldn’t have Judah.” That was the only bright spot in this entire situation. I got my son.
He lifted his head then kissed the brand. “Why didn’t you ever get it covered?” he asked. His fingers traced the burned lines that I’d memorized. I spent countless nights lying in the closet, rubbing the same pattern.
“I needed a reminder that I could never get comfortable,” I told him. “It reminded me to keep my distance, never to let my guard down, to not trust anyone.”
“The girl that was your friend, that set you up, what happened to her?”
“Don’t know,” I replied. “She disappeared that night, and I couldn’t find her. Trust me, I looked.”
“Did you have Cross look?”
“No,” I denied. “I didn’t want to drag my cousins into my mess.”
“Alright,” he said, nodding. “I’ll have Nine look for her. What’s her name?”
“Melissa Walters.” Uri’s face twisted. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head, then wiped his hand over his face. “I’ll have Nine look for her. When he finds her, I’ll let you know.”
“Uri, do you kill women?”
“Yes.” He looked up at me, his eyes focused and unrelenting. “For you and Judah, I’ll kill anyone.” He licked his lips. “Now tell me everything about that night again. Don’t leave out one detail.”
And I did, well, almost all of it. I didn’t tell him I remembered seeing his brother.