62. Corinthians
Corinthians
Isat watching Uri, annoyed and worried. He still hadn't woken up.
His doctors said it was normal, that he'd sustained serious damage and his body needed to rest. It sounded good in theory.
But my brain and heart were telling me something different.
Selfishly, I needed Uri to open his eyes. I needed to know he was okay.
"We all have secrets," Krude said. I turned to look at him.
His eyes were closed, head resting against the wall, a small smirk on his face.
"I used to always think that if I kept people laughing, they wouldn't see how scared I was.
" He turned his head and opened his eyes.
"You carried your fear right on your shoulders. We thought we had to protect you."
"I thought the same."
"Shit’s fucked up," he laughed softly. "And I’m sorry."
"For?"
Krude looked at Uri and shook his head. "What you gonna do until that nigga wakes up? You can’t just sit here. You ain't sleeping, barely eating, and everybody is worried."
"Is that why you're here? To watch me and then go back and check in."
"Nah," he answered with a smile. "I'm here so you can tell me how much you want to show out." He sat up. "I've been waiting for you to have a reason to let that freak flag fly, and this shit seems like the perfect time."
"You've seen me kill before."
"I have, but we both know this time is different." He shrugged. "You have two options. Let this shit eat you alive, wait for Four to wake up and then let him kill everybody, or you do it."
"It's not that simple," I sighed.
"What makes it complicated?"
I didn't know how to explain to Krude that there was a part of me that enjoyed killing.
That what Robert had conditioned into me lived right under my skin, waiting to come out, and I was scared that if I did start, I wouldn't be able to stop.
There was a euphoria that came with killing that I loved.
It was like I was getting high without taking a hit of anything.
"Me," I laughed and shook my head. "I make it complicated."
Krude nodded, then turned his attention to Uri. Quiet Krude was dangerous; it meant his mind was racing. He was thinking, plotting his next move.
"A few years ago, he and I were kicking it at Madea and Granddaddy's house and not doing shit, just hanging.
It was one of the few times he'd come to visit before moving here.
Anyway, it was supposed to be his first time in the house, but he moved around that muthafucka like he knew the layout.
He paced in the same spots you did. He sat in all your favorite spots: the same chair in the corner of the living room, the same chair in the kitchen, and outside on the patio.
Every time the door opened, he looked at it, like he was hoping for someone to come through, and when it wasn't who he wanted, he relaxed.
" He smirked. "I told Psalms he reminded me of you. "
"And what did she say?"
"She agreed. Said in another lifetime, where shit wasn't fucked up, that y'all loved each other beyond this one." He wiped his hand over his mouth. "I thought she was high. You know Psalms got the best weed and finally sampled her own product."
"She won't," I laughed.
"I know, but shit, I didn't know what she meant," he replied.
"Until I saw y'all together. The love you two have is different.
It's patient, unyielding, and all those descriptive ass words that people use.
It's all that shit, and it's dangerous. You ain't gonna know peace until the muthafucka that's causing y'all problems is dead.
" He looked at me. "So, what you gonna do?
Sit back and let him do all the work or let that freak flag fly and be that nigga twin flame? "
"Do I have a choice?"
"Oh nah, I only asked to see your response." He stood and wiped lint from his shirt. "I wanted to see if you were still scared of everyone actually seeing you or if that nigga is really your twin flame and shit.”
"Krude..."
"Cross got a new axe, Psalms is out of her garden." He smiled. "Ex has some verses he hasn't used, I got a new fanny pack just for the occasion, and Judge changed his glasses. It's a family event."
“It’s a family event?” I asked slowly, and Krude nodded. “Are you sure about this?”
“Fuck yeah,” he laughed. “I heard you cussed out Tulane and Micah.”
“I did.”
“Do you regret it?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Then, hell yeah. This is about to be a family event.” He put his hands in his pockets. “I’m going to let you get some rest. Don’t worry about Judah; he’s with me tonight.”
“Don’t be hustling my baby,” I told him.
“I’m not,” he laughed. “We hustlin’ niggas. He’s using your account because your kills are low as fuck and folks think he’s an easy target. He’s making bank right now.”
“Krude…”
“I’m outta here,” he said, walking to the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Love you.”
***
“What do you mean they are meeting?” I asked Psalms. I looked over at the room across the hall from Uri’s room, then back at her. “What are they meeting about?”
“Cross said something about telling them that Four was going to kill them when he first met them,” she answered, and I nodded.
Uri told me that he originally planned to kill the Stones because he thought they were connected to Robert, but once he found out they weren’t, he let it go.
He said he and Nine decided only to tell Citrine, and eventually Pyrite found out, but no one ever told Amethyst. He was kept in the dark too much for my liking.
They said it was because he was short-tempered and focused only on protecting Yale, which was true, but they were setting him up for failure because of that.
He was running on half-truths and messing things up along the way.
“Amethyst isn’t going to take that well,” I said, shaking my head.
“Probably not, but I can't change it,” she answered with a shrug. “All I know is that the Numbers are pissed, which is understandable because of Four, but I don’t know anything else.”
I wiped my hands over the black sweats I’d changed into after I showered and sighed. “I need Uri to wake up,” I said, shaking my head. My eyes went back to their meeting. “If he doesn’t…”
“Oh, no,” she cut me off. “Nope, we aren’t thinking like that. We aren’t doing that. He’s going to wake up. He’s too damn stubborn not to. Just give him time to rest.”
“I’m trying….” I laughed and shook my head. “I prayed. Last night I closed my damn eyes and prayed for the first time in a long time.”
“Damn,” Psalms exhaled. I faithfully went to church and believed in God without a doubt, but I didn’t pray.
I didn’t think God heard my prayers. It wasn’t logical, but I concluded that I prayed too much as a kid.
I was asking God for too much, and he stopped listening, so I only prayed when it mattered.
The last time I prayed was the night I prayed for clarity with Judah.
After that, nothing until now. I prayed for Uri to wake up.
God had to hear that, right? He wouldn’t leave me hanging, would he?
I looked down the hallway to the elevators. The doors opened, and Pyrite’s second in command of his security team, Tank, as well as Krude’s friend, Lavender, stood there holding hands. Lavender noticed me watching us, gave me a small wave, then the doors closed.
The lights started flashing, and alarms went off. “Code red, room 712,” an announcement went out over the intercom.
Pyrite jumped up and ran out of the conference room. “That’s Yamari’s room!” he yelled as he ran down the hallway. Everyone in the conference room chased behind him. Yamari’s room was on the same floor, just around the corner and down the hall.
***
"I wanted you to hear my voice. To make sure you haven’t forgotten what I told you because I think you have.
I told you that you'd never get away. That I had the final say-so in everything.
That you aren't in charge of a damn thing! I told you, Pet! I said I have the final say-so, yet you act like I don’t.
I have sat back and watched you for months.
MONTHS!" He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.
"My punishment was going to be simple. You obviously need to sit in the dark for a while. Alone. That’s all I was going to do, but now?
" He laughed softly. "That isn't going to be enough. I'm coming for you. Your cousins? Dead. Your grandparents? Dead. Your sister? Going to Logan this time. Judah? At my side. And my son? His head will be mounted on my wall! I’m going to kill everyone! Do you hear me?! I’m killing everyone! Because you didn’t listen! You let him touch you! Pet you-"
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Krude leaned across the table. He pressed the end button, then locked the screen.
"That nigga dramatic," he said, shaking his head. "I’m pretty sure he busted a blood vessel in his eye from all that yelling too."
"Probably," Judge agreed. He turned to me and smirked. "You alright?"
"I’m good," I answered him. I looked around the room and laughed softly. "I don’t know how I am, but I am." I'd listened to that voicemail a million times. It didn’t scare me. Robert didn’t scare me. I knew he was desperate. He wanted control.
"Because you realize you aren't alone," Krude shrugged. "Now you wanna handle this nigga? You plotting something, or wanna freeball it? I'm good with either."
"You can't freeball anything with Robert," I said, shaking my head. "He's too calculated. He has plans for his plans, plans."
"You giving this nigga too much credit," Judge said.
"I wish I were," I replied as I watched Uri.
He still hadn't woken up. It'd only been a few days, but that was more than enough for me.
In that time, we'd barely scratched the surface of what Robert really had his hand in.
People in my cousin's inner circle weren't really friends.
The shooting was a lot more complex than originally thought.
Xoey was being investigated for who knows what, and people were scrambling.
I'd only left Uri's side twice. The first time to confront Micah Stone and Tulane, and the second to kill Lavender.
That was something I didn't see coming. Lavender was Krude's friend; a random confrontation in the middle of the road had brought her in.
Now we knew differently. She wasn't random. She worked for Robert.
Uri's door opened, and we all turned to see Bradon walk into the room. He looked tired, stressed, and annoyed, and I guess he had every right to feel all those things. His brother was trying to kill his nephew.
"No improvement?” He asked, and I shook my head. "You get any rest?" He shook my cousin's hands, then gave me a quick hug before sitting across from me.
"Did you?"
"No," he chuckled, then sat back. "I've been doing research. Checking then double-checking files and connections."
"Find anything interesting?"
"Robert covers his tracks well," he replied. "Cross and Nine are looking into some things for me, and I've put out some feelers as well in our old stomping ground. There's a name that keeps popping up, and I want to check on it. We have a meeting here soon."
"I'll go with you," Krude offered.
"I can handle it."
Krude laughed, then shook his head. "I think you thought that was an offer and not a requirement," he said. "I'm going to say it again, so you hear me correctly this time. I'm going with you."
"Krude..."
"He goes with you," I cut Bradon off before he could object. "We don't know who Robert has been working with, so it's better to be safe than sorry. Krude is known in Turner Row."
Bradon nodded, but I could tell by his facial expression he wasn't pleased. "Alright, let's go."
"Before you go, Bradon, I want you to look at something," I said before they left. He turned back to me and waited. I picked up my phone and pulled up my emails. Amethyst had emailed me the video of me as a kid. I pressed play and held it up for Bradon to see. "Who is that man?"
Bradon approached me, took my phone from my hand, and replayed the video three more times. He knew who the man was.
"I'll handle it," Bradon said, handing me the phone back. "Don’t worry about it."
"Who is he?" I asked again.
"I said I'll handle it."
"You have a hard time listening, I see," Krude said as he pushed the barrel of his gun into the side of Bradon's head. "It's a family thing, isn't it?"
"Probably," Bradon answered, unfazed by the gun to his head. "But I will advise you to not point a gun at me unless you plan to use it."
"Good thing I have every intention of using it," he replied.
"Now how and when are up to you. You could answer Corinthians' question, then kill some niggas in TR and, more than likely, grab a snack on the way back, or you could not answer it.
I knock the rocks loose in your ass, and when you wake up you answer her question, then we go to TR and kill folks.
Option 2 does not come with snacks for you though.
" By chance, Bradon's stomach growled, then I heard Judge chuckle.
"Looks like your stomach made its choice already. You gonna follow its lead?"
Bradon smirked, then nodded. "That's Four's grandpa," he said.
"Your father?"
"You can lower the gun now, Krude," Bradon told him.
"No, I can't lower my gun now, Bradon," Krude mocked him. "You just said that yo pappy is in on this shit too. Ain't no way this sick shit hit your entire family, and you just so happen to be the odd man out."
"I didn't say that was my father," he said, shaking his head. "I said it was Four's grandfather. That's his mama's daddy."