Chapter 38 Yale
Chapter thirty-eight
Yale
“No!” The scream that erupted from Corinthians made everyone stop. I turned to see her pulling against Gift with tears in her eyes as she tried to get to Four. “Move! Let me go!”
“I can’t, sis,” he said, holding on to her as Galaxy and Hood worked on him. It was bad, really bad, and my heart broke for her. “Corinthians, sis, come on!”
“Uri!” she yelled, not caring about what Gift was saying to her. “Uri, get your fucking ass up! Get up!”
“Gift, get her out of here, man!” Hood yelled as he pulled his jacket off and rolled up his sleeve. “She doesn’t need to see this.”
“No!” Corinthians yelled, still fighting against Gift.
He could’ve easily picked her up, but he’d underestimated a heartbroken woman and her ability to fight.
Moving faster than he expected, she kicked him on the side of the knee, which made his leg buckle, and she pushed him to the ground.
Her blade appeared out of nowhere and was against Gift’s throat before he could blink.
“I’m going to ask you nicely because I know how much your friendship means to him, but don’t put your got damn hands on me again. No one, and I mean no one, touches me.”
“Corinthians,” Psalms called out to her sister as she slowly approached her. She held the bottom of her dress in one hand, and the other was raised to show she wasn’t a threat. “Big sis, look at me, not at them.”
“I can’t lose him,” Corinthians cried. “I-I-I can’t lose him.”
“I know, baby,” Psalms said, nodding. “And they are trying to make sure you won’t, but you have to move the knife from Gift’s neck. He isn’t the problem right now; he didn’t do anything.”
“I can’t lose him, Psalms,” she cried, shaking her head. “He saved me. He protected me.”
“I know, baby.” She stopped walking and extended her hand. “And I swear to you that you won’t, but you have to give me the knife.” She motioned for the knife and smiled. “Give me the knife, Corinthians, and let Gift go.”
“I got a pulse!” Galaxy yelled, and I took a deep breath.
“You heard Galaxy, right?” Psalms said. “They have a pulse, he isn’t dead. Now give me the knife and let Gift go.”
“Mommy?” Judah called out from the steps, and I turned to see him looking around. When his eyes landed on Four, I knew this shit was about to go from bad to worse. A heartbroken Corinthians was one thing, but a broken Judah would have the entire DeCorte line out for blood. “Four!”
“Ex! Get him!” Psalms said without taking her eyes off her sister. “Krude! I don’t care who does it, but somebody get him.”
I started to move because none of the other DeCortes were around, but stopped when a man I’d never seen before stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Judah.
“Oh shit,” Xoey said, coming to stand next to me. “Why did he do that?”
“Mommy!” Judah yelled, and this time the panic in his voice made Corinthians turn from watching them work on Four to her son. “Mommy!”
“Get your hands off my son!” Corinthians yelled and pushed away from Gift. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
Psalms turned to see her nephew being brought down the stairs, and her anger matched her sister’s.
She reached under her dress, pulled out a knife, and twirled it between her fingers with a sinister smile.
I heard the fellas joke about the sisters being off, but seeing them walking in unison, with the same look of determination, made even the hair on the back of my neck stand up. They were truly touched.
“Oh hell, the ghetto power rangers are about to show out,” Krude said from beside me. “Somebody find Ex! I can’t handle both their asses at the same time!” He looked around and threw his hands into the air. “Exodus!”
“My man is over there bleeding out, and you decided this would be the perfect time to touch my son?” Corinthians asked in the calmest voice I’d ever heard.
There was no doubt in my mind that every warning bell in the man’s head was going off, and if they weren’t, they needed to be.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” She tilted to the side, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched another car pull up.
And another man I’d never seen got out of the car.
I’d been gone six months, and so much had happened.
“What the fuck happened?” The second man yelled as he looked around. I remembered him from when Grant died. He was the FBI agent who had pissed Gift off. Kenbral something. “Gentle, what the fuck happened?”
“I don’t know,” the first man said, still watching the sisters as they approached him. “Corinthians, Psalms, let me explain.”
“Explain?” they said in unison.
“Judah, go limp, baby,” Corinthians said, and instantly, Judah did what his mother said. Gentle wasn’t expecting it, and at that moment of trying not to drop him, Corinthians launched her knife, and it went into his shoulder.
“I swear I love this fucking family,” Xoey laughed and shook her head. “I feel sorry for Gentle, though, because they are going to kill him for touching Judah.”
“You know who he is?” I asked. Xoey looked at me and smirked. “Of course you do.”
Gentle set Judah on his feet, and Judah took off running to his mama and auntie while Gentle pulled the knife from his shoulder. “I see why he is in love with your crazy ass,” he said, then chuckled. “But next time, aim for the neck. You’ll do more damage.”
“I did exactly what I needed to do,” Corinthians smirked.
“You won’t see tomorrow.” Gentle swayed on his feet, then grabbed the wall to steady himself.
“The first mistake you made was touching him.” She pointed to Judah, who was now standing between her and Psalms. “The second was underestimating me and the third was thinking you would live to talk about it.”
“He asked us to come,” Gentle mumbled as he continued to sway. He was fighting whatever Corinthians’ blade was dipped in, but I had no doubt he was going to lose.
“Who?”
“I’m, I’m, I’m,” Gentle tried to answer, but couldn’t. “Four--”
“What about him?” Corinthians questioned. She turned around to look at Four, but he was gone, along with Hood and Galaxy. She looked around, searching for him.
Nine came out of the building, scowling, carrying his son, Deuce, and his wife, Cross, who was holding their daughter, Love. He looked at Gentle in disgust, shook his head, but didn’t stop walking. He approached Corinthians. “We need to go. Four is on his way to the hospital.”
“Who took him?” she asked as she grabbed Judah’s hand and turned to leave. Nine looked at her, shook his head, then turned back to his wife.
“Tell her,” Cross said, shaking her head.
“His brother Kenbral took him,” Nine answered as he opened the truck door for Cross, then went to the back door, opened it, and put Deuce inside. “He called me a few seconds ago. They are on the way to the hospital with Hood and Galaxy.” Cross got in the front seat with Love in her arms.
“His brother?” Corinthians questioned, and Nine nodded. “He has a brother?”
“Uncle Trey,” Judah said, nodding. All the adults stopped talking and stared at him. “Four said if anything happened, call his brother, Uncle Trey. He said that he’d help even though Nine wouldn’t like it. He said call Uncle Trey.”
“And Eight,” Deuce chimed in. “He said you would be pissed, Daddy, but that Eight and Trey could help.”
“He told you about Eight?” Nine asked Deuce, who nodded. Nine bit into his bottom lip, then slapped the top of his truck. “Fuck!”
“Wait!” Psalms said, shaking her head. “You have a brother? His name is what? And what number is he?” She looked at Nine.
“His name is Gentle, but we call him Eight.”
“And Four’s brother is who?”
“Kenbral, but we call him Trey,” Nine sighed.
“Listen, I don’t have time for the family drama right now.
I need to get to the hospital. Tell me what the fuck is going on, on the way,” Corinthians said, shaking her head.
She helped Judah into the truck, then turned to Psalms. “Follow us, figure out how to get in contact with Eight or Trey or whatever fucking mystery number he is, and get him here.”
“You won’t have to search far,” Nine said, closing the door once Corinthians was in the car. “That’s him over there, but I hope whatever her knife was dipped in kills his ass.”
“That’s him?” Psalms said, looking over at Eight, then back at Nine.
“My older brother,” Nine answered, then rounded the car. “But you can let that nigga die for all I care.” He opened his door, got inside, and his truck roared to life before he pulled off.
“Daddy, that’s Mr. G!” Deuce said when Nine got in the car. “My teacher, Mr. G!”
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the introduction to more fucking Numbers,” Xoey said, then walked away, shaking her head.