Page 116 of 4 Corinthians

“Judah, open the door,” I said from the kitchen. I looked at the security cameras and saw my family standing outside the door, waiting. I was in the middle of cooking and didn’t want to stop. He ran from the living room to the front door. I watched to see if he did what I taught him.

“Who is it?” Judah asked with his hand on the knob. No matter who told him to open the door, he always knew to ask if there was someone there.

“Silver Tooth Gang Member!” Krude yelled. “Open the door. I gotta pee!”

He looked over at me and lifted his brow. “You think if I wait, he will pee on himself?” he asked with a sneaky smile. The door shook, but Judah didn’t move.

“Why would you want Krude to pee on himself?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Because he told GiGi that I still wear pull-ups to sleep,” he told me. “Now she calls me Pampers at Karate.”

I dropped my head, not wanting my kid to see that I was laughing at him and shook it. “Open the door, Judah. I will talk to Krude about him telling GiGi that.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled. I looked up in time to see him open the door. Krude rushed into the house; Judah stuck his little foot out just as he passed him to trip him. Krude stumbled but didn’t fall.

“Silver Tooth, Ima jack you up later!” Krude yelled as he rushed to the bathroom down the hallway.

Judah laughed, dapped up my male cousins, hugged my women cousins, and then he and Deuce headed to his room to play. They wouldn’t come back out until they were ready to eat.

“Hey y’all!” I called from the kitchen. “The food is almost done. I need to put the corn on the grill.”

“You said the food would be done by the time we got here,” Krude fussed as he came back into the kitchen. He finished wiping his hands on a paper towel, then put it in the trash. “I came ready to eat, then take a nap on the couch.”

“I really wish you would stop thinking my couch is your favorite napping spot,” I said, shaking my head.

“First off, it's not my favorite,” he said, then went to the fridge. “It’s like in my top ten, but it ain’t the number one spot.”

“Whose got the number one spot?”

“Oh, Megan’s titties are my favorite place to nap,” he answered as he took a water bottle out and opened it. “I get my best sleep there.”

“Please stop asking him questions,” Judge said from his seat in the living room.

“Don’t matter if y’all ask me; I’ma still tell y'all,” Krude replied. And he was right, because most of the time we didn’t ask, and he still ran his damn mouth. “Now for why we are here.” He sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen. “You dating Stutter?”

“I…don’t know….” I slowly said as I finished making the salad. I wasn’t putting a label on something without talking to Uri first. Did he act like we were dating? Yes. But we hadn’t made anything official, nor had I talked to Judah about the possibility of me having a boyfriend. Not that I needed his permission, but I wasn’t blind to the fact that our lives would change if I did. It had always been us; adding another person to the dynamic would be an adjustment.

“It doesn’t matter what you say, that nigga already said y’all together,” Krude said. I looked up in time to see him wave me off.

“He said what? When?” I asked, confused as hell.

“Stutter came through, sat us down, explained to us that y’all were together, and that was it.” Krude shrugged. “He said if he ever did anything to hurt you, we wouldn’t have to worry about killing him because he’d kill himself.” He drank some of his water then set the bottle on the island. “He hella dramatic just so that you know.”

“When did this conversation take place?” I asked, looking around the room. No one said anything. “Hello?”

“It doesn’t matter, just know we talked to him,” Krude answered. “All of us, and yes, before you ask, that includes Madea, OG, and Psalms.”

I looked over at Bug to see her sitting in the corner of my couch. She laughed, then nodded. Besides Judah’s, hers was the only other blessing I needed.

“Now, how much longer is this food going to take? I’m hungry,” Krude said, then clapped.

A few hours later, once my cousins, sister, and Judah, who had decided he was spending the night with Deuce, were gone and I’d cleaned up, I was standing on Four’s porch waiting for him to open the door. Knowing that he had talked to my family meant something. I pressed the doorbell, stepped back, and crossed my arms.

Seconds later, the front door opened, and he stood on the other side with a smile on his face. “Hey,” he greeted me, then opened the door for me to come in. I walked into the house and went straight into his arms. Uri held me close, and I rested my head on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat sped up, but his bracelet didn’t sound off. I looked down to see the green light rapidly flashing, but that’s it.

“Why isn’t your bracelet going off?” I asked, touching the small device.

“Nine muted the sound,” he answered with a chuckle.