Page 133 of 4 Corinthians

“Wait, I thought you said it happened the day you picked him up,” she asked. “Why did it take him a few days to find it?”

“Because it didn’t happen the day they said,” I told her. Her face twisted in confusion. “It happened almost two weeks prior.”

“Then why the fuck didn’t they say something then?”

“I don’t know,” I told her. “All I know is they presented it like it happened that day. Judah acted like it happened that day too.” I wiped my hand over my face. “We will get back to that part later. Back to what Nine found.”

“Right, so he found the day it happened, and what did he see?”

I told her everything, including the parts about Judah having to sit down every time his class went outside for PE.

“So wait,” she said, putting her hand up. “You’re telling me the muthafucka that is hanging in the warehouse is the same muthafucka from the video? That my baby karate instructor showed up at his school and Judah didn’t say anything?”

“Yeah.”

Cori laughed; it wasn’t sincere; it was angry and full of rage. “I need to talk to my son,” she said, reaching for the door handle.

I reached across her and held the door closed. “Not until you calm down,” I told her. “Judah is going to think you are mad at him or that he’s in the wrong. If you go in there pissed, he’s going to shut down.”

“I’m not mad at my kid Uri,” she yelled, shaking her head. “I’m mad at myself for letting a muthafucka get close to him and I not know it.”

“I know that,” I told her. “But all he is going to see is you’re mad and think it’s something wrong. You gotta calm down first.”

“Or I can get out of this car, get into mine and go to the warehouse and kill Orlando fucking Miller for trying me,” she announced, and damn if my dick didn’t get hard. I knew it wasn’t supposed to but seeing her go from worried to ready to fuck a nigga up over our son was the mother I knew she would be.

“Baby,” I chuckled and shook my head. “You gotta breathe.”

“I am breathing!” she fussed. “You see my chest rising and falling, right? That’s me fucking breathing. Now move your got damn hand out of my way before I break your thumb.”

“I ain’t gonna feel it,” I reminded her. Cori cut her eyes at me, and I returned her glare. She wasn’t about to punk me. “Chill.”

“Uri-“

“Chill out, Corinthians,” I told her, and she shut her mouth. “I’m going to handle this. Not you and not because I don’t think you can. I know you can; that ain’t the point. The point is you shouldn’t have to. That’s my fuckin’ son in that house. You are my woman. As your man, it's my job to take care of any and every problem y’all have. You aren’t to stress about a fuckin’ thing. It’s my job to show Judah how to be a man. Ain’t no other nigga supposed to do that but me, his fuckin’ daddy. When he grown and handling his own shit we ain’t gonna have to worry about if he’s making the right choices because we are going to know that we raised him right.” I moved my hand from the door and cupped her face. “Do you understand what I am telling you?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Good, now let me go talk to my son, figure this shit out, then go kill the nigga who thought it was a good idea to try his parents.”

“Okay.”

I pulled her face to me and kissed her, then let her go.

Corinthians

Iexpected Uri to go straight into the house and ask Judah about Orlando, but he didn’t. He went in, had dinner with my grandparents, and then took us back to the hotel. After Judah showered, we all sat in the living room playing Mario Kart before it was time for Judah to go to bed.

“Judah?” Uri called his name, and Judah looked up at him. “I got a question for you.”

“Okay.” He stood and moved his upper body to the side as he steered his car. He quickly looked over his shoulder at Uri when he didn’t say anything. “What’s up, Four?”

“It’s about what your teachers told me the other day when I came to pick you up at school,” Uri told him. I watched as Judah’s shoulders dropped and he slowly sat down. “Your PE teacher said you opened the gate.”

“I didn’t,” Judah quickly denied. “It was already open. He was standing there.”

“Who was it, Judah?” Uri asked.

Judah looked from Uri to me, and I nodded. He was scared, I could tell, but I could also see the relief in his eyes. He wanted to tell but hadn’t for some reason. I always tried to make sure Judah knew he could tell me anything. Uri paused the game, set the controller down, and gave Judah his full attention.