Page 189 of 4 Corinthians

“Nah.” I put my hands in my pockets. “Say it.”

“I feel pretty with you,” she said, and I nodded.

“Go on.”

“Before…” she sighed. “No, that’s not the right word because I don’t remember a before you. Let's say while you weren’t around.”

“I was always around; you just didn’t see me,” I corrected her.

Cori nodded. “Okay, so not around, let’s say behind the scenes?” she suggested, and I shrugged. “While you were behind the scenes, I didn’t try to get attention from men. I kept my head down. Not that I was insecure because I always knew I was attractive; I didn’t like the attention because of Robert.”

“Go on.”

“I didn’t want people looking at me, especially after the assault. The thought of someone touching or wanting to be near me was too much. If they weren’t family, then I didn’t want to be around them. At the shop, I had a strict no-flirting rule. If it was crossed, they weren’t allowed back.”

“I saw the sign,” I told her. “I took it down.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m aware; I saw the video feed,” she replied with a smirk. “I always wondered why you did that.”

“Because I flirt with you every time I walk into the shop,” I answered with a shrug. “And if a nigga is bold enough to flirt with you knowing you got a nigga, then they deserve to die.”

“What if they don’t know?”

“They know,” I told her. “Trust me. Ain’t no doubt in any niggas mind when he sees you that you got a nigga.”

“What if he’s a new client?” she asked.

“Death.”

“Blind?”

“What the hell does he need his hair cut for then?” I asked her. My brows creased in the middle. “You could be fucking up his line, and he wouldn’t even know. Nigga dumb as hell if he blind and he got somebody he doesn’t know cutting his shit. You could have him out here looking a damn mess.”

“First off, the only person I’ve ever fucked up is Krude, and that was because he was fucking with my baby,” she said. “And Granddaddy, but that was a long time ago.”

“What did he do to Judah?” I asked, already thinking of ways to get him back.

“It was a long time ago,” she repeated. I slowly blinked, not saying a word because my question still stood. “Uri!”

“Cori.”

“You’re making my life difficult right now,” she sighed, then licked her pretty as lips.

“I’m not, but go back to thinking you were going to be corny,” I told her. “Explain that shit for me.”

“I don’t want to anymore,” she said, shaking her head.

I closed the space between us, pulling her to me by her wet belt loop. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to,” she replied.

I let go of her belt loop and picked her up. Cori’s legs went around my waist, and I held her. “You ain’t corny, so tell me.”

She cupped my face in her hands, and her pretty-ass eyes searched mine. “You make me feel pretty, Uri,” she finally said. “You’re the only person who’s ever made me feel pretty, or that I wanted to be pretty for.”

“That don’t make you corny, Cori,” I told her. Her eyes filled with tears. “Them happy tears, right?”

“Yes,” she answered, then kissed me. It was slow but filled with passion and possessiveness. Her soft moan had my dick hard again, but this time I didn’t pull back. I walked us to the wall, and I rested her back against the wall. She wasn’t heavy, but I wanted the added support to hold her small ass. She pulled back, pecking my lips. “Your monitor is beeping.”