Page 23 of 4 Corinthians

“Uri,” Robert said, pointing to me. “This is for him.”

“I thought so.” Jonathan chuckled, then closed the door. “Room number nineteen.”

Robert grabbed the back of my shirt and pushed me down the hallway. When we got to room nineteen, he opened it and walked inside. A woman sat on the bed, her hair wild; she wore only panties and a bra, and she could barely keep her eyes open.

“Josie,” Robert said.

Josie looked up, smiled, then stood. “Robert, you came,” she said. It took me a minute, but then I realized I’d seen her before. She wasn’t a woman; she was a girl. She was Robert’s first pet. She was around for a long time, then suddenly she was gone. “I missed you.” She put her arms out for a hug, took a step forward, and Robert pushed her back.

“Do not touch me,” he said, shaking his head. “I am here as a customer. We have no connection.”

“I want to be your pet again,” Josie whined. “I will be a good girl and listen.”

“Josie.” Robert chuckled and shook his head. “I have moved on, got a new pet. You are where you belong.”

“But-“

“No buts,” he cut her off. “Get on your knees.” Josie did what she was told and dropped to her knees. “Please Uri.” He snapped at her, and she crawled over to me.

Her hands went to my pants, and she unzipped them, then pulled my penis from my boxers.

“What are you doing?” I asked, pushing her away, but Josie didn’t stop. She kept coming towards me until my back was against the wall and I had nowhere to go. Seeing that I was going to fight, Robert opened the door, and two security guards walked into the room.

“Restrain him until she is finished,” he told them, then walked out the door.

The security guards grabbed me and held my hands against the wall, and Josie grabbed my penis again.

“Just enjoy it, Uri,” she said as she rubbed my penis in her hands. “I will make you feel good, and Robert will let me be his pet again.”

“No!” I yelled as she put my penis in her mouth. I couldn’t feel what she was doing on the outside of my skin, but the inside started to tingle, and my body jerked. I hated this. I’d never felt anything, and now I was feeling something that made my body shake. “Let me go, Josie.” She shook her head and kept my penis in her mouth. The more she moved, the better the feeling was. It didn’t matter that she was making me feel things; the only thing I could do was cry. “Please stop.”

Corinthians

Isat in the back of the closet, and I could hear my mama and daddy moving downstairs. They thought I was asleep because I’d been so quiet, but I wasn’t. I was waiting; I knew they would be talking in the kitchen tonight. Over the last year, that’s what they did: meet in the kitchen, talk, Daddy would yell, sometimes hit Mama, and then they’d go to bed.

“She’s going with him next weekend,” Daddy told Mama. “His payment went through; school will be out; she needs to go.”

“She’s a baby, Ruben,” Mama cried. I wanted to say I hated knowing that she was crying, but I didn’t. Her tears weren’t for anyone but herself. “She can't do what he’s asking of her.”

“She can and will,” Daddy replied. “She’s been taking lessons. She knows how to treat him, what he does or doesn’t like. I won't put this off any longer.”

“But she’s-“

“I said she’s going!” he yelled. The sound of him hitting her echoed, and I smirked. There was nothing funny, but I wanted someone else to feel pain besides me. “Psalms is our last option. The debt-“

“Your debt,” she told him. “It’s your debt. You gambled that money away. You got caught up in this lifestyle. Your daddy told you to stay in your lane, but you wanted more. Not me.”

“So, you had no part in this?” he asked with a chuckle. “You weren’t spending the money? What about those clothes, that car in the driveway, or those damn rings on your finger?”

“Let me go, Ruben,” she said, sounding as if she were crying. “Let me go!”

“Answer the question! If it were just my debt, how do you explain all this shit?” He laughed, and it sounded like someone had fallen. “You are pathetic.”

“I’m not pathetic. I’m worried about my daughters. Our daughters. They are children. You have Corinthians fighting and Psalms? Ruben, you sold our daughters to monsters!”

“They aren’t sold,” he dismissively said. “You see them all the time. You can spend time with them. You are still their mother, but you choose not to be. You could be preparing Psalms for this weekend. You could have tended to every bruise, cut, or whatever Corinthians came home with after a fight, but you chose not to. You decided not to be their mother the moment the check was deposited into our accounts. I told you what Robert was up to. I ain’t ever lied to you about shit, Angel. Not once. I told you I spent time with him and his brothers. That our business wasn’t always on the up and up, and you were cool with it until it came knocking at your door. Stop all that fuckin’ crying now because you're realizing this lifestyle comes with sacrifices. There are no victims in this shit! What’s done is done.”

“And when Psalms comes back broken, then what? You already broke Corinthians; she will never be the same. Psalms isn’t too far behind her! She’s going to be his fucking plaything. The shit Jonathan is going to do to her is going to change her forever.”