Page 68 of 4 Corinthians

“Church?” I played dumb.

“I know I told you her granddaddy was a big-time pastor,” he replied. “Street nigga turned pastor.”

“Oh, he on the up and up?”

“Fuck no,” Nine laughed. His attention was still on the program that monitored my vitals. “He a killer, raised some killer grandkids.”

“All of them killers?”

“Capable of killing, yes, but no, not all of them kill. Corinthians, the one that’s pregnant? She doesn’t kill. Cross said something about she got bullied when she was younger because she didn’t talk or something like that. She’s quiet, not shy, just quiet. So, everyone was surprised when she turned up pregnant.”

“I bet,” I said, nodding. “I meant to tell you; I’m going out of town next week.”

“Work or looking into something for Unc?”

“Both,” I told him.

“You need some help?” he asked, looking up from the laptop.

“Nah, I got this one.”

“Alright.”

***

She’d cut her hair. Gone were the mid-back-length big curls that she didn’t try to tame. Now she wore a short cut; I want to say they called it a Pixie cut, but I wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter because she was beautiful. I stepped back when she turned her client in her chair and moved around him. She couldn’t see me from across the street, but I was still cautious. I took my phone from my pocket and looked over my email. There was no man in her life. Who the father of her baby was, was unknown. I looked up again; she didn’t have a baby bump either. My report said she was close to four months. She’d gotten pregnant around the time we found Six. I let out a deep breath. Six; that was a fucked-up situation that I still couldn’t wrap my head around. But she was home, safe, still a little shaken up but getting better. I’d spent so much time looking for her and then dealing with the aftermath that I let Corinthians slip into the back of my mind. That’d never happened before. And by doing so I’d missed something major. She was about to become some lucky ass kids’ parent.

I licked my lips and continued to watch her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother sit down next to me. I didn’t tell Nine that we spoke. That Trey reached out to me after we got Six back home and explained everything. He was my brother; I would always answer the phone for him, no matter what. We shared a history that contained too much pain to ever turn my back on him.

“I guess you heard,” he said.

“Yeah,” I answered. There was no reason for me to pretend that he didn’t know I still looked after Cori. He’d always known. “Do you know who the daddy is?”

I looked over at him to see his jaw twitch as he bit down. “Nah,” he finally answered. “No clue.”

“You sure?” I asked, and he nodded. I wiped my hand over my mouth. “She alright?”

“Pregnancy probably whoopin’ her ass,” he replied.

I turned back to watch her. Cori was beautiful. Her skin glowed; when she smiled, it was infectious, and if I was ever lucky enough to hear her laugh, it made me smile. But her eyes always gave her away, no matter what her outward appearance showed. And they were doing it right now. She was sad. Something was wrong.

“Robert been around?” I asked, looking around.

“Nah, he sends me,” Trey answered. “He asks for weekly reports.”

“You told him she’s pregnant?”

“No,” he quickly said, shaking his head. “I’m going to keep that from him as long as I can.”

“Good,” I replied, resting my elbows on my thighs and watching her. I wondered what her baby would look like. Would it be a little girl? And have her mama's pretty eyes and stubborn attitude. Or a boy and be the best man in the world? Respectful and polite, but didn’t play about the women in his life? I knew she would be a good mama; she’d do everything she wanted her mama and daddy to do. She’d protect her baby at all costs. They would never question if she loved them. It would be the easiest thing she ever did because it would be natural.

We sat in silence.

“How is Six?” Trey finally asked. He looked over at me, and I could see the regret in his eyes. “She, okay?”

“She’s getting there,” I told him, nodding. “She’s moving.”

“Unc okay with that?”