Page 139 of 4 Corinthians

“Postpartum ain’t no joke,” I told her, nodding. I’d forgotten to ask Nine about looking into Cori’s baby daddy, but now she was giving me the opening to ask her about him. “You have a good village though. I know your people stepped in and helped out, but what about his father?” Just putting a title on a nigga that I had yet to see or hear about fucked with me. To me, Judah was mine.

“It wasn’t PPD,” she softly replied. “I mean, no, I take that back, it was but…”

“You don’t have to explain,” I told her. I plated the salmon, then turned off the stove and moved the pan. “Just as long as you are good now, that’s all that matters.”

“I am,” she said. “I go to therapy; hell, I’ve been in therapy most of my life.” She laughed. “Madea and Granddaddy didn’t give a damn about the funny looks they got for taking us to therapy when we were kids. She said we needed to figure out how to handle our emotions, thoughts, and feelings. We weren’t angry, well at least I don’t think my cousins were, but I was.”

“Your anger was different though,” I told her. I took everything we needed from the fridge. “You and Psalms had every right to be angry.”

“I know that now,” she agreed. “But back then?” she shook her head. “I felt like I was drowning, yet the room was empty. As a kid I was so fucked up, just lost, scared.” Her eyes watered, and she smiled sadly. “I was scared for everyone around me. Robert, he took not only my parents but my aunts and uncles. I watched my grandparents mourn their children quietly but love us loudly. It was so exhausting, emotionally, I mean. I knew I was supposed to be sad my parents were gone, but I wasn’t. By the time they were killed, I hated them, wished death on them more times than I can remember. I cried when I found out they were dead, but not because they were gone. I cried because I thought I was going to be free. But then Robert and Logan showed up to their funeral.” She laughed and shook her head. “They showed up, and Robert reminded me that he would never be too far away. That I would always be his.”

“That wasn’t true,” I quickly told her. I stepped back around the island and went to pull her into my arms, but she held up her hand to stop me. “Cori, what Robert said, what he did, it was a power move to scare a little girl. You were a kid.”

“Who’d already been through hell, Uri,” she reminded me. “Robert was the boogie man to me, the scary thing that lived under my bed.”

“I know,” I told her because I did. I understood her fear. “But your grandparents wouldn’t have ever let him get to you. They would’ve protected you.”

“Baby, Robert had already killed my parents after he promised me he would if I ever told anyone what he was doing to me. I don’t know what happened or what had my parents and him spooked, but right before they were killed, he asked me if I told them what was going on. I said I did. I don’t know why I did, but I did. Robert promised me that he would kill them.”

“He didn’t.”

“Nope, he didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “He killed my parents, aunts and uncles instead. My lying was their death sentence. As a kid, that shit fucked with my brain so much that I didn’t talk for a few years. I thought if I were quiet, they would still be here.”

“Damn baby, I’m sorry.” I wrapped her up in a hug, kissed the top of her head, and let her cry. The burden Cori carried was never meant for her; she shouldn’t have ever been put in the situation she’d been placed in, but she was. And she carried that shit like a champ.

After she finished crying, I let her go, wiped her face, then kissed her. The kiss was supposed to be simple, just reassurance that she wasn’t alone, but the second our lips touched, I wasn’t letting up. Cori had the same mindset because she wrapped her arms around my neck and pushed her tongue into my mouth. I pulled her from the chair; her legs went around my waist, and I held her in my arms.

I adjusted her in my arms, cupping her ass, and walked her to the wall. The only thought I had in my mind was getting inside her. I pulled back enough to kiss along her jaw and used my free hand to push my shorts down enough to free my dick. The black t-shirt she wore barely covered her ass, and I felt how wet her pussy was against my stomach. This was one of the many times I hated having CIPA. I could feel pleasure, her pussy wrapping around my dick; hell, I could feel everything about her pussy but the warmth. My pleasure sensors were active and alert the moment I pushed into her. That drove me, and the fact that I was pleasing Cori.

I lined my dick up to her opening and slowly pushed into her. She moaned and looked at the ceiling, giving me the perfect opportunity to bite, kiss, and suck on her throat.

“Uri,” Cori moaned as I moved. Her pussy held on to my dick in a way that I never experienced. I never wanted her to let go. “Oh shit.” She held onto my shoulders, bouncing on my dick. She was so fucking beautiful. I sped up my movements, wanting to hear her moan louder. The sound of bodies smacking against each other was the second best sound I heard. “Uri!”

“I love you, Cori,” I said into her ear. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held on. Her head rested on my shoulder, and she nodded. “You hear me? You are the perfect example of strength and love. Everything that was done to you didn’t break you. You hear me? Whatever the fuck you thought was going to break you didn’t. And now I’m here. I got you from here on out. No matter what.” I reached between our bodies, pushed into her clit, and I felt her legs start to shake. “I’m here, baby; let that shit go.”

“Uri!” she moaned, and I felt her squirt. That’d never happened before, but now I was addicted to wanting that feeling again. My bracelet started to beep, and I increased my speed. My orgasm followed, damn near knocking me off my feet. I braced myself against the wall with my hand, mindful not to drop Cori.

After I got myself together, I turned, still with her in my arms, and lowered us to the ground. Cori didn’t let go. That was something I noticed with her. She never let me go, no matter what it was.

***

After we had sex, I had a business call to take, so while I did that, she showered. I jumped in after I finished the call, then we ate, sat on the couch, and watched a movie until she fell asleep. I worked on my phone, looking over the numbers to surprise her with another building. Cori wanted to expand her business, and I was down for it. It was nothing to buy her another building, but I knew she would never go for that, so I had to present it to her like a business plan.

“Hello?” I answered the phone. Cori lay on my chest, sound asleep.

“Uri.” My body went cold at the sound of Robert’s voice. I don’t know what I expected him to sound like after all these years, but nothing had changed. “I heard you’ve been looking for me, son.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Alright,” he chuckled. “What would you like me to call you? Uri, or you go by Four now, right? That’s what your friends call you. Four, the quiet one, that stutters.” He laughed again, this one full and real like he heard a joke. “Almost perfect still, huh?”

“What the fuck do you want?” I tried to move, but Cori held on to me. Her legs wrapped around me and her face buried into my chest.

“To meet,” he said. “I know you’ve been looking for me. I think it’s time we sat down and had a discussion man to man.”

“When and where?”

“I’ll be in touch with that information,” he said, then hung up.