Page 169 of 4 Corinthians

“I have the code; that means my invite is open.” She waved him off without looking at him. “Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, let’s go.” She stood, smoothed her skirt, then turned to Pyrite. “I will be back to talk to you about that shit with Xion and his little girlfriend. Something is bugging me about all this.”

“It’s Xion…”

“This feels different,” she said, shaking her head. Xoey had a rocky relationship with her brother Xion, but lately she said things felt off. She swore he was watching her a little too hard, asking questions and showing interest when he shouldn’t. She also mentioned being followed a few times over the last week or so.

“Alright, Xoey,” he said, nodding. “I’ll call Nine and Cross and ask one of them to meet with us too.”

“Oh, my second favorite serial killer couple,” she smiled and clapped. “I love them.”

“Second favorite?” Pyrite asked with a laugh. “Who replaced them?”

“You’ll have to figure it out since you said everything isn’t a love story,” she replied. She looked at me, lifted her brow, then smirked. “You ready?”

“Let’s go, Xoey,” I chuckled, then stood. “Catch you later, Pyrite.”

“Later.”

***

Xoey had Javien Jr. tied to a pole in the middle of the room. He sat next to it, his head resting against it, eyes barely open. He wasn’t beaten too badly. Just a few bruises, his left eye swollen and cuts along his face. His arms were covered with cuts as well. This wasn’t too bad for Xoey. More than likely, she was fucking with the nigga, the torture was light, more of a mind game than physical. But there was no doubt in my mind it would turn physical, and when it did, he would wish she never walked into the room.

I sat in a chair by the door, waiting. Xoey promised to give us privacy. So whatever I said to Javien Jr. would stay between us.

“Do you know why I’m here?” I finally asked him.

“Yes.”

I appreciated that he wasn’t playing dumb.

“Why?”

“Robert sent you,” he replied, then lifted his head from the pole to look at me as best as he could. “He said he would send his son when he was done with me.” He chuckled, then coughed. “I thought he meant the other one. The one that’s always with him, not you.”

I kept my face void of all emotion, but it was fucking with me that he said Trey was always with him. Trey said he hadn’t seen Robert more than once or twice over the years.

“So, you’ve always known who I was?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “From the moment I saw you. You don’t look like the nigga, but y’all exactly alike. Mean, calculated, obsessed with the same bitch.” He rested his head against the pole and smiled. Half his teeth were missing. “I seen her, heard her cry and shit, so I get it, but she ain’t my type.” He shook his head. “Robert though?” he looked over at me. “That nigga loves her.”

“It ain’t love,” I corrected him.

“Yeah, it is,” Javion nodded. “That nigga loves her.” He coughed, then spit a glob of blood onto the floor. “Just kill me so I can sleep.” He stretched his long legs out in front of him. “I ain’t the nigga you after anyway. I wasn’t in the room that night.”

“But you know about it?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Even seen the video of it,” he smiled again.

“There’s a video?”

“Isaac got it. Robert doesn’t know he has it, though.” He closed his eyes. “He played it a few times for me. Hearing her cry and shit.” He nodded. “It’s nice. Made me step my game up on my videos. The video of my baby mama and me is the only one that tops it in my opinion. That’s a masterpiece, and my jit is the evidence of it.”

“Thank you,” I said, standing.

Javien Jr. opened his eyes. “Wait, you ain’t gonna kill me?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Why not? Didn’t Robert send you to do it?”