Page 184 of 4 Corinthians

“Yeah, my therapist said it’s because of anxiety. That more than likely I would have done it anyway, but it’s more pronounced because of the shit I went through.”

“You’re doing good now though.”

“You asking or telling me?”

“A little bit of both,” I replied. “You haven’t stuttered in a while.”

“Nah, I haven’t,” he agreed. “And I got you to thank for that.” He lifted our hands and kissed mine. “Now back to my plan.”

“You’re going to kill everyone.”

“Yeah.” He stopped at a red light, and I looked over at him. The red light sparkled against his eyes, and I smiled. He was beautiful. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you love me,” he answered with a smirk.

“If I did that, then I would have to never look at you again,” I told him.

Uri smiled, then leaned against the center console to kiss me. It was soft, slow, and deliberately sexy. His tongue chased mine, and he stole my breath. He used his free hand to wrap around my throat, to pull me close. My hand went to his wrist. My heart slammed against my chest. Since he’d accidentally choked me, he had been mindful of not touching my throat. I expected to be scared, but I wasn’t; in fact, it was the opposite. I was excited and turned on.

“Sorry,” he said, pulling back from the kiss. He tried to move his hand from my throat.

“No,” I quickly said, sounding out of breath. “It’s okay.”

His brows creased in the middle. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, shaking his head.

I put his hand back on my throat, then kissed him, nibbling on his bottom lip like he’d done earlier. “You won't,” I said, then kissed him with all the passion and love I felt. “I trust you.” He pushed his tongue into my mouth, and I moaned at the invasion.

Uri pulled back, rested his forehead against mine, and took a deep breath. His bracelet beeped and my phone alerted me to his increased heart rate. He closed his eyes, his nostrils flared, and he took another deep breath. “After I kill everyone, I’m going to marry you. I don’t care what kind of wedding you want, big, small, in the air or the ocean. It doesn’t fucking matter. As long as when I close my eyes that night, you’re wearing my ring. I want you to have my last name, but I understand if you don’t want to carry it because of Robert. My name is going on Judah’s birth certificate. I will follow your lead on ever explaining to him who I am to him biologically but know I’m his daddy forever. Even after I die, I’m Judah’s daddy. And if you want to have more kids, cool. We can do that. I ain’t gonna lie, I’m scared that they’ll have CIPA too. But that’s my hangup, not theirs. If you don’t want more kids, I’m good with that too. I’ll spend the rest of my life loving on y’all no matter what. But that’s my game plan so far, just so you know.”

“I like the sound of that plan,” I said, then kissed him again.

We didn’t care about the cars honking at us because we were holding up traffic. When we separated, I sat back in my seat and tried to catch my breath. Uri adjusted in his seat, and I could see his dick long, hard, and pushing against his shorts.

A white Charger pulled up alongside us and revved its engine. Uri lazily turned his head to look out the window, and the Charger’s engine revved again. Uri didn’t move, just watched the car. The driver revved it two more times, then drove through the red light.

“VMS-803,” I said, reading the license plate.

“That’s the second time we’ve seen that car,” Uri said, and I nodded. “That ain’t a coincidence.”

“Nope.” I looked over at him. His jaw muscles twitched from him clenching his jaw so hard. I reached across the center console and ran my fingers through his stubble. “I’m going to handle it, though.”

And I believed him.

***

I got out of my car to see my cousins and sister sitting on our grandparents’ porch. They looked tired, like life had beaten their asses over the past few days, and to a degree it had. Since finding out what Psalms and I had gone through as kids, my phone has been ringing nonstop. They wanted names, locations, possible connections. Their questions were valid, never accusatory or demeaning.

They wanted revenge.

“Took you long enough to get here,” Exodus said.

“How did you know I was coming?” I asked, locking my car doors. I approached the porch but didn’t move to go up the steps. I still didn’t know how I felt about being here, but I knew I needed to talk to my grandparents.

“Four,” Psalms answered. I looked over at her and lifted my brow. She nodded, and I turned around to see his truck pulling up.

Uri parked his truck, got out, and leaned against it. When I left the house, he was in his office working. I’d told him where I was going and that I would be back. It had taken me longer to get here than it should’ve. I intentionally drove around before finally getting the courage to get here.