Page 192 of 4 Corinthians

“You have no idea,” he chuckled. “What’s up though?”

“Let’s step outside,” I said, pointing to the door. The rain had stopped, and I wanted fresh air. We walked out and sat on the bench outside the large window. “Cross called me and said you’re going after the Kilmores.”

“Yeah.” He nodded and looked around, then turned back to me and shook his head. “I ain’t trying to get in your business like that, so I was going to leave it alone.”

I gave him the CliffsNotes version of what happened to Uri and me as kids. Amethyst's jaw twitched, but he didn’t say anything. At first, I thought he was too stunned to speak, but I saw the look of guilt in his eyes. “You knew?” I asked him, and he nodded. “How?”

“It wasn’t that I knew exactly what happened, but I knew something involving y’all as kids happened,” he said.

“How?”

He reached into his pocket, took out his phone, and showed me a video. I watched it, immediately knowing it was Psalms and me in our mamas' arms, but I didn’t know who the man was. I couldn’t place his face or his voice. “I don’t know who that is,” I told Amethyst.

“That ain’t you?” he asked, looking at the video. “That ain’t Psalms?”

“That’s us, but I don’t remember this,” I said, shaking my head and pointing to the phone. “I don’t remember that man either.” I watched as the younger me played with a knife. There were plenty of things from my childhood that I blocked out, and now seeing this video had made me realize that it was more than I thought.

“Could that be Four’s daddy?”

“That’s not Robert,” I denied. “I know him, his voice, his smell, his touch. That’s not Robert.”

“Then who the hell was it?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “Can you send that to me? I want to have Cross and Nine look into it.”

“Yeah.” He sent me the video then stood. “Look, Corinthians, I ain’t got no problem letting Four have Paul and Isaac. They ain’t my concern. It’s Grant and Quincy.” Grant was Yale’s husband, and Quincy was his older brother.

“The Kilmores aren’t going to just let you kill them,” I told him, standing. “They have connections. Some I know, others I don’t, but I do know that if you kill them, you have to be able to protect Yale. If you can't do that, then don’t step into something like this.”

“I know,” he said, then licked his lips. I could tell I offended him, but that wasn’t my intention. I needed him to know what he was walking into. “Since we're telling secrets, let me tell you mine.” He sat back down, and I joined him. He told me about his history with the Kilmores and about having to work for them to protect Yale. “So you see I know exactly who I’m dealing with.”

“You know more than I thought,” I laughed even though nothing was funny. “You have a game plan on how to protect her once you start killing them? Because even though you think it’s just the Kilmores, I’m telling you it’s not. There’s more of them. People we have no idea about.”

“I figured that,” he said, nodding.

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I plan to make my move soon though, so that you know. I’ll call Four so he can handle them two.”

“Thank you,” I said, standing.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, walking backward towards his truck. He threw me a salute, then unlocked his doors. “Ay Corinthians?”

I stopped walking and turned around when I got to the door of my shop. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” he sincerely said, and I nodded. “Y’all were li’l kids. Y’all should’ve been worried about kid shit, not that. I don’t know if anyone ever told you that, but I am now. I’m sorry that shit happened. That you had to experience pain before love. I hope that shit don’t taint your view on love and how special it is.”

“It didn’t,” I told him. “It amplified it.”

***

“I’m kicking your ass if my baby gets hurt,” I told Script as I walked past him. He looked up from his plate and smirked. “I’m serious Leonard. If one hair is misplaced on my child's head, I’m going to skin you alive.”

Script turned and glared at Psalms. “You told her my middle name?” he hissed. Anyone else probably would’ve been scared out of their minds by Script being upset but not Psalms. She smiled sweetly at him and shook her head. “Then how does she know?”

“Who else knows your middle name?” she asked.

“Ain’t no way the love of my life told you that,” he said, shaking his head.