Page 64 of Quasim II: King Inferno

She felt comfortable enough to admit that to me, which meant I had made her comfortable in doing so. Blair felt safe with me.

I let her down and the boat ride back to the yacht was a quiet one. As I helped her back onto the yacht, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek before she rushed back to her room. As I paced with this ring in my hand, I felt foolish.

This ring that I held in my hand that I bought from the jeweler on shore. I went to shore alone to walk around and decompress. I was used to being alone, and although the yacht was big enough, I just needed some space. I spent the afternoon walking Capri and popping in and out of small shops. As I walked, I passed a jewelry shop, and the red emerald cut diamond ring caused me to stop in my tracks.

I didn’t come to shore to look for a ring when I wasn’t even in a relationship. The ring remained in the back of my head the whole time we were in Italy. Another morning, I took the boat back to shore and was waiting when the older Italian man opened his shop. He smiled at me because he saw me looking at it from the window last time.

He welcomed me into the shop, offering me espresso as he told me about the ring. He spoke about everything except a damn price. I expected to pay a shit ton of money for it, and I was prepared to.

I asked him if he could customize the ring a bit, and he agreed, showing me the diamonds he could add that would complete my vision.

Anjo was who I saw when I bought this ring. She was who was supposed to wear it, and I froze when she told me that she wanted a future with me.

The loud ass prison alarm brought me back to reality. I watched as the prisoners all made their way out from behindthe bars. Goon was talking to somebody and then laughed as he made his way to the table.

I stood up and embraced my brother, because Goonwasmy brother. “King, what up with you?”

“Maintaining.”

“Something different with you, though… I know you.” He snapped his fingers as I pushed the snacks, I purchased him closer to him.

“I stopped eating this junk… countdown on coming home. Gotta get this body right so I can get my baby.”

I laughed. “Blair is pregnant.”

Goon dropped his head. “Alhamdulillah! Son… man.”

I was slowly telling everybody, and every time I told someone, the response choked me up. It was like they were all praying and waiting for this for me. “I proposed.”

He held his hand out. “Qua, you know more than anything, this is what I wanted for you. B is good people, and she loves the fuck out you. I know we get in our heads and feel like we deserve less… stop that shit. We deserve love, too, so allow her to give that shit to you. How you holding up with the house?”

“Try not to think about it… they ruled it some neighborhood kids starting trouble.”

Goon shook his head. “The neighborhood and the kind of people that live around there, already knew they wasn’t going to care. Half those houses are abandoned over there.”

I didn’t expect anything to come from the investigation because the cops never came to those parts. Shit, I was surprised the fire department came when I called them. Last year, a house a couple blocks over caught fire, and it took them an hour to finally show. They weren’t going to care about it because I wasn’t pushing them to care.

I knew who was responsible and I wanted to handle her myself. “I don’t need to ask how shit going… heard about mutual territory.” He smirked.

“Fuck ‘em.”

“Let they mutha love ‘em.”

“Or take they mutha from ‘em.” I finished our quote.

Goon laughed and held his hand out. “King’s fucking back.”

I looked around the room and then looked at Goon. “What’s going on? I know you didn’t call me up here to catch up.”

“Actually, I fucking did… need to know how my boy doing. Yo ass be lying about how you doing.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

He laughed and then his expression became serious. “That accident with your parents wasn’t an accident… they fucked with their brakes.”

I leaned forward. “Stop fucking with me, G.”

“Deadass, King. They wanted to take out Papa first, then your brother before coming to you. Red… he’s behind the shit.”

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