Page 8 of Quasim II: King Inferno

She looked over at me. “Never expected none of you to. Do what needs to be done and I’ll hold down my part… me and Forty both.”

My father pulled Capri into him and kissed her head. “You’re okay… the girls are safe, and your father is on his way.”

Blaze looked at me and leaned forward, extending his hand, and we hit the IG shake. “Gods burn the faces of their enemies.”

My father looked at both of us before putting his hand in while still holding Capri close to him. “The flames burn slow because the Gods are Inferno.”

This meeting with my uncle could go either one or two ways, and I was trying to figure out how it would go. He was my uncle, but I didn’t trust his ass because of the shit he was into. It was one of the main reasons why I was strict on Yasin when he opened his strip club.

The moment he started selling pussy out that shit was the minute his jaw would have been cracked.

I never played those games.

“Mr. Inferno, she is awake, and she wants to see you,” the nurse came around the corner and I leaned away from the wall, quickly following behind her.

When I entered the room, there was another nurse trying to get Anjo from pulling out the IVs in her arms. It was when her eyes landed on mine that the tears immediately fell as she reached for me.

“Chill… she good,” I told the nurse holding her down like she was a fucking patient in a mental institution. She wasn’t even worried about the IV anymore once she saw me.

The way she clung to me as I held her as best as I could was something that would remain etched in my skin. She removed her hands and snatched the oxygen from her nose and looked up into my eyes before she started coughing.

“Simmy, your home… I tried to get everything… I wanted to make sure everyth?—”

I quieted her with a kiss on the lips as I sat on the edge of the bed. She crawled into my lap as I held her so fucking tight, I was scared I would crack a bone. “You can’t be replaced, Anjo… if I would have lost you…”

She settled into my arms as we held each other, and then she ripped away from me like she was about to bolt from this bed and out the room. “God, Elijah… where is he?” she panicked as she looked at me for the answers she needed.

“He’s safe. Havoc got him to the lake house. He’s safe because you saved his life, Anjo… always fucking thinking about everyone before yourself.” I pulled her back toward me and kissed her face a million times. “Fuck, Blair.” I rested my lips against her forehead as she held onto me.

The knock at the door caused us both to pull our eyes away from each other. Capri came rushing into the room with those damn heels on and hugged Anjo. “I swear I think you want to kill me, Blair.”

Blaze took place in the doorway. “Sug, I know shit was serious, but why the fuck did you grab those shoes out of all the shoes?”

She turned and faced her husband. “I panicked and these are my comfort shoes.”

Blair looked down at her best friend’s choice of shoes and laughed before hugging her again. I grabbed the oxygen and wrapped it back around her so she could keep it in her nose. “I promise, I’m not.”

“Why in the hell wouldn’t you get out that damn house with Elijah? I fucking need you her… here,” Capri’s voice cracked as she hugged her friend tighter, then pulled away to look into her face.

“I couldn’t just leave,” Anjo’s voice cracked as she held onto Capri.

I could tell from Capri’s face that she had so much to say and decided to table it because Blair was in front of her and breathing. “You good, Sim?”

My brother called from the doorway, and I looked over at him. “Nah.”

Capri and Blair looked at me, and she hugged me. “Lemme talk to you real quick.” Blaze nodded with his head and left the room.

I kissed Anjo on the head and left the room behind my brother. Capri had taken my place and was holding her hand while she watched me leave the room. Blaze was standing down the hall, leaning on the wall when I joined him.

I could tell his nerves were frazzled and he needed to smoke.

“Not your fault, Quasim.” He started, and I already knew where the conversation was going. Here he had experienced some scary shit, and he was worried about me.

“How the fuck you figure? She was in my house because I brought her there. Blaze, I told you that niggas live to take the people I love. When I kept her at an arm’s distance, shit like this didn’t happen to her. The minute I let her in and look what happened to her… I love her too much to bring pain to her.”

Blaze looked over at me. “Distancing yourself is going to do what? They gonna leave shit alone because you let her go? You keep saying that you never want to bring pain to her, but did you fucking think of the pain she’ll feel if you shut her out?”

“Blaze…”

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