Page 9 of Quasim II: King Inferno

He let out a low sigh.

I could tell in his eyes that he was tired, worried, and stressed about everything that happened. Blaze was a protector, and he fixed shit that came his way. His girls were his entire world, and he took pride in being their protector. This wasn’t somethingthat he could fix. This was Capri’s realm, and he had to take the back seat and allow her to protect him.

“No disrespect, Sim, but fuck whatever you about to say. B is my best friend, like a sister to me. I know she loves the fuck out of you and has proven that shit. Check your shit and whatever you feeling and realize that you deserve the good shit happening to and around you. She could have fucking died, and she still here with us. Sim, you deserve happiness and love. You’ve spent so many years punishing yourself and asking God for forgiveness that you can’t even see when he’s actually blessing you.”

I leaned on the wall opposite of him and looked at my little brother as he scolded me. “The fuck you talking to, Blaze?”

“You, nigga. Keep pushing her away and you gonna push her out your life… then you gonna wanna kill her new nigga causeyoufucked up. I’m forever riding with you, but I ain’t picking sides when it comes to that woman having happiness, even if it’s not with you. I get you scared… shit is scary to give your heart after losing love, but the shit is worth it. If you gonna love her, then do it, Pop… if not, leave her alone and don’t do that back-and-forth shit.” he pushed up from the wall he was leaning on. “You, King Inferno, show em what fucking with Queen Inferno do… we riding behind you.” I watched as he walked down the opposite end of the hallway, turning the corner.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on the wall. “You know he’s not wrong.”

I turned and saw Cappadonna near the vending machine. “I knew this shit would happen… I’m supposed to protect her.”

Cappadonna cracked open the bottle of water he purchased and guzzled it. I was starting to think I didn’t speak with the way he was guzzling that damn water without answering my question. “That shit isn’t on you. You left because you had Havoc coming right behind you to stay with them. How long have youlived in your crib and some shit like that never happened… how the fuck were you supposed to know.”

“I know every fucking thing.”

“May be true, but this shit was something that none of us could prepare for. You’ll give your life for Michael, just like I would for my wife. Stop beating yourself for shit that you couldn’t control… just like you was there when niggas came for my wife, I’m here and we gonna fuck em up in the worst way.”

When we heard heels clacking, we both knew it was Capri’s ass. Running down the hall in those shoes took fucking talent. The heels she had on wasn’t some short shits, either. “She was white!” Capri hollered, as the white nurse looked at her, offended. “See what not minding your business gets you.” she snorted, as she continued down the hallway.

“Who was white, Baby Doll?”

“Blair says that as she was trying to open the window, she saw a white woman throwing a cocktail through it.”

I bypassed Capri and went back down the hall into Anjo’s room where she was anxiously sitting up in the bed. “Tell me everything you told Capri, my love.”

She explained everything that happened, stopping to cough, and then continued telling me. When she mentioned wild blonde hair, I already knew who she was referring to. There was only one bitch that always had wild hair, and it happened to be blonde.

“As I’m screaming, she tossed it and scurried away. Simmy, she didn’t look right, either… sick or cracked out or something.”

I kissed her head. “Elijah’s mother.”

Blair gasped so hard that she broke into a fit of coughs. It was so bad the nurse ran into the room and made sure to turn her oxygen up and forced her to rest. “Why would she do that to her own child? Elijah’s room was where they threw the first one… he came out the room screaming.”

I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t have the answers as to why Thea would want to kill her son. She had to have seen when we returned to the house, because before that, my house was good. It wasn’t a coincidence that the first night we stayed there since I packed our shit and headed to the lake, the house was set on fire.

There was always shit that I found weird when it came to Thea as a mother, even before she found herself heading down the junkie brick road. She never seemed like she was connected to Elijah as a mother from the small interactions I had with them before I started taking care of him. If anything, she acted like he was a burden.

I mean, shit, sometimes parents could feel like their child was a burden because life got rough. No parent actually acted that way or told their child that. Thea was the exception to the rule. Elijah didn’t matter to her, so when she started to really neglect him, I knew all hope was lost with her. She treated him like he had ruined her life, and she resented him for it.

He was always quiet and almost cowered every time I came around, like he was afraid of men. The few times he was outside and I happened to be in the yard, chasing the male cats away from Pyro’s hoe ass, or in my garage, he would watch and stay far away but have conversations with me.

As we became closer, and I learned that he pissed the bed, the shit had me looking at his mother differently. Like Capone said, something happened to him, and it was easy to ignore because deep down, I wasn’t ready for the pain I knew I would feel and the wrath that I would go on when I found out exactly what happened to him.

Like this uncle or friend that she had in Phoenix. Thea never made sense to me when she went to rambling, however, maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what she was actually saying.

“I don’t know, my love.” I continued to kiss the top of her head as she was taking hits of the oxygen like it was a blunt. “I’m sorry, Anjo.”

She nearly snapped her neck to look my way. “What do you mean?”

“The reason you in here is because of me.”

She paused and turned her attention straight ahead. “No, Quasim.”

“Fuck you mean, Anjo?”

“I’m saying no… if you’re going to distance yourself, then do it now. I’m not doing the back and forth with you… I refuse.”

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