Page 135 of Quasim III: King Inferno

I could hearmy mother talking as I rested in the nook area that Quin had made for her. She loved to read and smoke weed, so he put a day bed out here surrounded by her books. Gams liked to read a lot of shit, but urban fiction was her thing.

From young, she kept a book and spliff in her hand. Always preaching about the power of words while using her extensive vocabulary to cuss any man that tried to talk to her crazy. I got my spiciness from my mother and never denied it.

I watched as she demanded what she deserved from men and then showed them she wasn’t to be played with. It was how I operated when it came to my husband. Quin knew I loved everything about him and would hold him hostage at the same time.

“Cherish, you need to heal and let that hurt go. Cherie is gone, and Moochie didn’t kill her… he was as hurt as your family, always trying to make it right with you stank bitches. Especially your aunt. If I didn’t have a bad knee, and was ten years younger, I would beat her ass for the way she acted.”

Cherish.

The name seemed familiar but based on their conversation, she was related to Cherie. I remembered bits and pieces ofCherie, like I remembered bits and pieces of Harley. It pained me to not remember my grandchildren the way I should have.

Quin never hesitated to refresh my memory each time I struggled. Just like he refreshed my memory in other ways. I twirled my curl around my finger and then remembered that this bitch was in the kitchen with my mother.

Her tone didn’t sound like she was dropping by, and the gun tucked behind her told me something else. Quietly creeping across the room, careful not to make a creak in the floor, I looked out the window and saw a pink bike parked outside. Looking up and down the block, I didn’t see anyone else with her, so this was a solo visit.

A personal visit.

She sat on the stool as mama continued to prepare dinner. The boys were flying back tonight and coming straight here for dinner with my girls. We had three babies being born into this family months apart, and I couldn’t wait to experience this.

I missed so much because of that doctor, and now I was able to get my life back. As angry as I was with the doctor, Quin was even more mad. I don’t know what that man did to him, but I received a call with an apology and the sound of beeping in the background as if he was in a hospital.

She laughed. “Heal when he took my cousin from me… shut me out of my little cousin’s life until she died.” The envy in her voice was evident, and the pain wasn’t quite there.

I knew what pain in someone’s voice sounded like, and she wasn’t in pain, and didn’t care about Harley. “He shut you out because you tried to sleep with him, Pea.” To know my mom was to know she always gave people a food name, and if she disliked you, it was normally a food she hated, and she hated peas.

“Where the fuck is Quasim… It’s been going around that he’s not dead.” She raised her voice, and I took a few breaths.

Long as she didn’t reach for that gun yet, she was safe. Well, not safe because she came to my mama’s house.

Mama kept a gun under the counter, which is where she remained. I watched as she peeled yuca and looked at Cherish. “Lower your voice in my house. You know, as much as Cherie was sweet, she was hardheaded, and I see that runs in your family. What does any of this do for you?”

“I delivered that shot into Meer… I’m going to finish what everybody else couldn’t.” This was the pink bike that they were all talking about.

Quasim and Blair had gone through a rough patch and from the pictures I received, they were fixing it. The last thing I wanted them coming home to was more stress.

Not from her.

She was his past. Belonging to Cherie, and he has closed that book and moved on with a wife, son, and one on the way.

“Pea, do you watch animal planet?” She looked up and noticed me in the doorway.

She was so hell bent on knowing where my son was that she wasn’t paying attention. “What the fuck does this have to do with anything?”

“Well, mama lions are very protective of their cubs. Will fight tooth and nail to protect their babies… are you a mother?”

“She got taken away.” She muttered, ashamed.

“I’m sorry.” She looked back up at her. “Well, some women often mirror those of a mama lion, or even a bear… the term mama bear doesn’t mean nothing. A bear or lion will tear you up behind their cubs. The difference is, a cub eventually grows up and ventures off, never to see their mama again. With human mamas, once their baby, always their baby. I’m a proud mama bear.”

Cherish was becoming frustrated because Gams was talking about nothing. At least to her, it was nothing. If she was smart, she would have listened.

“If he knew I was with his grandmother, he would come, no?”

She smiled. “Maybe.”

Her hand extended, but she didn’t reach toward the back where her gun was, but the move was enough. I walked into the kitchen slowly, as Gams started to chop the yuca into chunks.

“Look, I’m tired of all this back and –”

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