Page 15 of Quasim III: King Inferno

Capri looked down at him and was about to reply. “She said what she needed to say as a wife, Blaze. Don’t fault her because she was more concerned with you.”

“I’m sorry, Meer,” Capri choked out.

He rolled the chair over on the opposite side of the bed and reached up to touch his hand. “Pop, you said you wouldn’t leave me… promised me you wouldn’t. We breaking promises now?”

His voice cracked as tears fell down his face. None of us were in the room with him in this moment, it was just him and Sim. He wasn’t concerned that he should have been in bed recovering. His brother, who was always there, wasn’t here with us and that took priority over his own health.

“Meer, I’m sorry… I…I,” Capri’s voice cracked, and I could see the emotion in his face, as he grabbed her hand, kissing the top.

Letting her know that despite being upset, he loved her and didn’t blame her. Capri and Meer’s relationship and connection was so strong that despite not exchanging words, she knew what her husband felt, and he knew what his wife was feeling.

A loud and raw display of emotion was released as Meer broke down, and Capri held onto him. He cried as he squeezed his brother’s hand, never letting it go. His dry heaves were deep and loud, as he reminded him of the promise he made him.

How he promised damn near all of us that he wasn’t going anywhere. Papa held me close as I broke down crying while watching Meer and Capri do the same. Meer held onto Capri, as she held him tightly, wanting to make it better.

“I can’t fucking lose him…. Not like this. All the shit I prayed for is happening for him… he has to be here for his child.” Meer continued to break down while keeping his brother’s hand in his.

He rested his head on the edge of the bed while he continued to hold onto his hand. I walked over and hugged him, and hesqueezed my arm. “You can’t lose him, B… you don’t deserve that. Neither of you do,” He whispered.

I kissed his head and squeezed him tighter as I kneeled down in front of the wheelchair. Holding his face and staring into his eyes, my heart broke. I wasn’t staring into Quameer Inferno’s eyes; I was staring into a little brother’s eyes. One who cherished and honored his older brother. Sim was Meer’s best friend.

He was the one he went to when he needed advice, and vice versa. It had always been the two of them, and now he was being forced to look at another reality, one without his brother. “The one thing your brother has taught me is faith. A man who had experienced so much loss, had the faith the size of Texas. As bad as I want to sit here and cry, I know he’s going to come out of this. We’re going to come out of this as a family, and this will be a chapter in our past…. Meer, I need you to hold onto that with me. Have that faith that Simmy has instilled in all of us.”

“Fuck.” I heard Papa sniffle from behind me, pinching the bridge of his nose, while he paced the space he stood in. “Israel, you better wake yo ass up… Ain’t letting them niggas take you up out of here.”

We all laughed because he was really talking to himself as he paced the area, and if you knew anything about Papa, he wasn’t an emotional man. “Chin up, punk,” Meer said.

Papa paused and looked over at him. “Don’t use my own shit on me.”

Meer wiped his face and continued to hold my hand. “It ain’t on us… it’s in us… right, Pops?”

He looked at his son and smiled. “Already know. I need you to listen to your wife and heal. Trust that I got both of them, and I’m gonna tear the fucking east coast up while you rest.”

“How do you expe?—”

“We have fucking daughters, and you need to heal. I don’t even like that you’re in here right now. You always tell me totrust you.” Capri paused, holding his face. “Now, it’s your turn to trust me. Trust that I am going to handle business and be safe. Trust that my bike is always going to pull into our driveway and I’m going to come home.”

“Always going to make sure of that shit too, Meer,” Goon walked into the room with Havoc behind him.

Papa’s phone sounded, and he looked at the phone. “Answer.”

Me and Capri both looked at the name and backed away. “Hell no… that’s our mother-in-law, and we would like to remain on her good side,” Capri answered for the both of us.

He went to shove the phone back into his pocket, and I snatched it. Answering, I put the phone on speaker, so he had to answer. “Quinn.”

Mina’s voice was soft with this hint of raspy. I wondered if her voice had always been like that, or if it became that way from the lack of use. “Hey bab?—”

“My boys,” I could hear her voice crack.

Papa walked toward the window with his head hung. “I know, Mina…. They made it out of surgery, and we’re just waiting for Pop to wake up.”

“I need… to see them,” she whispered.

“Baby, you need to stay where you are… it’s safe there. He will join you the minute that he’s good enough to join you.”

“Quinn.”

She didn’t need to elaborate because he knew what that tone meant, and he sat on the windowsill, and sighed. “If I bring you back, Mina, you not doing it like before… it’s not safe. This is not when we were younger.”

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