Page 18 of Quasim III: King Inferno

“Hey, you need to take care of yourself. This is not your fault, and Sim would not want you blaming yourself.”

“Cause he would blame himself… this ain’t on him, Queen.”

I sighed. “Yeah, when he wakes up, you tell him.”

He hugged me again, and I smiled. Havoc held his arm out, and I roped my arm into his, as he took the umbrella again and we made our way back to the truck.

Tookie

“Nigga,did you forget the part when I mentioned that I’m broke as shit?” I whispered, as I walked around the modern ranch style home in Chestnut Hills. It was a good area in Philly, and I wasn’t sure why Polo had me out this way. I was a nigga that loved to manifest and dream about the possibilities like the next nigga, but why the fuck did he think I could afford this shit? Me and the repo man were playing hide-n-seek so he didn’t take my damn BMW from me.

Parking in different locations and nearly having to take an Uber back to my original location was getting out of control. My bike was in the shop, so my car was my only mode of transportation that I had. Just because I was broke didn’t mean I was about to be running around looking like it. Niggas was already frustrated with me because the lack of money that was coming in.

Polo leaned on those overpriced ass kitchen counters with a smirk on his face. “I’m hearing that King Inferno is dead… I’m waiting for Red to confirm some things for me.”

He was too giddy to relay the message that Quasim was dead. I couldn’t front and pretend like I wasn’t as happy as he was. I felt this immense sense of joy, knowing there was a possibilitythat he could be gone. Shit, I wished I could be a fly on the wall to see Blair break down because he was gone. Watch her ass ugly cry like Kerry Washington because her man was now in the dirt. She just knew that nigga was going to be her saving grace and now the nigga was going to be pushing up flowers.

“I find it hard to believe they would just have that information floating around… IGs are strategic as fuck.” I told Polo, partly not wanting to believe what he was telling me.

They never showed weakness and they damn sure wouldn’t have put the word out that Quasim had died. Polo was leaned against the counter, gloating, because he felt like he had won.

“I told Red to give me the word, and I would handle it. Stroke his ego and make it look like the hit came from him for bragging rights, you know? Always complaining about his brother and nephews but never doing shit about it. I got that shit done, and now his brother can bury his son and shut the fuck up.”

I looked around the large kitchen, still confused as to why we were even here. “Why the fuck are we here wasting that white lady’s time?” I pointed to the realtor that had stepped out to take a call.

In my opinion, she was way too comfortable with touching our shoulders whenever she spoke to one of us. I half expected her to act scared like most women like her when they saw black men that didn’t fit the aesthetic on how they thought we should appear.

“You been bitchin’ about having some place for your grandmother and I made it happen. I told you that if you fucked with the right team, then you were going to eat.”

He acted like I had much of a choice. It wasn’t like the Inferno Gods had any openings for a broke fiend like me. Polo was the only option for me right now, and I had to put my pride aside and allow him to help me. Hell, the remaining Vipers wereabout to jump me if I continued with the same excuse of not having their money.

I exhaled and leaned on the opposite counter. “For real?”

My moms always told me that nobody gave you shit without wanting something in return. Then again, she was one of the main people with her hand out, so fuck what she had to say. “Yeah… I got my team. Red may be the head of the shit, but I’m the nigga that runs shit. The brain behind us eating and getting this money.”

Polo did a lot of bragging and putting Red down like he wasn’t supposed to be family to him. Last I checked, it was Red that took him under his wing and now he out here acting like he was this big ass boss that made shit happen.

I had no choice but to believe the shit because if Quasim was dead, then that meant Polo wasn’t just talking, he was making shit happen.

“Cherish hates Quasim more than we do, so you knew she was going to ride to take him down.” He chuckled and pulled his phone out.

Cherish hated Quasim for many reasons, and the main reason was because she felt he was responsible for her cousin being murdered. She placed the blame on him and sat with that hate for years. The mutual hate was what brought her and Rich together, and that was how he started fucking her. Cherish and Cherie looked very similar and could have been sisters. Most people from our old neighborhood used to call them the twins.

Cherie was slightly thicker than her cousin, so that was how I always told them apart. Even as this nigga’s cousin, God rest his crispy soul, I could say that Rich wasn’t obsessed with Cherie. He was obsessed with Quasim’s ass.

Nigga had me ready to check his search history because it seemed like he wanted to be his man. I knew he was down badwhen he started messing with Cherish and falling all head over heels for the hoe.

Cherish was a hoe.

That was why Quasim played her ass to the side. If you had a little dick, then you could flick Cherish’s pearl, because she was gonna hop on your shit no matter what. I would know because I fucked shorty back in the day at a party.

In the bathroom, I had her head in the sink while I spanked that pussy from behind. Left her with cum leaking down her leg and went to finish hanging with my boys. No sooner than I left the bathroom, another nigga looking for her went inside. I listened to him sliding right inside her, while my cum was still warm and dripping down her leg.

Rich knew she was a whore, but he didn’t care because she reminded him so much of her cousin. I always wondered why the fuck he killed Cherie if he was going to be so depressed about the shit. Lucia’s ass always hung around and put up with his shit; I never understood their situation and I didn’t want to. Lucia’s ass gave me crazy lifetime chick, and I didn’t need her trying to use her connections to get my ass knocked.

It was bad enough I called when I got locked up, thinking she would help, and the bitch told me that I needed to call on Jesus and pray for a way.

Polo’s phone started to ring, and he held it up. “There she go right now.”

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