Page 35 of Quasim III: King Inferno

“Shot my grandbaby’s bed up… had her father not been on his toes, she could have been gone.” I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about it.

Mina touched her chest and winced at the possibility of us having to bury another grandchild. My goal was for my kids to put me in the ground before them. I never wanted to live to witness having to put one of my sons into the ground.

It was the reason I hadn’t slept and couldn’t get a moment of peace. The thoughts of losing one of my kids ran through my head each time I tried to close my eyes. I couldn’t lay comfortably next to my wife, which was never a problem.

Not when the person who betrayed me was sucking up all this free air.

“Fuck… Red just needed a friend. All he wanted, and I felt bad for him. Papa, you cut that nigga off and you’re his brother.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t cut his fucking head off!” I barked.

“You right. You right. How can we fix this?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“If you need time… I’ll give you that.” He stood up, thinking this was like all the other times he lied and fucked me over, and I turned the other cheek.

When you loved a person and were loyal, you found yourself going against what you believed for them. Doing shit you would have never done because you loved the person. I found myself doing that when it came to Larry, which is why he was so comfortable with believing he would be walking out of here.

All of that changed when I saw both of my boys laying up in that hospital bed. No laughter, in pain, and seeing my daughters watching their husbands. If you knew anything about me, then you knew I loved my boys.

Shit hadn’t always been the best between us. We fell out more times than a few, because they were so hardheaded. Always wanting to learn on their own, when I already knew how it would end up.

Despite the past problems, I would always ride for them. It was us against the world, protecting their mother.

“Yeah.”

He walked over toward me and held his hand out and I looked up at him. “My loyalty always been with you, Papa… I hope you know and understand that. I don’t know what you heard, but I’ve been real. I was only there as a friend for Red, nothing more.”

“I hear you.”

I continued to look down at my hands, as I slipped one into my pocket. Standing to my feet, I took a deep breath, flipped open the switch blade that I had given to Quasim. It was in the pants he wore when he was shot.

Flipping it open, I turned and looked at Larry’s back as he swaggered toward the door. “Gods burn the faces of their enemies,” I said.

He stopped walking and turned slowly with a smile on his face. “The flames burn slow because the Gods are Infer?—”

His words were cut off as I sent the knife flying into the middle of his forehead, the same time that Des sent a bullet in Buck’s head.

“The flames burn slow because the Gods are fucking Inferno, pussy,” Des said.

Jean looked up at her husband, and he down at her before kissing her on the lips. Both Buck and Larry had been disloyal,and while Buck moved smarter than Larry, he wasn’t as smart. The entire time they sat here with us, they both were texting each other.

Des peeped and gave me a nod, letting me know.

Shit hurt when you found out someone you held down wasn’t down for you. It felt better sending a knife right in the middle of his head.

“Time to go and visit baby bro, Des.” I walked over toward Larry and commenced to stomping his face in with my boots.

Blair

I peeledmyself away from Elijah as he slept peacefully in the bed with me. Since he had arrived, he hadn’t wanted to leave my side, and I didn’t want him to either. Kissing his curly head, I sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath.

The bedroom was attached to where Sim’s room was, and I needed to be close to him. Capone made sure I had everything that I needed to be near him. Capri was down the hall with Meer, after convincing him to go back down the hall to his own room. That didn’t stop his afternoon visit when he had the nurses push his bed into the room to visit with Sim.

Covering Elijah back up, I slipped my feet into my slippers and went into the next room. The sounds of his machines and watching his chest rise and fall always made me sick. I hated and loved those machines at the same time. Hated them because it was a reminder that they were breathing for him.

Loved them because they were keeping him alive, and that was what we all wanted. I stood on my toes and kissed his face, the scruffiness of his unshaved face scratching against my cheek. It had been weeks since everything happened, and he wouldn’t wake up. I wondered if he ever wanted to wake up.

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