Page 36 of Quasim III: King Inferno

If he saw Harley like I had, I knew he wouldn’t want to come back. Why would he? I couldn’t be angry because he finally had his baby girl in his arms. Something that he had wanted since she left him.

I grabbed the pink Basin and went to fill it with warm water to wash his face and body. This had been my morning routine, because I needed something to do. We had sent the message to Polo, and it had been silent since.

Usually, I would welcome the silence, but this time it made me nervous. What did they have up their sleeve next? I took a deep breath and continued to wipe him down and then grabbed the lotion to make sure his feet remained moisturized.

“Angel pie, I need you to get some rest, too,” I looked up as Gams came into the room. She had a plastic plaid shopping bag in her hand.

The bag brought so many memories of hauling them to the laundromat when I lived with my foster family off Utica avenue. We would pack our clothes in those bags, and lug them down the block to get washed, and then repeat the process all over again.

More than likely, she had cooked food at the house and brought some for me to eat. The kitchen was stocked with snacks and ready-made food daily, still, I never went in there to grab anything. Other than crackers or cookies, I didn’t eat much.

I made sure I heated Elijah a meal up in the microwave every night, but I usually picked off his food because my appetite was nonexistent. “I woke up a little bit ago. Needed to get him cleaned up for the day.”

She offered me a small smile as she sighed and dug into the bag. “Dumplin requested some breakfast this morning. I made you and Elijah some and prepared some lunch and dinner, too.”

“Thank you, Gams.”

She walked over to rub the side of Quasim’s face and then kissed his hands before taking a few plates and headed back outthe door and down the hall. I pulled the chair up to the end of his bed and rubbed his huge feet. God, I missed feeling him putting his feet on me when we were in the bed. I turned up the news and listened to all the headlines of the morning while rubbing his feet and his calves.

“Good morning, we’re coming to you live from Red Hook, where fear is once again gripping the community. The infamous Red Hook serial killer has reportedly resurfaced.

Earlier this morning, a jogger and his dog made a chilling discovery near the industrial waterfront. A body found washed up on the rocks. At this time, the victim’s identity remains unknown, and authorities have yet to release any official details. Residents are understandably on edge as investigators work to determine if this latest tragedy is indeed connected to the string of killings that have haunted this area. We’ll continue to follow this developing story and bring you updates as soon as more information becomes available. Back to you in the studio.”

I sighed. “Do you hear that, Simmy. Oh, baby, I wish we could watch the news together like we always do.”

I would do anything to see him say a quick prayer before crossing his chest and kissing his hand up to God for whoever that died whenever we were watching the news together. As I continued to rub him down, I zoned out and thought of all the things we had gone through. So much of our relationship was a push and pull.

Mainly me pulling and him pushing away. We finally got away from all of that, and now we were faced with this. Faced with possibly losing the one man I had loved with my entire heart. A man that would give his entire life for me and had shown me what love felt like.

It wasn’t supposed to hurt.

Love was supposed to feel warm and tingly. That feeling you felt as you walked down the hallway knowing that Santa had leftthe younger you gifts under the tree. That was how I felt when it came to being loved by Quasim Inferno.

It started out rough, however, the moment that we figured things out, it was beautiful. I wanted the chance to continue to love this man and show him how good our love could get. How much love we could bring into our family.

“Mom?” I quickly wiped my tears and turned to Elijah standing there.

He swiped the sleep away from his eyes as he stared at me. “Hey baby, why are you awake?”

“Why are you crying?”

“I miss him… that’s all. It’s alright to cry when you miss the people you love.” I wiped the lotion from my hands and fully turned to him.

Elijah hugged me and held onto me. “Will I have to go back with my other mom if Sim doesn’t wake up?”

The fear this boy had when it came to having to go back with Thea made me upset. No child should have ever been scared to be with the person who birthed them. A mother was supposed to be their child’s safe space. As he held onto me, and I rubbed his curls, I knew it would be a cold day in hell before I would ever allow him to go back with Thea. “I will make sure you don’t ever have to go back with her… okay?”

“Anjo, will the baby call you mommy?”

I laughed. “Of course. Not right away because it won’t be able to talk, but soon as it learns to speak, I’m sure it will call me mommy.”

He pulled his head back and stared at me. Elijah was small for his age, and even with him being on the smaller size, he was almost the size of me. “That’s why I want to call you mom and Sim Dad… I don’t want to confuse the baby.”

I pinched his cheek. “Is that right? Hmm, I think there’s another reason you want to call us mom and dad, and whenever you’re ready to tell us, we’re right here to listen.”

“Okay,” he smiled and walked over toward Sim.

He reached his hand up and rubbed the side of his face before going to brush his teeth and wash his face to get ready for the day.

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