Page 64 of Quasim III: King Inferno

Then the nigga killed my fucking mother.

Who the fuck did shit like that?

He left my mother bleeding in the streets along with my stepfather, and then his fuck ass brother left my sister bleeding out in the bathroom. Her wig wasn’t even put all the way on before he put a bullet in her head. He took my family from me, so I took him away from his family, and I didn’t feel any way about the shit.

Apparently Red did because he had been keeping his distance while trying to play the good little brother who was helping his older brother grieve.

“I don’t care what is personal to you. The nigga is gone, and she is suffering already. Plus, Tookie think she gonna come running back to him.”

“If she was smart, she wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that junkie.” Cherish muttered, as she removed her hair from her face.

I moved the butter around the pan and turned to look at her. “It’s quiet, Cherish… they not stupid enough to make any moves knowing their head is gone. Let’s relish in the quiet… they took people from me, and I took someone from them. Leave that bitch alone.” I warned her again, and she folded her arms.

Instead of cooking me breakfast, she was on my damn nerves this morning. I knew I shouldn’t have allowed her to stay the night. Was it so wrong to want company when you were feeling lonely?

Cherish had me feeling like I didn’t need any company and damn sure didn’t want any, fucking with her. The doorbell rang and I looked down the hall at her lazy ass on the couch. “Get the fucking door.”

Rolling her eyes, she climbed off the couch and went to the door. I heard her talking while I plated our food and she came skipping into the kitchen with a big ass edible arrangement.

“Who the fuck sent that?”

It wasn’t out the way for me to receive a delivery. After burying my mother and sister, a lot of our friends and family sent me flowers, food, and all kinds of shit like that. They wanted to let me know that they were there for me.

“People are concerned about you… be happy that people still care.” She opened the plastic that covered the fruit and snatched a flower shaped pineapple and bit it.

It was her eyes and the way her hands trembled as she dropped the pineapple and spit out what she had already chewed. “What the fuck? Cherish, what?”

I came around the counter and paused when I saw the Del Devil tattoo that we all had, wrapped around one of the pineapples.

Except, that bitch was a piece of skin that I was sure belonged to one of the Del Devils. My heart was beating out my chest because they just delivered this bitch to my house. With shaky hands, Cherish picked up the card.

This your king? Mwhahahaha!

Carving credit: Bajan Butcher.

I didn’t know what was more disturbing. The fact that he sent me a piece of Red’s skin, and his fingers throughout the basket, or the fact that this nigga had quoted a movie and then had his laugh typed out. If all of that shit wasn’t enough, the nigga gave credit, and when I read the Bajan Butcher, I knew I needed to get the fuck out of dodge.

The Bajan butcher was someone you only wanted to hear about. You didn’t want any smoke with that man, and if you were on his radar, you were as good as dead.

I underestimated Papa Inferno and always told Red that he wasn’t about that. Rushing over to my kitchen drawer, I grabbed the gun I kept there and looked around like someone had entered the house.

The shit had me paranoid as I texted one of the Devils and told him to meet me at our spot. While Cherish was trying to brush her tongue under the faucet, I rushed upstairs and packed everything of importance into a duffle bag.

“You are not going to let him run you out your own home, Polo.” Cherish stood in the doorway as I grabbed the money from my safe and looked back at her.

“Bitch, did you read the fucking note. Bajan butcher. I got a bitch in Miami that I can lay low with… fuck, they got Red.” I paused as the words finally sank in.

Simultaneously, both me and Cherish’s phones chimed, and we both looked down. She ran across the room to grab hers from the nightstand.

“What the fuck?” she screamed, and my breath was caught in my throat.

I was staring at myself on my phone screen. Slowly, I turned to look at the camera I had in my bedroom and saw myself in 4K.

Snatching my shit that I had packed, I quickly grabbed my sneakers and headed to the garage. Cherish was right behind me.

“You can’t run.” She whispered so they couldn’t pick up on anything that we were talking about. “I’m not running… bitch can’t beat me.”

I slapped her across the face, and she held her cheek, surprised that I put my hands on her. “Do whatever the fuck you want… I’m not about to sit around and be a sitting lick while figuring out the next step.”

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