Page 122 of Quasim: King Inferno

Instead of worrying about Blair, he needed to be worried about getting his grandmother a damn aid to help her ass. She kept pushing those pastries like I was gonna eat or drink anything out this crib. I already had the first pastry she forced me to take in my damn pocket.

There was cat fur on the kitchen table, and I saw a litter box in the corner of the kitchen. Who the fuck puts a litter box in the kitchen?

“Dee Albo is here… strange name, but he’s a sweetie.” She smiled as she patted my shoulder, and her slippers shuffled across the linoleum floors to the fridge.

I smirked, exposing my grills. “What up, Tookie butt.”

His grandmother cackled, not even knowing that we tormented her grandson with that nickname, and it wasn’t a term of endearment. “Wha…what up?” His voice was shaky, because he didn’t know what I had planned.

He already knew how I got down, being as though I took one grandparent away. “It’s so good that you boys have each other after losing Rich.” She paused and touched her chest. “I can't believe he’s gone sometimes.”

“Good man… he was a trailblazer for sure.”

His grandmother wasn’t even paying attention as she was grabbing more shit out the fridge. I stood up and Tookie looked like he wanted to shit himself while weighing his options. “Mrs. Loretta, it was a pleasure catching up with you. I’m hoping your son is doing well in rehab.”

“Nana, you talk too damn much,” Tookie lost his battle of being calm, and his grandmother put her hand on her hip. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

“Walk Dee out and get some sense when you carry your tail back in here, Tyshawn,” she scolded.

I walked out in front of him, knowing that his ass wasn’t going to try no shit. Not with Havoc, Kincaid, Cappadonna, and the triplets outside on their bikes.

He walked past me on the front steps and stood in front of me. “Nigga, you came to my gran?—”

I grabbed him by his neck, holding his ass over the concrete banister while staring into his eyes. “The only reason yo granny ain’t in that fucking stove cooking is because she reminds me of mine… don’t get it twisted, I’ll sit her old ass up on that couch with her neck open. Come through IG territory again, even think about touching Blair, and I’m gutting that bitch first, then coming for you. I give one warning before I act… take it.” I tightened the grip around his neck and reached in my pocket for that stale ass pastry, shoving the shit in his mouth. “You and Blair are fucking done, bozo… divorce papers signed, sealed, and delivered.”

He was trying to keep calm and be strong because he knew I could toss him over this banister. “Fuck you, Quasim.” He was trying to spit that nasty ass pastry from his mouth.

“Yeah, fuck me… I hear it all the time. Smell my breath, I know you know the scent... smell good, huh? Sweet just like her. It’s because I ate that pussy before I came to handle you... you not coming at her, feel me? That’s my wife now, Tookie Dookie” I released his ass.

I jogged down the remaining steps before getting on my bike. “My grandmother, nigga.”

“We two for one right now, Tooks… let’s not make it four to one… do the right thing. Matter fact, go apologize to your grandmother.”

The only reason I didn’t resort to violence was because the city was quiet, and we weren’t trying to make it a mad house for Capri. She was the district attorney, and with Devon rebuilding everything since the allegations of him and child porn, it was best to keep everything calm and cool.

“Think that bitch loyal? She gonna ride with you when she couldn’t even ride for me… good fucking luck. Blair goes wherever she can squeeze herself into.”

“And it’s onmydick… how about you worry about why the fuck you out here living life like Frankie Lymon, eh?” I referred to him as the main nigga in the movie ‘Why do fools fall in love’ the main nigga was on heroin.

“Why do fools fall in love,” Kincaid started singing the song while revving his engine. Soon as I started mine and started down the block, the rest of the Gods fell in line behind me.

Blair

I toldthis man that I loved him and had never been inside his home. It felt like a sensitive subject, asking to visit his home. Meer had told me that this was the home that he shared with Cherie and their daughter.

When we first pulled down the block, I was confused about where we were. It wasn’t the best neighborhood, and it didn’t seem like a place that Quasim would live. Not that I ever counted his money, however, I knew he could afford to live in something the same as Meer had.

The pipe in my kitchen burst, and instead of staying at my house, he offered to bring me to his house before we went back to the lake house. I had classes all week and couldn’t stay at the lake house, so he and Elijah drove to the city to come get me, since my last class was tonight. The studio was closed for the next week, so me and Synthia could have a vacation.

Mostly Syn, because she had been working around the clock at the studio. Elijah yawned as he looked at the house that we passed, as if he was trying to look inside and see if someone was home. When he couldn’t, he gave up and leaned his head back on the seat.

The one-story craftsman house with worn white siding and one missing shutter in the front came into view, and I watched as Sim hit the garage opener and pulled the car inside, killing the engine, and making sure it closed behind us. Elijah took his seatbelt off as Quasim walked around and opened the door for me. I was nervous to enter his space.

He had been in my place plenty of times, but this felt different. This was truly his domain, the place where I’m sure he had sat in his darkness, and it scared me. I didn’t know my place within his home.

“Are you sure?”

He cocked his head to the side confused. “Sure, about what, Anjo?”

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