Page 37 of Quasim: King Inferno

“Sim got them for me.” Elijah spun around, showing his Essentials sweatsuit that I purchased for him.

It took a lot of trial and error trying to figure out the size that he wore. You couldn’t just buy a child clothes based on their age.

Go figure.

My brother came swaggering out the barbershop with Ryder right behind him. “Uncle Simmy!” She rushed into my arms, and I picked her up, kissing her on the cheek.

“Ry, what you doing on the block?”

“Daddy let me come since Gams is watching Cherry.” She smiled as she hugged me again, then noticed Elijah standing beside me.

Meer looked from me to Elijah and then back to me, sharing the same confused expression that his daughter had on her face. I put Ry back onto the ground and she looked at Elijah like she was trying to figure him out without asking who he was.

When it came to Ryder, my brother didn’t play about her being respectful and staying in a child’s place. What she got away with while with her bitch ass mother, didn’t swing when it came to being under Capri and Meer’s roof.

For the most part, my niece was a good kid, and she would never get out of line, unless someone fucked with her. She was spicy like my mother.

What I remember of who my mother used to be.

“Elijah, this is my brother and my niece… Quameer and Ryder.” I looked down at him, and he looked at me nervously. “Fix that posture… no cowering. Stand tall, Eli. You straight, they good people.”

“Hi, Elijah,” Ryder smiled at him.

“Hey, Ryder.”

“Call me Ry, or Peach… everyone else does.”

“Okay. You can call me Eli.”

Ryder nodded her head. “Ry, take him to the Chinese restaurant and get whatever you want.” I fished in my pocket for my wallet and peeled off two twenties.

Kincaid removed himself from in front of the shop. “I’ll walk with them.”

“Appreciate it.” I replied, as I walked into the barbershop with my brother on my ass. Brandon already had his chair cleared for me, so I sat down.

I never had to tell him how I wanted my shit because I always got the same thing. Brandon also knew I would put my foot in his ass if he fucked me up. “Who child did you kidnap, Quasim?”

Blaze sat in one of the empty seats while studying me to see if I had gone mad. “He’s my neighbor’s son, and he’s spending the summer with me.”

“You know there’s laws against taking people’s kids, right?”

I chuckled. “His mom on that shit and she neglect the fuck out of him.”

Blaze nodded his head. “I get that… you can’t just take her seed because you don’t like how she lives her life.”

“Blaze, I been taking care of the boy for a whole year. He comes to my house every morning so he can shower and change into clothes I bought him and eat. I know you a pops and got that shit under control, but I know what I’m doing.”

“First off, you a pops too, nigga. I’m not saying you don’t know what to do… just trying to see where your head at, Sim. Showing up with some random ass kid ain’t like you.”

He looked me in the eyes, and I remained silent. It was so easy to forget that I was ever a father. Harley had been gone, and although every part of my home reminded me of her, I didn’t feel like a father anymore. It felt as if the moment that she was lowered into the ground, that title had been stripped from me.

I remember sitting in the house staring at pictures of her and Cherie, jealous of my dead girlfriend because she got to be with our daughter. She was able to smell her curls, hear her voice, and feel those hugs she used to give.

The more time that passed, the less I could remember what they felt like. It was something I wanted to hold onto forever, and as time went on, the more I felt it slipping through my fingers. This was foreign to Blaze because I wasn’t the type to get in the middle of someone else’s business, and damn sure wouldn’t take on helping someone else’s child.

“He doesn’t have anybody except me and Havoc.”

“Wait a damn minute, you trusted this nigga to know this and not me?”

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