Page 64 of Quasim: King Inferno

“Promise. Go take a shower so you can eat breakfast and then go enjoy the day.”

He hugged me even tighter, before running off to the bathroom. “Okay, Sim.”

I stood up and went to go kiss my niece. “Use deodorant too, Eli… damn pits stronger than mine,” I laughed, and shook my head.

Ryder was coming out of Gam’s room and jumped when she saw me. “I’m going to let you off the hook because you told a good lie.”

She smiled up at me. “I don’t want him to feel bad.”

“You did good, Ry… I’m proud of you.”

I held my arms out and she rushed into them, as I picked her up and kissed her cheeks. “Love you, Uncle Simmy.”

“Love you so much more, baby. Now, go and take Beretta out before she shit on my floor again.”

Ryder laughed as I placed her back on the floor. “It was one time… sheesh.”

I knocked on the door and Gams was coming out of the closet. “Hey baby… have you come to yell at me for covering for Eli.”

“Nah.”

I took a seat on the bench in front of her bed while I watched her fold my mother’s clothes. “I know that look… full of love and nowhere to put it.”

“Gams, I’m starting to see where Blaze be getting his mess from.”

She leaned up. “What?”

“Just be saying anything.”

“Is it really anything, though? I can tell you are in love and don’t know what to do… it’s been a long time for you.”

I listened as I looked at the pictures on her night table. The picture of Harley made me smile. It was one of her getting her first bath, and she had this silly little grin on her face. Me and Cherie spent an hour laughing because the grin remained the whole bath.

“I fucked up this time, Gams.”

“Did you sleep with her mother?”

“What?”

“Or did you burn her home downandget her mother pregnant?”

I turned to look at my grandmother while trying to remember the signs of a stroke. “Gams, are you good?”

“Perfectly well. You didn’t do any of the things I mentioned, so there’s always room to fix whatever fuck up you made. I know you hear from everybody how you need to move on and open your heart again, so you won’t hear that from me.”

“Why?”

“Because you know that you need to do both of those things. What you will hear from me is that it’s not your fault, Quasim Israel Inferno. You would have protected Cherie, and you even warned her. You did everything you could, so you need to allow her to rest while also allowingyouto rest. All these years, and I know you haven’t had a good night’s rest.”

“I get sleep.”

“Everyone gets sleep… when’s the last time that you had rest?” I thought about the night that Blair climbed on top of me, and we slept on the couch in Monaco.

That was the last time that I had properly slept. My mind turned off and I was able to sleep peacefully. “I rest when I’m with her.”

“Then you know what you need to do, baby. I know that you will do everything to protect that girl. Quasim, you had to step into this life earlier than you should have, and you carry a lot on your back. You’ve also lost a lot, too,” She said down beside me and took my hands into hers.

I lifted them and kissed her hands. “Thank you, Gams.”

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