Page 70 of Quasim: King Inferno

“My man… you sure you okay? I can come back if you want me to, Eli.”

He hesitated for a bit before he answered. “Are you going to come back for me?”

“Come on, man… you already know I told you that I’m always coming for you… you believe me, right?”

“Yes, I do. Then you can go, as long as you come back, Sim.”

“Got you, man… just because I’m not there don’t mean you can skip out on your prayers… alright?”

“Alright.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Later, Eli.”

He finished his call and put his phone on the table. Almost instantly, I saw the nameBerkeleysend a text message to his phone, and he was unbothered by it. For someone who swore she was an old friend, the bitch was sure around a lot.

I saw them hugging and talking at the concert, and while I shouldn’t have cared because I had one of the biggest rappers professing that he had feelings for me, I did care, and it bothered me. Mostly because he couldn’t give me what I wanted, but he could have random encounters with thisold friend.

“So, I took the liberty to print out the itinerary for the trip because Core told me that you guys didn’t have one. I laminated one in case we lose the paper versions, too.” Jeffie stood up in her seat.

“Yeah, you can tell you Menace’s assistant because what the fuck?” Capone chuckled and tossed some chips into his mouth.

Aimee held her hand up, and Jeffie smiled at her. “What’s up, Aimee?”

“How is this supposed to be a vacation when you’re working?”

“Exact question I have, too, Grasshopper. I told you we don’t need none of that, Sexy.” He pulled her back down and kissed her on the neck while she blushed.

As thrilled as he seemed to be with Jeffie, there was a sadness to both of their eyes, too. Without Skyler here, it felt like they were missing a piece to their puzzle. “I wish Skyler was here,” Jeffie admitted what I was thinking. Even with Skyler not being here, the sadness in both of their eyes seemed like something else.

Core pulled her onto his lap and kissed her neck while hugging her. “We gotta give her what she’s asking for, Sexy… when she’s ready, she’ll let us know. Until then, we rocking, right?”

She smiled and kissed his nose. “Always.”

It felt weird seeing Core with only one of his other halves. At first, we were all a little confused about him being poly, now, it was weird seeing him with one woman. Core had enough of that energy to have and keep two women happy, and it was clear by how sad Jeffie was that Skyler wasn’t here.

Quameer cleared his throat. “Now that the rapper’s girlfriend has entered the jet, we can take off and get the fuck on with our business.”

“He is not my boyfriend,” I started laughing.

“Way that nigga was grabbing yo ass and kissing on you, I can’t tell,” Meer snickered, and I saw Sim’s jaw tick, as he looked down at his rosary, before his eyes met with mine.

“How would you know, when you on the other side of the jet, Pissy?”

Capri pulled her husband back because he tried to lunge at me while we all laughed. “You lucky, Stabby… real lucky,” He smirked, as we all broke out into laughter because it was never a dull moment with all of us.

Before we took off, Quasim bowed his head and prayed while Cappadonna and Alaia did the same on the other end of the jet, with Aimee and Capella joining them. I kicked my sneakers off and got comfortable on my side of the table, while pulling my laptop out and staring across at Quasim.

“Something on my face, Anjo,” He looked up from whatever he was writing down in that leather book he always kept with him.

I looked back down at my laptop. “No. I do miss you.”

I hated how much he made me feel, and how I couldn’t lie whenever I was around him. “I’m always missing you.”

“Then act like it, Simmy.” I whispered.

He looked up from his book into my eyes, and didn’t say anything. I put my headphones in, and listened to ‘you’ by Jesse Powell, since I couldn’t get the song out of my head.

Quasim

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