Page 72 of Quasim: King Inferno

“They nasty.” Capone shook his head, as he grabbed Erin’s hand, and they went into the kitchen.

“Go take your shower and get situated, I’ll give you space before coming in there.” I told Blair, and she yawned and walked down the other long hallway where our room was. It was on the other side of the villa. The shit seemed isolated if you asked me.

I nodded my head toward the backyard. Even though I was tired as shit, I was gonna allow her to take a shower before coming up in there. With the way she was looking, it seemed as if she was disappointed that I wouldn’t be in the room while she showered.

Core held Jeffie’s face and kissed her lips. “Go get ready for bed and I’m coming behind you.”

“Okay… night, Quasim.”

“Night, Jeffie.”

The butler came out with some drinks and food from inside as me and Core settled in on the back patio. I kicked my sneakers off and put my feet up on the lounge chair while relaxing. Ineeded a good stretch and probably a run in the morning to get my joints back moving right. Every time I moved, I felt the cracking.

I didn’t speak because I wasn’t the type to force someone to get their thoughts out. Core seemed like he was trying to get his thoughts together before he spoke, so I was giving him the space to do it without any pressure.

My eyes closed as I listened to the ocean below us and inhaled the salt water. Smelling the salt water had this sense of peace wash over me. “Jeffie had a miscarriage.”

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. “I’m sorry.”

“Appreciate it. Between that, and then the whole Skyler situation, shit been rough.”

I looked at him. “It was yours?”

“Yeah… me and Geeky never went there, but me and Jeffie have.” He explained, looking down at his watch. “She wants a baby, and I want to give her one.”

“Do you want a baby, though?”

He paused. “Damn, that sounds bad… we both wanted this baby. It wasn’t like we were trying or nothing like that, shit just happened. Surprised the shit out of both of us.”

“Tends to happen when you fucking unprotected.”

Core snickered. “She was so fucking excited. Was gonna ask Menace to be the God father, then started bleeding while she and Menace was out the country. She tried to still continue to do her job, and it was him that forced her to the hospital. Held her as she sobbed until I could get to her… feel guilty not being there for her.”

“You were there for her though. Mens is your family, and he was there where you couldn’t be… you made it to her, no?”

“Yeah, a few hours later. The sob that released from her was some shit I never heard before, Sim.”

I looked down and nodded my head. “You got my prayers… the both of you.”

“This trip came at the perfect time because we both needed a release… something to take our minds off things.”

“Skyler knew?”

“She was the first-person Jeffie told… even with us being in this weird place with each other, she was happy for us.” He explained, but I could tell he was trying to process and figure out what went wrong.

Core was a logical man, and believed in numbers and facts, shit that he could see and understand. A miscarriage was something that nobody could or would understand. It just happened, and you had to keep moving on, and pray that you got a second chance at bringing a child into the world. “When we got back, she was at Jeffie’s apartment and had cleaned it up and ordered takeout for her. I sat on the couch while I heard Jeffie sobbing to her, and there wasn’t shit I could do…couldn’t give her another baby right there on the spot.”

“Aye, stop putting that blame on yourself. It’s not your fault, or her fault.”

“Mama Jean said the same thing. I called her because I didn’t know what to do… how to deal with it, and if my moms was alive, I would have called her. She came over with a bunch of herbs and gave Jeffie a herbal bath and made her teas… Jeffie isn’t close with her mother.”

I smiled. “Jean got her shit with her, but she gonna always come through for her kids. I bet Jeffie needed that.”

“Word. She’s always used to taking care of everybody else, so she needed someone to take care of her.”

“What weird place you and Skyler in?”

“She broke up with me because her baby daddy being a fucking weirdo… on the real, I’m thinking about doing his ass in. She scared that this nigga gonna get rights and visitations, so sheended shit, so he doesn’t use it against her in court. I get it, and respect it because she wanna protect Estella, but I want her to trust me to handle it… I got a team of lawyers on standby if she told me she needed me.”

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