Page 43 of Quasim: King Inferno

He did it again and bit his lip. “Shit moving, baby.”

I smiled to myself because I was excited about gaining weight. At one point, I was so skinny that my collarbone started to bulge. “Do I have to tell you?”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do… but I want you to tell me so I can fix it for you.”

“Quasimmy, you cannot fix this.”

“How do you know, though?”

I kissed his neck as he lowered me back down. “I made you something to eat.”

He followed me into the kitchen and sat at the counter. “That’s why that ass moving… who eats pasta at midnight, Anjo?”

“You, because I made it and I’m not wasting this food… you think I be cooking for everybody at this time. Consider yourself lucky.”

“Or that nigga.”

“Ah, don’t flatter yourself.” I smiled, as I moved to the side so he could wash his hands. “Do you want more cheese on top?”

“Nah.”

I found the bottle opener and handed it to him as he grabbed the wine. While I perfected the already plated food, he opened the wine and poured us both a glass, and we took place at the counter. I had a dining table, but the counter was my favorite place to eat.

Before taking a bite of food, he lowered his head and prayed. I sat silently while he said his prayers and then turned to look at him as he mixed the noodles and sauce around before spinning them around the fork and trying it.

He nodded his head as he chewed with his mouth closed and dug his fork back into the bowl to repeat the same steps. “You going to tell me, or keep me in suspense?”

“Depends on… you going to tell me what has you so messed up?”

“After you.”

“You already know this is good, so why you fronting? Got you cooking for me at midnight like a little housewife.”

The wordwifehit me like a ton of bricks. Quasim didn’t know that I was married to Tyshawn, and I was scared to tell him.Capri and Zoya told me that I needed to just pull the bandage off the wound and tell him, however, fear continued to prevent that.

“I have a son….Hada son.”

He didn’t react, he continued to eat while staring me in the eyes. “Alive?”

I shook my head. “No.”

My voice cracked, as he pushed the plate away from him and turned in the stool, pulling me up so I could sit on his lap. “Tell me.”

I took a deep breath and told him everything that happened with tears falling down my face, onto our hands, as I recapped the horrible events of that night. The tears wouldn’t stop as he squeezed me in his arms and listened to me.

Quasim never interrupted me or gave a face like he was judging me for my decisions. Even when I told him that I was discharged from the hospital and went right back to the apartment I shared with him. I pulled away and looked at him.

“Why haven’t you said anything?”

For the first time since I started telling him about my son, I really looked into his eyes, and I could see the anger, sadness and pain in his eyes. His silence was deadly, and it made me nervous. Not for myself, but for Tyshawn.

“I already knew that I wanted to do that nigga in… I’m going to do him worse than his fucking cousin.” He spoke, his voice so low that you could barely hear it.

I pulled his face in my direction. “He’s not worth it. I didn’t tell you this so you could do him in, Quasim… I just wanted you to know.”

“Hug me, Blair.” He demanded, and I put my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, his body hot to touch.

Quasim wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly as he kissed me on the neck. “I’m so sorry, my love… Iwish things could have been different for us when it came to parenthood.”

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