Page 92 of Quasim: King Inferno

“I will show you, the type of man I was raised to be if you just let me…” he sang as he was staring directly at me.

My hand rested on my chest as I rocked to the beat of the song while never breaking eye contact with him.

He was so outside of his comfort zone, but for me he would sing. “I promise to always be right there.” I sang back to him.

Quasim gave me a quick wink as he finished the song. Soon as he was done, I held my arms out and he picked me up, sitting back down. “You really think you know somebody.” Cappadonna said, while staring at me and Quasim.

“Why, Pops? Cause you would have been his vocal coach?” Aimee snorted while eating whatever they prepared in the kitchen.

“Hell yeah… Pissy, I agree. He was a little flat.”

“And you were gyrating while singing juicy… there’s no room to judge,” Capri defended Quasim.

Capone broke out in this loud ass roar laughter, falling onto the floor while holding his stomach. “Yo… my fucking stomach.”

“Juicy!” Core mocked, while laughing.

“Fuck outta here… ease up on my pops… not his fault he always wanna pick that damn song. It was probably the only song he remember before he got locked up.”

“Capella, you fucking defending me or roasting the fuck outta me?” Cappadonna looked at his son, confused. “Cause that fucking song came out in the 80’s.”

At this point, even Jeffie had tears in her eyes because we were all laughing so hard. Aimee was crawling on the floor heaving, because our stomachs were sore from Cappadonna looking at us like we really had him fucked up.

“Not too much on my grandpa, now… I’m on all y’all asses.” Alaia stood up to defend her husband, and he looked between Alaia, Aimee on the floor, and Capella, like he didn’t know who any of them were.

I fell back into Quasim’s arms as we all enjoyed being together. Life had tossed us every which way, and it was nice to actually chill and enjoy each other without all the drama. “Do you mean that?”

“What?” He messed with his beard.

“The song that you sang to me.”

Staring at me, he pulled me even closer to him. “What you think?”

I roped my arms around his neck. “I’m asking you… I want you to tell me if you meant the words you sang to me.”

He mashed his lips against mine. “The minute I put this shit in you, and you came clean, all of that became a reality for us, Anjo.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

Quasim

I was up latelast night so I could speak to Elijah before going to bed. He barely had a minute to speak to me because Des was taking them for ice cream and out on the lake in the boat. He did his usual check-in to make sure I was coming back for him, and when I told him that I was, he was straight.

Anjo had her leg tossed around me as I laid in the bed with my arms behind my head. When Cherie passed, I didn’t know what to do with my arms. She was the one I would wrap my arms around, and her side of the bed was now empty. I never touched her side because I was scared of her scent being washed away, so I didn’t wash my sheets on my bed.

For the first six months, I slept on the floor in Harley’s room. Gams had come over and washed my bed set when I was out, and I flipped out on her. The guilt for the way I spoke to her still ate away at me. All she wanted to do was help, and I lost my shit because she washed Cherie away.

She didn’t physically wash her way, but it damn sure felt like she did. It was then that I realized that I needed to start sleeping back in the bed, and I tried it one night, and then the next nightuntil it became normal. Eventually, I worked up enough courage to purchase a brand-new bedroom set.

My arms never knew where to go, so I rested them behind my head. Anjo held onto me, damn near squeezing me, like she didn’t want me to disappear from her. I removed my arms from behind my head, and put them underneath her, pulling her closer into my arms.

She moaned something as she found a comfortable spot in the crook of my neck. “I love you, Simmy,” she mumbled, while still asleep.

I smiled and kissed her lips a few times until her eyes fluttered open. “I love you too, baby.”

She hugged me tighter, and I heard the soft snores coming from her as I watched the sun coming up over the water.

One thing my baby was going to do was bully my ass, and make sure I knew how she felt. A nigga needed that at times, because had she not been so honest and open with how she felt, I can’t say that I would have made the first move.

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