Page 96 of Quasim: King Inferno

I turned to look at him. “Yeah?”

“He one of my favorite rappers… I’m gonna be sick if I gotta wear him on a shirt.” Yasin started laughing so hard that he was choking.

“Go to hell, Yasin!”

“I thrive there, B.” He saluted, as he settled back on his bike and pulled his phone out, and I laughed, and shook my head.

Synthia worked at the studio and ran the different classes for me when I was traveling. Our clients loved her because she was so good at her job, and she was funny, too. I found her on social media after she made a video looking for a job, because the studio she used to work at fired her without any warning.

I sat with my tea, watching her blast these people because they were racist and only used her when they had black clients come into the studio. My heart went out to her because I hated when people took advantage of us, and then to toss her onto her ass without even a warning was crazy to me.

“Whew, that class was hard.”

“Why?”

“Cause that fine ass basketball player that was in here with his ex-girlfriend… I kept bending in his direction on purpose.” She did a fake bend, and I started laughing.

New York Sonics’ Point guard, Kenzo Aarons, and his on and off again girlfriend were clients and came in for classes. While some of my high profile or celebrity clients would book private classes, Kenzo Aarons was humble.

He was considered the league’s J. Cole, because you could see him just bopping around the city like he wasn’t a celebrity with a five year, two hundred-million-dollar contract. Other than hisrelationship with his ex-girlfriend, you didn’t see much about him in the media, unless he was giving back, which he did a lot.

His ex-girlfriend tried to book a private session, and he called us back and said the shared session was fine with him. I always admired how he could stay so grounded, while having all the money and fame being tossed at him.

“You are a mess… keep it professional because his ex-girlfriend is always on her social media, trying to air someone out or drop receipts for who she thinks is messing with him.”

Synthia rolled her eyes. “She gets on his nerves, and you can tell by the way he stares at her. It’s like he’s trying to remember why he started fucking with her again.” She shook her head and turned to grab something from the shelves behind the counter.

As I was about to respond, the door chimed and Havoc walked in, taking up every inch of the door. His eyes wandered right past me and onto Synthia, who grabbed the spray bottles and clothes to sanitize the mats.

“What up, B?”

It wasn’t that hard to become close with Havoc and Yasin, because those two were the main ones that were outside my studio or following behind me. On the rare occasion that I was actually alone, one of them always seemed to find me.

“Hey Havoc… you and your brother in one day. What do I owe this very strange visit?” I asked, waving my hand up in his face.

Even with me waving my hand up, it only reached his neck. “What up, Syn?”

She turned around with the cleaning solution, completely caught off guard by his greeting. “Oh, hey Havoc… did you need to book another class for your sister?”

I looked at him strangely, and he ignored me while focusing on her. “Yea…yeah,” he replied, and looked at her.

“Perfect. I get off in a few minutes, but I can stay later to help you out… cool?”

“Yeah, I’ll be outside.”

“Okay… give me a few minutes.” She went into the studio space while I followed Havoc out the front door.

“Sister, Havoc? You don’t have no damn sister… have you been purchasing classes just to talk to her?”

He had this sheepish smirk on his face. “Needed a reason to talk to her.”

“Um, how about you start with… my name is Havoc, and I like you.”

“Not that easy, B.”

Yasin was across the street on the phone, while keeping an eye out. “Why not?”

“No woman wants a deaf nigga… bitches barely wanna cook, and you think they gonna wanna learn a whole different language to communicate with me when I don’t feel like wearing these?”

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