22. Quasim
Quasim
The tattoo needles stabbed into my skin as I kept my eyes closed while thinking about Harley. Her birthday was approaching and every year when it came and went, I was reminded that she had stopped growing.
Stopped aging.
She would be forever five and the reality always hit me like a punch to the gut when I thought about it for too long. No matter how long she had been gone, it would always feel like I just lost her yesterday.
Since my mother was in the hospital closer to the city, I had been staying at my house to go back and forth. They were running a bunch of tests, and later, the doctor wanted to talk to me, Blaze, and our father. When I woke up this morning, I showered and decided to get another tattoo. The pain reminded me that I wasn’t all numb and could actually feel. Tattoos helped with the internal pain that I felt.
“How the fuck you eating this shit like it don’t hurt.” Havoc’s low voice pulled me from my thoughts while he tattooed my rib.
“ Pussy.” I signed to him, and he laughed while he continued to shade in the tattoo, and I kept my eyes closed.
“Blair on the block,” Ellis, one of the little niggas that wanted to be IG, came into the shop. He sat in the waiting area, kicking his feet up on the table.
The shop door opened again. “Bet, you told him his baby out there, huh?” Ezra, his brother, came in with the third brother, Evan behind him.
Ellis, Ezra, and Evan were triplets, and as crazy as they came. At twenty-one, niggas had bodies under their belt. I knew their pops before he was murdered, and I told their grandmother I would take them under my wing.
Apparently, I was a fucking guidance counselor like Capp. The triplets were getting into shit way before their grandmother asked me to step in. I wasn’t in the business of changing their lives, so they were my little hittas. When I needed someone handled, I sent they asses to handle it, and they always completed the assignment.
They had been putting in work, waiting to become Inferno Gods, and soon as I made the time, I was going to give them that honor to wear those flames on their body.
“Fuck up, thought he should know…. She got a new hair style, too. It look real nice, no disrespect, King Inferno.”
I shook my head. “Tell her to come here… don’t tell her I’m in here.”
We owned one tattoo shop in New Jersey, and this second one we opened with Havoc. He wanted something to invest his money into other than the strip lounge that he co-owned with his brother in Staten Island.
Since he tattooed, it only made sense to open a second one in Brooklyn on the same block as the barbershop and hair salon that Brandon owned. Since putting this shop here, we were making money out the ass because everybody was stopping in here to get tatted after a haircut.
From the chair, I could see Ellis talking to her, and she pointed to her car. She put her hand on her hip and sighed before following behind him. “I want to see this school basketball team I’m donating to because you look like you are in your twenties, and judging from the tattoos and piercings… I can’t be too sure you gonna give my mo…” her voice trailed off when she finally looked up and saw me.
I leaned up the minute that I fully took in her new hair. She had dyed it blonde, and kept her pixie, adding some curls into it. The sun from Bali along with the blonde, brought out her freckles more. She usually hid them under her makeup, but today she didn’t have any makeup on her face. I noticed she had a small scar where her nose and left eye met, and she was quick to cover it with makeup.
She was dressed down in a pair of baggy sweatpants and a tight crop top on with Airmaxes on. “Shit, Anjo.” I bit down on my lip, ignoring everybody in this bitch except her.
Blair smiled. “Do you like it?”
I motioned for her to come closer, as Havoc continued shading the tattoo in. “You look fucking beautiful, my love… damn.”
She stood there and messed with her hair. “Kiki did her thing… she told me to trust her, and she went above and beyond. I needed something new, you know?”
“Why you been over here for five minutes, and you haven’t kissed me… fuck up with that?” I stared at her.
Blushing, she leaned over and kissed my lips, and then looked at what I was getting done. “This is really good, Havoc… maybe you can use this to strike up a conversation with Synthia.”
The tattoo was of praying hands with a name plate necklace laced within the hands, and it had Harley’s name. “He can’t hear you… he don’t tattoo with his shits in.”
“Thank you.” He replied.
“Then how did he reply to me?”
“Read your lips,” Havoc answered for her.
She covered her mouth and then proceeded to speak. “He has a crush on the girl that works with me at the studio.”
“Petty ass.” He replied, knowing he didn’t know what she said, and he was too focused on finishing my tattoo.
“What you going to get into now?”
“I was about to call a tow truck because my car isn’t working again .”
As much as she needed to get rid of that damn junk car, there was a reason she was holding onto it. I couldn’t judge because things meant a lot to people, and it was clear the car was valuable to her.
I also knew that I was putting her into something newer and more reliable, because she wasn’t about to keep having that shit break down on her.
“You done,” Havoc said, and stood up to stretch.
Whenever he didn’t have his ears on, as we all liked to say, he never spoke. Since Yasin wasn’t here, and he knew I only knew limited sign language, he had no other choice. Sitting up, I pulled Blair between my legs and kissed her on the neck.
“Pretty soon, you’re not going to have any room for anymore.”
“I got room for one more, though.”
She looked at me confused. “How are you talking about one more when you just got one?”
“Put your name on me.”
Blair laughed, then stopped when she realized that I was serious. “Are you serious?”
I signed to Havoc to give her the tattoo gun.
He held his hand up and went to the back for a few, then came back. “The fuck you asking me, Sim? Cause I don’t know what fuck that was.”
Blair started laughing. “Give her the gun, I want her to write her name on me.”
He didn’t question it, as he showed her how to use the gun, and then looked for me to pick a place. “You seriously want my name on you?”
“Am I the kind of nigga that do shit that I don’t mean?”
“No.”
“Put it right here,” I pointed to that small space between my thumb and wrist.
She rubbed it gently. “Right there? Why… it might hurt.”
“When I’m on my bike, I’ll look down and you right there.” She was so damn soft and emotional and had tears in her eyes.
“And the shit not going to hurt… he just got his tattoo shaded in like it was nothing,” Havoc added.
Blair took the tattoo gun and sat on my lap as she wrote her name into the side of my hand. Havoc directed her on how to go in again to make sure the ink penetrated the skin and wouldn’t fade.
It wasn’t professional, but that was the reason I wanted it. She did it, and that meant more than having someone else put her name on me.
I had her put her name on me.
“I’m going to get something to eat… you know how to put the ointment on and cover it.” I had been getting tattoos for so long that I knew all the aftercare rules, and how to apply the ointment and plastic on it.
Havoc left the shop while I walked toward the back bathroom to put the ointment on, and Blair followed behind me. She sat on the bathroom sink, watching me through the mirror as I applied the ointment on both tattoos, before covering them with the plastic bandages that we kept in the shop.
“You sexy, Simmy.”
It was the way she was looking at me while biting down on her lip. “You gonna start some shit in this bathroom, Anjo; You and that hair already got me wanting to fuck the shit out of you.”
Shrugging, she batted her eyelashes at me. “Then, what’s stopping you?”
I stared at her through the mirror as she opened her legs on the edge of the sink. Yeah, she was getting fucked in this bathroom. Walking over toward her, I held her neck while I sucked on her lips before removing her from the sink and bending her ass over it, pulling her sweats down.
“Wait… they are all out there, Simmy.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, knowing I would kill Huey, Dewey, and Louie if they even heard what my woman’s moans sounded like.
Ripping away from her, I looked at the door. “Stay right there.” I left the bathroom and looked at them sitting in the front on their phones, fucking around like they usually did. “Yo, get the fuck out.”
They looked at me confused and then laughed. “Damn, you could ask nicely… we get it. I gotta call my baby mama anyway.”
“Nigga, you don’t have any kids,” Ellis reminded his brother.
“With the way she kept sucking when I told her to stop, I might have to make her one,” He snickered as he and his brothers headed out the door to their bikes.
I locked the door behind them, knowing Havoc was gonna be confused. Either way, I didn’t give a fuck as I fumbled with my belt and went back into the bathroom.
“You look so fucking pretty, baby, you know that” I grumbled into her ear, as I pushed inside of her, and she released a loud moan.
My baby was loud, and she couldn’t even help the shit. “You…you really like it, Simmy?” She stammered.
Holding her hips, I pulled out and slammed back into her, causing the sink and mirror to shake some. “Yeah… you trying to get a nigga killed looking that good, Anjo… why you want a nigga to die behind what’s mine?”
“I… I don’t want that,” she moaned out, while trying to grip everything on the counter, as I continued to slam her back onto my dick.
I held the back of her neck, as my hand squeezed her right hip and I continued to thrust in and out of her, while staring at her in the mirror.
That look she held in her eyes was only for me. She only looked at me like that when I was inside her. I was the only nigga that could put that look on her face. Her eyes opened and we held our eye contact as I continued to fuck her, while biting down on my bottom lip.
“Throw this shit back, Anjo… show me that you missed me. That’s what you had told me, right?”
I slowed my thrusts, making sure she felt that curve, and I knew she did when she nearly jumped up on the bathroom sink. “Fuck, Quasimmy! Ahhh, baby.”
“What’s my name, my love… I need to hear that shit right now.”
“King… I love you so much, baby…. ahh…baby.” she continued to pant as I slapped her ass and continued to hold her head down while I slowed my rhythm, looking back into her eyes.
“You handled that situation, my love… tell me that you did,” I continued to go hard, not even giving her time to get her words together.
Her eyes were rolling to the back of her head, as she tried to reach back and stop me. “I’m… God, I can’t…”
“Answer my question,” I pulled out of her and teased her opening, and she tried hard to get it back inside of her.
“I…I am, baby… I pr…promise,” She promised me as I slammed back into her, and felt her juices coat my dick.
I wasn’t far behind her, as I continued to pound that pussy from behind. When I was at my peak, I pulled her head back and sucked on her lips, slipping my tongue into her mouth while she sucked on my tongue.
“You coming with me to the hospital to visit my moms,” I kissed her lips again, as I pulled out of her, and she turned and dropped down to her knees, pushing me against the door.
Staring up into my eyes with that devilish grin, she took me into her mouth while never breaking eye contact. Every time I thought she was about to choke; she took more of me inside her mouth until I was looking at my shit in her throat.
“Fuck, Blair…. Shit,” I hissed.
“Who?” She asked with my dick still inside of her mouth.
This fucking woman was going to be the death of me.
“Anjo… fuck… my love…. My wife… shit, you suck this shit, baby,” I demanded, holding her head.
She licked her tongue around the shaft and pulled it out of her mouth before shoving it back in, choking on it. “hmmm,” she did a humming motion that had me feeling the shit in my toes.
“Spit on this shit and stop playing with it… suck this dick, my love… I wanna see tears and saliva coming from that pretty mouth.” I rubbed the tip of my dick on her lips, as she looked up at me, and accepted my challenge. “Relax that throat.” I coached, as she took all of me into her, this time hitting the back of her throat.
She gagged a bit, and I pulled out and pushed, admiring the saliva that coated my dick and dripped down her mouth. “Like that, King?”
“Just like that, baby… you like choking on my dick?” I looked down at her through low eyes, as she peered up at me, ready to please me.
“Yes, baby.”
“Hmm? Yes, who?”
“Yes, King,” she purred and took control of my dick, choking it down like a pro, as I held her head and watched her go crazy.
When I was about to cum, I pulled out of her mouth and she latched back on as I shot my seed into her mouth, the cum dripping down her lips as she stared at me with a smirk on her face.
“Who told you to be so nasty for me… shit, Anjo,” I rubbed my thumb down her chin, rubbing the cum into her skin while she stared up at me, satisfied with the mess she made. “Come here, lemme clean you up.” I pulled her to her feet, kissing her lips.
After damn near promising Blair my kidney that I would have someone tow her car back to her house, she finally agreed to come with me to the hospital. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, because if she decided to stay behind, I was gonna have one of the IG’s kidnap and bring her ass to me, anyway.
She was gonna learn that it was my way or my way when it came to shit I wanted. I would always spoil her, and she could have anything she wanted as long as I had air in my lungs, but I ran shit around this bitch.
I talked all that shit, knowing that she had me wrapped around her pretty ass fingers. The woman could tell me to shoot the nigga that owned the corner store on her block, and I would be coming in through the back of the store to handle him because she asked me to. Anjo didn’t realize the power she possessed when it came to me.
When we got to the hospital and parked, I held her hand as we walked down the hall to the room my mother was in. My father was coming down the hall with his head in his phone at the same time we were.
“Oh shit… I was just about to call you.” He paused and looked at Blair, before hugging her. “About time you got some fucking sense when it comes to this one, Pop.”
Blair laughed. “Hey Papa… he got a little sense or whatever.”
I looked between them both. “Oh, word?”
She blushed as she leaned her head on my arm and laughed. “Mommy eating lunch right now. Des drove Gams over here so she could see her. She was going crazy not being able to come.”
I looked down the hall and saw my brother raiding the cafeteria cart for Jello cups. “Doctor came around yet?”
“The nurse said he’s making his rounds now, so we’ll know something soon.”
We walked back toward my mother’s room, and Capri was sitting on the edge of the bed while my mother ate her fruit cup.
“Bitch!” Capri gasped as she saw Blair and came around the bed and got a closer look. “B, I love this on you… you look soo…”
“Refreshed… I’m glad to see that Stabby got her a new alias… they won’t see you coming.” Blaze said, as he ate the stolen Jello cup.
Blair pulled his loc. “Meer, I don’t like you.”
“We family… don’t got to like me.” He sat down in the empty chair, kicking his feet up on the end of the hospital bed.
My father kissed my mother on the forehead as she looked at him. It always amazed me how she became so lively when she saw him. It was like nothing else existed whenever she saw him.
“Hey Gams,” I dropped a kiss on her forehead.
I could see the worry on her face. It didn’t matter that my mother was grown with a husband and two children, she was Gam’s baby. “Hey Moochie… I see our conversation got through to you.”
“Moochie?” Blair whispered, clearly tickled that she learned the nickname my grandmother called me.
“I’ve been calling him that since he was a child… my Moochie.”
“Can we pipe it down in here?”
“Nah Moochie… we can’t.” Blaze got a kick out of fucking with me.
The knock at the door pulled us from our conversation. A black doctor poked his head in and smiled. “Hi, Mr. Inferno… sorry for the delay. We’re down a doctor, so I took on his rounds this morning… do you want to step out and talk?”
All three of us turned when he said Mr. Inferno, and my father headed out the room with both me and Blaze behind him. The doctor took us down a few doors before he spun on his clogs and looked at us.
“You told me that she has early onset Alzheimer’s.” The doctor looked between me, my brother, and father to confirm that was in fact true.
“Yeah. She’s been diagnosed for a few years now. I always knew it was something because even before she got like this, she was always forgetful and a whole host of other shit.”
He looked down at the beeper that sounded on his hip, and he silenced it. “We’ve run every test, which is why I didn’t want to discharge her once she was awake. I can confidently say that your wife and mother doesn’t have Alzheimer’s.”
The words leaving his mouth had me lean on the windowsill that we were standing next to. He didn’t just say what he said, and I was imagining that shit. “Her doctor was confident, and even ran tests.”
Dr. Pullman dropped the professional act and looked at us three, man to man. “She was lazily diagnosed because I called her doctor’s office and had her files sent over to me before even having this conversation with you. I hate to give hope when there is none because it further breaks a family down.”
“So, you saying I need to go fuck her other doctor up?” Blaze asked with a serious face, and the doctor looked, waiting for laughter to follow.
It never did.
He opened the files he held in his hand. “Over the past week, we have done thorough neurological exams and cognitive assessments, so we can pinpoint the specific cognitive deficits and identify the causes. We’ve done the tests a few times as well as multiple CT’s and MRI’s, just to make sure.… sorry in advance for your insurance.”
“What are you telling us?” My father asked, holding onto this man’s every word. He held onto the windowsill that I leaned against, as he looked at this man.
“I’m telling you that your wife has a meningioma tumor, which can sometimes be mistaken for Alzheimer’s. With her age, I was skeptical when you told me that she had it, which is what made me look further into it.”
“Fuck,” Blaze huffed out, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
It had been hard losing a piece of our mother, but I knew it was the hardest for my father. She was his person. His love, and he had known her longer than us. She was our mother, but she was his soulmate.
“There’s a chance that I’ll get my baby back… that’s what you telling me?”
The doctor smiled. “Look, many patients do experience an improvement in their memory, because the tumor’s presence was impacting their cognitive function. It’s also important for me to tell you that not every patient will see a complete restoration of their memory, and some things she may not remember, or it may be foggy to her. From the scans, the tumor is right near the part of the brain where it’s affecting her speech, which is why she doesn’t speak as much or struggles to articulate words or thoughts.”
My father put his arms over his head as he walked the hallway while Blaze allowed his tears to fall down his face. “What happened?” Capri came down the hall with Blair behind her.
When my father turned around, he had tears streaming down his eyes. “Baby, you’re crying,” Blair wiped my tears away and looked at me.
She held me, as I rested my head on her shoulder and allowed the tears to fall down my face. Capri held Blaze as he explained everything to her, causing her to break out into tears.
My baby continued to hold me, as I cried like a fucking baby. We had been operating on auto pilot for so long, doing what we had to do to protect my mother, and make sure she was always good. The shit was never easy, especially not after knowing the light that Mina Inferno had been before all of this.
“We will perform a Craniotomy to remove the tumor. In some cases, we’re able to remove everything. If by some chance, we cannot get everything, she will have to do radiation to assure that it doesn’t grow back… I will give your family some time to talk everything over and digest this. We’ll get her on the schedule for this coming week.”
Blaze took off down the hall back to the room, and I followed behind him, stopping to grab Anjo’s hand and pull her behind me. When I walked into the room, he was on the floor between Gam’s legs as she rubbed his hair while he sobbed.
Gams looked at me, confused about what was going on. When she saw my father, she became really concerned. “What in the world happened… Jesus, what happened?” She held Blaze’s head, as he continued to cry.
In this moment, he wasn’t a husband, father, or that man that could lay someone down without a second thought. He was Quameer, her grandson that she raised, the one he came to for everything because he couldn’t go to our mother.
“Gams, they gonna get my baby back.” My father told her, as he walked over to my mother who was staring out the window at the view of the concrete buildings.
He held her face, as she held his and stared into his eyes. I watched as he kissed her all over her face while she continued to stare into his eyes. That lost look that she usually had with all of us, she never had with him.
I explained everything to Gams and she broke down, hollering and crying, while thanking the lord. Without a second thought, I headed out the room and went to search for the chapel in the hospital.
My chest was on fire as I read the signs, searching for what I needed. I took the elevator down to the floor that the nurse I passed by instructed me to take. When I found it, I rushed in and went straight to front, dropping down on my knees and putting my hands behind my head as I prayed.
Tears fell from my eyes as I continued to pray, harder than I had ever prayed in my life. I thanked him for bringing my mother back to our family, for giving me a blessing, even when I didn’t feel I deserved one.
I heard the door open behind me and turned to see my baby walking in slowly. Holding my arms out, she rushed down the aisle and crashed into my arms. She held my head as she kissed me and held me tightly, exactly like I needed.
We didn’t need to say anything because her presence and feeling her arms around me was all I needed. It was all I had needed all along, and deep down, I knew it; I was just too scared to admit it because I had gone so long without needing someone.
I needed Blair.