“Okay, she’ll see you,” Billy said. Jah was so excited that he tried to go in the back, but Billy grabbed him by the arm. “Hold on, speedy. She still needs her rest, so don’t excite her and don’t stay long.”

“You have my word,” he said seriously, making his way down the hall. The walk was a short one, but it felt like the green mile. Jah waited outside the bedroom door, trying to figure out what to say. There was no scripted speech that he could give that would make the pain any easier to handle, so he opted to just speak from his heart. Jah slowly pushed the door open and went in to face Yoshi.

“Hey,” Yoshi said from her elevated position on the bed. Her face was black and blue and the swelling in her lips still hadn’t gone down. She tried to smile at him, but he could tell it pained her to do so.

“Oh my God,” Jah whispered.

“I guess I’m having a bad hair day.” She tried to joke, but her pain and embarrassment at her physical state was obvious.

Jah moved to the side of the bed and knelt beside her. The lump in his throat was so big that he almost couldn’t speak. Yoshi tried to turn her head away, but he gently turned her face back toward him. “What did they do to you?”

“Punk-ass niggaz got at me,” she said, trying to sound tough, but she was unable to hide the emotional turmoil. “I’m sure Billy already told you what happened, so there’s no need to go over it again.”

Jah felt like screaming, but didn’t want to upset her. “I’m so sorry.” He pressed his cheek against her hand and enjoyed the warmth.

“It wasn’t you fault.” She touched the back of his head. “It was my own fault. If I hadn’t—”

“You stop right there,” he cut her off. “No woman deserves this, I don’t care who she is or what she does. Them niggaz is wrong, and I’m gonna show them the error of their ways!” he said heatedly. “Just tell me who did this to you and I’m gonna smoke all they asses.”

“No, Jah,” she said, surprising him. “All that’s gonna do is make things worse. I don’t want you getting into trouble over a filthy whore like me.” She suddenly began to sob.

“Yoshi, you’ll never be anything other than an angel in my eyes.” He wiped the tears from her cheek, careful not to hurt her.

This brought another weak but genuine smile. “Jah, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but I’m not ashamed of what I am.”