“Touché,” she said and tried to smirk. “Seriously, though, I don’t want you talking out your ass because you see a bitch all laid up. I’m broken right now, and it ain’t nothing that won’t be fixed with time and work, so please don’t treat me like a charity case.”

“I wouldn’t,” he told her. “This is a sincere plea for some understanding.”

“We’ll see, Jah.” She patted his hand. “I’ve got a lot of self-repair ahead of me, so I’m not trying to rush anything.”

“And I’m not asking you to. All I want is to be your crutch, and eventually your strength,” he shot back. Against his better judgment, Jah leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. He tried to be as gentle as possible, yet still let her know how serious he was, through that one tender act.

“Where’re you going in such a rush?” Rhonda asked Jah, who was making moves toward the front door.

“Just need to get a little air,” he said over his shoulder.

Billy watched dumbfounded as the young man stormed out. Marcus caught the look in Jah’s eyes when he passed. He was no stranger to pain, so he knew Jah was going through a thing. Again, his thoughts went back to his sister and how he would react if something similar had happened to her. He had promised Billy that he wouldn’t get directly involved, but he never said anything about adding his two cents. Grabbing his cell phone, he excused himself to the kitchen.

Rhonda gave a cautious look around before following Jah out the door. When she got in the hallway, she was surprised to see Jah with his head leaning against the door. A deep sobbing erupted from the young man as his shoulders went up and down in tune with his grief. For as long as Rhonda had known Jah, she had never seen him this broken up. Though she hadn’t been in the room with them, she was still a woman and had an idea that there was more to him and Yoshi than people had picked up on.

“Jah,” she said and placed a hand on his back. To her surprise, his sobbing got worse. “What’s the matter, little brother?”

“Do you see what they did to her?” he asked without turning to let Rhonda see his tears. “They fucked her up crazy bad.”

“Yeah, them niggaz did some sucker shit,” she agreed.

“I asked her who they were, but she wouldn’t tell me. I swear to everything I love, I’d track them dudes down and blast them all!” He punched the elevator door.