“Chilling,” Paul said. His tone was neither friendly nor hostile. He and Paul had never been the best of friends, but they always had a mutual respect for each other. Paul didn’t knock him for being gay, and Kel didn’t hold a grudge for Paul leaving his sister. They both understood Rhonda’s character well enough to know it was bound to happen. “Your sister in there?” Paul nodded at the door.

“Yeah.” Kelvin let out a cloud of smoke and passed the blunt to the kid standing closest to him. Paul nodded and walked his son inside.

The interior of the house didn’t smell as strongly of weed as the hall did, but the air was rank with cigarette smoke. Rhonda seemed to be having a party of sorts, and it was a packed house. People were either sitting at the table playing cards for money or lounging on the couch drinking. In the center of it, running her mouth, was Rhonda.

“What’s up, baby daddy?” She raised her glass. Paul just nodded. “You want me to pour you a drink?”

“Nah,” he said, looking around at the assortment of grimy-ass men and women scattered throughout the house. “I just came by to drop P.J. off, ’cause I got some shit to do. These people gonna be here all night?”

“I can’t call it, you know how parties can get.” She toasted Reese, who was sitting next to her, wearing a spaced-out look on her face.

“Well, you might wanna think about shutting it down early tonight, being that your children are here,” he pointed out.

“Please, they love to party just as much as their mama. P.J., show your daddy the dance you learned.” The little boy bust out into the latest rap video move, drawing applause from the crowd. “That’s my boy!”

“Rhonda, is that what you spend your time teaching our son?” Paul was clearly irritated.

“Stop acting like that, Paul. He’s just a kid,” Reese said, adding her two cents.

“I don’t recall ever fucking you, or us having a seed together, so mind your fucking business.”

“Y’all knock that shit off in front of P.J.,” Sheila said. She was a brown-skinned girl who lived next door to Rhonda. “Paul, why don’t you have a drink and hang out for a minute?” she suggested, trying to defuse the situation, but of course Rhonda wouldn’t let her.

“Paul, don’t come in my house disrespecting my company,” Rhonda defended Reese.

“Then keep your puppy in check,” he snarled.

“Who the fuck you calling ‘puppy’?” Reese acted like she wanted to get up, but the look Paul gave her changed her mind.

“Paul, we in here having a good time, so don’t start. You’ve dropped P.J. off, so you can go now,” she said, as if continuing the conversation would stop her from doing something important.