After three days of bologna sandwiches and being elbow to elbow with the same sex, Paul was finally a free man. When he had gone before the judge, she’d informed him that he was being charged with assault, disorderly conduct, and trespassing. Paul tried to explain that he had only tried to defend himself, but the female judge automatically sided with Rhonda. He felt sick when she set his bail at twenty-five thousand dollars. He was barely making ends meet and had no way to raise that kind of bread. Even putting up the ten percent for bond seemed like an impossible task. He had come to grips with the fact that he might be sitting up for a while when one of the guards informed him that he had posted bail. He knew he hadn’t called anyone to tell them he was locked up, so he figured it had to be a mistake, but he wasn’t going to tell them that. He took the blessing and was quietly processed out.

When he walked out of the Tombs, the early morning sun nearly blinded him. He had only been behind the wall for a few days, but his now light-sensitive eyes made it feel like far longer. He smelled like a cabdriver and was in dire need of a shave, but when he walked out of the Tombs and took a whiff of the stale New York air, none of it mattered.

Paul was glad to be free, but his anger at Rhonda still lingered. Never in his life had he felt so violated by a female. For years, he had been nothing but good to Rhonda, even when she went out of her way to be a bitch. He had held her and her seeds down and as payment now he’d be running back and forth to court, fighting his new case. Of all the fights they had over the years, she had never gone to those extremes, but apparently the gloves were now off.

Rhonda was playing the role of the victim when she was wrong all the way around the board. She was not only pressing charges, but had tried to put the wolves on him. He had seen the kid Von around before, but really didn’t know who he was or what he was about. Knowing Rhonda, he was a low-class hood who Paul would have to be on point for in the future. The first thing Paul was going to do when he got back uptown was go by Spooky’s and get a hammer.