Jah just looked at her. He knew his brother and he knew Rhonda. He had seen them go through the motions for years. Rhonda would do or say something stupid and Paul would lose his temper. They would go through it at least once a month. Jah didn’t think it was right for his brother to put his hands on Rhonda, but you’d have to know Rhonda to understand it. She knew all the right buttons to push to get a rise out of him and did it on a regular basis. Her theory was, as long as his attention was on her instead of anything or anyone else, she was happy, even if it meant slapping her ass around. Women like her were under the misconception that if a man didn’t knock her upside the head every so often, they were either weak or didn’t care.

“Anyway.” Jah waved Rhonda off. “What y’all sipping on?”

“A little Henny.” Yoshi raised her glass as if toasting the air.

“Let your boy get a li’l of that.” Jah reached for the empty cup that was sitting on top of the bottle.

“Nigga, please.” Reese snatched the bottle away. “You hustle, go cop a bottle. We chipped in for this.”

“Word, a nigga can’t get a drink?” Jah screwed up his face.

“Reese, stop acting like that.” Yoshi snatched the bottle from Reese and handed it to Jah. “You know Jah is peoples.”

“Yeah, my little brother done came through and got us right plenty of times,” Rhonda added.

Reese sucked her teeth, but knew better than to say anything to Jah. Even though he was young, Paul’s baby brother was one of the hood’s most dangerous cats. Jah poured a shot into his cup and toasted Rhonda and Yoshi. Reese raised her glass, but he ignored her. Turning the cup upside down, he downed the fiery liquor. He made a funny face, then tossed his empty cup into the street.

“What you know about that dog, nigga?” Rhonda laughed.

Jah wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I don’t know how y’all can drink this shit twenty-four seven. Give me an ice-cold forty and I’m good.”

“This here is for grown folks,” Reese said, swirling ice chips around in her cup.

“Then what the fuck are you doing with it?” Jah spat, drawing snickers from the people. Reese just rolled her eyes.