A part of him was afraid of what he was about to do, but another part believed that it was the only thing that he could do. For most of his adult life, Rip had lived and breathed crime. Every thought, word, or deed that he committed was the result of trying to get over and find the easiest way to get paid, regardless of the legalities of the activity. The only law or code that he lived by was the code of the streets, and that code dictated that he could not allow Wayne to get away with disrespecting Semaj. Rip’s first brush with the law occurred when he was only fourteen years old. He and Semaj had walked to the corner store to buy snacks while on summer vacation. Semaj’s grandparents were considered to be one of the more well-to-do families in the neighborhood, and they always made sure that he had pocket money. Rip, on the other hand, lived with his elderly aunt whose only source of income was welfare, food stamps, and anything she could beg from social services, the community food bank, or her family members.
