Page 67 of All's Fair In Love & War

Tatum tugged me by the front of my shirt mid-chuckle. “Dance with me,” she said, playful but firm.

It wasn’t a suggestion.

“What?” I gave her a look. “Gangstas don’t dance. We post up and watch. We hold drinks and mean-mug. What we don’t do is body roll in clubs like strippers. You tryna ruin my rep?”

She tilted her head, smiling like she had me cornered. “Never. I’m just trying to get a husband to dance with his wife. Is that too much to ask?”

Then she spun around and pressed herself against me, rolling her hips as if sheknewI wouldn’t be able to resist. I held my ground for a second. Maybe two. But by the third beat drop, my hands were on her waist and my hips were moving—moving.Not a simple two-step, either. I was body rolling. In public. With rhythm.

And I didn’t even care.

By the time the third song ended, we were both out of breath, laughing, and leaning into each other. The rest of the room had disappeared.

However, reality slapped me the second we made it back to the table.

Sophia looked up from her drink, brow raised, like her soul had left her body at the sight of what she'd just witnessed.

“Nahhh, son,” she said, laughing. “I know that wasn’t my brother. Shaking that ass. In public. Doing hip rolls.”

Riley leaned back and clapped slowly. “I am screaming.You looked like one of those uncles that be at the cookouts, tryna show he still got it.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my drink. “Y’all done?”

“Absolutely not,” Sophia grinned. “I need to call nuestra madre and Mama Deleon and tell them how you were just out here winding your waist like Beyoncé.”

“I dare you to call my momma with that,” I warned, shooting her a glare that had her cracking up even harder.

“You didn’t say nothing about Mama Deleon, so let me get her on the line right now.” She pulled out her phone, and Tatum jumped in, smirking as she sipped what looked to be water.

“Leave him alone. My man was just matching my energy.”

“Matching your what?” Riley asked.

“Energy,” Tatum repeated. “And I loved it. I was about to throw it back harder, but I didn’t wanna spend the rest of the night at the ER. You know he's old and can’t bend like he used to.”

Sophia choked on her drink. “Bit—Tatum, please!”

I shook my head, trying not to smile. “Don’t lie on me. I bend just fine when I’m tearing that ass up.”

“Yes,” Tatum said sweetly. “Those five minutes are always the best I’ve ever had in my life.”

Sophia and Riley lost it, cackling like hyenas, and I just stared at my wife while she sipped her drink like she didn’t just assassinate my ego in public.

I leaned into Tatum, my eyes heated and filled with challenge. “Keep on, and you gon’ fuck around and need therapy to learn how to walk again.”

Tatum didn’t flinch. “I’m just speaking my truth, baby. You know I love you… stamina and all.”

Riley wheezed. “Notstamina and all!”

Sophia slapped the table. “I am crying. Y’all are sick.”

“Say what you want now, but don’t complain when I have your legs shaking and you have to crawl to the bathroom.”

Her eyes narrowed, but that grin broke through anyway. “Boy, shut up before I start telling details. Don’t play with me.”

“I’m not the one playing,” I said, sitting back. “You're the one who’s talking shit like you don’t have to go home with me.”

Sophia made a gagging sound. “Well,damn. I’d be quiet if I were you,” she said, instigating.

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