Page 7 of Night and Day
Tamika paused her frenzied searching. Placing a fist on one hip, she tapped her foot. “If I were a lying, cheating scumbag, where would I hide information?”
She went into the bedroom and yanked clothes and boxes from the top of the closet and tossed his clothes in the dresser onto the floor. She found an envelope with sixty dollars cash, which she pocketed, and kept searching.
The doorbell rang while she was looking under the bed. Her head popped up, and she waited, listening to see if they’d ring again or go away. A few seconds later, the person knocked, but she decided to ignore them and pulled two shoeboxes from under the bed. Flinging them open, she found only tennis shoes inside.
“Dang it,” she muttered, disgusted.
The knocking started again and broke her concentration. She jumped up and exited the bedroom. Marching to the door, she yanked it open.
And inhaled.
Anton was standing on the other side, looking tall and elegant in a chocolate suit and shiny black shoes.
“Hey,” he said with a smile.
“Hi.” She straightened. “What are you doing here?”
He pulled her baseball bat from behind his back. “You forgot this at my apartment.”
“Oh.” Tamika laughed. She’d been too embarrassed to go back to retrieve it. She frowned. “How did you track me down to get that back to me?”
“You weren’t hard to find, and I know people.” He shrugged.
“Oh really?”
She was pleasantly surprised he’d gone to so much trouble to give her the bat and had a hard time keeping from grinning, so she didn’t bother. She showed all her teeth, and he responded with a little smile that lifted one corner of his mouth.
He was much more reserved than she was, but she liked that. She’d never been attracted to loud mouth men—the ones who burst into parties and whose rowdy antics were part of their persona.
She found Anton’s calm and steady composure to be very attractive.
Their eyes locked on each other, and a thrill of excitement scampered down her spine. Something was happening between them, and she wasn’t sure what to think. Both he and she were dating cheaters, who were dating each other. Maybe the thrill came from the slight taste of the forbidden.
“Would you like to come in?” Tamika asked.
“Sure.”
She took the bat, and Anton stepped over the threshold.
“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked.
“No, I’m good. I haven’t had dinner, so I won’t stay long.”
“Too bad.” Disappointment nested in her stomach, but she ignored the sensation.
Anton raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
There it was again, that thing happening between them. A certain awareness, an attraction that permeated the air and brushed her skin like a whisper.
“I have something to tell you. Guess what I found out?” she asked.
“There’s no way I can guess, so you might as well tell me.”
“I know where Calvin and Melissa are.”
His eyebrows snapped together. “Where?”
“Right here in Atlanta.”
