Page 57 of Night and Day
“Leave him alone,” admonished an attorney in family law. She flashed him an extra friendly smile, the third for the night, but he had zero interest.
He was about to say something smart to the paralegal, when the guy nudged his shoulder. “Yo, ain’t that your girl?”
Anton had placed a photo of Tamika on his desk, but he seriously doubted the paralegal was correct. Yet when he turned his head, he went ramrod straight in the chair, staring in disbelief. Tamika was on top of the bar shaking her ass with a martini glass in hand.
Stunning as usual, her pixie cut and makeup were immaculate. The sparkly short-shorts showed off her shapely legs in a pair of strappy black heels, and the gold sleeveless top clung to her torso and bared her toned arms. She was surrounded by men who gazed up at her with wolfish grins and cheers of encouragement.
“Yeah, that’s her,” Anton said grimly, getting to his feet.
He hadn’t seen Tamika since she left their apartment to stay with Layla—bringing his life to a standstill—as if the Earth had literally stopped rotating on its axis.
She’d promised to call when she got her head right. She called once and then he never heard from her again. When he called, she didn’t answer the phone or respond to his voicemails.
He’d parked in front of Layla’s building twice in the past couple of days, having every intention of going up to the apartment and forcing Tamika to come home with him. But each time he’d driven away, chiding himself that he needed to give her time. Let her breathe and work through her loss.
“What are you about to do?” his friend asked.
“Get her down from there.”
Anton marched over to the group and, using his elbows and height, shouldered his way between the ogling men until he stood directly in front of Tamika. When she saw him, her smile quavered like a kid caught in the act of disobeying their parent.
“Get down,” he yelled, to be heard above the music, extending a hand to her.
She shot him a look of defiance and screamed, “I’m having fun!” Then she took a big gulp of her drink, tossing her head back to drain the contents.
The men roared their encouragement.
Anton moved closer, but a thicker, shorter man with red hair shoved him back. “Hey man, back up. She’s having fun, we’re having fun. Go be a buzzkill somewhere else.”
“Yeah,” another man beside him said, glaring at Anton.
“Get out of my way,” Anton growled, wanting very badly to tear something up, and if it happened to be the faces of these two jerks, then so be it.
The short one stepped closer. “Make me.” His breath reeked of beer, and Anton turned up his nose in disgust.
“Get the fu—” He pushed the redhead, and they ended up in a shoving match.
“Hey!” Tamika yelled.
Gingerly, she stepped off the bar onto one of the stools. With the help of another man, she hopped to the floor and placed herself between both Anton and the redhead.
“Chill!” she said to the stranger.
Anton placed an arm around her waist and whispered, “You’re coming with me.”
Without waiting for a response, he took her arm and shoved his way through the crowd. At first, he wasn’t sure where he was headed, but then he saw the glowing restroom sign and crossed the dance floor in that direction.
He pulled Tamika into the men’s bathroom, and she shoved his chest, dark eyes flashing.
“What the hell, Anton!”
“What the hell? I should be saying that to you. What do you think you were doing?”
The toilet flushed and a Black guy exited with a scowl on his face. “This is the men’s bathroom. Y’all take that outside.”
“Why don’t you go outside and let me talk to my girl?”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” Tamika crossed her arms.
