“Yes.”
Tamika picked a piece of pepperoni off the pizza on her plate. “I don’t think I can top that,” she said demurely.
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Anton said dryly. “You definitely have the air of someone who’s done some things. You showed up at my house with a baseball bat, remember?”
“True.” She laughed. “Okay,fine, I do have a story. I was fourteen, same age as you, when I found out my married neighbor, Mrs. Demp, was having an affair with the mailman.”
“The mailman? Come on.” Anton tipped the bottle of beer to his lips.
“I swear. I took pictures of him entering and leaving the house and started blackmailing her.”
Anton coughed and pounded his chest. “I was right about the blackmailing!”
“Hush!” Tamika covered her mouth and giggled again. “I know what I did was awful, but at the time there was this MAC makeup kit that I really wanted. My dad had said no and insisted I could get what I wanted at Wal-Mart, and I better be glad he was letting me wear makeup at fourteen.” She rolled her eyes. “I demanded Mrs. Demp buy the kit for me but felt really bad about it afterward. Well, not right after, but a couple of weeks later I did.”
“Your parents never questioned how you got the kit?”
“Mrs. Demp told them I’d helped her with some yard work and that was my reward. I’m not entirely sure my parents believed that story, but she was an adult and they didn’t have an alternative explanation, which meant they had no choice but to accept what she said.” She shrugged.
“Did her husband ever find out about the mailman?”
“Not that I know of, but she found out those long business trips he was taking were because he had another family.”
“Daaaamn. You’re making this up.”
Tamika lifted her right hand as if she was being sworn into court. “I promise you, I’m not. He had a whole other family.”
“Damn,” he said again.
“So in a way, it served him right that she was cheating on him.”
“At least you got a makeup kit out of it.”
They shared a laugh.
Wiping her fingertips on a napkin, Tamika said quietly, “She’s pretty. Melissa, I mean. What did you like about her?”
Anton shrugged, not really wanting to talk about Melissa. More than anything, his pride was hurt, thinking about her sending another man sexy pictures and sneaking around behind his back.
“She’s responsible and goal-oriented.”
“Wow, sounds exciting,” Tamika said dryly.
He chuckled. “Okay, Miss Smart Ass, what did you like about your man, Calvin?”
“He made me laugh, and… and he has a big dick and can fuck all night.” Anton stared at her, and she shrugged. The shift in the air was noticeable, becoming heavy with tension. “What can I say, his stamina was… wow.” She shivered, as if reliving a specific moment.
“Okay, I don’t want to hear anything else about your man’s dick. Or his stamina,” Anton muttered.
“He’s not my man anymore.”
“Your former man, then,” Anton said, annoyed. He ate his last slice of pizza and washed it down with beer.
“Do you think you’ll miss her?” Tamika asked.
“You like to talk, huh?”
“What tipped you off?”
