Satin Nights

by Karen E. Quinones Miller

  “You’re really sweet, Charles,” Regina said, then grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’re really a pretty decent man.”

  “I’ve been telling you that for years now, you know, Gina,” Charles said softly. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, then on the tip of her nose, and finally on the mouth. She gave a sharp intake of breath when he used his tongue to part her lips and kiss her more deeply, causing her heart to flutter and her body to flush with warmth. He pulled her closer to him, and his lips moved from her face down her neck and to the top button of her pajamas.

  She hadn’t been with Charles in an intimate way since their divorce, and the memory of their passionate lovemaking mingled with the sensation of his tongue moving down her chest. Why, she wondered as her head fell back and moans that she knew were her own filled the room, had she waited so long? None of the men she’d been with in her life—and she’d been with so many in her youth—had ever made her feel as loved and desirable as Charles did. Not even Little Joe.

  Little Joe! His name put a sudden damper on Regina’s lust. How could she be ready to fall into bed with her ex-husband when her present lover would be back in the city in just a couple of hours? She needed to get her shit together.

  She kissed Charles on the cheek and gently pushed him away and redid her top buttons.

  “So,” Regina asked in as normal a tone as she could muster, “any updates from the police on catching that asshole?”

  She noticed the expression on Charles’s face go from surprise to disappointment at her sudden loss of ardor. His brow furrowed and he looked at her quizzically, and it seemed as if he were about to question her about it, but then he simply shrugged his shoulders.

  “Yeah, there’s been an update,” Charles said grimly as he turned away from her. “Get ready for this. They found Robert asleep in his office this morning. You and Puddin’ must have really worked him over good because the police took him to the hospital to get him patched up before they could take him to central booking. David and I are on our way to see if we can get in to see him. I actually came upstairs to wake you to let you know I was going when I saw you were already getting up.”

  Regina jumped up from the bed. “What? Why the hell are you going to see that bastard?”

  “Don’t worry, we’re not going on a buddy tip.” Charles gave a harsh laugh. “First off, we might not be able to see him, because they don’t allow visitors at booking, but we’re going to try to pull some strings. If we do get to see him, I’m going to let him know that if for some reason he gets out of jail, if he ever gets out, I’m going to be waiting for him. I don’t care if he does thirty days or thirty years, that bastard’s going to know that when he comes out, he’s going to have to deal with me. No one’s going to attack my family and think they can get away with it. Not even my ex-best friend.”

  Regina didn’t know how to react at first. The words shocked her, but filled her with a sense of satisfaction and security. It was nice to know that after all their years apart Charles would still feel this strongly about her and Renee.

  She slowly sank back down on the bed next to him. “I’m sure that will go over well with the newspapers. I can see the headline now: U.S. congressman, or U.S. senator maybe by then, sent to prison for killing ex-con,” she said lightly as she nudged him on the shoulder.

  “It will be worth it,” Charles said with a sigh. He lay down on the bed, crossed his hands behind his head, and stared up at the ceiling. “Isn’t it funny? Robert was my campaign manager when I first ran for Congress. Did a damn good job, too. The man was a born organizer. Now I’m getting ready to put together an exploratory committee for the Senate, and things are 180 degrees different. My once campaign manager is my sworn enemy.

  “Who the hell would have thought that it would come to this, huh? I mean, I’ve known Robert practically all my life. I was the best man at his wedding. He was the best man at our wedding. And now, just six years later, he’s in jail for assaulting and trying to rape our niece. Everything seems just so weird and fucked-up.”

  Charles continued to stare up at the ceiling. “You know, Gina, if only I listened to you when you wanted to cut Robert out of our lives back when he lied to Yvonne about being married, this wouldn’t have happened. I mean, I was the one who still insisted that he be our best man, and even be our child’s godfather.”

  “Don’t start feeling guilty or blaming yourself. Yvonne’s already racked with guilt, and I’m feeling a little guilty myself,” Regina said grimly. “If I had just let Ray-Ray know what was going on with Robert instead of trying to shield her, she never would have opened the door for him last night.”

  Charles shook his head and sighed. “You know, you try hard to protect the people you love, but it just seems you can never do enough. There’s so much fucked-up stuff going on in the world.”

  Regina nodded.

  Charles propped himself on his elbow and looked at her. “I know you’re going to be mad at me for saying this, but that’s why I don’t want you to bring lowlifes like that Joe Blayton guy around Camille. I’m not trying to be funny, but I don’t even want him around you.”

  Regina stiffened. “What does Little Joe have to do with this?”

  “People like that are unstable, and you never know what kind of crap they’re going to do.”

  “People like what?” Regina asked as she moved away from Charles.

  “See, you’re getting mad, but I don’t even care,” Charles said wearily. “People like your Little Joe. Gangsters. Dope dealers. Ex-convicts.”

  “First off, Little Joe did his time—”

  “From what I understand he didn’t do all of his time, now, did he?” Charles snapped. “It’s my understanding that he was supposed to be doing life without parole but his lawyer got his conviction overturned.”

  “Well, he did enough time,” Regina retorted. “And I’m not saying he’s always been a perfect angel, but he’s not in the life anymore. So—”

  “Well, that car I saw you guys climb into in front of Amy Ruth’s looked pretty damn expensive.”

  “Not that it’s any of your goddamned business, but Little Joe made some smart investments before he went in. He owns a piece of two supermarkets and a housing development in New Jersey, to name a few. And—”

  “That’s bullshit. The government would have confiscated any property or investments he had when they sent him up on that drug racketeering charge because they would have been considered ill-gotten goods.”

  “Yeah, well, he didn’t have them in his name.”

  “The government has lawyers and accountants that know how to sniff out hidden investments.”

  “Yeah, well, they obviously weren’t as good as Little Joe’s lawyers and accountants, okay?”

  “You have the nerve to say that with pride in your voice? What the hell is wrong with you? And of course, you know how helpful it was to my possible Senate run to have the people I was schmoozing see my ex-wife with a thug ex-con.”

  Regina sucked her teeth. “Look, I didn’t know you were in New York. Maybe if you’d let me know ahead of time, Little Joe and I would have been more discreet as to where we decided to go eat.”

  “Damn it, Regina, what the hell is wrong with you?” Charles stormed. “It’s not just about your being seen together. I could explain that away if I had to, but it’s about your being with someone like him in the first place.”

  Regina jumped up from the bed. “There’s nothing wrong with me except that I forgot what an asshole you can be sometimes.”

  Charles stood up and faced her. “Oh, so now I’m an asshole, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Regina folded her arms over her chest. “You are.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because you don’t even know Little Joe and you’re tearing him down. You’re judging him on what people have told you about his past. I got news for you, Charles. Little Joe isn’t the only one with a past, or have you forgotten? I mean, after all,
you married me knowing that I hadn’t always been a saint.”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t a dope dealer. Look at all the shit David and Tamika are going through right now because of dope dealers. And you want people like that around Camille? And even if he’s not actually dealing drugs anymore, you can’t tell me you know for sure he’s all on the up-and-up. You don’t know what that man is doing or what kind of violence he’s capable of. God damn it, Regina. Hasn’t what just happened to Renee knocked any kind of sense into you? To hell, do what you want. I’m out of here,” Charles yelled, walking out of the bedroom.

  “You know what? Fuck you, Charles,” Regina shouted, storming out after him. “What happened to Renee doesn’t have anything to do with Little Joe or ‘people like that.’ Get this straight, you bastard. It was Robert—in other words, someone like you, with a privileged background and an Ivy League education—that attacked Ray-Ray.”

  “Go to hell, Regina,” Charles said as he walked down the steps with Regina on his heels.

  “No, you go to hell, you fucking stuck-up motherfucker. Who the fuck do you think you are, coming into my house and telling me who I should or should not have around Camille?”

  “I happen to be her father, and I care what goes on in her life,” Charles said, and snatched his coat from the hallway closet.

  “And I happen to be her mother. Are you suggesting that I don’t care about what goes on in her life?” Regina said defiantly, blocking the front door so he couldn’t leave.

  “You sound as trashy as Puddin’,” Charles said in a disgusted voice.

  “Fuck you, Charles. You don’t like me talking like this, don’t piss me the fuck off,” Regina spat out. “You think I don’t have good enough fucking judgment to know who I should bring around Camille? You think I’m some kinda fucking chickenhead? You didn’t even ask me if Little Joe had been around Camille or had ever met her. For that matter, you never bothered to ask what my relationship is to Little Joe. You saw us together that one time, and you just go jumping to all kind of fucking conclusions.”

  “So then you admit you have a relationship with him, huh?”

  “Yeah, that’s what this is really about, isn’t it? You wanna know if I’m screwing Little Joe,” Regina said with flared nostrils and narrowed eyes. “I don’t know how many times I’ve already told you ‘fuck you,’ Charles, but I’m going to say it again. Fuck you, Charles, and fuck the horse you rode in on.”

  “Why don’t you just move so I can get the hell out of here?”

  “Best idea I’ve heard all day.” Regina turned, unlocked the door, and flung it open. She slammed it shut after Charles walked out, almost hitting him in the back of the head.

  She was halfway back up the stairs when the doorbell rang.

  “What do you want?” she demanded through the closed door.

  “Let me in, I want to talk to you.”

  “Charles, believe me, if I open this door, you’re gonna wind up a battered ex-husband,” Regina said with a sarcastic laugh. “You’d better split while the splitting is good.”

  The phone was ringing when Regina stepped out of the shower, and she momentarily considered not answering it in case it was Charles, but changed her mind since it might be the hospital calling.

  “Hello,” she said cautiously.

  “Hey you.”

  “Oh hey, Little Joe.” Regina glanced at the clock. It was almost 2:30 p.m. Little Joe’s plane must have just touched down.

  “So what’s going on? Is your niece okay?”

  “She’s going to be in the hospital for a while, but she’s going to be fine,” Regina said. “I’m on my way to see her now.”

  “Well, I’m not even gonna ask you if you want me to meet you up there, since it’s obvious you wanna keep me as your down-low lover, but just call me on my cell if you need anything, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “And what about the muthafucka that put her in the hospital? Police catch him yet?”

  “Yeah, they caught Robert this morning. It would have been nice if they had shot him on the spot, but they took him to the hospital to patch him up, then hauled him off to Rikers Island.”

  “Why did they have to patch him up?”

  “Shoot, me and Puddin’ put a beating down on him when we caught him up in here. That bastard was punched, kicked, smashed with a baseball bat, and stabbed.”

  “Damn! My girls!” Little Joe laughed. “So is Camille still with your ex?”

  “Actually, Charles is here in the city, but he left Camille in Philadelphia with his mother. Why?”

  “Yeah, I shoulda figured he’d be there.”

  “Is that a problem?” Regina asked.

  “Naw, ain’t no problem, and keep that attitude out your fucking voice.” Little Joe chuckled. “Look at you trying to pick a fight with your pint-size self. But listen, call me when you finish up at the hospital so we can maybe get together for dinner.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay.” And with that, the line went dead, but two seconds after Regina put the receiver down, the phone rang again.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey you. I meant to ask yesterday, but then all this shit came up, but how’s things going with Tamika? Anything new?”

  “You mean with those drug dealers? She didn’t mention anything, so I assume not.”

  “No, huh? Yeah, well, make sure you remember to call me when you finish up this evening. Talk to you later.” And once again the phone went dead.

  Regina quickly dressed and headed out to pick up Tamika so they could go to the hospital together. Since Charles had flown into New York in a helicopter, he didn’t have a car at his disposal, so David had driven him to central booking, leaving Tamika in need of a ride to the hospital.

  “Girl, you need to listen to this,” Tamika said a few minutes later as she climbed in the passenger seat of Regina’s car. She held up a microcassette tape recorder.

  “What is it?” Regina asked.

  “The tape from my answering machine. I didn’t check the machine until about an hour ago, but this message was on it.” Tamika hit the play button on the recorder.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Corbett, I hope you recognize my voice and know who this is . . .”

  Tamika hit the pause button. “It’s one of those drug dealers. The one named Jerry who first came to my door.” She hit the play button again.

  “. . . but I’m calling to apologize for any problems you had recently, and let you know I don’t think you’re gonna have more problems. So please don’t worry anymore, and please tell your friends that they ain’t gotta worry because everything’s cool.”

  “Get the hell outta here,” Regina exclaimed as she turned the car onto Lenox Avenue.

  “Ain’t that something!”

  “Yeah, it is. Do you think it’s for real? Do you think he’s serious?”

  “You know,” Tamika said as she slipped the recorder back into her pocketbook, “for some reason I think he is. I don’t know why, but I really do.”

  “Well, I wonder what happened to cause this sudden change of heart. I mean . . . wait a minute. Do you know when that call came in?”

  “The time and date stamp indicated it was recorded about nine last night. I guess we were over at Yvonne’s. Why?”

  Regina paused. “Well, I spoke to Little Joe about an hour ago, and he made it a point to ask if there was anything new with you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.” Regina shrugged. “But it could just be that he was worried since he knew about your problem.”

  “Yeah, it could be,” Tamika agreed.

  “But the deal is that we had already hung up and he had to call back just to ask that one question . . .” Regina’s voice trailed off. “And then he seemed surprised when I said there was nothing new.”

  “You don’t think that—”

  Regina cut her off. “I don’t know what to think. How about we just leave it like that?”

  “Yeah, I mean, bu
t even if someone did reach out to this Jerry guy, it’s not like I would be mad,” Tamika said slowly. “In fact, I’d be grateful.”

  “I’m sure you would,” Regina said, looking straight ahead. “But of course, there’s really no real reason to believe that someone did. It could be that Jerry and his crew decided they’ve done enough already and there’s no reason to bother you anymore.”

  “That could be.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Or it could be that someone did reach out,” Tamika said with a shrug. “And that would be a good thing, not bad.”

  “Right. But we don’t know that’s what happened.”

  “We could ask. Or you could ask.”

  “I could, but I won’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because . . .” Regina hesitated as she tried to figure out exactly what to say. If Little Joe had indeed found the guys and convinced them to leave Tamika and David alone, that was something she should be happy about. But it would depend on how he convinced them. If he had just simply talked them into it, that was one thing. If he had threatened them, or actually had one of them hurt to show he was serious, that would be a whole other thing. And Regina knew Little Joe was more than capable of going that second route. And she just really didn’t want to know. Especially since she’d just had the argument with Charles about whether or not Little Joe had changed his ways.

  She took a deep breath. “Just because,” she finally answered Tamika as they pulled up in front of the hospital.

  “Mrs. Corbett,” someone called as they got out of the car.

  The women turned around and saw a tall, thin, copper-skinned man wearing a New York Giants athletic shirt, baggy blue jeans, and untied Michael Jordan sneakers waving in their direction.

  Regina grabbed Tamika’s arm. “Is that one of them?”