The Secrets of Silk

by Allison Hobbs

  Silk had asked how old Arvetta was, and Tate told her that Arvetta was forty-three. “She looks good for her age,” Tate had added, causing Silk to roll her eyes. Though Silk pretended to be twenty-two, she was only nineteen. In her universe, a forty-three-year-old woman was an ancient relic.

  Arvetta’s husband was sixty-seven and in ill health. It was questionable how long he could continue running his various businesses. Arvetta had convinced Tate that by sticking with her, she would assure that he was next in line to replace her husband.

  Silk was none too pleased about any part of the story. She didn’t want Tate replacing Mr. Bob if it meant he had to keep kissing Arvetta’s old ass. Silk’s last conscious thought before sleep claimed her was: Something has to be done about Arvetta.

  • • •

  Aside from the horrible Saturday night sex marathons, Buddy was usually too busy for sex. All he had time for was early morning quickies. Silk didn’t like being bothered in the morning, and so Buddy usually stole sex from her. Part of his morning routine was to ease up behind Silk and slip his dick inside her while she was sound asleep. She’d wake up and find semen dripping down her thighs long after Buddy had left for work.

  On Sundays, he woke up hours before Silk, and would burglarize her poontang two or three times in a row before Silk had even opened her eyes. The moment he noticed her stirring, he would strike again, sliding his dick back into her cum-filled pussy.

  But with the kids up and about, Buddy didn’t want the mattress squeaking and squealing so he wasn’t jumping up and down on her and pounding away. He was taking it easy, sneakily slow-fucking Silk from behind, and whispering dirty talk in her ear.

  “Your coochie sure is juicy this morning, sugar. I don’t know what it is that’s making this thing feel so good this morning.” Buddy reached down and lifted up Silk’s right leg. She yelped from the pain.

  “What’s wrong?” Buddy asked, throwing off the sheet and examining his wife’s thighs. “What the hell?” He pulled her nightgown up higher and gasped when he saw the bruises that covered her body. He turned her over and covered his mouth in shock when he saw the black and blue lines that crisscrossed her ass and her back. “What happened to you?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “You’re black and blue all over, how could you not know what happened? Talk to me, sugar.”

  “Well, you see…last night I wanted a cigarette.”

  “You don’t smoke.”

  “I started smoking after those precious little twins passed away. Not a lot. But I get a hankering for a cigarette every now and then, especially when I think about how those babies both upped and died at the same time.”

  “Oh, my sweet angel.” Buddy enveloped Silk in his arms.

  Silk began sniffling. “So, uh, last night while I was mourning the loss, I snuck out of the house to go get a pack of cigarettes to try and calm myself down.”

  “Where did you think you could get cigarettes from in the middle of the night?”

  “I intended to get ’em from the Flower Hill bar, but I never made it. I was attacked from behind. I didn’t get any further than Max’s store, when somebody jumped out from the shadows and grabbed me. He was strong and he dragged me into the alley and raped me behind those big trash cans. I tried to fight him off, Buddy, but he started beating me with something. He beat me so bad, I just collapsed, and that’s when he raped me.”

  Buddy bit down on his lip, trying to suppress his rage. “Did you get a look at him?”

  “No, not really.”

  “You didn’t see anything? Did you notice what he was wearing? Did you hear his voice?”

  “He talked kind of funny. He had a slurred voice. Not slurred like a drunk, but it sounded like he might have some kind of speech problem. Oh, and another thing I noticed was that he was wearing sunglasses. I remember thinking it was strange that he had on sunglasses in the middle of the night.”

  “Sonny Boy! It was that goddamn, retarded Sonny Boy. He raped a white girl down South and his people shipped him up here. It was only a matter of time before he picked up his old habits.” Buddy jumped out of bed and began dressing hastily.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch.” Buddy punched a wall.

  “Buddy, no!” Silk got out of bed and grabbed Buddy’s arm. “I can’t prove it was Sonny Boy. Just let it go.”

  “I don’t need any proof other than what you told me.” Buddy’s face was a mask of fury. “Do you think I’d let any man on earth hurt my beautiful wife and not do something about it?”

  “Buddy, please…” Silk reached for Buddy, but he stalked off and raced down the stairs. Moments later, she heard his car roaring out of the driveway.

  There were soft taps on the bedroom door. “M’dear?” Dallas said softly.

  “Come on in, sweetiekins.” The door opened and Dallas stood in the entryway with Myron and Bruce beside her.

  “Where did Daddy go? He was cursing and he looked real mad,” Myron said.

  “He’s going to beat up a bad man who hurt me,” Silk said with a trace of pride.

  “Hurt you? Where?” Bruce asked, his eyes searching Silk’s face.

  Silk pushed up the sleeves of her nightgown and the three children inhaled sharply. Enjoying their reactions, she lifted her nightgown up to her thighs. “Do you see what else the bad man did to me?”

  Dallas began crying and Silk beckoned her. Giving Dallas a hug, Silk assured her that she would be all right. “I want you boys to go downstairs and get some ice and wrap it in a dish towel. That should keep the swelling down.”

  The boys hurried to get ice and when they returned to the bedroom, they each were holding a dish towel filled with ice cubes. Silk shooed Dallas away and welcomed Myron and Bruce on either side of her. Isolated at the foot of the bed, Dallas was treated like an outcast as her two brothers tended to Silk, gingerly applying cold compresses to her wounds.

  • • •

  Two hours later, Buddy arrived home with raw and bloodied knuckles. “I beat out the little bit of sense that bastard had left in him. After the ambulance took him away, his aunt went over to the magistrate’s office and tried to press charges. She was crying and carrying on and saying that Sonny Boy wouldn’t hurt a fly. I walked right in the office behind her and let Mr. Bowes know why I whooped Sonny Boy the way I did. Mr. Bowes told the woman that I had a right to defend my delicate, young wife. And since Sonny Boy has a history of rape, Mr. Bowes said it would be best to get him off the streets. He offered me the opportunity to press criminal charges against him. But I told Mr. Bowes that my sweet wife who was lovingly caring for my three children couldn’t endure the humiliation of court proceedings and newspaper reporting about her being raped. I told him I had handled the situation in the manner I saw fit. So, that’s the end of that.”

  Silk nodded and mustered a faint smile. “Dallas and the boys helped take care of me while you were gone. I’ll tell you something, Buddy…”

  Buddy gazed at Silk intently.

  “I was really looking forward to being a mother to the twins because I figured they’d accept me as their real true mother. And after I lost that chance…” Silk went silent and nervously twisted the sheets. “After we lost the babies, it seemed like I lost the chance to get some love from any of your children. But I want you to know that Myron, Bruce, and Dallas are starting to love me just like I was their natural mother. And it goes without saying that I cherish those children. They’re upset enough knowing that a bad man beat me, I don’t think they could handle knowing that he raped me, too. The shame of it would be too much for their innocent little hearts to bear.”

  “The rape is our secret. It stays between you and me. Now, you relax and get comfortable.” He plumped up the pillows beneath Silk’s head. The kids are gonna help me make you a big country breakfast. You’re queen for the day, and me and the children are your loyal subjects.”

  “Aw, Buddy, that’s so s
weet.”

  “I mean it. After what you’ve been through, we’re going to wait on you hand and foot.”

  “Thank you, Buddy. I’m so lucky to have a strong, loving husband to protect and love me the way you do.”

  CHAPTER 35

  One of the perks of pretending to have been raped and battered was that Silk didn’t have to put up with Buddy’s early morning sex raids. He kept his dick to himself while she was in the process of healing. He insisted that she remain bedbound and surprised her with a portable TV for the bedroom. If it weren’t for her burning desire to see Tate, she would have stayed in bed for the rest of the week, but by the time Thursday rolled around, Silk couldn’t take it any longer. She had to see Tate’s face. She was desperate to kiss his lips. The bruises had taken on a yellowish tint and she hoped that the unattractive discolorations on her skin wouldn’t prevent Tate from making sweet love to her.

  Cruising around in her Cadillac, Silk drove from one end of the city to the next, searching for Tate, and making pit stops at the places he was known to frequent. When she spotted his car in front of Womack’s Hoagie Shop on Concord Road, Silk broke into a big grin and parked behind Tate’s Thunderbird.

  But her grin quickly disappeared when Tate stepped out of Womack’s flanked by two wig-wearing whores who were decked out in clunky, cheap jewelry, ugly pale lipstick and white eye shadow. Silk’s first impulse was to attack the women and yank off their wigs, but remembering how unmercifully Tate had beaten her ass the last time she’d acted up, she wisely controlled herself.

  Tate said something to the two women and they walked away and got inside his car. He sauntered over to Silk, looking spiffy in a dark-brown banlon shirt and yellow iridescent pants with razor-sharp creases down the legs. As he approached Silk’s Caddy, she couldn’t help thinking that Tate was too damn fine for his own good.

  “What’s the word, Silk?” he greeted with a smile. “I heard you ran into some trouble with that retarded boy. I heard your husband jacked him up so bad, the boy was carted off to the hospital. They said he didn’t even recognize his own aunt when she came to visit him.” Tate burst into cruel laughter.

  “That’s not funny, Tate. I had to explain those bruises to Buddy some kind of way, and I feel bad that I had to put the blame on Sonny Boy.”

  “From what I heard, Sonny Boy swore to God that you were his girlfriend the whole time Buddy was whooping on him.” Tate burst out laughing so hard, he doubled over and stamped his feet. “Then Sonny Boy went so far as to claim that you and him have a secret love affair that you sealed with a kiss.” Tate could hardly finish the sentence from cracking up with laughter. “I could be bent out of shape and jealous to find out that you’ve been cheating on me with that retarded, blind boy, but I’m not gonna blow my stack the way you did.”

  Silk rolled her eyes at Tate for teasing her. “Do you have any idea how Sonny Boy’s holding up?”

  “Not really. Sonny Boy’s condition isn’t the kind of information that I’m concerned about. If you really want to know, why don’t you go visit your boyfriend at the hospital?”

  “Stop calling him my boyfriend! Anyway, I can’t visit him; Buddy would have a fit.”

  “I hope you wouldn’t let that husband of yours stand in the way of you coming to see about me if I was ever laid up in the hospital.”

  “Nothing could keep me away from you, Tate.” Silk’s anxious eyes darted toward the women sitting in Tate’s car. “Who are they? Two of your whores?” She tried to form the question in a casual manner, but couldn’t keep the emotion out of her voice.

  Tate nodded.

  “Do you have to fuck ’em for Arvetta?” Silk asked worriedly.

  “I already did that when they were hired a while back. Now, it’s strictly business between me and the girls.”

  Silk let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

  Tate leaned to the side and glared at Silk. “You got a lot of nerve interrogating me. Do I ask you how many times you fuck your husband?”

  “I don’t mean to pry in your personal business, but I get so jealous. I’m sorry, but I can’t help myself.” She looked at him with a sad expression. “Can you spend some time with me today?”

  He scratched the side of his face. “Not right now. Maybe later on tonight.”

  “But I won’t be able to get out later on. Buddy ain’t been working his overtime hours this week. He’s been coming straight home from work to look after me.”

  “Look here, baby. I got big plans for you and me. Plans for you to be by my side when I take over the city. But right now, while I’m hustling in these streets, I can’t give you all the attention you need. It seems to me that you want a square nigga who comes home at the exact same time every night.” He shook his head and turned his mouth down in disgust. “I’m not that kind of cat. That’ll never be me.”

  “I don’t want that to be you. I love you just the way you are.” She gazed at Tate pleadingly. “I need to talk to you. Can you sit in the car with me for a minute or two?”

  Tate twisted his mouth to the side in annoyance as he glanced down at his watch. “I got shit to do, so make it snappy.”

  Seeming to move with great reluctance, he slid into the car and closed the door. Silk immediately embraced him, kissing him passionately and telling him how much she missed him. Tate slipped his hand up her skirt and stroked the crotch of her panties. “Make sure you keep this thing hot for me.” He put his hand on the door handle. “If you want to get together, then figure out a way to meet me at ten o’clock tonight.”

  “Where do you want me to meet you?”

  “There’s a spot on Pennell Street that I use sometimes. Meet me at the corner of Seventh and Pennell tonight.” Tate opened the door and had one foot out.

  “I won’t be able to drive with Buddy’s car blocking mine in the driveway. If I walk down to the corner of Ninth and Flower, would you pick me up there?”

  “Sure, doll. I’ll see you there tonight.” Tate got out of the car. With a dip in his walk, he strolled toward his Thunderbird.

  Silk didn’t pull off right away. She sat in her car observing Tate. He moved like he was gliding. Everything about Tate was so damn smooth. As if transfixed, she remained parked behind his car as he started up the engine. Music blasted from the radio and the two whores instantly began snapping their fingers and bobbing their heads back and forth. Tate said something that made both women burst into laughter. Silk watched enviously as Tate screeched out his parking spot and sped away with the two whores.

  Buddy arrived home at four-thirty and was surprised to find Silk out of bed and moving about. “I’m feeling much better,” she assured him. “But I’m tired of eating in the bedroom. I want to have dinner with my family tonight.” She’d already warned the children not to mention that she’d left the house earlier in the day.

  Carrie, the cook, had left an hour ago and had given her daughter, Sharita, instructions to keep an eye on the roast beef that was in the oven. As Sharita set the dining room table for dinner, Buddy and Silk sat in the living watching the news. Buddy kept a protective arm around Silk during the newscast.

  The kids were in the backyard playing while they waited for Sharita to call them in for dinner.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Buddy said.

  “About what?”

  “Well, after that close call you had with Sonny Boy, I got to thinking that if something tragic was to happen me, I wouldn’t be able to rest in peace if you and the children weren’t adequately provided for.”

  Silk gazed at Buddy with an arched brow. “You already have a life insurance policy, don’t you, Buddy?”

  “Yeah, but that money wouldn’t last more than a year or so.” Buddy clasped Silk’s hands. “I’d want you to be on easy street if I wasn’t able to provide for you. So, I took out an extra insurance policy. And if, God forbid, I have an accidental death, the policy will pay out big.”

  Silk winced. “Buddy, I don’t want to even think about you ha
ving an accidental death.”

  “I’m simply taking every precaution to make sure that you, my beautiful angel, will never have to be concerned about your financial well-being.”

  Silk shook her head adamantly. “I don’t want to talk about an accidental death policy. The subject is too unpleasant.”

  “I know. But we have to have this conversation one time and then I won’t bring it up anymore.”

  “Okay,” Silk said with an unhappy sigh.

  “In case of my death, accidental or otherwise, the house will be automatically signed over to you. Now if I lost my life tragically, you’d get a check for seventy-five thousand dollars. That kind of money would take care of you and the kids for a lifetime. All the paperwork is in a safe deposit box at Fidelity Bank. The safe deposit box is in both our names.”

  Tears filled Silk’s eyes. “Oh, Buddy, I can’t bear the thought of losing you. Now, you listen to me. I’ve heard you out, but you have to promise me you won’t bring up this awful subject ever again.” Silk rested her head on Buddy’s chest, sniffling. “I couldn’t make it without you, Buddy.”

  Buddy wiped away her tears and whispered, “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna leave you, angel. It’s only a precaution, that’s all.”

  During dinner, Silk hardly spoke a word. Her mind raced with thoughts of how she could lure Tate out of Chester and out of the hands of that awful whoremonger, Arvetta, if she had seventy-five thousand dollars cash money in addition to the proceeds she was entitled to collect upon selling Buddy’s house.

  As far as the kids…well, they could go live in Biloxi, Mississippi with their stupid Aunt Clara. Or she could drop them off at the county orphanage. They weren’t her flesh and blood and she surely wasn’t going to waste any time worrying about them. But then again, she had a soft spot for Dallas. Maybe she’d get rid of the boys and keep Dallas, as long as Tate didn’t mind having a child underfoot.