Rose of Silk

Chapter 11

Marriage.... married.... engaged.... these were the thoughts racing through my skull as Camille goes on and on about how wrong it is to be in this relationship with Maxwell. I ignored her as always and went about my business. What Cami was saying was right. Maxwell was married and I was like his side piece. I received a message from Maxwell in the middle of the day saying how sorry he was. I was still asleep in bed or laying down as it was the weekend, and even though I didn't have to work I was still cautious about the whole Sergio incident. It was Saturday around 2:30 pm and I didn't want to bring up the entire wife thing quite yet for I didn't want to provoke him.

Maybe, he already knew that I knew that he was married. He didn't want me to I guess find out or get hurt. I found alright; I didn't want him to know I knew.

The next day was dull. Cami was working all day, and I was at the apartment painting a sad portrait, but every time Maxwell would send a text or call I'd stop what I was doing and answer. It was like I replied to his beck and called every chance I got. Some would call it controlling; I'd call it an act of love. He promised he wouldn't hit me again, but last week he got pissed off because I came home late; later than usual because it was Zoeys' birthday a friend of ours we met three months ago. She seems pretty dope. She's a dancer: an exotic dancer. He smacked me up side my face and called me a bitch. He never called me names before. I hit the floor hard with yet another visible mark on my face. I cried as I limped away from him.

He chased after me and once he caught up to me I pushed him away as he forcefully gripped onto my shoulders giving me that devilish stare of fear and anger. I had held the wife secret for too long and I needed to know. Camille and our friend Zoey were pissed to high heaven every time I'd see them. Oliver even wanted to kick his ass, but I wouldn't let him. I felt like a complete ass for letting this happen. It's been over nine months since being in this toxic relationship. I eventually stopped painting portraits, and regular paintings all together because of him, and that's not like me. He made me cut ties with Camille because he says she's too much and talking to her yet alone being friends with her is causing our relationship to fall apart.

Another week passed, and he pulled me in his little office he had set up for his business meetings and told me he needed to explain something to me and that I wouldn't be too happy about it. He sat me down and told me he was married. I didn't say anything or give anything away that I already knew, so I just sat there in silence and let him explain everything. Some stuff surprised me because it was things I didn't even know. He had a wife that lived in the Islands named Alexandria Roseman, and they had a three-year-old baby girl named Rain. My heart dropped when I saw a picture of them together: all three of them on the beach during a scorching summer.

"She's beautiful," I said softly as I lowered my head.

A tear started to form as I slowly got up and walked to the door. He followed and gripped my wrist as I stopped slowly breathing through my nose to calm down. He wrapped his arms around me, and as we stood there I felt my heart or what was left anyways; turn black and my emotions I had held back finally were able to burst through the cracked walls of the river dam as it erupted and crashed, but instead of water crashing down on the town my tears fell one by one as I tumbled to the floor while still in his arms. He slowly came down with me rocking me back and forth to calm me down.

I couldn't come to terms with what was going on at that moment for my head was rushing with thoughts and pain in my heart. He picked me up off the ground and wiped my tears as I pushed him off of me. He pulled me towards him, and kissed me to distract me from the pain I was feeling. I squirmed and fidget around as he tried to hold me still. I stood there as our lips pressed together as my body fell weak. I gave in and had him take me. He picked me up with force as I felt his muscles wrap around me tightly. I sighed seductively as our lips pulled apart. He gripped my ass and smacked it aggressively getting me all excited. He kissed my neck, then collarbone as a sign of dominance.

"Take em' off Harlee," he says in a soft tone as he kisses my neck.

I stared at him with my eyes as he backed away while I undressed. I didn't like this feeling I had for it made me feel uncomfortable and made me look at him in a different way. My dress dropped to the floor as I wrapped my arms around myself and looked away. He studied me closely as my heart rate increased. I wiped a tear from my eye as he pressed his body against mine. I felt like his slave and he didn't care how he was hurting me. I felt like my body wasn't mine and I was being forced to do something I wasn't comfortable doing.

"Please... Maxwell, stop" I pleaded.

He slowly brushed my hair back slowly and gripped onto my hip and pressed down hard leaving a bruise. I held my breath to hold back my muffled cries for help to see if he'd see how much pain he was causing. He didn't care and proceeded. He pushed me down to the floor and got on top of me from behind. He pulled out a knife from his pocket as he cut my underwear as I closed my eyes tightly in fear of what he would do next. He then turned me around on my back and continued to hurt me. He studied my body some more as his lips began to quiver with thirst. I closed my eyes the whole time as he raped me in his office.

At one point he put his hand around my neck as he inserted his shaft inside me with force. Once he finished, he left me there. I got up minutes later in pain and grabbed my dress and headed to the bathroom to clean myself up. I took a long shower to wash off the scent of disgust as I rubbed the visible bruises and scars that appeared on my body. I cried as Maxwell went about his business. When I was done with my shower, I put on a long T-Shirt and some pants as I tied my hair in a ponytail as I grabbed my shades.

I jumped when I heard a knock at the door. It was Maxwell standing there watching me. He moved in closer with both hands in his pockets as he touched my right shoulder with his hand. I flinched and held back my tears for he smelled my hair. I was afraid to turn around and look him in the eyes for Maxwell wasn't the same man I grew to know. I thought of many possibilities of ways to leave him, but I couldn't find a way out. If I went, he'd kill me.

"Harlee, look at me," he says calmly.

I felt hesitant to face him for the sound of my name being uttered. I slowly turned around as I took off my shades and looked him in the eyes. He smiled at me and ran his fingers through my hair as he gripped the back of it making my head lean back. He licked my neck slowly and grinned like the devil himself. I huffed and puffed a few times as I could feel my heart explode. I was afraid of him. He let go of me as I placed my shades back on and sped to the car, but he grasped onto my forearm and grinned as I knew that was a sign for: if you tell anybody about what happened I'll kill you, and Maxwell meant that for he let me go.

I ran outside and got in my car as I stayed there in silence. I cupped my hands over my face as I cried out hitting the steering wheel repeatedly hurting my hand in the process and after a while drove to Camille's apartment.