Hitta's Tea Maker 2

by Edwina Fort

  “Shantell, this has gone too far. You need to stop lying!” I told her pushing her newspapers back to her.

  She smiled, in no way ruffled by my words. “I kind of figured you were going to say that too, but no worries, sweetheart, because I have more.” She pulled an iPad out of the envelope and after turning it on, slid it toward me.

  “Where did your husband tell you your loving foster father disappeared to?”

  I tapped the glass of my counter, contemplating not answering her, but something propelled me to do it.

  “He skipped town after murdering my foster mother. The story was in the paper.”

  She chuckled. “My God, you are so naive. Push play on that video in front of you.”

  For some reason, my hand shook as I pushed the play button on the screen. Although I couldn’t hear what was being said because loud rap music was playing, I could see Stan sitting in a chair in an abandoned car garage. And standing around him was Hitta, the twins, and Wayne.

  Hitta was angrily saying something to Stan before he stood and… “Oh my God!” I cried out when he hit Stan so hard his head flew back on his neck before his body slammed to the ground.

  “For some strange reason, you’re the only person in the world who can’t see what kind of man you married,” Shantell hissed as I continued to watch the video through horror-stricken eyes.

  Maddox and Lannox revived Stan and sat him back up in the chair, but a few minutes later, Hitta hit him again. I have never in my life seen anybody get hit that hard. With the way his head flew back, his neck had to be sprained or fractured.

  The twins revived him and sat him back in the chair, but he must have said something to set Hitta off because he began hitting him and didn’t stop. The violence he displayed was past anything I could ever imagine. After about the seventh blow, Stan’s blood began to splatter on Hitta’s shirt.

  My hand over my mouth shook badly. He was so violent, y’all. I couldn’t believe this. In complete and utter shock, I watched as it took Maddox, Lannox, and Wayne to pull him off of the clearly dead man. I’ve never seen someone get beaten to death, it was a horrible thing.

  “You are so stupid, you convinced yourself that a wild lion was a tamed dog…” she hissed, drawing my attention.

  “You married a Chi-town goon. This how niggas like that live! You wasn’t made for a man like that. A nice wholesome girl like you should have the white picket fence, it’s just that the nigga who gave it to you is a natural born killa.”

  There was so much hate in her eyes it stole my breath. “The father of your child is a mutha f**kan killa!” She repeated, just in case I missed her gut-wrenching words the first time. “How does it make you feel, knowing that will be your child’s role model?”

  She laughed reminding me of Cruella de Vil. “But wait, baby, I’m not done yet!”

  I wanted to beg her to stop. She was ripping my heart out, stepping on it with her red bottom heels. I didn’t want to play this game with her anymore. Why was she doing this to me?

  The next set of pictures she pulled out was those of my mother going into the gym. “Notice the date,” she said as she took her time placing each picture on the glass in front of me.

  “Did your husband tell you he talked to her the night Stan killed her?” I held up my hand, stopping her as my world tilted on its foundation.

  “Wait! What?!” I screamed, “My mother is not dead!”

  All pretenses that I wasn’t fazed by Shantell had flown out of the window and she was loving every bit of it.

  “Are you kidding me? He didn’t even tell you that the other woman Stan killed was your mother?! So, you don’t even know she dead?!” She held her head back and roared with laughter.

  “Hell naw! All this time, I’ve been going crazy believing that he loved you more than me, and he didn’t even think enough about you to let you know that your mama was dead! This sh*t is rich!” she said around her laughter.

  I stared at her through tears that wouldn’t fall. My system was in shock, so much so that I didn’t know what to do next. If my body didn’t know how to automatically breathe, this would have been the point where I dropped dead. My heart was broken into a million pieces and it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt.

  “Okay!” she cried holding up her finger as she tried to get control over her laughter. Reaching up, she dried the tears out of her eyes. “Oh my God! Okay! I got one more thing, I promise…you so pathetic I feel sorry for you!”

  Shaking her head, she gave in to the last of her chuckles. When she was done, she cleared her throat.

  “Whew girl, you a fool! Anyway… I chose now to come and talk to you because I thought you might want to know that your brother don’t have long for this earth.”

  “What do you mean?” My voice quivered so badly my words were barely legible.

  “Well, I just saw Maddox throw him in his truck. My guess is he finna take him back to the gym, probably in the basement,” she lifted her eyebrows at me as if I should know the significance of what she just said, “where he’s going to meet the same fate your dear father Stan met. And then, they’re going to make him disappear along with his hands and teeth. No doubt Hitta is going to come tell your silly ass he went to Paris or some sh*t!”

  “Get out of my store!” I growled as I took my apron off.

  She held up her hands as she gathered her things. “Well, I see how you appreciate—”

  “GET OUT MY STORE, B*TCH!!!!”

  I walked around the counter seeing red. I was ready to fight if I had to. She must have got the picture because she turned and moseyed on toward the door. When she got to it, she looked at me one more time and burst out laughing again before she left.

  I didn’t waste another minute; I had to go and try to stop them before they killed my brother. Dear God, be with me. I grabbed my coat and locked up the shop. The Heavenly Father must have heard my prayer because coming down the street right then was a—

  “Taxi!”

  Chapter 23

  There Are None So Blind as Them That Will Not See

  Hear Now This, O Foolish People, and Without Understanding; Which Have Eyes, and See Not; Which Have Ears, and Hear Not:

  Jeremiah 5:21

  Angel

  Surprisingly, I was able to make my way to the basement of the gym without being noticed. There was a section that was open for the public down here and then a section toward the back that was not. Back there was a small barbershop, a kitchen, and the office where all the security cameras and things were.

  In order to get past the door to where all of this was, one needed to punch in a four-digit code. Hitta had taught me the code months ago. As soon as I typed it in and opened the door, I could hear my brother crying, begging someone to stop kicking him and several people laughing at him.

  For the second time today, I saw red as I ran towards the voices. At this moment, no fear lived in me. I had to protect my brother from these savages, and that’s just what I was going to do. As soon as I rounded the corner into the barbershop, I saw Westly balled up on the ground and two of Hitta’s goons viciously kicking him.

  Hitta sat in one of the barber chairs with a Styrofoam container of food in his lap, laughing as he pointed toward Westly with a chicken wing, telling his men to kick him again.

  “Stop!” I screamed throwing myself over my brother, not caring about my own safety. Westly’s thin body was shaking so badly it felt like he was going to break.

  “Are you okay, West?” I cried when no more kicks came, trying to run my hands over his body to see what all was damaged. He groaned, not able to speak, but he clung to me crying like a baby.

  My angry gaze flew up to Hitta, who was sitting there looking like a freaking king looking down at his lowly subjects. The whole time he was eating chicken wings and fries from the restaurant as if seeing a man being beaten on his floor was an everyday occurrence. And what makes it so bad, he never stopped eating.

  This bastard!


  “What the hell are you doing?!” I screeched, just barely holding onto my temper. I wanted to beat him like his men were just beating West. He wore that evil grin of his that I was coming to hate.

  “Naw, shawty,” he said pointing some fries with mild sauce on them at me. “The question is what are you doing?”

  “I’m stopping you and your savages from hurting my brother!”

  He chuckled as he continued to eat those freaking chicken wings like this animalistic behavior was normal. I looked around and noticed for the first time that there were quite a few people in the room, several of which were also eating food from greasy white bags and Styrofoam containers. Apparently, someone had made a lunch run to Uncle Remo’s so that the onlookers could enjoy a nice meal as they beat the hell out of my brother.

  Westly started to push me away. Frowning, I looked down at him.

  “You got to get out of here,” he whispered, trying to speak around his horribly busted lip that was leaking blood.

  “No! Not without you!”

  When I turned back to look at Hitta, he was no longer eating, the look of rage that was now on his face almost made my nerves slip.

  Almost…

  “What the f**k yo’ bum ass telling her to get out of here for? Like I’m gon’ hurt my own f**king wife! You should have been this worried about her when yo’ b*tch ass stole my dough!” he growled.

  “And you should take yourself to the nearest police station and turn yourself in!” I hissed, not able to take the hypocrisy.

  Hitta looked down at me and blinked before his lips turned up and he began to chuckle. All his lackeys joined him. Well… all except Lannox, who looked at me with sorrowful eyes. He gently shook his head. West balled my jacket up in his hand and tried to push me toward the door.

  But it was then as I looked around at all them laughing at me, that it hit me. Shantell was right, I had been lying to myself about the kind of man that Hitta is. No! I take that back! He’s been lying to me about the kind of man that he is

  I stood, even though Westly tried to hold me back. Anger at myself for being so stupid and him for being the world’s biggest liar settled over me. Slowly I walked toward his majesty. He went back to eating his food as he watched me approach him through lowered lids. He was so damned cocky! I wanted to wipe that damn grin off his face!

  “When were you going to tell me my mother was dead?”

  He stopped chewing. “Oh sh*t…” he muttered so low. If I wasn’t watching his lips, I wouldn’t have heard him.

  The look that came into his eyes confirmed everything Shantell had just told me. If hearts could make a sound when they break, then mine would sound like two locomotive trains crashing into each other after going full speed.

  Tears came to my eyes. “You knew?” I whispered, feeling too weak from heartache to speak any louder.

  His mouth moved, but no words came out. He put his food to the side and stood.

  “Angel, I-- let me explain.” He tried to reach out to me, but I stepped back hissing at him like a cat.

  “Don’t…Touch…Me…William!” I bit out through my teeth with flared nostrils.

  “You lied to me about Stan. You lied to me about the money Westly had taken. You lied to me about my mother.” The tears that were now flowing down my cheeks felt heavier than hundred-pound weights.

  “Why?” I cried, just needing him to say something to mend my broken heart. It hurt so badly, y’all, I feared I would drop dead at his feet.

  He looked down toward the ground and shook his head. “I f**ked up.”

  “And now I find you here beating my brother. What were you going to tell me after you killed him? Huh? What were you going to say?”

  When he didn’t say anything to deny my words, I lost it. One second I was standing there and the next, I was trying to climb Hitta like a tree while punching him and screaming my freaking head off.

  “You f**king bastard!” I yelled, using all my might behind each of my blows. He wasn’t trying to fight me back or stop me. He just brought up his arms protecting his face in the way boxers do, allowing me to hit him.

  “I hate you! I hate you! You ruined my life!”

  Someone was trying to pull me from the back, but I only turned and went crazy on them. When I saw that it was Maddox, that only fueled my temper more.

  “Calm doon, lassie. Ye hae th' bairn tae think aboot.”

  I wasn’t trying to hear anything he had to say. Shantell said it was he who threw my brother in the back of his car. I kicked, punched, and tried to bite him. I’d lost my mind and I feared it was gone forever.

  “Get yo’ hands off her,” Hitta growled before he pulled me away from Maddox. He wrapped his arms around me, holding mine down by my sides, hugging me from behind.

  Maddox stepped back holding up his hands, looking at me as if I was a wildcat or something.

  “You got to calm down, Teacup. You gon’ hurt the baby,” Hitta pleaded with me in my ear. His face was buried in my neck as he continued to hold my arms.

  “Let me go!”

  His arms tightened. “Only if you promise not to go ape sh*t and start beating me again.”

  Even though I know he was placating me, it still made me feel better that he was begging me not to beat him. There was no way my little punches were doing anything to him when I'd just witnessed him beat my foster father to death with the strength of an angry silverback gorilla.

  “Fine! Let me go!”

  He removed his arms, but when he didn’t step away from me, I stepped away from him, walking towards Westly.

  “Come on, West, we’re getting out of here,” I grunted as I helped him up off the floor. When nobody stopped me, I thanked God. However, as we took a few steps toward the door with my brother leaning heavily on my shoulder because it looked as if his leg was broken, Hitta's voice came from behind us bringing my steps to a halt.

  “Why don’t you ask yo’ precious Westly, where he was when Maddox grabbed him.”

  I felt my brother stiffen and groan a bit, he jerked his body toward the door as if to tell me to keep walking, but I didn’t move. Instead, I turned back to face Hitta.

  “What are you talking about?”

  He didn’t speak right away. Instead, he studied me. You see, my hate for him just showed through my words and he felt it. I didn’t try to hide it either. Once Westly and I got out of here, I was leaving Hitta. There was no way in the world that I would stay with him after this. And I let him see that in my expression too.

  “Yo’ brother broke into our house,” he muttered. There was something off about him, I guess he just now realized that I was done with him.

  I was so busy studying his new demeanor that it took a minute for his words to settle into my mind. But when they did, the hate I felt for him only grew.

  “God! You can’t say anything without lying, can you?” Again, I let my feelings for him show through my hissed words.

  His nostrils flared. Some of the bravery I had felt a second ago was starting to recede as loud alarms began to go off in my head.

  “You so gullible. You’ll believe anything. Yeah, I lied to you to protect yo’ stupid ass from that mutha f**ka you got on your arm. Ask his b*tch ass did he or did he not break into our crib and try and f**king rob us!” He angrily turned and snatched a duffle bag out of the chair next to him. And then he walked back and threw it at my feet. When it hit the ground, several things flew out of it. A few of Hitta’s chains, some of his watches, and the Chinese golden tea set Hitta had gifted me with for my birthday last month.

  I stared down at the things as I shook my head. Yes, I knew my brother was a thief, but he has never stolen from me. Never!

  “West, what is this?” I whispered so that only he could hear me. I’d shown him where we lived. I’ve been racking my brain trying to find a way to convince Hitta to let him come stay with us. He told me he would never steal from me.

  God!

  I am the world’s biggest fool!
/>   “Baby girl, I can—”

  “Explain!” I said cutting him off. I couldn’t believe this. How much pain can a person take in one day?

  Suddenly feeling as if his touch was suffocating me, I stepped back away from him as if he'd burned me. Nearly crashing back to the floor, he managed to grab ahold of the wall and stumble over to a bench sitting heavily on it while still holding his waist. No doubt he had a few cracked ribs, but at this point, I didn’t care.

  “Angel, I’m sorry—” he began, but I held my hand up.

  “I don’t want to hear it!” My gaze went from his to Hitta’s.

  “I want the both of you to stay the f**k away from me!” And then I turned and tried to walk out the door, but Hitta moved so fast he caught me completely off guard. Grabbing my arm, he pulled me to a stop and turned me to face him.

  “Who the f**k you think you clowning? You not going no f**king where. This--” he hissed, hitting his chest so hard with his hand it caused me to jump. He hit himself far harder than I had. “Is who the f**k I am! And you better get used to it because I ain’t changing! Not for you, not for yo’ crackhead ass brother…. nobody!” he growled hitting his chest again.

  “And you ain’t f**king leaving me. Don’t you know by now I will tear these mutha f**kan streets apart with my bare hands until I find you? You mine, Angel! Now and mutha f**kan forever. Take her ass to the house and let her cool the f**k off!” he said shoving me into Lannox’s arms.

  “Make sure she stay put!” And then he turned to my brother and angrily snatched him off the bench.

  “Come here, b*tch! I ain’t done with you yet!”

  I didn’t get a chance to see what happened after that because Lannox was using his body to shield it from my view as he guided me out the door.

  During the drive home, it took everything I had in me to hold back my tears. The pain inside of me had all bundled up into a knot in my throat and chest. I was betrayed by both the men I loved, and it hurt more than anything I’d ever felt in my life. Today, I learned that neither of them truly loved me because if they had, they would have made sure my heart never felt this way.