Hitta's Tea Maker 2

by Edwina Fort

  “She’s all yours…” he muttered as he practically shoved the problem child into my hands.

  I shook my head slightly as I tried to come up with a way out of this, but there was no way out and I found myself in possession of a brat.

  As we walked out of the station toward my car, I took out my phone and tried Hitta again, praying he picked up. The twins had agreed to wait for me at my place and I needed to get rid of this kid right now, but of course, Hitta’s a** did not answer his phone.

  When she saw my car she whistled. “Aston Martin…damn, how much is my uncle paying you?”

  I looked at her over the top of the car. “That’s none of your business. Just get in, put on your seatbelt and don’t touch anything.”

  She pointed at me. “You the help…you can’t tell me what to do!”

  Like I told you guys before, I am a man that prided myself on my patience. Each time I came in contact with my father and did not wrap my hands around his neck to strangle him until all of the life left his body was a testament to that. I refuse to now allow a fourteen-year-old hellcat with blue hair ruin my pristine reputation.

  I walked around the car coming to a stop in front of her short a**. She folded her arms and looked up at me, in no way afraid.

  “Let’s me and you get a few things clear, brat. I am not your uncle; I am not your friend…in fact, I don’t care much for you at all.” I opened the passenger door.

  “I suggest you get in this f***ing car, zip your lips and put on your f***ing seatbelt like I said.”

  An evil little smirk came on her face and that’s when I realized there was a good chance I was dealing with Satan.

  “F*** your car!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “F*** those crusty a** seatbelts! And f*** your idle a** threats! Ain’t nobody scared of you! You don’t know me! I’ll f*** you up!”

  And well folks, for the first time in my life, I lost my cool. By the time I was done, I had my employer’s niece tied and gagged in the back seat of my car. And let me tell you something… it was a fight that I might not have won had it not been for the fact that I at the time was a third-degree black belt in Wing Chun and Hapkido.

  Apparently, Hitta has been teaching the little hellion how to box, so I actually had to dodge a few swings and just take a few others as I took my belt and tied her hands behind her back before using the strap of my gym bag to tie her feet… And because she was yelling like she was crazy, I took off my tie and stuffed it in her mouth before depositing her in my back seat where I used the seatbelts to secure her.

  Yeah, I know it was a bit excessive…and while I was doing it, I was expecting the police to rush out and throw me in jail. However, by the time I was finished, I looked up and saw the two cops that were on Carmen's case standing by the door watching me with satisfied grins on their faces…and would you believe they both gave me a thumbs up?

  I got in and turned up the music to drown out her muffled shrieks as I tried to think about the best place to dump this headache.

  I couldn’t take her to Hitta’s place because he and I were supposed to be in Vegas preparing for his fight, at least that’s what his girl Shantell thought. The truth was, I’d come back from Vegas alone and Hitta had gone to Venezuela to entertain a beautiful young heiress that had taken one look at him and decided that she had to have some thug passion for the weekend…her words.

  Which meant I was stuck with the kid until Hitta got back whether I liked it or not. Reluctantly, I drove towards my place, contemplating for the hundredth time to just quitting. Hell, after this, he may just fire me.

  Good riddance!

  This was not what I had signed up for…

  Believe it or not, my relationship with Hitta had started off a little different.

  I was in my fifth year at Morehouse working on my MBA, wanting to get a jumpstart on my career path and join my father’s investment firm with my own client list intact, so that the people whose boss I would eventually become, would see that I was going to not only earn my spot at the head of the company, but was also going to pick up where my father left off and grow it even further.

  I began to hunt for what we in the field called new money… Or rather people who had just come into wealth. To take new money and grow it to substantial proportions is what put some of the top investment firms on the map, in fact, it’s how my father made a name for himself.

  At the time, I’d been young and eager to please him. So, when for my birthday, my roommate surprised me with not only tickets to Hitta, who is my all-time favorite fighter fight, but also passes to the after party celebrating his victory, I was thrilled.

  I’d already methodically studied Hitta’s finances and knew that he would be a perfect first client for me. It had taken a miracle, but I’d finally gotten close enough to him that night at the after party that was taking place in a Vegas night club to proposition him.

  Of course, he told me to beat it in that gruff way of his, but I didn’t give up and eventually, I got him to agree to a meeting. My first take on him was that he was a brotha from the hood who’d just come into a lot of money and being uneducated, he would eventually be taken advantage of by some of the sharks in the industry until they’d drained him of everything.

  So, I'd come to the meeting with that mindset…offering to be his savior of sorts and take his money and grow it while shielding him from the sharks.

  Boy!!! Was I surprised when after only thirty minutes of talking to him, I realized he was very educated…And although he didn't graduate high school…or even grad school for that matter, was nobody’s dummy.

  I had to bring my A-game. What I thought would be an easy client turned out to be a very challenging one. But in the end, he decided to give me a try. I took his money and tripled it. He gave me more to invest…and so on.

  Then he brought me another client, his best friend, Rome. Between the two of them, I live quite comfortably. However, after my father did what he did… I’ll come back to that in a minute. My plans changed drastically. Everything my father was about left a sour taste in my mouth and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

  For the first time, I found myself without a goal and I felt like I was dangling in the in-between place wherever the hell that is…

  The night all that sh*t hit the fan, I found myself drinking my sorrows away, contemplating my life. My boss decided not to let me drink alone and he and Rome had joined me.

  “You know, you can always keep me and Hitta on as clients.” Rome slurred after maybe about the sixth or seventh round of drinks. “With only two clients, you won’t even have to be regulated under SEC. And I guarantee our bread plus your skills will keep you straight. I mean, you may not be Charles Schwab, but you’ll be aight.”

  I grunted… “Maybe, but that would leave me with too much time on my hands.” My system was going through a shock. It seemed that my whole life was a lie. Everything I always thought I would be and do was all a lie.

  “You know… I could use some more help,” Hitta muttered.

  I frowned… “How?” He was straight. He was at the height of his career; his investments were doing great… What could he possibly need help with?

  “I hate dealing with people. I hate talking to them… I just want to be able to fight and not worry about nothing else!”

  I chuckled… “Looks like you went into the wrong career, my friend.” Between the three of us, I don’t know whose words slurred the worst.

  “Yeah, but you can help me.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “How?”

  “You can be my assistant. You can help me operate in this crazy a** world called fame. Sh*t! You already doing a lot. You might as well get paid for it.”

  Chuckling again, I shook my head. That was out of the question. Me becoming someone’s assistant after my father had spent millions on my education was ludicrous… That would kill him…

  “I’ll do it!”

  Both Hitta and Rome looked at me surprised.
r />   "You will?" They said in unison.

  “Yep…I sure will!”

  And that’s how this all came to be…although working with Hitta sometimes was like working with a big, rough, ornery child, it had still been pretty cool. Traveling the world with a famous boxer came with many adventures, the dream of every young man in his early twenties.

  That was until I found myself with the brat tied up in my backseat.

  “My uncle is going to kick yo’ a**!” she yelled as soon as I untied her hands and removed her gag.

  “Do you want to get tied up again?!” The force of my voice got her attention. With wide eyes she shook her head.

  “I suggest you shut your flap until your uncle returns.” I pointed at her, my finger only inches from her face. “I have no problem with throwing little bratty teenage girls in the garbage can…just try me.” She swallowed but wisely kept her mouth shut.

  “Welcome back, papi!” the twins cried running for the door a soon as I opened it. I smiled, instantly feeling better.

  However, when they saw that I wasn’t alone, their steps came to a halt. They were dressed in matching lingerie that highlighted their assets beautifully. And I’m not going to lie, for a moment, all the blood left my head and rushed to other areas of my body.

  The brat sucked on her teeth. “Dang, dad! Why do you keep doing this to the family?! Is this why you told mommy to wait in the car, so that you can try and hide your prostitutes?”

  “What?! Wait—” I told the girls who stormed towards their coats on the couch.

  “Not cool, Wayne!” Melly or Shelly said as she pushed past me to head for the door.

  “I’m only twenty-four, I can’t have a daughter that old!” I called after them.

  “Really, dad? So, now you’re denying me? What about my three little sisters? Are you going to deny them too?”

  My stunned gaze went to the little hellion. If I didn’t know any better, I would have believed her. She even managed a few tears…

  As soon as the door slammed shut, she turned it off instantly and an evil grin appeared on her face, but when she saw how angry I was it disappeared.

  “You shouldn’t be hiring prostitutes anyway…It’s against the law.”

  I had to ball up my fists to resist the urge to follow through on my earlier threat. “They were not prostitutes, you little sh*t!”

  She shrugged as she turned to head towards the kitchen… “Could have fooled me. Is there anything to drink in this house of sin?”

  So yeah, she and I had a rocky start, but it didn’t remain so.

  Her mom’s trial was pretty hard on her and it took place during one of Hitta’s most important fights. Due to all the promoting and engagements that came along with that, he couldn’t be there during most of the trial. He paid for his sister one of the best attorneys and sent me in to monitor everything.

  It really was a miserable event. Hitta had gotten Carmen and her mom a condo in Chicago’s Gold Coast area some years back. Williamina testified that after her daughter hit puberty and started budding out in places, she had caught the attention of their next-door neighbor that both she and Carmen described as a dirty old man in their testimonies.

  They said that he on several occasions tried to lure Carmen inside of his apartment. When nothing worked, he grabbed her as she walked past his door and snatched her inside pulling down her halter top to bare her breasts. Thanks to Hitta, who had taught Carmen how to box years ago, the guy ended up with a few bumps and bruises for his efforts.

  When she ran home and told her mom, Williamina didn’t ask any questions, she grabbed her gun and after knocking on the man’s door, shot him in the head.

  The prosecutors asked her why she’d decided to take the law into her own hands instead of calling the police like every other law-abiding citizen. The defense attorney attempted to build the case around her being a distressed mother trying to protect her only child. They even went as far as to claim that she had a moment of temporary insanity.

  Which is understandable…

  However, the jury didn’t see it that way. What did her in was the fact that she didn’t call the police or report the man on the other occasions he’d harassed Carmen. That and the man she’d shot was a white retired lawmaker, who came from a very prominent Chicago family.

  By the time the prosecutors were done, they’d successfully painted the picture of a beacon of society being felled by a black female hooligan. And it didn’t matter that Hitta’s face was plastered on every television around the world, they threw the book at her.

  I worked miracles and called in favors on damn near everyone I knew to keep the story out of the mainstream news…Not just for Hitta, but for Carmen too. She was being dragged through the mud. But in the end, there was nothing I or Hitta could do to help Williamina.

  The trial dragged on for months and in that time, Carmen’s tough-girl exterior cracked. The day the jury found Williamina guilty on all counts was the toughest. Carmen had asked to stay at my apartment that weekend. She didn’t want to go home to Hitta’s because she and Shantell weren't quite seeing eye to eye.

  I didn’t hesitate saying yes. By that time, Carmen had stayed over so much due to the beef between her and Shantell that I’d practically given her the guest bedroom for her own. That night, Hitta sat with his niece for hours trying to comfort her, but she sent him home telling him that she just wanted to be alone.

  After I locked up behind him, I collapsed on the couch with my head resting against the back of it, reflecting on everything that had occurred that day. I rubbed my hands down my face…tired. When they lowered, Carmen was standing behind the couch looking down at me, there were huge tears in her beautiful eyes.

  “Can you hold me, Wayne?” Her voice was barely over a whisper.

  “Sure, sweetheart, come here.”

  She walked around the couch and surprised me by climbing into my lap. I don’t know if it was because she was so petite or what, but after I wrapped her in my arms, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to do.

  It was as if she belonged there…

  At no point did it feel anything other than innocent.

  “I’m scared, Wayne, how am I going to make it out here without my mom?” Her voice quivered as tears rolled down her beautiful face.

  “You’re going to be okay, brat. I promise. You have your uncle, who loves you so very much… and you have me. I will always keep you safe, sweetheart.”

  I meant every word…

  Okay, so we’ve reached the point in my tale where I think you guys should know why I hate my father…

  During my last year at Morehouse, he left my mother for a younger woman. Now, that in itself was really f***ed up, seeing as to how she stood by him, tirelessly helping him build his image and business for twenty-six years and putting her own dreams and education to the side so that she could be all that he needed her to be.

  However, that is not what made my heart grow cold to him. It was the way that he did it. He let his b****of a wife kick my mother out of the house that had been hers for the last twenty years. The bastard had forced her to sign a prenup before they got married, which basically meant she took from the marriage what she brought in.

  Being a young grad student when they got married meant that she didn’t bring in much. She was so hurt that her husband, who she had thought was her mate for life, had left her that she didn’t even care that he and his twat of a wife had snatched everything from under her.

  But I cared… And I did all that I could to stop it. I begged my father to do right by my mother.

  “Stay out of this, son, you don’t understand what’s going on,” he grumbled as he sat at his fancy desk in his fancy downtown office while my mom was in a hotel crying her eyes out.

  “I know that what you’re doing is not right. Mom stood by your side, putting all her dreams and aspirations to the side to help you build this company. She deserves half of everything and you know it!”

&
nbsp; He looked up at me with amusement in his eyes before he held his head back and roared with laughter.

  “Are you kidding me? A part of your mother’s job was to stay in shape…and well, you see how well she did that. Like I said, son, stay out of it before you get your feelings hurt.”

  My mother finally came clean and admitted to me that my father had been cheating on her for several years now. I did notice that she had picked up some weight, but it’s my mom, it didn’t matter much to me.

  She said she’d been doing a lot of depressed eating. Of course, my father told her that was the reason for the divorce. The bastard.

  “I’m not going to let you get away with this!”

  I’d never talked to my father that way. My words not only surprised me, they surprised him too.

  He gave me a look that would have intimidated me a day ago, but now that I'd become my mother's protector because he was too big of a coward to do the right thing, his look no longer moved me. He’d become my enemy.

  “Boy, who are you talking to?!” He raised his voice slightly to heighten the effect… It did nothing.

  “No, dad! Man!!! From this day forward, you will address me as sir! Because now, I am taking care of what you should have!” I pointed at him, angry enough to lay hands on him.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Now you listen to me, boy! I don’t care what’s going on between me and your mother…I am your father and you will respect me!”

  “Like you respected the woman that gave you twenty-six years of her life? If that’s the example you’re setting, then you got it! I will respect you! I will respect you until my mother receives every dime she’s owed!”

  I turned to leave his office…But before I walked out the door, I left him with four words that I knew would devastate him.

  “Oh, and I quit!”

  “Junior!” he called after me. “Junior, what the hell are you talking about?!”

  You see, my father had invested in me like any wise man would their future. He’d primed and prepped me to take over where he’d left off. Years of education and training gone!