Hitta's Tea Maker 2

by Edwina Fort

  In my mind, I was still pushing him away, but in reality, my nails were digging into his biceps. If I was being absolutely honest with myself, it could be said that I was holding him to me at this point.

  Dammit!

  Underneath his lustful gaze was that smirk. He knew I couldn’t resist him. The bastard!

  “You still mad at me?” he asked as he continued to gently knead my breasts.

  I swallowed my response, not wanting to risk him stopping. His head lowered and when his hungry mouth latched on to the tip of my tender flesh, the moan that left my lips should have been answer enough for him. But because he was an asshole, he just had to rub it in.

  “I can’t hear you, Teacup. You still mad at me?” And then he was lifting me in his strong arms.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist, so glad I hadn’t bothered to put on any panties. Still grinning at me, he opened his mouth to say something else, but I slapped him.

  “Shut up and do it already…”

  This caused him to chuckle, but I didn’t care because a half a second later, he was filling me and at that moment, my world was complete.

  Damn! I am so screwed…

  Now, I don’t want you guys to think that everything has been going wrong in the few weeks since our honeymoon, because it hasn't. As a matter of fact, three amazing things have happened to me in that time outside of finding out I was having a boy.

  My first day back at the Teashop, I walked in to find Carmen and Summer already there, and they were both grinning at me in a way that told me they had something up their sleeve.

  “Okay, what are you guys up to? And should I be worried?”

  “No, silly,” Carmen said taking my coat from me and hanging it on the rack by the door. Summer linked hands with mine and pulled me toward the office.

  “We have a surprise for you,” she gushed.

  “What is it?”

  “Duh, what part of surprise don’t you understand?” Carmen cried putting her hands over my eyes.

  I chuckled. “Did y’all redo the kitchen?”

  “Nope!” they both chimed.

  When Carmen removed her hands from my eyes, I stood looking around my office. Everything looked the same to me. Summer gestured toward my desk. I walked toward it and saw that there was an envelope laying on top with my name on it.

  “What is this?” I asked picking it up.

  Carmen could barely contain her excitement. “Open it!”

  With a grin on my face, I did as she said removing the neatly folded piece of paper. However, I didn’t get it all the way unfolded before I saw what it was. My hand flew to my mouth as tears came to my eyes.

  It was the deed for the Teashop!

  My gaze flew back up to Carmen’s. “How?” was all I could say.

  She shook her head. “Don’t worry about that. It’s our wedding gift to you.”

  There was no way in hell that was going to fly. This property was too expensive and Ms. Armstrong too difficult for it to be that simple.

  “Carmen… What did you do?”

  With a cheeky grin on her face, she shrugged in that sassy way that she does. "Nothing outside of being the best business manager you’ve ever hired.”

  “You’re the only business manager I’ve ever hired.”

  “Exactly,” she said before turning and leaving the office.

  My gaze went to Summer, she wore a secret smile on her face, letting me know she knew what happened.

  “Summer?”

  Giggling, she zipped her lips. “My lips are sealed.”

  “Summer!” I cried stomping my feet.

  She laughed. “Angel! I promised.” And then she too turned and left the office.

  No way was I going to let this topic drop just like that. I can’t see Ms. Armstrong selling this property to Carmen for a dime less than the price she quoted me and neither I nor Carmen could afford that. So, where the hell did she get the money? And what the hell did she do to Ms. Armstrong to pry this deed from her little old-timey hands?

  I had my answer by noon that day. I waited till Carmen left to go to the gym around lunchtime and then I dug into Summer.

  “Okay, Angel, damn!” she cried giving up after the seventh time I asked her how the hell Carmen got this deed.

  “Now I don’t know all the details. All I can tell you is shortly after you did your little disappearing act, Carmen ran out of the office in something of a panic. That whole week, she was acting strange, barely leaving the office, on and off the phone. Had her eyes glued to her laptop all the time.”

  “When I asked her what was going on with her, she’d say nothing, but I could tell that something was freaking her out big time. Fast forward a few days, I see her and Mr. Wayne talking in his car outside the shop. Whatever the conversation was about seemed to be upsetting her. When she got out of the car and came in, she was so lost in thought I had to call her name twice before she looked up and acknowledged I was in the room.”

  “All of sudden, I’m seeing a lot more of Mr. Wayne, and Carmen who as far as I know used to hate his guts, is all sweet to him.”

  I tapped the counter. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. They’ve been spending a lot of time together. And you right…they’re not fighting anymore.”

  She nodded. “Mmmm hmmm… So, here is my theory. You know she’s been looking into getting the property next door to expand the Teashop, but she knew before going forward with that, y’all was going to have to square up with old Armstrong’s racist ass. Knowing Carmen, she probably went to talk with the woman and ended up cursing her out or something like that. No doubt, Ms. Armstrong got upset and threatened to terminate your lease, seeing as to how your review was coming up anyway. And Carmen in a panic, tried to fix it before you got back from your honeymoon and couldn’t. Sooooo…”

  She wiggled her eyebrows at me, causing me to laugh. “She had to go to Mr. Wayne for help. Who else could afford to bail her out besides her uncle? And you know she couldn’t go to him, because he would tell you, and you would kill her for going behind your back dealing with Armstrong.”

  She leaned in closer as if she was about to tell me a secret. “And if she had to go to Wayne groveling to save her, that could explain why she so nice to him all of a sudden and also why they’ve been spending so much time together. She could be paying him back the old-fashioned way, if you know what I mean."

  My mouth dropped. “Nooooo!”

  She nodded, “Yes, girl…" And then she flawlessly lifted her teacup and took a sip while cutting eyes at me. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at her silly self.

  However, her theory got me to digging. Of course, Carmen was no help, but thanks to the guy that does my taxes, I found out a few things. Ms. Armstrong had suddenly fallen into some financial troubles, something to do with the bank she and her family had been banking with.

  He could not find out the intimate details, only that she’d been forced to liquidate her assets or face some jail time. It took me a moment to get over that shock. Old Ms. Nasty was knocked off her mighty horse.

  After finding out that information, I cornered Carmen and tried to force her to talk again, but because she’s stubborn as a mule, she refused to give me the information I sought.

  “Why can’t you just accept my wedding gift to you?”

  “Because this is an expensive gift and your little narrow butt can’t afford it.”

  She rolled her eyes before flicking the long side of her red hair over her shoulder. “You don’t know what I can afford.

  “I know you can’t afford this,” I told her holding up the deed.

  “Maybe I did it because I’m interested in being partners.”

  “And are you?”

  She grinned at me. “Yeah, what do you think?”

  “I think it’s a great idea! I would love to have you as a partner.”

  She clapped her hands together. “Great, you handle all the front of the house stuff and I will handle all the back of the house
stuff.” She held her hand up in the air.

  “I can see it now… We’ll have a Teashop in every city.”

  I chuckled, shaking my head at her. “Chile, let’s just try not to lose this one.”

  She laughed. “You know what? That’s a great idea.”

  I would eventually find out what happened, but it’s not my story to tell. However, I can tell you guys this, Ms. Armstrong and her son, who has taken over handling their family’s business, garnered the wrath of Wayne and it was not a pretty sight. Apparently, he knew the man who owned the bank that she and her family did most of their business with.

  And get this… it’s a black man.

  Can you believe that? I sure couldn’t. Who knew a black man held her family’s financial security in the palm of his hand? Needless to say, Wayne called in a favor from his friend and well… One thing led to another.

  By the time they were done, all of the financial skeletons in the Armstrong family closet had been exposed and everybody was making a mad dash to re-cover them. In the end, Ms. Armstrong learned that her son and lawyer had their finances tangled up in some unsavory things and in order to avoid certain ruin, they had to liquidate everything.

  Carmen cheerfully told me that Wayne had ended up paying next to nothing for the Teashop. It’s funny how un-picky one gets when desperate. However, I found myself feeling sorry for Ms. Armstrong. I could only imagine how surprised she must have been once she learned of all the nefarious things her son had involved them in.

  Anyway, I told you guys that three amazing things happened to me since coming back from my honeymoon. Well, that was the first. The second was that I officially became Jessie’s guardian.

  Hitta’s lawyer came to the house to talk to me a few days after we came back from Tibet. And let me tell y’all something about Ms. Kennedy, she was not a sista I would want to find myself standing across the aisle from in a courtroom.

  When she first walked through our front door, I found myself feeling under…

  Under what, you ask?

  Underdressed, under-educated, under-sophisticated, etc. This sista was drop-dead gorgeous, sharp as a knife and tough as nails. She had a no-nonsense attitude that intimidated everybody but Hitta and Wayne, and I think that was only because Hitta was her boss and Wayne’s father was the wealthiest black man in Chicago.

  I thought Carmen was a force to be reckoned with, but she was a baby compared to Ms. Kennedy.

  “Just think, if you and my uncle ever get a divorce, that’s who your lawyer is going to be going up against,” Carmen jokingly said when she and I had lunch later on that day after I’d mentioned Hitta’s attorney.

  “Are you trying to scare me to death? Is that your goal?” I asked, failing to see the humor in the situation. But of course, my crazy friend found that even funnier.

  “Naw, I’m trying to scare you away from ever leaving my uncle.”

  Hmmm… You know what? I’m not going to go there at this point in my story, but I’m going to warn y’all now, we will be revisiting that topic. I was telling you guys about the great things that happened to me.

  Anyway, so after talking to Kennedy, she assured me I had nothing to worry about and that she should have the matter with Jessie cleared up in no time. And y’all, she was a woman of her word. A few days later, she informed Hitta and me that all that was left to do was for me to go to the Daley Center and sign on the dotted line.

  I was surprised because I expected it to be a long drawn out process. However, I should have known better. Wayne has so many connections in this city it wasn’t funny. Between him and Kennedy, Stan never had a chance. I feel stupid now for worrying about it in the first place.

  The day I became Jessie’s guardian was a good day for more than one reason. After we left the Daley Center, Hitta took us to Dave & Buster’s to celebrate. We actually had a lot of fun. At least that day, we felt like a real family.

  However, there was something plaguing the back of my mind that kept me from being too happy about becoming Jessie’s guardian. I was worried about what my brother was going to say. As her father, he should have played a role in this decision, which brings me to the third awesome thing that happened to me…

  Two days ago, Westly showed up at the Teashop….

  Chapter 22

  West is Back

  Angel

  “Here sis, let me cut the rest of this up while you take out the trash,” Summer said, taking the little knife I was using to cut orange peels to restock the fresh bar for the afternoon rush.

  I frowned as she hip-butted me to the side. “What, the garbage?”

  I mean, I know that we’d all grown close and everything, but I was still the boss and I didn’t take out the trash.

  She looked toward the chairs where Maddox sat playing chess with one of my regulars before cutting her eyes back to me, jerking her head toward the back door.

  “Yeah, can you run the trash out for me?” “You need to go out back…” she mouthed.

  I nodded. “Okay, sure, I’ll be right back.” Taking off my apron I picked up the garbage bag and slipped out the back door to the alley.

  Leaning against the wall on the other side of the big blue garbage cans was Westly. My heart leaped in my chest as I dropped the bag and ran to him.

  “Westly!” I cried, throwing myself into his arms.

  He chuckled as he stumbled a little under my weight. “Hey, baby girl.” He sounded tired.

  “Where have you been? So much has happened.”

  “Yeah, I heard.”

  I reached up and palmed his face as I studied him. He didn’t look good at all. There were black bags under his eyes and open sores on his face. When he left, he had a few sores, but now he had more.

  “How are you doing?”

  Tears came to his eyes, but he held his head down so that I wouldn’t see them, shaking it slightly.

  “Not good, Angel. I feel like a piece of sh*t. Right when you, Jessie, and my mom needed me most, I was too high to even know it.”

  “Hey,” I said rubbing his arm with a bright smile on my face. “Why don’t we grab something to eat and go have lunch at Millennium Park like we used to do when we first moved into our apartment?”

  I needed to get him away from here before Maddox came looking for me. Granted these days, I don’t know if he still hung around the shop for me or Summer, but I didn’t want to take a chance. Hitta didn’t bite his tongue about what he felt for my brother. Getting them two together was going to take a little finesse.

  “So, that is his hitman sitting in there, huh?”

  “I don’t know if I would call Maddox a hitman, but yeah, he is a part of Hitta’s security team.”

  Westly chuckled, shaking his head. “How are you going to get away without him noticing?”

  “Leave it to me. You just wait here; I’ll be right back.”

  I slipped back through the door and put my apron on. As soon as I walked into the dining room, Maddox lifted his head to look at me.

  “Everything a'richt?”

  I nodded. “Oh yeah, I was just taking out the trash.”

  He smiled and it seemed as if it took him a minute to look away from me, or maybe I was just paranoid. My heart was racing so fast I feared he could see it. Trying to act normal, I made my way back to the fresh bar where Summer still stood cutting up pieces of fruit.

  With my eyes, I told her I needed to go. She nodded and put the knife down, drying her hands on a towel and then she inhaled and walked over to Maddox, saying something in his ear. I tried to pretend like I was not invested in their conversation as I restocked my lavender jar.

  Maddox stood and I held my breath, but he didn’t come my way, instead, he grabbed his coat from the coat rack putting it on. However, as he did, his eyes came to me.

  “A'm aff tae git Summer some fairn, dae yi'll waant anything?”

  I shook my head. “No, thank you!”

  Maybe I was being paranoid, but it seemed as if he was stud
ying me as he slipped his hands into his gloves.

  “A'richt, ah will be back then.”

  I didn’t exhale till he left out the door. “I owe you one,” I told Summer as I headed to the coat rack for my coat.

  “Yeah, you do. You forced me to talk to that worrisome man.”

  I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek as I slipped on my jacket. “Mmmhhhmmm, you know you love him.”

  “Ha! Like a mouse loves a cat. Where should I tell him you went when he gets back?”

  I thought for a minute. “Tell him I made a supply run.”

  “But he normally takes you for those,” she called after me.

  I stopped at the back door thinking about that. It was true. Poor Maddox had become our errand boy.

  “Tell him it couldn’t wait.”

  “You got to know that I would have never knowingly put your life in danger. Had I known he was going to trace me taking that money back to you, I would have never done it. I just—” He scratched at his head, digging into his scalp in a way that told me he was in need of his next hit, but trying not to break down.

  Millennium Park was bustling with people coming and going on their lunch break, but we managed to find a little secluded area not too far from Michigan Avenue. We’d taken the train down here like we used to do, stopping at the deli to grab a couple of sandwiches on the way. Of course, I bought them and paid our bus fare, because Westly said he’d spent his last two dollars making his way to the Teashop.

  “I just felt the pressure. I couldn’t let you lose the Teashop because of me and my family. You always doing for us and was about to lose something you been wanting since you was a little girl. I had to do something!” He held out his hands in front of him.

  “And the money was just sitting there!”

  I reached over and hugged him. It was breaking my heart to see him this way. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days and his clothes were filthy. My brother, although addicted to drugs, has always kept up on his hygiene. His clothes may not be new, but were always clean. The fact that they were so dirty now was testament that he’d hit rock bottom.