Page 120 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

My driver looked in the mirror. “Ten minutes eta.”

I nodded as I looked down at my hands, not having the urge to rub them together. You would think I would be rubbing these shits on the back of my driver’s bald head. Instead, I was excited to see Wonder.

Ten minutes seemed too long because I wanted to see her right now. Her little nervous half smile she did when she saw me. I made her nervous, and sometimes she avoided eye contact with me. I was someone who hated eye contact, but with her I had to see her eyes. Nothing went right unless I looked into her eyes.

Damn, she was so perfect.

I had a hard time wrapping my head around her being mine. She was going to be my wife, and the shit that tripped me out was that she actually wanted to be my wife. Wonderwantedto marry me, and she loved me.

I wasn’t the most easy-going man in the world, and I lost my shit often. At times, I could be too much for a basic woman. Wonder recognized that I was too much, and she still wanted me. Where she could have went on with her life, she remained because she saw a future with me.

The future made me excited because I couldn’t wait to experience life through her eyes. I’ve been to most countries and had always been bored with them. In Paris, I never went anywhere when I had business there. I usually stayed in the hotel room and waited to handle business before I was out again. A nigga found himself actually excited to explore because she was excited to do it. I wanted to hold her phone while she did her fake vlogs because those meant something to her. Years from now, I wanted to look at home videos knowing we had lived a life together.

A tear slid from behind my dark shades as we pulled up to the back of city hall. When the truck stopped, I screwed my face up when I saw Landon there. As far as I knew it would only be me and Wonder, along with Skyler, Jeffie and Corleon.

He stood there dressed in a suit with his CH pin, his hands in his pockets. My driver hopped out and opened the door, and I looked at him. “The fuck you doing here?”

“My big brother getting married, didn’t think I would fucking come?”

“Nah.”

“Then that’s where you fucked up. Don’t care how we feeling about each other, I’m there.” He held his hand out, and I grabbed it, and he pulled me into a hug. “Relax, nigga… it’s a hug.”

I allowed my body to relax as I hugged my baby brother. “Thank you.”

“You ain’t even gotta say it… let’s get you married.”

He fell back and allowed me to walk in first. Before I could continue further, I felt a hand and turned to see Kora. She had a mask on and quickly removed it. Her eyes were already misty as she held my hand.

“Mom’s birthday. That’s why you wanted today.” She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. “You deserve this, Maverick. No one deserves this more than you, and I am so proud of you,” she whispered before she slipped off.

Corleon walked toward me and held his hand out, pulling me into a hug. “Why the fuck everybody wanna hug me?”

He held the back of my head as he spoke in my ear. “This is your chance, Mens. To have happiness and the life you thought you would never have. Stevie is one in a million and I know she makes you happy. I watch you with her and you are different, the man that you want to be. Continue to hold onto that and love her. Protect her with everything you have and choose her. Know that she is more than what’s going on up there. Love you, Mens.” After his speech, this nigga kissed me on the head.

“Don’t do that again, Bruster.”

He laughed. “Yeah, can’t make no promises. Jeffie and your sisters went a little off script.”

I walked from the back into the main area of city hall with the tall, vaulted ceilings and gold trimmings. Instead of going to the office we were supposed to get married in, they had an altar with chairs on both sides.

There was an Indian man sitting with a woman, then I saw Ghost and Free. Behind them there was Rahmeek and Giovanna. Karter nodded to me as he held Star’s hand. Kora sat in the back and nodded her head as she remained far from us.

I looked at the grand staircase and saw a woman coming down. When she saw me, she stopped mid step, then continued down toward me. “You must be Menace… I’m Cindy. Stevie is like my shop daughter. She worked in my shop, and I love hervery much. That woman deserves the world, and I pray that you give that to her.”

I ain’t really even know this woman so all she got was a nod from me. “I got her.”

She smiled, and she went to take her place. Zoya came down the steps with Skyler and came over to me. “No matter what, I love you and would not miss seeing you have happiness.”

She reached up and kissed me on the cheek and I looked at her. “All I want for you.”

“Let’s worry about you today… okay?”

“Okay.”

Skyler smiled. “She’s beautiful, Mens.”

I could tell she had been crying. “I’m already knowing.”

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