Page 36 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

I wasn’t about to get into why I liked what I did. This had been one of my favorite meals since I was a child. I didn’t eat it every day, but I did have it often. I was picky when it came to my food, and what I had.

My food couldn’t touch, and I didn’t like sauces on my food. The shit freaked me out whenever Landon squirted a ton of fucking ketchup on his eggs. What sociopath used ketchup on their eggs anyway?

I enjoyed shit the way that I did and lived alone because I never had to explain anything. With Stevie looking down at the meal, I knew eventually I would have to explain my way of life to her. It was one thing to hear it from Jeffie, and another thing to hear it from me.

I wasn’t there with her yet.

After I snatched the container from her and heated her food, we sat at the counter together. She pushed the chicken around the plastic container before she took a small bite.

I waited for her to say something because although it was a simple meal, Lupita made the best baked chicken. “Wow, it’s so flavorful, and moist. Chicken breast is almost always dry.”

I cut into my chicken and nodded my head, while she ate her food. Silence consumed us, neither of us feeling like we needed to have a conversation right now.

A lot happened today, so we didn’t need to sit and discuss anything. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t think that I would be welcoming a woman that stole from me into my home.

Stranger shit has happened… I guess.

Stevie

The automatic blindsthat have become my enemy opened and I switched my position in the bed, so the sun didn’t beam into my eyes, causing me to howl in absolute pain.

Maybe I was dramatic.

I kept the room dark, so when the automatic shades opened, the sun felt like a stab to the eyeball every morning. It was hard waking up when I felt like I was going blind in both my eyes. I tried everything to figure out the system the house ran on, especially the one in my bedroom. I felt stupid trying to figure it out, so I had a system to switch positions and bury my head under my covers.

One day turned into two, and then one week turned into two weeks. Menace wasn’t around much. He had been out the country, so it was up to me to entertain myself and not die of boredom. Security popped their head in every once in a while to see how I was doing. Green, Jeffie’s assistant was here, too.

Her name was strange, and I was still trying to figure out why her mother waddled into a hospital, had a painful labor, and then decided on the name Greene for a little girl. Each time she checked on me, I wanted to ask her how she felt about her name.

The soft knock on the door caused me to further bury myself under the covers. “Come in,” My muffled voice called out.

I could hear the doorknob turn and the slight creak of the heavy wooden door. “Good morning, Stevie, am I disturbing you?”

“No… the automatic blinds always wake me up around this time.” I remained under the covers, not wanting to chance a migraine because of the brightness of the room.

She giggled. “I can fix that for you.”

After a few presses of the keypad, I heard the shades lowering, making the room dark again, and under my blankets even darker. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it. Skyler called and said she should be here within the hour. I can have the chef prepare lunch for you guys on the back patio if you would like.”

I removed the blankets from my head. “Do you think we can get some Chinese takeout? I really would like some Egg Foo Young with fried rice… gravy on the side.”

She reminded me of Jeffie with the way she took notes on her iPad. “And for your cousins?”

I smiled. “She’s bringing Estella, too?”

“Yes.”

Sitting fully up in the bed, I looked at Greene. “You don’t have to be super professional around me, Greene. We’re probably the same age.”

It was like my words released a boulder from her shoulders, as she looked at me. “Jeffie told me I have to always be on… I have to earn the right to move comfortable around Menace… Mr. Caselli.”

“That’s Menace. I hate when people act stuffy around me, and it’s very lonely around here… Lupita speaks to me, but she is also in her fifties, and we have nothing in common.” I gestured for her to take a seat on the edge of the massive bed.

Greene wasn’t sure if she should sit or follow the advice Jeffie had given her. “Are you sure, Stevie?”

“Positive… I’m not sure you know the ins and outs of this arrangement, but I’m going to need a friend. Jeffie is very busy and doesn’t have time and my future husband doesn’t have time. He’s been gone a week and a half, and I haven’t heard from him once… a girl can get lonely.”

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