Page 48 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

He started to pick with his thumb, and I looked at him. “If it makes you uncomfortable, it’s alright.”

Menace looked down at me, then pushed up from the desk. He didn’t reply to me, he just grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him out the office and down the hall to where the massive garage was.

All of his cars were on display in the garage with huge glass doors that opened. He had a full staff that worked in the garage, because on one of my main quests through this massive home, I accidentally stumbled into the garage and met them.

“Boss, we pulled the car out for you in the front… you haven’t pulled that one out in a while.” The short Spanish man smiled.

Menace nodded and smirked. “Let’s see if I remember how to drive that shit.”

“What?” I blurted.

“Chill out… till death do us part.”

I tried to remove my hand from him, and he pulled me closer, putting his arm around me in a side hug. “We’re not even married yet… I ain’t trying to die because you don’t remember how to drive.”

He chuckled and pulled me in front of him as we headed to the awaiting car. “Another requirement, Wonder… know that your life is always safe in my hands,” he whispered into my ear before he released me, then swaggered in front of me toward the car.

Why was I breathing so heavy at his words? They were just words, and they had me feeling all out of sorts like he hadcrooned the words to my favorite love song. Menace opened the passenger door, and I looked at the Bugatti that was in front of me.

Behind the car, there were three large SUVs waiting to follow behind him. He held the door open for me and made sure I was good before he made his way around the front and then hopped into the driver’s seat.

“You ready, Wonder?”

I checked my seatbelt and held onto the door. “Yep.”

He revved the engine and then put the windows down before putting Nipsey Hussle on. I watched as he looked over at me and then whipped away from the garage and down the winding driveway to the gates at the bottom. With one hand on the wheel, the other on the stick shift, he maneuvered down the winding road with ease, as the SUVs tried to keep up with him.

He hit the button on the visor, as we came speeding down the hill, and out the gates. The security cheered, as he continued onto the public street and continued to drive with ease. I watched as his forearm flex with each shift of the stick.

“Need a week to think,” I rapped the words, and his head snapped in my direction like he was shocked I knew the song.

“Fuck you know about this song, Wonder?”

I smiled. “Me and Skyler love music… why are you surprised?”

He bobbed his head to the music and kept looking over at me as he continued to speed through these Staten Island streets. It was funny that we were on the same streets that we looked over at every morning.

I didn’t know where he was taking me, but I enjoyed the ride and the air whipping through the car as he carefully maneuvered in and out of traffic like he had practiced his entire life for this. Like they were paid to do, the SUVs kept right up with him, mimicking his every move. When one of my favorite songsplayed, I rapped along while throwing fake gang signs like I was affiliated. Menace laughed at me, as he continued switching the gears.

It wasn’t a fake laugh either, or those small chuckles he gave me. This laugh came from the belly, and seeing a genuine smile on his face made me smile. “What?”

“Nothing.”

It took me a few seconds to figure out how to turn the music down. Once I did, I turned to him because we were in traffic. “Where are we going? Did you have Jeffie set this date up for us?”

“Nah… I planned it.”

I screwed my face up. “If I call her right now?”

“She gonna tell you the same thing.”

His phone rang, and I sat back while grinning like a fool because he planned a date for me. Menace was busy and Jeffie and Greene ran his entire life for him. If he took time to plan a date for me, what did that mean?

“The fuck you mean that nigga is missing? How the fuck does one go missing, Ryan?” he questioned in this manic tone. His veins bulged in his hand and forearm with how tight he was holding the stick shift.

This wasn’t the first time I heard him bring up Ryan’s name. Every time I heard his name when Menace and Duke were talking, it sounded like he was on thin ice. His tone, and how tense his body had become told me that the ice had chipped, and Ryan had better run.

“Uh huh… oh yeah, right… oh now I understand. I’m not using my gun when I shoot you, I’m gonna make you swallow each bullet before I reload and then empty my shit in you, Bitch!” He removed the phone from his mouth and screamed into the phone.

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