Page 55 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

I stood up, putting my sneakers on and held my hand out. “Requirement?”

“We sure have a lot of requirements and didn’t make it down the aisle yet.” Wonder stared up at me, then started to clean up our area.

“Security gonna clean it and lock up.”

I grabbed her hand as she allowed me to pull her, until she was in front of me. “Can we get milkshakes?”

“Yeah.”

She skipped to the car, as I trailed behind her, happy that I didn’t have to run behind her ass. As I watched her, I shook my head because this shit couldn’t be happening to me. The feeling in my chest was telling me otherwise.

Wonder turned back around and looked at me. “Can I drive?”

“Fuck no, Wonder… car too powerful for you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Is it because I’m a woman, Maverick?”

Duke chuckled, knowing that I had told her my real name. Not too many people knew my real name, and I preferred it that way.

“Fuck you laughing at?”

He smirked. “Nothing, Boss… nothing at all.”

I held the door open for Wonder, and she slipped in before I walked around the car, looking back at my parents’ final resting place.

I just knew this had my moms written all over it.

With all theshit I had going on, quiet hour was important for me. I needed to sit and read the stack of newspapers that I hadn’t got the chance to read. As I flipped through the pages, I thought about how Wonder’s father and his chick were now missing in action.

I knew Ryan had something to do with the shit because a lot of things had been slipping through the cracks with him. How did you let the nigga steal that much money without knowing it? Not knowing what was being bookedoffthe app that we had for Case House.

Menace Caselli didn’t believe in coincidences. Shit happened for a reason and me and Ryan were going to have a talk. Until then, I was enjoying being in my office now that all those damn Legos were removed.

I flipped the page and enjoyed the stillness during my quiet hour. Stevie was somewhere focused on tackling one of the Lego sets. We had breakfast together this morning and I needed a minute from her.

Lupita made her a full spread of breakfast and I watched this girl slather jelly onto her fucking eggs and then layer them onto the toast that had butter on it and then take a bite. If that wasn’t enough, she didn’t wait to finish chewing before she washed it down with orange juice. Which meant she had all those flavors and juice mixed in her mouth as she continued to chew and swallow the shit down.

I sat the newspaper down for a second to take a breath. Stevie was sent to kill me, and I was starting to think this shit was ascheme cooked up by Todd. Why the fuck did such a beautiful woman have to eat that way?

As I sipped my smoothie and waited for my toast and eggs, I watched as she listened to her videos out loud while laughing. Her feet were tucked up under her, and she was still in her pajamas with her hair matted to her head.

Even with me staring her down, she had this peace about her. A peace that I wished I could have for myself. While I thought this was chaotic and it stressed the fuck out of me, Stevie was just existing. This was who she was, and she wasn’t going to change for nobody.

As if she knew I was thinking about her ass, she came into my office. “Hey Mavie.”

“Hi Wanda.”

She put her hand on her thick hip… fuck, why the fuck did she have to look so good in those leggings and cropped shirt? “My name isn’t fucking Wanda, Maverick.”

“Then stop calling me Mavie.”

“I refuse.”

“Okay, Wanda.”

“I let you slide with Wonder… I refuse to be Wanda.”

I chuckled, picked the newspaper up and continued to read about the state of our world. Damn world was a fucking mess, and White men thought their focus should be on an app and women’s rights.

---