Page 57 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

“Mav, where are we going?”

I knew he wasn’t sleeping. He couldn’t sleep unless he was under his own roof, and in his own space. Naps and Maverick Caselli didn’t mix, and at times I didn’t know how he handled it. Some days I found myself in a spare room getting twenty minutes because I was tired.

He always kept going.

“To see about getting some furniture.”

Now I was really confused because he only got custom Italian furniture. He still had pieces that he ordered over two years ago that hadn’t made it to him yet. “You don’t need any furniture.”

“You don’t know what I need.”

I pulled up my notes and swiped through them. “Actually, I do. I do know that you’ve been avoiding your therapist… she called me.”

Menace opened his eyes. “Fucking snitch… matter fact, fire her.”

Therapy was something that he struggled with. This therapist wasn’t weak like the others, and she didn’t scare easily. As much as Menace tossed around threats, she showed up dressed to the nines in a pair of heels that one could only dream of owning, ready for another session.

Some days Menace would give her one-word answers, and then others he would clip his toenails on this woman’s time. I had to constantly remind him that she was being paid even if he didn’t speak. While he was clipping his toes and being absolutely ridiculous, she was filing her nails allowing him to be ridiculous.

Dr. Killian Hill was one of the best in her field and the fact that Menace tolerated her told me that she was. He would toss anybody else out on their ass, but he chose to allow her to come into his home, even if he spent their time doing nothing.

I was the one who forced him to see a therapist because I believed he was depressed. He would never say he was, or show it, but I knew him better than anyone and I spent so much time with him. Aside from his siblings, he didn’t have any family and no love life. If you asked him, he didn’t need love to fuck a bitch and send her on her way.

He did need love though.

Everyone needed love, and I thought him seeing a therapist would help with him lowering those walls he had safeguarded around his heart. Trying to know Menace was like trying to find the cure for cancer.

Impossible.

There was only a select few who really got to know the real him. Not even Zoya and Landon really knew their brother. Kora was let in because they were closer in age, and the closest. Kora respected her brother and understood what came with loving him. Landon and Zoya secretly resented him, and that was something I couldn’t fix.

“I am not going to fire Killian. She’s great and eventually you will open up to her… even if it has been over six months and you haven’t said a word to her.”

He was ignoring me, which came with the territory and our relationship. Even when he tried to ignore me, he was listening and eventually it would absorb into that hard head.

“This is where you want to get furniture from?” Duke turned into the outlet mall and pulled in front of Gino’s Furniture Bazaar on East Main Street in Long Island.

“Mav, what the fuck are we doing here?” I questioned, sliding my iPad into my purse, and looking at him.

He looked between me and Duke before he got out. Soon as he opened the door, Duke rushed to get out behind him. “Stop doing that shit, Boss… let me get the door and scope out the situation.”

Menace ignored him as he put a pair of dark Celine sunglasses on. Duke quickly opened the door for me, and I followed behind him into the low end furniture store. It smelled like stale air and shipping boxes when we entered.

A tall brown skinned man came from the back and greeted us, overly dressed for this dump of a store. “How are you doing… welcome in.”

Menace looked at him. “I want to see your beds.”

He was taken back at how forward Menace was and quickly recovered. “Sure, man… we have a few this way. Anything in particular that you’re looking for?”

“Something big enough… fit three people.”

I was so confused and should have been used to this man’s shenanigans. How did he even find this place and why was he looking for a bed here? “Cool… I can dig that.” The salesman’s response forced me to roll my eyes.

He took us to a black wooden sleigh bed that had scratches all over the headboard, which told me this wouldn’t hold upfor years. You would be replacing this in a year, upset that you bought it in the first place.

“Looks comfortable.” Menace rubbed his hands together and checked it out.

The man, desperate for a sale, got on the bed. “Nice and big for three people… I have some other colors in the back, and we sell mattresses, too. Actually, we have a deal on them right now.”

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