Page 87 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

“Do you want me to go?”

“Nah.”

She folded her arms and studied me. I never liked looking anyone in the face, and with her I couldn’t help it. Every time I stared into her face, I was counting her freckles, and the laugh lines on her face.

Wonder loved to fucking laugh. Something that I was a stranger to because my laughs were far and few between. With Wonder, I found myself laughing more because she was always doing something or saying something crazy.

Her phone pinged, and she looked down and smiled. “You gonna make me trip the fuck out in here smiling at your phone.”

Wonder’s head snapped up and she smirked. “One of my favorite vloggers posted a new video up about her latest trip… relax, Mitchell.”

She took a seat in one of the windows and pulled her legs up to her chest to watch the video. This was her thing, and I learned to leave her in her space whenever she was watching videos. Sometimes she would be in her room in the window watching a video on her phone.

Unlike her, when I noticed her enjoying her time alone, I never bothered her. It was considered her quiet hour. “Man, I can almost taste it that’s how good of a quality her camera is.”

I took a seat in the window, and she turned her phone around and showed me a sherbet inside of a lemon. “It is good.”

She gasped. “You have tried it?”

“Been to the Amalfi coast a few times.”

She was suddenly not interested in her favorite vlogger and more with me. “God, to travel that way is a dream. Skyler went to Monaco and then Capri, Italy, and the pictures were so beautiful. One could only dream.”

I pulled my phone out. “You don’t have to dream with me, Wonder. This is somewhere you want to go?”

“Hell yeah. I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’m a fake wannabe vlogger. I record my commute to work… well, I used to.”

I laughed. “Let me see.”

She grabbed her phone and scrolled through everything and then showed me different videos. I watched as she walked down the streets of New York with a smile on her face, telling her fake audience where she was going. She stopped past a gallery in one of the videos and turned the camera while still continuing to talk. I listened as she spoke about one day owning a gallery of her own filled with Black art, and hosting painting classes for children.

“You want to own a gallery?”

There was this sparkle in her eyes while she nodded her head yes. “I want to name it the Messy Muse.”

I laughed as I watched her study my eyes for feedback. “I like it… fits you.”

“I’m coming up,” I heard Jeffie’s voice, and she appeared in the doorway shortly after. “Wanted to check in on you.”

“I’m straight.”

“You’re not, but you have no other choice but to be, right?”

I looked away. “There you go.”

“You have other choices than being alright all the time.,” Wonder added while they both looked at me with that look.

“They wanted the truth and now they spoiled assess got the shit. Jeff, they left?”

“Zoya was the first one gone… Landon hung around for a bit, but Kora convinced him to give you space before having another conversation.”

“Before you leave with Core, do me a favor and have them fuel the jet for the morning. I’m taking Wonder to the Amalfi Coast.”

Both Jeffie and Wonder nearly hollered at me in shock.

“We are going there? Seriously?” Wonder jumped all over me, kissing me on the cheek and in my damn eye while squeezing me.

Jeffie smiled as she looked at me, I knew that look and I was ignoring her. “A spontaneous trip, Maverick… wow. I’ll go get everything in order for tomorrow,” she winked as she left us alone, and Wonder continued to hug me.

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