Page 94 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

“Do you wanna talk about the phone call that you got?”

“Rather discuss me eating yo’ pussy again.” He sat down beside me, and kissed me on the cheek, trying to change the conversation.

“Mavie.”

“Wanda.”

I sucked my teeth, allowing the name to slide because I didn’t want to switch the subject. “Seriously.”

“I want to keep you and what I do separate, baby. This life ain’t for everybody and I don’t want that shit crossing into what we building. I would never keep you in the dark but let me handle this.”

I looked out at the view. “I’ve been trying to come to terms of losing my father.”

“Not an easy thing to come to terms with. Still coming to terms with losing my own and it’s been years.”

I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “I’m not going to leave you, Maverick.”

He needed that reminder because I knew he worried. It didn’t matter how cool he played it; he worried about if I would leave after he killed Raye.

I was the child.

It was never my responsibility to keep saving this man. All my life I had wanted that fatherly love from him, something that told me that he loved his daughter, and I never got it. Everything took priority but fatherhood.

My mom fought for me when I was younger, wanting me to have that fatherly bond. I learned a long time ago that it wasn’t her fight, and it wasn’t mine, either. You had to want to be a parent. Nobody could make you be that, and when it came to wanting to be a parent – Raye didn’t want that.

“You’re not going to choose me over your pops, Wonder.”

“I already did.”

“Why?”

“Because I am in love with you, Maverick. I can’t even think of leaving you, even though that was all I wanted to do when I first met you. The thought of you sitting in that house alone before you met me brings tears to my eyes. You are complicated, and some days I wanna choke you because why can’t you just fucking flush the toilet once… but those are the things that I love.You aren’t weird, baby, you are unique. Different isn’t a flaw, it’s a feature.”

He kissed the back of my hand. “I love you, too, Stevie.”

I allowed him to pull me onto his lap and hugged him. “I’m not that bad for a mail ordered bride, huh?”

I watched as he shook his head. “Why the fuck you always gotta say some wild shit?”

I rubbed his beard before kissing his cheek. “Now, what are we going to get into today?”

“A bath… I wanna take one with you.”

I smiled. “Can we order room service and eat in the tub?”

From the look on his face, he would have rather eat hot coal and washed it down with bleach. “Yeah.”

Recommendation: Listen to “All Night” by Beyonce (Listen in at 3:09 in the bathtub scene.)

I unpackedmy clothes as Maverick went to handle a call on the terrace. While he was out there, the housekeeper ran our bath. Our room was like a glass box. The tub was in the corner with the most perfect view of the Eiffel Tower, then when you walked into the bedroom, the same view followed you.

Housekeeping left and I ordered our room service while Maverick finished up his conversation. I was already in my robe, and he kissed me on his way into the bathroom. I cracked the terrace door in the bedroom to get that fresh breeze when we finished with our bath.

Before going into the bathroom, room service came so I let them in. Grabbing the bottle, the cigar, and my hamburger, I juggled all of that while going into the bathroom. Maverick was already in the tub when I entered the bathroom, and the lights were off, with candles illuminating the room.

“They sent my cigar?”

“Yep.”

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