10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace (Caselli Family Book 1)

“Jeffie, I don’t give a fuck what he called you crying about. When my eyes land on that man, I’m handling my business. I’m feeling like he knew about the shit that went on and I’m never wrong.”

“Understandable. Ryan has been with us for so long. I would hate to even thin⁠—”

“Which is why you handle everything else but that side of things. Too much shit hasn’t been adding up, and I purposely told Beans to let that nigga handle transport. I know for a fact if Beans would have handled it, none of this would have happened.”

She sighed. “Well, how is the date? Where did you end up taking her?”

“Cemetery. We’re having lunch in my parents’ mausoleum.”

The line grew quiet.

“Maverick, I’m waiting for you to laugh.”

I paced around a tombstone as I held the phone to my ear. “Ain’t shit funny… my parents being dead is funny to you, Jefferina?”

“Now you know that’s not what I mean. Why would you take her there… Kora told me she gave you some advice.”

“All you both do is talk about me… I’m so worried… he’s gonna die lonely… he’s too handsome, rich, funny, smart, and got a fire ass dick game to be lonely.”

“Maverick, you know damn well we never said no shit like that,” Jeffie laughed into the phone. “Well, what does she think about it?”

“She tried to run because she thought I was going to kill her.”

“Can’t say that I blame her, Maverick. Is the date at least going well… Kora told me that you went and bought her a bunch of Legos… that was very nice of you.”

“Kora sure runs her mouth… huh?”

“It’s been a minute, and I had to put her onto everything going on with me. She sent me flowers this morning. I love her so much.”

“You good?”

“Yes… I have my days… I’ll be back to the house tomorrow. I just needed some time to decompress and unwind. Since Bali we didn’t get to do as much relaxing, Core wants to take me away with him. Says I need a true breath.”

“He’s not wrong. Real life happened to the both of you. Stop trying to rush back to work and rest. Turquoise been handling shit… other than her walking around with booty shorts on, she been straight. She fucking Beans, Jeffie?”

Jeffie had a miscarriage, and it was some shit I never experienced before. She had always been my rock, the one that keeps going no matter what. Witnessing her break down and hold onto me while she was hurting fucked me up. Core had some business in a country not too far away, so he was able to hop on a flight and be there in a few hours.

“Work helps me feel centered, Maverick. I don’t like sitting around and feeling helpless about this, and her name is Greene, Maverick. You call that girl everything but her actual name… I don’t think so. I do know he has a crush on her, and she might have one on him.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyway, you need to talk to her about the heir… don’t keep her in the dark,” she reminded me, and I looked at the phone. “Don’t you think about hanging up on m⁠—”

I ended the call and slipped my phone back into my pocket, going back inside. Slipping my sneakers off, I sat back down and watched as she was on her phone.

“Who is Tony?”

Wonder lifted her eyes up from her screen and stared at me. “An ex-boyfriend.”

“Why you look like that every time his name is mentioned?”

She shrugged me off. “I don’t look like anything… he’s an old boyfriend, that’s all.”

“Not lying is another requirement.”

I watched as she put her phone down. “He’s an ex-boyfriend… we dated, and then we broke up. He left a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Is he the reason you’re a virgin?”

“Can’t a girl just want to be a virgin? Why does it have to be because of some boy?” Her face told me that my suspicions were right.

“Yeah. He’s the reason.”

She put her phone down. “He is not.”

“You don’t even believe the shit coming from your mouth.”

I watched as she looked down at her phone, rubbing the back of it, before she looked at me. “Is this a safe place?”

“It’s always a safe place, Wifey.”

“No Wifey, please.”

I noticed at the warehouse she didn’t like when I said it. “Tell me why.”

She took a breath. “I feel like the word is stupid. Men use it to make women feel better about not actually being married… I have a whole theory on the word.”

“You’re gonna be my wife though.”

“I’m not right now… speaking of that… when is that supposed to happen?”

I snorted. “Do you need to fit me in your schedule?”

“Actually, yes.” She smiled at me.

I waved my hand in her face. “Wonder, we getting off topic… this is a safe place… proceed.”

She looked back down at her phone before looking into my eyes. I watched as she shifted in place and then told me the story of what happened with this soon to be dead nigga Tony.

As she told me, I watched as she swiped away a tear that fell down her cheek. I didn’t move from my place because I was upset. Mad that someone would take advantage of her, and she was in front of me placing blame on herself.

She trusted him, and he took advantage of her and then brought his brother in on the deal. I couldn’t imagine how long she had been holding this in, and then her friend knew this and offered her up like she was a fucking free meal.

“Okay.”

“What does that mean?”

I reached over and wiped her tear. “It means that I don’t have the right words right now, but I see and hear you. I hate that happened to you, and I hate that you blame yourself because you weren’t to blame, Wonder. You trusted the wrong bitch and he took advantage of you.”

“Yeah.”

She looked at the food. “Are you not going to eat anything?”

“Nah.”

Just as quickly as she had tears, she had this cute fucking smile on her face. “Try the chicken… for me, please?”

“I don’t eat that shit.”

“You do eat it, Mitchell… just a different way. Try something different, you may like it.” She coached, as she got closer to me.

I watched as she cut into the chicken and put it on her fork. “I don’t want this shit, Wonder.”

“Requirement, you have to try new things… even if you don’t like it. At least you tried it and can say that you did it.”

“Hurry this shit up, Wonder.”

She brought the fork to my mouth, and I tasted the chicken, wanting to throw up. “Don’t you spit it out, Mitchell.” I stared at her, and she laughed. “Chew it.”

I fucking refused because I felt like I was eating wet fucking chicken. “I’m about to spit this shit out.”

She reached her little hands up and put them on my face, smushing them so I could chew them. Usually some shit like that would have set me the fuck off, and it didn’t. Her sweet scent, like warm pistachio and vanilla calmed me.

While holding the food in my cheeks, I took her wrist and smelled it while looking in her eyes. “My name is Maverick, Wonder.”

She smiled. “Thank you for finally telling me… chew the food now and stop smelling my wrist.”

“You smell good, Wonder.”

“Chew the food.”

I kissed her wrist, and she blushed so hard I was sure she was about to float away. “Maverick, chew the food.”

“I told you my name, doesn’t mean you need to start using it.”

She smirked. “I’m going to be your wife, no? I think I should have the privilege of calling you by your actual name.”

She reached for the napkin and handed it to me. “Don’t make me do that shit again.”

I watched as she looked at me. “I promise I won’t… you tried it and didn’t like it. We’ll just become a household that dips our barbeque chicken.”

I tossed the napkin into the bag and kissed her wrist again, and she looked away. “Why you looking away from me?”

“You make me nervous.”

“Why?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet… fill you in when I find out?”

The conversation I had with Jeffie popped in my head and I silently groaned, knowing she needed to know. “Look forward to the debriefing.”

“Is this going to be a big wedding? Do I need to go on some starvation diet to lose weight… like fill me in because no one has said anything. Oh, and I need to get clothes from my place.”

“Wonder, you better not lose no fucking weight.”

She fixed the straps on her dress as I took in her full breast. They sat up on her chest without any bra, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. When I watched her from the doorway before making my presence known, I watched as she pinched her rolls and bickered with herself.

Wonder didn’t give me insecure, but there were things about herself that I could tell that bothered her. If she only knew how fucking sexy I thought those imperfections were when staring at her.

That dress on her, as flowy as it was, I could still see her curves. Her cute stubby toes that she had folded in front of me… all of that shit was beautiful to me.

“Well, the dress surely can’t be backless.”

Like she put her damn hands on my face, I put mine around her and squeezed her rolls and she snorted. “These are perfect. Actually.” I flipped her ass over my shoulder and bit her roll while she screamed out in laughter.

“Maverick… please, stop,” she begged while I tickled her, and bit the second one while she heaved, trying to catch her breath.

When I finally released her, she pulled my beard and fixed her dress. “That was uncalled for.”

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 the shit 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 booked off the 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 a scheme 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.

As if they didn’t come busting out their fat mama’s pussy into the world. It always killed me how men could never put women first when we needed them. Without them, none of us would fucking exist. I was that nigga and ran shit, however, shit didn’t run without that little iPad obsessed woman. It was the reason I wanted women to work for me.

“I’m a little stuck on my current piece… more than stuck, I cannot figure out one piece.” She plopped into one of the chairs. “The hair dryer in my room doesn’t work, either… I tried everything and it will not work.”

I don’t know where she pulled a small bag of chips from, but the noise of her rattling that damn bag sounded like drums being hit. She popped a chip into her mouth as I continued to focus on this article that was pretty fucking interesting.

“I want to start getting up and swimming in the inside pool. Why didn’t you tell me that you had an inside pool, Mavie? Is it heated, and do you know how to swim?”

I had read the same sentence six times because her talking was throwing me off.

“Lupita is going on a date tonight so I was thinking I could make us dinner… what are you in the mood for? I can go to the grocery store, and I won’t steal⁠—”

“Shut the fuck up, Wonder!” I barked, startling her. “Got damn… it’s quiet hour and you just fucking yapping… not even saying nothing,” I continued.

Stevie looked at me and I could see how hurt she was. “Noted.”

I watched as she stood up and turned to leave the room as quickly as she came. Tossing the newspaper across the room, I fucking groaned. “Fuck.”

I hit the intercom button. “What up, Boss?”

“Pull the truck around, I got some shit to handle,” I told him.

“Bet.”

Checking my watch, I had about twenty minutes left of quiet hour. I didn’t give a fuck that I had time left, I was more concerned with Stevie and what I had said to her. Yellow came into my office with my water and nuts.

“An hour is over that quick?” she whispered.

“Nah.”

She already knew I didn’t want any conversation, so I left the room to head to the truck. I needed to head to the only gym outside of mine that I frequented to blow off some steam. Nothing felt as good as beating the fuck out of somebody and then shaking hands at the end of it.

When I bypassed the kitchen, Stevie wasn’t in the kitchen. Half of me wanted to find her and apologize, then the other half just figured to give her space.