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

Guilt kicked in the next morning when I realized that I blew up on Menace and all he asked was what was wrong with me. I avoided him for the next few days, only coming out my room when I knew he was gone. Soon as I knew he was back, the housekeepers talked, I made my way back to my room. On his way up to his room, he would pause on the steps heading to his floor, as if he wanted me to come out and speak to him.

Menace could have called me when he was in Japan, but that wasn’t the problem. I was so angry, sad, and resentful because my mother was gone. I was angry with her for leaving me here alone, and then I was resentful of my father.

God continued to keep sparing his life, and this last time he happened to use me to do it. I missed her so desperately and being put in the current situation I was in; I was missing her more. She would know exactly what to say and help me figure this out.

The guilt of watching him stand on the stairs last night was eating me alive, so I woke up early this morning and looked over the clothes that I had left and decided to get dressed. Housekeeping had been washing my clothes, so I didn’t feel the need to make a fuss about needing more clothes.

I slipped into the orange maxi dress with frills and thin spaghetti straps. The entire back was out, and it was a risky buy because I hated my back rolls. Since we were going to be on vacation and I would never see those people again, I threw caution into the wind and bought it.

Now I was standing here in the mirror unsure if I even wanted to wear this. The bright side of this was that I wouldn’t be leaving the house. Menace barely paid me any kind of attention anyway.

I removed my sock curlers from my hair and fluffed my curls up, adding a hair perfume into my hair, and checking my dress out. It wasn’t that I was insecure about my body – okay I was.

Since I was a child, I had always been a bit chunkier than the other girls. When I was a teenager, that chunk eventually filled out to breast, ass, hips, and thighs, which should have been a relief.

Those curves came with thicker arms and rolls, too. When it was just me staring at my body in the mirror, I loved my body and curves. It was hard to truly stand in your confidence when you had men that wanted model figures. Women with bigger asses, smaller waist, and had no body fat other than their ass.

“I like it.”

I jumped, something I learned that I would be doing often because Menace was like a cat. He was quiet, and you didn’t know he was there until he spoke.

My door was open, and he leaned in the doorway watching me in the mirror. Had I actually been paying attention to the mirror, I would have saw him standing there.

“Really?”

“I do.”

I quickly ran across the room. “You don’t think the off-white one is better?”

As I held it up to my body, he looked at me weird. “That shit look like a fucking nightgown that a woman that’s not trying to get fucked would wear.”

“Okay, Menace… was that necessary?”

“You wanted my opinion, right?”

I put the dress back onto the bed. “I wanted to apologize to you for the other night. You just came off a long flight and I blew up on you for no reason.”

“You had a reason.”

“I didn’t have a reason.”

“You did.”

“How are you telling me that I had a reason when I did not have a reason?” I folded my arms and stared at him.

He looked down at his feet, then back up into my eyes. “I didn’t call you and that bothered you. Some other shit bothered you, too, and I want to know why. I also understand that I have to earn that privilege.”

I looked behind me because this couldn’t be the same man from the warehouse a few weeks ago. He had me speechless as I stood there not knowing what to say. “Well, you could have sent a text.”

“Is that something you require in this marriage?”

I nodded my head yes. “I understand this is bu⁠—”

“Fair. I require you not to refer to this as a business arrangement.”

“Is that not what this is?”

He smiled. “Nah.” I watched as he turned to leave the room, then he paused. “I want to take you out on a date, Wonder.”

“Why?”

“Wear that, too… you look beautiful in it.” He winked, and then continued down the hall, leaving me standing in the middle of this room grinning like a fool.

I spun around in my dress and did a quiet giggle because he wanted to take me on a date. My mother always told me to speak my mind, and it wasn’t something I always did. I liked to remain quiet and just silently stew on my feelings.

Telling him how I felt about the non-communication seemed to have worked. He was nicer to me, and he actually smiled and complimented me. It confused me why he didn’t want to refer to this as a business arrangement. It was as if this meant more to him than us both helping the other out.

“Wonder, we leave in twenty minutes,” I heard the intercom on the wall, and I quickly went into the bathroom to put on my gold accessories and put a little oil behind my ears before snatching my purse and heading downstairs.

Duke was at the kitchen counter eating his usual apple. Everyone had a routine around this house, and it drove me crazy. “He’s in the office down the hall on the left.”

I headed down the hall, my sandals slapping the freshly buffed floors in search for this office of his. When I found it, I pushed one of the heavy doors open, and Menace was sitting on the edge of his desk.

It wasn’t the view of him sitting on the edge of the desk that caught me by surprise. He had a bunch of Lego sets all aligned. Each box was aligned perfectly with the other and laid out on the floor of his office.

“Blue told me that you like Legos, so I went to get you some.”

I looked at the different sets that I dreamed of owning one day, and they were in front of me. “Her name is Greene.”

Don’t ask why that was the one thing I thought to say while taking in all the different sets. “These are expensive, Menace.”

He nodded. “Not for you.”

“Thank you so much… it’s going to take me months to complete these, but I’m so excited.” I placed my purse onto the table and got on my knees as I took in the huge plane that he purchased. I felt like I was in an expensive Lego store with the way he had each box on display for me to see.

He remained on the edge of the desk and watched me move from box to box. When I got to the last box, I stood up and fixed my dress. “Like them?”

“Like? I love them… I had a few of these on my bucket list of things I want.” I rushed into his arms, and he was stiff as a board as I held him. “Um, you usually put your arms around the other person.” I removed myself and looked up at him.

“Don’t do hugs, Wonder.”

I smiled. “Well, I have another requirement.”

He tilted his head to the side and folded his arms. “Let me guess… you want a hug?”

“Hugs. If this isn’t a business deal, then you have to act like it, too. This is the first step, so thank you for thinking of me. It warms my little heart to know that you cared enough to do this… no one does things like this for me.”

Menace Caselli was different, and I could tell from the quirks that I would watch him do. His day was very scheduled and in order, while mine was scattered. We were two opposites expected to be married and share this home together.

We both had managed to stay on our ends of the house. I tried not to get in his way and chose to come out the room when he wasn’t around. Other than the meal we shared the first night I was here, we didn’t eat together.

His meals were still prepared and sat in the fridge. I think Lupita enjoyed cooking a meal for me that wasn’t the same shit that Menace would eat. She had opened up to me more and had a full menu prepared every morning for me.

She was more excited than me to prepare the food. I loved food, so I never complained about anything. As long as it was good, I was going to finish my plate and want seconds.

“You ready?”

I touched his wrist and looked at the smashed looking watch. “Can I wear your watch today?”

“Fuck no, Wonder.”

“Is it expensive?’

“Not about the price.”

“Then what is it about?”

He started to pick with his thumb, and I looked at him. “If it makes you uncomfortable, it’s alright.”

Menace looked down at me, then pushed up from the desk. He didn’t reply to me, he just grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him out the office and down the hall to where the massive garage was.

All of his cars were on display in the garage with huge glass doors that opened. He had a full staff that worked in the garage, because on one of my main quests through this massive home, I accidentally stumbled into the garage and met them.

“Boss, we pulled the car out for you in the front… you haven’t pulled that one out in a while.” The short Spanish man smiled.

Menace nodded and smirked. “Let’s see if I remember how to drive that shit.”

“What?” I blurted.

“Chill out… till death do us part.”

I tried to remove my hand from him, and he pulled me closer, putting his arm around me in a side hug. “We’re not even married yet… I ain’t trying to die because you don’t remember how to drive.”

He chuckled and pulled me in front of him as we headed to the awaiting car. “Another requirement, Wonder… know that your life is always safe in my hands,” he whispered into my ear before he released me, then swaggered in front of me toward the car.

Why was I breathing so heavy at his words? They were just words, and they had me feeling all out of sorts like he had crooned the words to my favorite love song. Menace opened the passenger door, and I looked at the Bugatti that was in front of me.

Behind the car, there were three large SUVs waiting to follow behind him. He held the door open for me and made sure I was good before he made his way around the front and then hopped into the driver’s seat.

“You ready, Wonder?”

I checked my seatbelt and held onto the door. “Yep.”

He revved the engine and then put the windows down before putting Nipsey Hussle on. I watched as he looked over at me and then whipped away from the garage and down the winding driveway to the gates at the bottom. With one hand on the wheel, the other on the stick shift, he maneuvered down the winding road with ease, as the SUVs tried to keep up with him.

He hit the button on the visor, as we came speeding down the hill, and out the gates. The security cheered, as he continued onto the public street and continued to drive with ease. I watched as his forearm flex with each shift of the stick.

“Need a week to think,” I rapped the words, and his head snapped in my direction like he was shocked I knew the song.

“Fuck you know about this song, Wonder?”

I smiled. “Me and Skyler love music… why are you surprised?”

He bobbed his head to the music and kept looking over at me as he continued to speed through these Staten Island streets. It was funny that we were on the same streets that we looked over at every morning.

I didn’t know where he was taking me, but I enjoyed the ride and the air whipping through the car as he carefully maneuvered in and out of traffic like he had practiced his entire life for this. Like they were paid to do, the SUVs kept right up with him, mimicking his every move. When one of my favorite songs played, I rapped along while throwing fake gang signs like I was affiliated. Menace laughed at me, as he continued switching the gears.

It wasn’t a fake laugh either, or those small chuckles he gave me. This laugh came from the belly, and seeing a genuine smile on his face made me smile. “What?”

“Nothing.”

It took me a few seconds to figure out how to turn the music down. Once I did, I turned to him because we were in traffic. “Where are we going? Did you have Jeffie set this date up for us?”

“Nah… I planned it.”

I screwed my face up. “If I call her right now?”

“She gonna tell you the same thing.”

His phone rang, and I sat back while grinning like a fool because he planned a date for me. Menace was busy and Jeffie and Greene ran his entire life for him. If he took time to plan a date for me, what did that mean?

“The fuck you mean that nigga is missing? How the fuck does one go missing, Ryan?” he questioned in this manic tone. His veins bulged in his hand and forearm with how tight he was holding the stick shift.

This wasn’t the first time I heard him bring up Ryan’s name. Every time I heard his name when Menace and Duke were talking, it sounded like he was on thin ice. His tone, and how tense his body had become told me that the ice had chipped, and Ryan had better run.

“Uh huh… oh yeah, right… oh now I understand. I’m not using my gun when I shoot you, I’m gonna make you swallow each bullet before I reload and then empty my shit in you, Bitch!” He removed the phone from his mouth and screamed into the phone.

I moved closer to the door in case this man forgot that I was his soon-to-be wife and decided to crash out on me next. He turned the music up and the nice atmosphere and vibe that we had going was ruined.

His thoughts were so loud I felt like I could hear them. When traffic cleared, we were back on our way in silence. As we sped across the bridge into Jersey, I looked down at the message from Cornell.

I wished he would leave me alone. He didn’t even really care about being sorry, he was nervous I would expose him. If he knew me, he would have known I was the last person that would ever expose someone.

My eyes grew heavy as Menace whipped in and out of traffic, so I leaned my head back and took a quick nap. It wasn’t like he was speaking anyway, and the nap would help with the tension in this car. I wanted to add another requirement and decided against it because I read the room.

Skyler would be proud of me for actually following her advice and reading the room.

The car door slamming caused me to jump out of my sleep. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, my heart left my body, and it was my soul looking around at my surroundings. Tears accumulated in my eyes as I started to panic and look for anything.

Something.

“Fuck, Stevie! He’s going to kill you because of whatever Ryan said to him… God, Jesus, Shamu… someone please help me,” I started to hyperventilate and check the mirrors.

He was going off on his security and they stood there allowing him to go off, while Duke stood to the side and watched. I noticed most rules didn’t apply to Duke. He was his security, but he seemed like family and a friend at the same time.

While they were preoccupied, I unlocked the door and tried to open the door. I couldn’t figure the stupid shit out and was trying to remember how he had opened it. Jesus, if you let me out of this, I promise I won’t steal grapes anymore.

As if he knew I was telling the truth, I heard a click, and the door started to raise. Soon as I had enough clearance not to knock my head on the door, I hopped out the car and held my dress as I ran on the gravel toward somewhere. I didn’t know where the hell I was going, but it wasn’t going to be in one of these damn grave sites.

“Wonder, where the fuck?” I heard Menace’s voice, and continued running, wishing that I had truly worked out more.

You never knew how much working out was important until you’re sprinting in a pair of Tory Burch sandals, in a maxi dress while clutching your purse and the hem of your dress. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I screamed.

“Nooo! Help! Please, no!” I screamed, giving up on my trek toward Narnia.

I was flinging my purse and arms around while crying because as much as I missed my mama, a bitch didn’t want to go with her right now. “Wonder, what the fuck are you doing?”

I opened my eyes and noticed it was Menace, without a shirt on and his chest heaving up and down. “Why do you want to kill me? Dawg, I ain’t have shit to do with whatever Ryan did… that should be a requirement… you cannot kill me, please.”

He stared down at me and started laughing while I was bearing my entire soul to him. “Why do you think I’m going to kill you, baby?”

If I wasn’t so upset that he was going to kill me, then laughed about my fear, I probably would have swooned at him calling me baby. Except, I was upset that he thought my pain was hilarious.

“Do I amuse you, Mitchell? Am I a fucking… God… give me a second.” I held my hand up and rested my hands on my knees because I felt the vomit tickle the back of my throat.

“Why in the fuck would you jog without stretching?”

My head shot up and I looked at him. “I was running, Mitchell.”

“Why the fuck do you keep calling me Mitchell?”

“’Cause I don’t know your name and I’m being serious right now.” I turned around and spit, feeling the vomit wanting to come because I had decided to run today.

Once I was able to get my breathing under control and knock the vomit back down, I stood up and looked at him. “Why are we here if you’re not trying to kill me?”

When I looked behind Menace, his security and Duke were laughing at me. “This is our date.”

“You took me to a fucking cemetery for a date? Maybe you should have let Jeffie or Greene plan something because what is this?”

He grabbed my hand, and we walked back over to security as they laughed at their phones. “It’s not funny.”

“Mrs. C, you were running like someone in a scary movie… shit was hilarious.”

“I am not, Mrs. C… we don’t even know if I will make it out of this cemetery alive.” I looked at them through squinted eyes.

Menace put his shirt back on and that’s when I noticed his gun tucked in the back. “He always carries a gun with him,” Duke explained when he saw my eyes widen as I said my prayers.

He removed the gun and handed it over to Duke, grabbing my hand and pulling me behind him. For a man I thought was going to kill me, I felt safe while holding his hand. We walked through the cemetery past all the dead people that I may or may not be joining.

He stopped when we got to a mausoleum with a crest on it. “I told you I was taking you on a date.”

“To a fucking cemetery? What in the fuck, Mitchell?”

“My fucking name ain’t Mitchell, Wanda.”

I paused. “My name ain’t no fucking Wanda.”

He used his key and opened it, and that’s when I backed away. “We’re having lunch with my folks.”

“Menace, are you alright?”

He stopped messing with the lock and looked at me. “Yeah… the fuck you ask that for?”

“’Cause you took me on our first date to meet your dead parents. I mean, I get it… I would love to schedule some time for you to meet my mom, but she’s fucking dead and in the ground.”

“You wanna meet them or not?”

He was serious as hell, and I was now thinking back to hearing Skyler talk about how odd he was. Maybe that was why she was skeptical in the first place. This man took me on a first date to meet his dead parents in a mausoleum.

I leaned on him as I peered on the inside and he had it all set up with candles, and takeout bags on a blanket. Honestly, it wasn’t as creepy as I thought it was. “Mitchell, this is strange.”

“Yeah, get yo’ ass inside,” he replied and slapped my ass.

I jumped and smiled on the inside. Why did his touch send a damn jolt of electricity through my entire body? Menace helped me onto the floor, as he removed his shoes to avoid creasing them and sat across from me.

“Do you visit here often?”

“When I get the time… haven’t been in a few months.”

I nodded and looked around the inside and there were pictures of him and who I assumed was his parents. There were family portraits with his siblings, trips of them skiing in Aspen, and so many more pictures.

I read the law degree on the wall that said Zoya Caselli and smiled. “Wow, this feels really special.”

Now all of a sudden, I felt bad for overreacting the way that I did. He was showing me a piece of him so I could understand him better. Menace wasn’t a man of many words, so I assumed this was his requirement.

He wanted me to know him.

It was him showing me that this wasn’t a business arrangement to him. “It is…when Kora and Zoya were both sworn in, I made sure to bring their pictures here.”

“They’re proud.”

“How you know?”

I shrugged. “I just have a feeling that they are. The burden of the oldest sibling isn’t the easiest to carry.”

“Ain’t you the only child?”

I folded my arms. “How the hell you know that?”

“I know everything, Wonder.” He grabbed the bag of food and opened it while he continued to take everything out.

“Well, just because I don’t have any doesn’t mean I don’t know the burden of being everything to someone. Were you young when you lost your parents?”

“A teen.”

“I’m sorry.”

He nodded letting me know he appreciated my apologies. I watched as he looked through the containers and then over at me. “I’m about to put somebody in a fucking grave because why they put the fucking barbeque sauce on my fucking chicken?”

He was disgusted as he held the plastic bowl in his hand. “What kind of chicken did you order?” I scooted closer to him and took the container from him.

“Barbeque chicken.”

I stopped and had to run the conversation back in my head, so I didn’t sound stupid. Maybe I missed something in the conversation. “You wanted barbeque chicken, no?”

“Yeah.”

“Mitchell, they gave you what you asked for.” I shook the container with the chicken in it, and he looked at me like I was the one talking foolish.

“I don’t eat sauce on my food, Wonder… don’t like that shit. I’d rather eat the chicken with the sauce on the side.”

While he continued to look through the bag to make sure everything was good, I opened the chicken and looked at the goodness. The smell alone had my mouth watering as I looked at him.

“It wouldn’t be so bad to try a piece.”

“Nah.”

I used the plastic fork and knife, and cut into the chicken, taking a bite. “Yumm, it’s so good… wow, so moist.”

He watched me as I continued to make the chicken sound way more appealing than it was. “I’m not three, and you not about to trick me to try something I don’t like.”

“How do you not like it when you wanted the same thing, only with the sauce on the side… why do you eat the way that you do?”

“Why do you talk to yourself?”

I cut into the chicken and popped a piece into my mouth. “I’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time alone.”

“What about Skyler?”

“She didn’t always live in New York. We only saw each other during the holidays or funerals. My mother didn’t come around my father’s family as much when they divorced.”

“Hmm.”

There was a time when all I remember was my parents screaming at each other. I couldn’t recall one conversation when they didn’t scream or tell each other they hated one another. It always ended with the door slamming, and my mother crying because she was so tired and frustrated with my father.

“My mother enrolled me in art classes at our local community center when she and my father divorced. I guess she thought it was a distraction from all the mess that went on in our home.”

“Is that why you do nails?”

I smiled. “You sure know a lot about me.”

“You’re living under the same roof as me, I have to know a lot about you.”

I looked down at my food. “I do nails because they pay the bills. It’s a way to express my art while making money. Being an artist doesn’t pay the bills, so I paint to escape.”

“I haven’t seen you paint.”

“In your home? I already drive Skyler crazy with my paint, I don’t even want to set you off. I draw on Skyler’s iPad… she brought it when she came to visit me… I know she wants it back, but I’ve been complaining about it being boring, so she’s letting me rock out with it,” I snickered.

“I have OCD and ADHD,” he revealed and watched me, as our eyes both met. “I obsessively count when I’m stressed or anxious… shit always has to have an order with me. It’s something I can control.”

“I have ADHD.”

“I know.”

Laughing, I gasped acting like I was offended. “Did you look up my medical conditions or something?”

“Nah… I could tell.”

His phone rang and he looked at it before excusing himself, leaving me alone in here with his parents. I looked around and took in everything inside here. As creeped out as I was before, this felt like love.

Menace brought me to his comfort, somewhere not many people probably visited, and I felt honored that he showed me this.

Scared at first, but very honored.