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

Maverick Caselli got on my everlasting last nerve. Even if that nerve died, he would find one just to continue getting on my nerves. Despite the nerves that I was barely holding onto, and him picking every nerve, that was my heart.

My big brother.

Soulmate – if you let him tell it.

There was no one in the world like Maverick, and the world didn’t understand him. He never let anyone in long enough to truly see who he was, including his sisters and brother. They all saw him as the annoying, overly dramatic, nutcase who stayed away.

He was all those things, but he was also more. Maverick loved hard, and he was the kind that went out of his way to do something to make someone smile. He never wanted the credit for it, either.

I remember when Lupita’s mother lost her home, and she was crying about it to me. He overheard and had Core look into some things. He bought her mother’s home back from the bank and gifted it to her. Lupita had no clue it was Menace who set everything into motion.

He forced the bank to tell her family that it was an error on their end. The man would give his entire heart if he knew it would help someone else out. He was a good man.

A good person.

It was because he was different that made him hard to deal with. I knew him better than I knew myself, and he had always been different. My mother would show me how to care for him, always saying he wasn’t like everyone and that was fine.

Their relationship was close because she understood him. Before I stepped into my role as his assistant and unofficial handler, she was that first.

My mom walked so I could run.

I looked over at him as we drove through Long Island, not knowing what business we had here. Menace had his eyes closed with his hands rested on his lap. I went back to looking over my iPad and at our schedule.

“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 up for 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.”

Menace sat on the edge of the bed, which shocked the hell out of me. I could see he didn’t want to in his face, although to someone who didn’t know him, they would think he was cool. With the glasses over his eyes, I could see the crazy in his face.

Before I could even ask what he was doing, he flipped over on the bed, snatched that man up and held him in a chokehold like a UFC fighter. Duke looked at me, and I didn’t know what to say or do.

“W…what the fuck? Let me go… I can’t breathe.”

“Should be thankful that you can breathe, Tony… why the fuck you hurt my baby?”

Tony, because that was his name apparently, looked at me, and Duke wanting help. “Wh…what baby?”

“Stevie Raye… ring a bell?”

Tony was trying to remember who Menace was talking about and then I clocked the moment it registered. “That weird bitch from my old high school? I haven’t spoken to her in years, man… you can have her.”

“Don’t fucking tell me what I can have like she’s yours to fucking give.” He tightened his grip around Tony’s neck, and he made some weird noise, letting us know that his breath was leaving his body slowly.

“Menace,” I warned.

He loosened his grip. “You took advantage of her when she fucking trusted you. Got her all fucked up years later because you hurt her… I don’t like when people hurt her.”

Maybe there was something wrong with me because it touched my heart. He cared about Stevie because he wouldn’t have done this for someone he didn’t care about. On his own, he found out who this man was, found where he worked and came to defend her honor.

I looked at my watch and decided that maybe I needed to speak with my own therapist because why was I becoming choked up over this?

I smiled when I saw the message in our group chat from Core. He had been busy lately with things going on within his business.

Skyler surprised me when she responded with a picture of her and Estella blowing a kiss.

Tears welled in my eyes as I looked at the picture.

“It was years ago, man… we didn’t mean it and I apologized to her.”

“Oh really?”

“Ye…yeah,” he stammered.

Menace smirked, as he continued to apply pressure to his neck. “What the fuck is going on her⁠—”

Another man came from the back and Duke grabbed him up, slamming his head on the dresser while he held one of his arms behind his back. “Your brother finally decided to join us… you remember taking advantage of his girlfriend?”

The brother looked like he did whatever they accused him of doing. “It was years ago, and she said we were cool, right, Tony?”

“Ye…yeah.”

“I’m not fucking cool with it. We gonna make a video with you both apologizing and I won’t slam this bed on your head, and cave your chest in.” Menace finally released him, stood up on the bed, and stepped on that man’s chest while jumping down from the bed.

He looked at the brother, as Duke released him and punched him in the face. “An…anything you want, man… we’re so sorry.”

Menace took a seat on the edge of the bed and pointed for Tony to stand next to his brother, who was holding his nose. “Go ahead and film them, Jeffie.”

I pulled my phone back out and looked at them as they stared at me with pleading eyes. “What am I supposed to say?”

Menace jumped at him, and Tony nearly flinched out his skin. “What am I supposed to say?” he mocked. “Start with your husband is a great man, and then I’ll give you creative control on how you want it to go.”

Tony stared at me and the phone in my hand. “Stevie Raye, your husband is a good man.”

“I said great, bitch.”

“G…great man. I’m so sorry about what happened years ago in my bedroom. It was wrong for me to allow that to happen when you told us no. As a grown man with a daughter of my own, I know how reckless, careless and disgusting my actions were, and I want to apologize to you for it.”

Menace nodded and looked at the brother.

“Steve, I ap⁠—”

Menace leaped on the bed, grabbed his damn head like a pillow and looked him in the face, snatching his glasses off. “She don’t fucking like to be called Steve.”

“My… my bad. Stevie Raye, I’m sorry for my actions. I shouldn’t have done that to you. It’s something that bothers me ‘til this day and I am so happy that you have a husband who protects you like this. Making me be held accountable for me and Tony’s actions. I hope you are healthy, happy, and safe wherever you are.”

“You just said you wanna fuck my wife?” Menace asked this man the question with a straight face, and he was so confused.

“No… I didn’t say that… did I?” He looked at all of us to make sure he wasn’t tripping and didn’t say what Menace was accusing.

“Why the fuck you worried about if she healthy, happy, and safe… sound like you want her to me… Duke, how much time I got?”

He checked his watch. “Not much, Boss… we gotta head out.”

“Grab the surveillance tapes and send his mother flowers to her job, too.” I never witnessed a soul leave a body until I watched both these brothers hear Menace mention their mother. “Wonder, I want to apologize, too… I’m sorry for yelling at you the other day. The silent treatment been stressing me out, talk to me, Wonder… just not during quiet hour.”

I smiled as I hit end of record and slipped the phone back into my pocket. Menace threatened them once more before we left the store. No sooner than we left, they broke their ankles to lock the door behind us.

As Duke headed to our next destination, I looked at my best friend. “You like her, Maverick.”

“Alright, I’ll have her come for therapy.”

“Don’t try and switch the subject, Mav… you like Stevie. I knew this felt right. I saw how you looked at her at the warehouse but wasn’t sure.”

When the bag was removed from her head, I saw how he looked at her and could tell he was smitten with her. You noticed small things about him and being that his face was always stoic, I saw the millisecond that it slipped, and he actually took in the woman who was Stevie Raye.

“I yelled at her, and she been ignoring me. Don’t come out her room, and she sends messages through Coral.”

I’ve been between working home and handling everything for the annual Case House ball. This year we were ditching the mask and doing an old Hollywood theme for the ball, which everyone in attendance was happy about. This year, the ball had been pushed back because of renovations on the island that were wrapping up soon.

Greene had been taking lead at handling things at the house and Menace hadn’t complained, so I was grateful. “Why did you yell at her?”

“She was talking so fucking much, Jeff… you know quiet hour is important. She wouldn’t shut up… shit.”

“Quiet hour worked because you were technically single and lived alone. It doesn’t work with having a soon-to-be-wife that you like.”

“Chill out on me.”

“Why is it so hard to admit that you like her? The thief who steals grapes, and the man who counts them like one another.”

He looked over at me. “Word, she told you that she likes me?”

“No. I have my suspicions.”

“And those are?”

“You took her to a cemetery to visit your dead parents and she didn’t call me screaming. She matches your crazy, Mav.”

“Whatever.”

“Apologize to her… I know you have it in you, so make it right. We need to be focused on planning this wedding. So, that is both of you guys’ tasks for the next week… okay?”

“Yeah, if she talks to me.”

“Figure it out.” I smiled.

I downed my glass of wine while Skyler stared at me. “Want the whole bottle?”

“I’ve had a day today… Menace apparently went to handle some unresolved issues that Stevie had with some boyfriend from high school.”

“Tony?” she raised her eyebrow, as she combed a sleeping Estella’s hair.

They were staying the night over tonight since neither of them had school. “You know about him?”

“Honestly, it’s the reason that Stevie is so scared to let someone in. One night when we were getting drunk, she broke down and told me. I don’t even think she remembers telling me. I know it may sound silly since it was high⁠—”

“Not silly at all. They sexually assaulted her, and then she had to live with that. I would never think it sounds silly.” I smiled at her.

“She always says she feels silly for being upset about it years later. Though, she doesn’t think I have context on the situation. All she thinks I know is that she had a bad breakup. I have to remind her that her feelings are valid, and they deserved whatever Menace did to them.”

I refilled my wine glass. “You don’t even want to know, but he likes her. Skyler, he really likes her.”

She eyed me suspiciously. “Stevie sat on the phone with me for an hour talking about how she can’t stand him, and how she doesn’t even want to marry him.”

“He yelled at her. The fight is very much juvenile, and he doesn’t like her giving him the silent treatment,” I laughed.

It was funny watching Mr. Silent Treatment dislike someone giving him the same treatment that he often gave. “Do you think these two will work? I’m trying very hard not to interfere with them… it’s hard not trying to fix things for her.”

“She’s grown and you cannot fix everything for her. If she really wanted out, I know Menace would allow her to go… he likes her that much where he would want her happy.”

“When is the wedding?”

“Girl, I put them on that duty… so we shall see where that goes.”

Skyler continued to comb her daughter’s hair and looked up at me. “How are you doing? You never take any down time for you… want to make sure you are alright.”

“I am taking it day by day… Jean Delgato really helped me more than she knows. God, Capri is lucky.”

“You and Core’s trip together will allow you to recenter and get both of you on the same page. I know that’s the reason Corleon is overworking himself. That man cried in my arms, Jeffie… he’s just as hurt as you are.”

“I’ve been selfish… only focused on me.”

“No, you were trying to heal yourself in three to five business days. You have to allow it to happen naturally, and this trip is perfect for both of you. You’ve been going crazy planning this ball.”

She reached her hand and held mine. “You being there for him probably meant everything to him.”

“I know it did… held onto me like he never wanted to let go.”

“Neither of us do, Skyler.”

“What do you want me to do? I can’t risk him ever getting my daughter, Jeffie… I’m always here for the both of you.”

“Wish you were coming, too.”

She smiled. “All I’m thinking about is the day that we see that positive pregnancy test and then can plan a whole string of parties.”

“Then you right after so they can be close in age.”

Skyler gave me that look. “Now you doing too much.”

I laughed. “Look, Corleon already said that he wants two more… I give him one and you give him two, ‘cause you can’t tell him that Stellie isn’t his daughter.”

“You know he sent me an email saying he would take me to court for custody? As if I’m not going through court already… he is pure madness.”

“I mean, he is Menace’s best friend, and he has that Delgato blood flowing through him… craziness all wrapped into one smart geek.”

“And lord is he fine,” she fanned herself and I laughed.

We both cheers and took our wine back as we got comfortable on the couch and caught up on our shows together. Skyler was my best friend, more like a sister. Our relationship meant so much to me, and even though Corleon wanted us both, we never felt like we were competing with him.

He knew how to handle us both. I had been so against what he wanted, and now I only wanted to share him with Skyler. She and Estella were our missing pieces, and we couldn’t do this without them.

I hated when people asked questions about how we would explain it to Stella. We didn’t need to explain anything, other than she was loved. She had three people in her life who loved her and would do anything for her.

Our situation wasn’t for everybody, and I understood that, and I didn’t care at the same time. Corleon was the head of our family, and he would lead this family. If you didn’t like it, then you didn’t need to read our story.

We were family – together.