love me {bwwm}

C H A P T E R 2 1

After the lengthy gym session, Max trudged to his room, the bath was full of ice already, so he just dropped right in.

Max: how was your day beautiful :)
Ebony: it was really good, me and my mum are really happy, we're gonna try spend more time together, because today was awesome !
Max: I'm so happy for you guys, you deserve that kind of relationship with your mum
Ebony: how was training hun
Max: I'm in an ice bath, today was brutal, me and the guys made it into a competition, ya mans won of course !
Ebony: the one and only gym king huh, I have a question...
Max: go ahead
Ebony: my mum has only got her work friends and I was thinking maybe your mum and mine should meet ?
Max: its about time our mothers finally meet, do you guys wanna spend more time together before you come round ?
Ebony: just a little longer, she's my mum but I have no idea who she is, i didnt even realise that we both liked Marvel, like heavily
Max: aw that's cute, you guys spend more time together, I've gotta go to a meeting so I'll talk later if you're still awake ?
Ebony: okay bub, have a good meeting !

After Max finished texting Ebony, he got out of the bath and went to find his mother. Although Max liked Ebony, he felt as if he should give her some space, in case she got annoyed with him, and so they could just have their individuality.

"Mom where are you?" Max shouted while going into Alessandro's room.

"Kitchen!" She responded loudly.

"Dude have you heard about that new girl who's supposed to join us soon?" Alex said while sitting up in his bed.

"Nah, guess I wasn't paying attention, what's her name?" Max asked. As much as he didn't care, he didn't want to brush his friend off, for talking about a girl.

"No clue, I just heard your mom talking about her, ion even know what she looks like" he said while laughing.

New members of the mafia weren't uncommon, altogether trust was a big factor, everyone went through a strict initiation, moles are treated accordingly and so are their families. But ever since Fusellini's betrayal there hadn't been any new members.

"Dude I'm so sore from working out, like more than usual" Max groaned as he stood up and stretched.

"Yeah well if you weren't hanging out with Ebony and eating junk food with when then you'd probably be feeling a lot better" Alex teased, but they both knew there was some underlying tension.

"Chill, sorry if I enjoy someone's company other than you guys"

"Sorry dude but you need to get your priorities straight, Ebony's a really great girl, but the mafia is more important than some chick" Max was shocked by what Alex said, he'd never heard him say anything so true but so cutthroat.

"I get what you mean, that's my girl, and yeah the mafia is important to me but so is she." And with that, Max left to find his mother.

Was he putting Ebony over the mafia?

"What's on your mind honey, you're looking overwhelmed" Mrs Morte asked.

"Alex said I was putting Ebony over the mafia, do you think he's right?" Max didn't think he was; but there were always different sides of every story.

"I wouldn't say so, yes you spend most of your time with her, but you still keep the mafia as a priority, which is good, once Ebony is up and on her feet, you can both train together, you're kinda getting chubby" she teased.

Lifting his hoodie, he asked, "do these abs look chubby to you?".

"No, but they do look very ticklish" she said while running towards him and tickling him all over.

Tickling her son on their kitchen floor, Marielle thought back to when he was a child, he used to love being tickled, but only by her, his father wasn't as good with affection, and she hoped Max wouldn't turn out that way with his kids, but she knew he'd be just as good a dad as Mr Morte.

After their laughter died down, there was a silence that neither of them wanted to break but she had to confront him.

"I've missed this" she said while holding onto her son; she wished that they could be like this all the time, but with their lives, it was little to impossible, yes her husband made sure that they were safe, they would always have to look over their shoulders.

"I know and I'm sorry we don't get more moments like this" Max said while getting off of the floor and helping his mother up too.

"It's alright, it's not your fault, get your butt to bed, I'm gonna get your dad so he can sleep too" she said while giving him one last hug.

"Night mom, I love you, tell dad I love him too."

Walking up the stairs, Max decided that he would stop all contact with Ebony, at least for a couple of days, well... to get Alex off of his back.

Ebony had just gotten into her bed, she thought about how her day had been with her mum, but it was ruined as soon as they got home and had dinner, she'd gotten a call from the hospital that they were understaffed, so she had to rush in, as she was at their beck and call, the cost of being a doctor. Soon after, her mood slowly started to deteriorate, it was like something was sucking the life out of her, she was three months clean from cutting, and she didn't want to go back, but she needed to feel something, anything other than the pain she was feeling.

Having anxiety and depression at the same time was like being tired and scared at the same time, but not having the urge to be productive. It's wanting to have friends, but hate socialising. It's wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be lonely. It's feeling everything all at once and then feeling paralysingly numb. It's not fair, not fair at all.