𝒎𝒂𝒇𝒊𝒂

𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒆

Maverick's POV
a month later (december)

It had been a month since the incident and Cristifano has yet to have made a move. His intentions were still unclear so I had Carter monitoring them. My father was still a dick and, thankfully, remained in Italy.

Alayah's birthday was in two weeks and I couldn't wait to give her her gift. She has been begging me to tell her what it is, along with other means of persuasion, but my lips were sealed.

It was Christmas break and I was currently helping my mother put up Christmas decorations.

"Higher!" my mother yelled from below. I was putting up the Christmas lights because she was afraid of heights.

I huffed and moved the string of lights higher until she yelled for me to stop. Once I had covered the entire front of the house, we started to string lights along our trees and bushes. "You're terrible at this." I turned around with a frown on my face. I watched as Alayah strutted over to me with her arms crossed.

She had come over to help us decorate. I don't even know why I was here. I just kept fucking everything up.

"I'm trying. We don't usually do this," I said trying to untangle my hands from the lights. We never decorate for Christmas. Hell, we don't even celebrate it. It was Alayah's idea. She was telling my mom how her family was celebrating and my mom couldn't have been more delighted.

She wanted what Alayah's family had for us and I went along with it because I just wanted her to be happy. She's always sad around this time of year.

She giggled and said, "I know," and pecked my lips making me smile. She helped untangle my hands before she started wrapping them around the tree I was doing. She had already finished the tree she was assigned to like the pro she was so I knew she didn't need any help.

I walked over to my mom. She was smiling contently to herself as she slowly and ornately hung the lights as she pleased. She noticed me walking towards her and smiled brightly at me. "What do you think?" she said looking up at the tree. The white lights adorned the tree in a downward spiral pattern. I smiled and looked down at her. "It looks great."

She smiled widely and continued to encircle the tree with the lights. "Are you happy Maverick?" She continued to string the lights in the tree, her gaze never reaching mine. "Yeah," I said absentmindedly looking at Alayah. "I'm happy."

She was running away from a bee, much to my amusement. I chuckled and turned back to my mom and saw her laughing at Alayah too.

"Are you happy mom?" She gave me a closed mouth smile and returned her gaze to the tree. "Yes-" She was cut off by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. I instanting recognized the car and rolled my eyes.

Alayah appeared beside me and hooked her arm around mine. "Stop. I think it's cute and he makes your mom happy," she said with a grin on her face. I know but I couldn't help it. A big smile graced my mother's face before she made her way over to the car.

My mom's new boyfriend got out of the car with a smile on his face and wrapped her in a bear hug. He kissed her making me gag and look away. Alayah punched my arm before scolding at me with her cute angry face. I smiled and kissed her nose before she could hit me again.

"Hey Uncle Isaiah!" Alayah said while waving.

"Sup Lil Layah?" he said walking over to us with his arm wrapped around my mother's waist. "Sup Maverick," he said giving me a head nod. I said nothing but returned the head nod. "Why don't we go inside for some hot chocolate?" my mom said after a few minutes of silence. We all murmured in agreement before we made our way inside. The inside of the house was adorned with Christmas decorations no thanks to me.