Seven Mistakes {Completed}

Partner

The sounds around me were muffled, but with each passing second my hearing was becoming clearer. I could hear the rustle of trees in wind and the chirping of birds. Slowly, I started to feel warmth on my face that I knew, without even opening my eyes, was the sun.

I wasn’t outside, but near a window, I concluded before I even opened my eyes. The air around me smelled like chocolate Glade candles, which reminded me of the summer days growing up that I spent at my aunt’s house.

  “Finally, you are awake,” a voice stated with relief laced in its raspy tone.

 Opening my eyes some more, I turned my head over in the direction of the voice. I saw Max sitting in a wooden rocking chair beside me. His face mirrored slight happiness.

 It was then that I realized I was in a brown quilted bed and was most certainly not at home. My mind tried to trace back to my last memory I held, but the last thing I remembered was packing my stuff and Carollena begging me for answers because of my sudden actions.

 “Where are we?” I quizzed as I sat up. My eyes danced around the honey colored room. Nothing seemed familiar about the place I was in. “What happened?”

 The white rocker creaked as Max stood up from it. Dusting off invisible dust that was on his blue jeans, Max sighed. “We are at the hiding place I told you about at the hospital. As for what happened, simple, you had a panic attack as you started to assume that I was in -- how did you put it? -- Oh, yeah, that I was in ‘cahoots’ with Leaven.”

 His words released a floodgate of memories and it was then that I remembered being in the car with Max and how he sedated me.

 I couldn’t help but cower away from Max. “Are you?” I questioned as my body inched towards the edge of the bed opposite to him.

  Max gave me a humored expression. “A cat, like myself, knows better than to lay in bed with a dog, like Leaven. So, no, I am not working with Leaven, would never even if you paid me a trillion dollars. He killed my sister, Piper.” Max clenched his fist and jaw the second his sister’s name rolled off his tongue. I could see him trying to hold in the pure anger his body seemed to want nothing more than to feel and show.

 Relaxing a little, I gave a sigh. “You’re not lying, are you?” I stated more than asked.

 Max’s aura changed as he eased up on his heavy emotions and gave a deep chuckle. “No, Annabelle. I fear that I’m not lying to you.”

 My mind raced with questions to ask Max about his sister and him, but I knew it was not the time. “Do you have any food?” I asked with small grin as I hoped to lighten the atmosphere around us and also I was really hungry.

 Giving me a wild smile, Max nodded. “Food? Yeah, got enough to last through an apocalypse,” he joked. Max walked over to the egg shell colored door on the far side of the room. Opening the door, he looked over his broad shoulders at me. “You coming? 'Cause you don’t want me to cook your food. I will surely burn the kitchen down with my terrible cooking skills.”

 Leaping out of the bed, I dashed over to Max who was already walking away from the door and down a mint green hallway. I looked down and admired the glossy cherry wood floors that lay in the hall. “Where are we?” I inquired as I glanced at the picture frames that littered the walls of the hall. I didn’t take time to study the pictures, all I saw where snapshots of different people as I walked by.

 “My parents’ summer home in North Carolina,” he said with ease.

 “North Carolina?! That is like ... like three states from where I live!”

 “Yep, exactly three states and a total of twelve hours give or take. This place gives us time and distance from Leaven. But, knowing him he is already figured out where we are and is on his way here...” Max muttered the last sentence under his breath, but I still heard him.

 “Guessing in the last twelve hours your partner and you, haven’t changed your mind about me being ‘bait’.” I stated the obvious as we walked into the kitchen. Glancing around I saw that nothing was out of the ordinary about the kitchen we were in. The walls were white, along with the cabinets. The black and grey marble counters were bare and wrapped around half of the kitchen.

 “Nope, we haven’t changed our minds. Well, actually I take that back, my partner keeps changing his mind. He does that a lot ... Food is in the refrigerator and cabinets to the right of the sink,” Max informed me as he walked in and took a seat at a bar stool that was located in a corner of the kitchen.

 I strolled over to the black refrigerator and opened the wide door. Looking in I saw he had the whole thing stacked with all kinds of food. I chuckled and pulled out some salsa and cheese dip. “Chips?” I inquired as I set the dips down on a counter.

 Max got up and went over to a cabinet. Upon opening it a few things fell out of the cabinet and onto the floor. Giving a single cuss word, Max pulled out some tortilla chips and gave them a small toss my way.

 As I opened the bag and dips, I started to seriously crave the nacho cheese dip. The second I opened it I was beyond tempted to just drink the damn thing. I somehow didn’t give in and instead took big scoops of cheese dip with my chips.

 “What is your partner’s name?” I asked hoping to fill the silence of the room.

 Max arched an eyebrow at me. “Why you so nosy?”

 “Just curious. You seem to talk about him a lot...”

 “He is my friend and an amazing guy.”

 “How did he save your life?” I asked as I sat on the counter to the left of the sink.

 “I was the one to find my sister’s dead body. I’d just come over to her house to return a vacuum I borrowed. When I walked in her living room, I found her dead -- lifeless -- on the floor.

"I went on a manhunt for Leaven," Max continued. "I knew he did it. He’d been dating her for about six months and before her tragic death, I was starting to think that he was abusing her. I tried to get evidence, but I never could squeeze a confession out of Piper or get some evidence of his actions.

"I had a clear shot to kill the bastard," added Max. "Yet, my nerves got in the way and I stalled long enough for David Henry, Leaven’s friend, to see me. He pulled out his gun and was seconds -- milliseconds -- from pulling the trigger, but Seven stopped David. I escaped only to have Seven knocking on my door a day later telling me how he wanted me to join him.”

 “Join him?”

 “Yeah, join him in the F.B.I...”

  “Wait, are you saying what I think you are saying?”

“That Seven is my partner and we are with the FBI?” I gave a single nod. “That is exactly what I’m saying, Anna.”

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A/N:

New cover & summary, what do you all think?