My Life In Code

14. [Insert Cheesy Pickup Line Here]

Chapter 14

[Insert Cheesy Pickup Line Here]

Okay, so I'll admit that I was acting...childish.  It was like mine and Max's roles were reversed.  I wasn't talking to him and he was trying everything he could to make me. 

It was only a little bit hard to ignore Max's oh so subtle ways of getting close to me the day after we had our fight, like he was trying to coax me into talking to him.  Alright, it was a lot harder ignoring him than I was leading on.  I had to bite the inside of my lip with every brush of his hand and keep myself from jumping into his arms every time he told me 'I'm sorry.'

Yeah, I know.  I'm totally pathetic. 

But I'm pathetic and in love, which is the way to go. 

Even Ben and Drew were giving Max a hard time.  Yeah, they were used to him calling them childish, which was why they were just basically brushing it off.  But with me, the both of them were going into big brother mode and giving Max hell. 

Have I ever mentioned how much I loved those guys?

But now, as we were getting ready to go out for dinner.  We'd just been hanging out in the room all day, so we were itching to get out.  The only one who already had was Max, and he still wasn't back yet.

"Where do you think he went?" Ben asked as we were all waiting around the living room area. 

All of us were dressed and ready to go out to dinner.  And if Max wasn't back within a few minutes, we were going to leave without him.

But just then, the door opened and Max walked in, still in his jeans and t-shirt that he left in.  He had a small stack of papers in his hand, ones that he didn't leave with. 

His eyes immediately met mine and I had to force myself to look away and bite my tongue to ask where he'd been.  Drew asked for me, though.

"Where in the bloody hell have you been?  You do realize that we're all ready to go out, right?"

"I know.  And I'm sorry," he said.  I could still feel his eyes on me and hear the double meaning of his words.  "I had to do something, though."

"Oh, yeah?  Like what?" Ben asked. 

He tossed the stack of papers at him and sat on the armrest of the couch.  "So I took Callie's idea of tailing those people that have apparently been following us and had Stephen and Brielle dig up some dirt on them.  We could only find stuff on that one guy, though."

Oh, so now he decided to steal my idea, but only find stuff out by himself?  Now I was mad at him again. 

Stupid British boy. 

"The guy who's stay here is named Vince Peters," Max said as Ben and Drew flipped slowly through the papers.  "He's another treasure hunter, obviously.  He like Edmund in a way.  Every treasure he's found, he had others do all the work first and then take the credit.  He's on the FBI's watch list and a couple of others in other countries."

"Great, so he is like that crazy Lewis guy?" Drew asked. 

"Unfortunately, and kidnapping seems to be his forte also," Max said.  I saw out of the corner of my eye him glance at me.  "We'll just have to be cautious when we see him, even when we don't.  Let's just stick together."

I stood up and headed toward the balcony doors.  I needed some air...and needed to call Brielle to vent.  Ben and Drew were still talking with Max, but I could feel his eyes following me out the door.