Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) by Straight, Nancy (management books to read .TXT) 📕

until late the following morning. When he did finally pull himself out of bed, he had a quick bite to eat standing at the kitchen counter, gave me a kiss on the forehead, and mumbled something about fixing a fence on the north side of the property. I started to get up and heard, “No, I’ve got it. I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

This initial rejection and his desire to be alone hadn’t set off any alarm bells. Seth had told me he was going to stop by after work, so I wanted to straighten up the house anyway. When Max didn’t come back after a couple hours, I began to worry. By three o’clock that afternoon, I went to the barn and decided to take Max’s horse, Christy, for a ride. It didn’t take long to find him. He was where he said he’d be. I found Max’s truck right away, and, sure enough, he was repairing the fence. I offered to help, but he told me he was just about done and he’d be back soon.

Seth arrived at six, but Max still hadn’t returned. It was odd not to be fearful of some evil force lurking. Since the moment I had awoken from the coma, my thoughts were nearly consumed by fear. Samael, the Beast, or whatever it was did little to enter my thoughts since Max’s rescue. Wherever Samael was, I knew he was no longer a threat to us. So when Seth arrived, I didn’t even cringe when he wanted to be filled in with details. Seth was excited to hear all about Max’s rescue, and I was happy to have someone to talk to.

He told me that Amanda was fine. She had told him to tell me “Hello” from her, but he said she was a little too wierded out from Samael’s visit to their house and didn’t feel comfortable talking to me about it. Seth shared with me again the events of their near attack. I could hear his excitement screaming through as he relived the adrenaline rush. Seth sat on the couch perpendicular to the one I sat on. He reached out and took my hand in his. “I know I owe you my life, Amanda’s too. If you hadn’t called to warn me about Samael, we’d both be dead right now.”

I nodded, because I knew it was true, “You don’t owe me anything. I’m just glad I caught you before he knocked on your door.”

“Hopefully you don’t slap me for what I’m about to say, but there are some things I need to ask.” Seth was still holding my hand, and he began stroking the top of my hand with his thumb. I had a strange vibe from him but didn’t want to jump to conclusions. “So that whole time we were dating, we really weren’t, right? I mean, you knew that you were supposed to be with Max, and I was supposed to be with Amanda, right?” I nodded that this was the case, even though I didn’t find out about Amanda until after Max was already in my life.

“So, you were never remotely attracted to me? We were really just friends, and I was too dense to see it?”

“I don’t know if I would say dense, but I don’t believe either one of us was really in it for a long-term relationship, at least not a physical one.”

“You’re wrong.” Seth’s eyes left mine, but his hand held mine tight, “Lauren, you were all I ever thought of, the only one I ever wanted, at least until I met Amanda. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great and everything. I do love her, but I don’t have that same connection with her that I had with you.”

I took in a swift breath trying to figure out how to react without overreacting, “Seth, your connection with Amanda is different than the one with me. We’re very close friends; you two are supposed to be together.”

He shook his head, “She can’t finish my sentences; she hasn’t known me my entire life. She is wonderful and I do love her, but if I had to choose between you two – she knows exactly what number she would be.”

“I hope it’s first choice. Amanda is the one to share your life with.”

“She’s great, but we both know she is the one I settled for, because I couldn’t have you.” Seth’s eyes left the floor and found mine again.

“Amanda is pretty amazing. I don’t know that you settled. You are supposed to share your life with her.”

“When Max stopped coming to see you at the nursing home, I was there. Most of the time, three days a week. I knew all your nurses. I knew when they changed your meds. I read books to you. Amanda never once complained. She’s pretty smart. She had to have known that I wanted to spend time with you, even if you weren’t all there. Initially she came with me, but after a while she figured out my time with you, was really my time with you. I’m sure it hurt her, but she never once asked me to stop.”

“Seth, you know how I feel about Max, why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I promised myself, if you ever did wake up, that you should know that I never really gave up on us. I was ecstatic when you woke up and Max wasn’t even in the picture. I thought I had time to ease into your life, give you a chance to see that we could be something more. Once you woke up, Max came back and poof, you were gone. I never got to tell you anything. Then when all of this craziness happened, it only made me want you more all over again. Lauren, I would give anything to be with you.”

Seth was still holding my hand and his was shaking. My mind was nothing but a whirlwind of responses, to my embarrassment not all of