Unplanned Love (Savage Love) (15 page)

    
Bryce was dreaming. He dreamt of Seanna…they were on the beach…kissing.
Somewhere between sleep and reality, Bryce returned Seanna’s kisses. Losing herself to her long desire for Bryce’s love, Seanna held tighter and her kisses became more desperate. He whispered her name and a soft moan escaped from her lips. Bryce came fully awake. Jerking away from Seanna, he pushed her away and looked into her face.
What am I doing?

     “Bryce…” she pleaded, and he could smell the liquor on her breath. She reached out and put her hands back around his neck, pulling him in.

     “Seanna…stop,” he said. He disentangled himself from her arms and sat on the edge of the bed. He sat there with his head in his hands.

     Seanna crawled across the bed and laid her head against his back. “Bryce?”

     He stood up from the bed, grabbing his pants and shirt. “Seanna, I’m sorry…go to sleep,” he choked out. Shortly after he stormed into the bathroom, she heard the shower going.
I’ve ruined it! Now he won’t even love me as a sister…
Feeling ashamed for trying to seduce him, when clearly he was disgusted by her behavior, she finally cried herself to sleep.

     Bryce stood in the shower totally appalled at his behavior.
He had almost caused irreparable damage to the person he loved most in the world. Thank God, he had been able to come to his senses. She would never have been able to forgive him for taking advantage of her while she was under the influence.
How will she ever be able to forgive you now? How can she ever think of you as her brother again? Now you’ve lost her…
He stayed in the shower until his fingers began to wrinkle. He took his time drying off and getting dressed. When he finally worked up the courage to face Seanna, he found her sound asleep, curled up in his bed. Lying in her bed, it took much longer for him to fall asleep this time.

     The next morning, Bryce awoke to the sound of Seanna leaving. “Where are you going,” he asked panicking.

     “I’m going to go get us some coffee. Then I just want to go home,” she said refusing to look at him.

     “Can we talk about this,” he asked full of remorse.

     “Not now,” she said with her voice full of regret.

     As soon as she shut the door, Bryce was up. By the time she got back he was waiting by the door. Seanna silently handed him his cup and stood walked back out the door. She followed him to the car and they both got in without exchanging a single word. It wasn’t until they were about halfway home that Bryce tried again.

     “Seanna, I just want…” he tried.

     “Just drop it, Bryce. Nothing happened, just forget it.”

     “So…we’re good?” he asked hopefully.

     “Yeah, we’re good,” she said with a sigh.

     “Will you still let me be your brother?” he asked.

     Seanna gave a cynical laugh and said, “Siblings don’t seduce each other.” Tears again threatened.
How can he even think about forgiving my behavior?

     “No, you’re right. They don’t,” he replied broken hearted.
She’s right, I am a pig.
“Sea…” he said with his voice quavering.

     “Shut up, Bryce. Please, just forget about it.” They drove the rest of the way in silence. Both broken hearted.

Chapter 1
7

The Day
After

     When they got home, it was early. Everyone was still in bed and Seanna escaped to her room, flinging herself on the bed and allowing the release to come through her hot tears. Bryce turned on the coffee pot and went upstairs to take
another shower and changing into fresh clothes. By the time he came downstairs; Alyssa was up and pouring herself a cup of coffee. She took one look at him and poured a second cup setting it on the bar in front of him.

     “You look like crap,” she said looking
over at him.

     “I feel worse.”

     “Want to talk about it?” she asked.

     “It’s such a mess…I still can’t believe it…” he said shaking his head.

     “Was she with another guy?” asked Alyssa with concern.

     “She had been…Alyssa…I never even asked her what had happened…what if she had already…” he couldn’t even finish the sentence, but started crying, elbows on the bar and head in his hands.

     Alyssa placed one hand on his back and with the other she grabbed his arm, giving her what comfort she could. Seanna chose that time to look over the rail and saw the intimate moment between them. Her knees gave out and she sank to the floor. Putting her hand to her mouth, she managed to pull herself up and made her way back to her room. Alyssa waited patiently for Bryce to pull himself together. Finally he wiped his eyes with a napkin and giving his back a final pat, she picked up her coffee again.

     “So what happened?” she asked gently.

     “I got to the motel and the clerk said Seanna had shown up with some guy, both were drunk and apparently he didn’t stay long. By the time I got into her room, she was passed out in the bed. I guess I was so stressed out on the way up there that I pretty much passed out as well. Then…I don’t know, I was dreaming, or thought I was, but when I woke up…Seanna was in my bed…God, I almost let it go too far, we were kissing…she was still drunk, I could
smell
the booze on her…” he tried to explain.

     “But you didn’t…let it go too far?” she asked softly.

     “No! But, she was almost begging me to stay in bed. The poor girl…she’s so vulnerable right now and I’m supposed to be her
brother.
I’m supposed to protect her from guys like that. Now, she doesn’t even want to be my sister. I don’t know what to do…”

     “Look, why don’t you give her some time, maybe a little space,” she suggested.

     “How do I do that, summer break isn’t over for another month?” he asked.

     “You could go with me. I’m a little nervous and could use the moral support. That would give you a good excuse to leave,” she said.

     “I hate that we’d both be leaving at the same time. But she doesn’t want me, and you owe it to yourself to go and see what Jeff wants,” he worried. “Do you think I should talk to Samantha about this?”

     “I think that for right now, you should leave that choice to Seanna. They are pretty close.”

     “What’s Samantha going to think about my seducing her daughter?” he lamented.

     “I’m sure she will understand. We can’t help who we love, Bryce. Samantha knows that, and I am sure, given time, that Seanna will be able to see that as well, and forgive you.”

     “I hope so…so what time are you leaving?” he asked.

     “My flight leaves at one fifteen.”

     “I better call and see if I can get on that flight,” he said. “Thanks, Alyssa.”

     Seanna slept through most of the day. Bryce had made up a story about having to go and pick Seanna up after she called him, saying she was too sick to drive. Samantha had peaked in to check on her daughter a couple of times. The first time she had been sleeping. The second time Samantha had heard her daughter crying softly into her pillow, but she had decided not to pry, knowing in her heart that Seanna was going through something that she had to work out on her own. By late afternoon, Seanna showered and changed and made her way downstairs.

     Trisha and Samantha were in the kitchen doing dishes while Leal and Daffyd were getting things ready out on the patio for what looked like an evening of playing cards. The girls didn’t hear Seanna come in, so Samantha was a little startled when her daughter gave her a hug from behind, resting her head on her mom’s shoulder.

     “Feeling better?”
asked Samantha, as her daughter pulled away. “There is some left over’s in the fridge, probably still warm.”

     “I think I’ll just have some fruit,” she answered as she grabbed a banana off of the counter and filled a big glass with water from the fridge.

     “Where’s Bryce and Alyssa?” she asked slowly pealing her banana.

     “Didn’t they tell you?” they left for Lucille and Bryson’s earlier this afternoon.

     “Oh, yeah…I guess I forgot,” she said sadly.
Of course they left, they couldn’t stand to be around you a minute longer.

     “You know, I feel like I might be sick. I’m going to go back to bed,” she said grabbing her water.

     “If you need anything just holler,” said Samantha. After she turned to leave, Samantha watched her daughter as she practically ran up the stairs.

     “Do you think she has the flu?” asked Trisha.

     “No…I think my daughter has a broken heart,” answered Samantha. “She’ll tell me about it when she is ready. I had hoped that she would wait awhile after all that crap with Kevin, but I guess you can’t always choose when, or with whom you fall in love with.”

     “But she never even mentioned anyone,” commented Trisha.

     “I know, that bothers me a little. But she has been gone a lot and last night she said she was meeting a friend in town…” Samantha replied.

     “Bryce was so good with her on the island, I wish he hadn’t gone with Alyssa,” said Trisha.

     “She needed him too, and Seanna has all of us to help her. I hope that things will go better for Alyssa than they are for my girl.”

Chapter 1
8

The Balm of Forgiveness

     Bryce and Alyssa sat at a table together in a quiet corner booth of a restaurant, waiting for Jeff’s arrival. Alyssa had almost backed out. Shortly after they had arrived at his grandma and grandpa’s she had called the number that Jeff had given to Lucille and they had agreed to meet. Jeff had simply said that he had something he needed to say to Alyssa, that he wanted some closer. Now she sat chewing on her thumbnail and watching the entrance with a worried expression.

     “Stop eating
yourself,” said Bryce as he reached over and pulled her hand away from her mouth.

     “Sorry…thanks for coming,” she repeated.

     “Yeah, you already said that. Calm down, Alyssa. He probably just wants to get past this and move on with his life. We already went over this, tell him you’re sorry for your behavior and allow him to say whatever he needs to say. He deserves that much from you. You can do this,” he said looking her in the eye.

     “I know. It’s just that it had finally gotten a little easier. Not that I loved him any less, it just didn’t hurt as much, you know?” she explained. “Oh, there he is.”

     Bryce turned enough to see the young man walking through the door. Though he looked as nervous as Alyssa, his eyes lit up when he noticed her. As soon as the spark arrived, it vanished when he realized that she wasn’t alone. Bryce felt sorry for the guy and wanting to put him at ease, got out of the booth and reached out his hand.

     “Hi, I’m Bryce. Lucille and Bryson are my grandparents. We’ve all kind of adopted Alyssa.”

     “Hi.” He looked relieved as he firmly shook Bryce’s hand. Nodding towards Alyssa with a shy smile, he slid into the bench across from them. The silence was just getting awkward when the waitress stopped to take their orders. Too nervous to eat, Alyssa and Jeff ordered drinks. Bryce’s stomach hadn’t been normal since his mad dash to town to find Seanna so he followed suit. Once they all had their drinks, Alyssa took a deep breath and dove in.

  
  “Thanks for meeting me, Jeff. I’ve wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t want to just force my way into your life again…”

     “
Aly…” he tried to interrupt.

     “No, please. Just let me get this all out and I promise I’ll listen to what you have to say.” She pleaded. When he gave a short nod, she continued. “I have had a lot of time to think, and I know that I made a huge mistake. Not just the abortion, but the way I just shut you out, like it was all about me. I realize now that
abortion doesn’t just affect the woman. So…I just want to say I acted selfishly…and I’m sorry.”

      Jeff
waited to make sure she was finished and stared at his glass of soda. Bryce could clearly tell that he was struggling to keep his emotions in check. Finally he cleared his throat and said, “That’s why I wanted to talk to you too. I won’t lie, I was devastated when you told me that the baby was gone, but you weren’t the only one that was selfish. I have been going through some counseling with a support group at church and they helped me see that my abandoning you during such a traumatic time was inexcusable. I behaved badly…” He raised his tear filled eyes pleading with her to forgive. “Can you forgive me?”