Page 16 of Unforgiven

“I know.” He ate another cookie. “Where’s Bethanne?”

“She’s likely upstairs in her room. She likes to keep to herself.”

Seth seemed to think on that for a moment. Then he fastened a cold gaze on him. “I heard you’ve been trying to spend time with my sister.”

Seth’s voice was soft. Almost like a whisper. The question was mild. If he hadn’t been so stressed, Lott might not have even heard the touch of judgment in his tone.

But he had.

His guard went up as he felt the full weight of the other man’s gaze settle on him. Seth was obviously taking his measure and finding him wanting. Lott’s mouth turned dry. He should have known this was coming. Melonie was so kind and proper, it was easy to forget that Seth was her brother. “I’ve paid a call on her.” He cleared his throat. “Once.”

“Only once?” His eyes narrowed.

“I’ve been visiting with her for a while but have paid only one formal call.”

Seth’s lips thinned. “Do you like her?”

That was a loaded question if he’d ever heard one. So he lied. “I don’t know.”

One eyebrow rose. “You’ve been seeing my little sister without even being sure if you like her or not?”

Lott was digging himself deeper into a hole. A hole that he hadn’t even seen coming. “I don’t know.”

Seth leaned forward, his expression hard. “I sure hope you aren’t playing games with her.”

“I’m not.”

“You’d better not.” After staring at him a minute longer, Seth rubbed the back of his neck.

“Lott, Elias asked me to come talk to you. Do you know why?”

“Nope.”

Seth looked down a moment, then back at him. “Boy, I respect your parents and have a soft spot for your sister. I also am beholden enough to Elias Weaver to come over here and spend time with you. But that said, I’m losing patience with your attitude.”

“There’s no reason for me to be saying anything, because I have no idea why you’re here.” Unless it was to warn him off from Melonie.

“Let me be real clear, then. Elias told me about your temper. I asked around and heard about some of the other stuff you’ve been doing.” He lowered his voice. “You’ve been drinking and carousing and making one bad choice after the next.”

“It’s allowed. I’m in rumspringa.”

Seth sneered. “Give that excuse to someone who cares. The road you’re going down is a rough one. You can’t go through life imagining you’ll have no consequences. You need to stop acting as if you’re invincible.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“People say differently. Listen, no one is above the law. Even when you think that everyone will save you or that they’ll intervene because you’re a sheltered Amish boy, you learn real fast that ain’t the case.”

“I’m not going to kill anyone, Seth.” At Seth’s dark look, Lott felt his face heat up.

“I hope not. You don’t want to live with that knowledge for the rest of your life, and you sure don’t want to feel the guilt and pain that I have.”

“I won’t.”

“I hope that’s true.”

Lott was shaken by Seth’s words, but he tried not to show it. Right now he didn’t have much pride left. He felt like he had hardly anything to stand on. If Lott allowed himself to be vulnerable, Seth might realize just what a mess he actually was.

Looking at him intently, Seth stood up. “I’m out of here. But before I go, I’m gonna leave you with this. When you’re sitting here in this nice room where everything is clean and quiet and safe, it’s easy to drift into a false sense of security. By and large, the folks here in Crittenden County are good. They give their neighbors space. Try to be polite. Sometimes, they might even give you the benefit of the doubt.”

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