"Dean what are your plans today?" his Mom asked, coming into the living room wearing a business suit, carrying a coffee in one hand and a laptop bag in the other.

"Me and some of my old high school friends are supposed to meet up down at Willy's later to shoot some pool since they're all home for Christmas Break."

"Ahhh. Sounds like fun," she nodded. "Are you planning to hang out with Berkley at all over break? I haven't seen her around here for a while. Things with you two seemed tense last night."

"Yeah," he said, taking a deep breath in and letting it out. "They are. I haven't talked to her in three months."

"What?" his Mom said, looking shocked. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I wish I wasn't but that's how it is. She's mad and she's not speaking to me right now."

His Mom walked right up in front of him and poked her finger at his chest.

"Dean Grayson Bradshaw. Whatever you did to make that girl angry you better make it right. What you have with her comes around once in a lifetime. Don't be a knucklehead and screw it up. You hear me?"

He laughed at how serious she was looking. "I'll try Ma. Okay. But I can't make any promises. She won't even answer my calls or texts any more."

"Then go over there. Talk to her face to face. Do whatever you have to do to make up with her. I have to go. I have an important meeting with a fish distributor. I love you. Do the right thing," she said, kissing his cheek and then giving it a light smack, making him laugh as she walked away with her heels clacking on the tile floor.

Dean walked into Willy's Pub and saw a group of his friends standing around a pool table drinking beer. Everybody was home from college for Christmas break so it was almost like a high school reunion. Willy's was a tiny local bar and Dean's Dad was good friends with the owner so he let him and his friends drink there even though they weren't 21 yet. They all had a fake ID on them in case the place ever got busted so Willy wouldn't get in trouble.

"Hey!" several guys shouted as they saw Dean walk up and he gave them fist bumps or bro hugs (A combination of a handshake and one-armed hug).

"I'll be right back. I'm gonna grab a beer," he said, walking up to the bar where the usual beautiful female bartender was working.

"Hey Dean, haven't seen you around lately," she said with a flirty smile. Every time she saw him for the past two years she was trying to hop on his dick but he always denied her. This woman was nothing if not persistent.

"Hey Shae, can I get a beer on tap please?"

"Sure thing," she winked, licking her lips as she walked away. He was sure she probably thought it looked seductive but it actually turned his stomach. Hooking up with random women wasn't his thing any more. He used to love the thrill of the hunt, finding the hottest chick he could and then setting himself a personal challenge to get her in bed. Sex wasn't exciting now like it used to be back then.

Ever since his weekend in the Hampton's with Berkley, other women just didn't do it for him anymore. None of them could ever compare to her so he gave up trying to find someone that would.

Someone slid onto the bar stool next to him and he looked over to see his old friend Keagan.

"Hey man," Dean said.

"Hey," Keagan said shortly. He waved at the bartender and said, "Can I get a Budweiser please Shae?"

She nodded and flicked off the cap and set it in front of him and set Dean's beer in from of him too.

"So what's new?" Dean asked, picking it up and taking a sip. "Haven't seen you for a while."

"My fiance's due in about a month so things have been pretty crazy getting ready for the baby. We're planning to get married in a couple months too so needless to say between the baby and the wedding my mother-in-law is driving me crazy," he laughed.

"I'm glad things are going so good for you," Dean said, hanging his head and letting out an exhale before taking another drink of his beer.

"What's new with you Dean? Anything you need to tell me?"

The tone in his voice was a little off so Dean turned his head and looked at him, studying his face. He could tell from the look he was giving him.

"You know don't you?"

Keagan laughed, "You know how Berkley is. She could never hide anything from me or you. We could always tell when she was hiding something. She wears her emotions all over her face and she's a terrible liar."

Dean slid his beer around between his fingers on the coaster.

"So she wouldn't tell me all the details but explain to me why I shouldn't kick your ass for banging my little sister, making her fall in love with you and then telling her you don't want to be more than friends? Then you start dating someone else immediately right after."

He listened to his words but one of them stuck out in particular. "Wait a minute. Did you just say she fell in love with me?"

"Yeah," he scoffed. "I think she's been in love with you since like 6th grade come to think of it. Now let's get back to the part where you explain to me what the hell you were thinking using my little sister like that? I spent all those years trying to protect her from assholes that would break her heart and all that time it should've been you I was protecting her from."

"You think her heart's broken?" Dean asked.

"Oh for sure. When she was telling me the story of what happened between you two she looked absolutely fucking crushed. Why would you do that to her? I knew what you did to other girls but I trusted you with my sister because I thought she was different to you, but apparently I was wrong."

"Well you don't know the whole story," Dean said, lowering his voice so only Keagan could hear. "This is gonna be awkward as fuck since you're her brother but you're also my friend and you need to know my side. Berkley came to me one day and asked me to take her virginity because she trusted me and she wanted to know what it was like to do it. I told her no and that she should find somebody else. I was afraid it would ruin our friendship. Well she starts dating this douchebag Zander and I overhear him in class bragging about how he was saying anything he could to get in her pants and how she was nothing special to him. I told her what I heard him say and she was still gonna sleep with him because she was that desperate to do it and I said if I sleep with you instead will you promise not to sleep with him? I hated that guy so I'd do anything to keep her away from him. She says yes. The deal was no feelings, just sex, just one time. We go away to the Hamptons and sleep together and it's my fault we broke the one time rule ....... more than once. Then I realized what I was doing and I knew she was gonna end up getting hurt if we kept it up, like I've hurt every other woman I've been with so I put a stop to it. When we got back I was trying to stick to our agreement of being just friends again after and then she asked me to spend the night with her. I couldn't do it. I knew I couldn't resist her so I walked out and left and stopped talking to her for a bit. I just needed some space to clear my head and get what we did out of my mind so we could be friends again. Not even a week later I overheard Zander bragging to his friends about having sex with her. I don't think I've ever been so pissed in my life."

"Oh wow. That's really fucked up," Keagan said, shaking his head. "Yeah she definitely told a different version of the story that made her sound like the victim."

"Well she is the victim. I shouldn't have just walked away and ghosted her for a week after what happened between us but I didn't think she would run to Zander. I've called and texted her so we can talk it out, but she won't answer my calls. So she really told you she fell in love with me?" Dean asked, still not able to wrap his head around it.

"Yeah. She did and she said you didn't love her back and you broke her heart."

Dean took a deep breath in and let it out.

"I did fall in love with her man and it scared the shit out of me because I know I'm not good for her. My track record with hurting women is a mile long and the last thing I wanted to do was add her to that list, so I walked away because I thought that's what was best for her. The whole reason I agreed to her plan in the first place was to keep her from getting hurt by Zander. I thought agreeing to sleep with her would protect her from him."

"Yeah well, apparently not. She still ended up with him anyway. She said they've been dating for a while but she looks fucking miserable as hell with that guy. I can tell she's still in love with you."

"You think so? Really?" Dean asked.

"Yeah really," he said, taking a sip of his beer and putting it back down. He looked over at Dean and said, "So now that you know she's in love with you, what are you gonna do about it?"

Dean sat there thinking about how to answer that question and suddenly he felt a surge of adrenaline and said, "I've gotta go." He grabbed a few bills out of his wallet and threw them down on the bar, grabbed up his jacket and headed out the door. He took out his cell phone and clicked on Stacia's name.

When she answered he said, "We've gotta talk."