Pissed off and in pain, I wandered off down the beach, absently rubbing at my jaw. It was going to seriously hurt in the morning. The sun was still up, but it would be gone in a few hours or so.

I trudged along in the sand, my mind going over and over my situation with Brianna. The fact was, I wasn't in love with her. I didn't know if

I ever would be.

We'd had a wonderfully flirtatious chemistry in the beginning. Perhaps things should never have progressed beyond that. But somewhere along the way, Brianna started to really fall for me, and I was still with

Amber.

Then Amber's fucking Stanford acceptance came in and everything got turned upside-down. Amber trapped Brianna into admitting she wanted me.

An unrequited crush wouldn't have been so bad, had we nipped things in the bud then. But Amber encouraged it, and I was only thinking with my dick.

So Brianna and I got to where we were fucking. Or at least, I was fucking. Maybe that was Brianna's idea of making love. In any case,

Amber was the only one with whom I was REALLY making love. And while

Brianna fell harder and harder for me, I never even remotely committed emotionally to her. My heart had always belonged to Amber.

And now, I was still just fucking Brianna. She gave all her love to me, and I was taking it for granted. I hadn't done it on purpose. But the fact was, I'd never had to give her anything to GET everything from her. I never really earned it. Our relationship was never mutual. I got all the kinky benefits, but I never completely fell in love with her.

She really and truly deserved better. She probably deserved someone other than me.

But could I break up with her? I didn't really want to. I had to admit, it was easy being in control of the relationship and I knew my dick wanted to continue reaping the benefits. And if she really did Love me, wouldn't it hurt her even more if I tried to break up with her?

What she deserved was my love. I just didn't know if I was even capable of giving it to her.

My ruminations had kept me on a straight line, and presently I stubbed my toe against a rock, the sharp pain bringing me back to the world of reality. I looked down and saw that I was on a dirt trail running along the coastline, the end of the beach a good quarter-mile behind me.

I stared out across the waters, a deep blue with foaming white a hundred yards offshore where the currents broke against the submerged reef. With the setting sun on the horizon, it was quite the picturesque view.

I was still lost in my own world, not really seeing things in focus or hearing much of anything. But gradually I became aware of an odd sound amidst the cacophony, something that didn't fit with the ambient noise of nature.

“HELP!!! HELP ME!!!"

I blinked as full consciousness snapped around me, and I was suddenly cognizant of the dirt trail, the short cliff, and the pounding waves before me.

“HELP!!!"

The voice was high-pitched, girlish, and very, very panicked. My eyes quickly tracked across the waves, until off to the left I finally saw a pale arm waving weakly in the water.

She was perhaps twenty yards to the left from where the protective reef ended. Unfortunately, since she was outside the perimeter of the shielding coral, the raw power of the ocean was pushing full bore against any attempts to return back to the reef. Whitecaps were all around her, breaking erratically all the way up to the cliff base.

“HELP! !!"

Holy shit. Was this really happening? Didn't this only happen in the movies? Frantically, I glanced around, looking for help. Wouldn't you know that there wasn't anyone around. The closest people I could see were down by the beach, way too far away.

I was a young male in good shape and a decent swimmer. And there was a young girl out there who needed my help. I didn't really have a choice.