Bradin woke up the following morning and smiled at the thought of Kaitlin. He was mad that she couldn't hang out with him today. He really enjoyed hanging with her. Even if they just talked, he would enjoy her company. He got out of bed, showered, got dressed, and headed downstairs.

As he looked for something to eat, he thought about going to see Kaitlin when she worked that night. He didn't feel like going to the party anyway. The guy throwing the party would hook him up with a girl to have sex with. He didn't want that.

What he wanted was to spend the day with Kaitlin. Why do I keep thinking of her? he asked himself, She can't be the person that… No. This was all he could think about.

Bradin sat on the beach that afternoon looking out at the water. He heard a young kid laughing at a puppy that was barking. He went to look to see them playing but got attacked by the puppy. The puppy kept licking his face and jumping all over him.

"Alex! Ethan!" a middle-aged lady yelled running up to them, "I am so sorry. They ran off on me."

"It's no problem," Bradin said with a laugh, "They seem to be having fun." He stood up and wiped off his clothes. "Which one is Ethan and which one is Alex?" he asked.

"The dog is Alex. The little boy is Ethan. I'm Janet," she said sticking her hand out.

"Bradin," he said shaking it. "Do you mind if I play with these two?"

"Be my guest," she said with a smile.

Bradin smiled and began to play with Ethan and his puppy. Janet smiled as she watched Bradin play with the boys. She took out her cell phone and called Kaitlin.

"Hello?" she heard.

"Kait, I just met your friend Bradin."

"Huh?" Kaitlin asked with confusion.

"Ethan and Alex ran off on me and Alex ran up to Bradin and attacked him, in the good puppy way. And now, he's playing with Ethan and Alex."

"What!" Kaitlin yelled into the phone.

"He doesn't know that Ethan is your son. I failed to even mention you."

Kaitlin let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, ma. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, sweetie. But, you still have to tell him."

"I know," Kaitlin said, "I have to get back to work."

"I'll see you later, sweetie. I love you."

"Love you, too. Bye," Kaitlin said and hung up.

About an hour or so passed and Ethan, Alex, and Janet had to head home.

"Awe," Ethan whined, "I don't want to."

"I'm sorry dear. But, we have to," Janet said, "We need to make sure that your mother's stuff is done before she comes home after work."

"You're not his mother?" Bradin asked.

"No."

"He looked just like you, though."

"I get that a lot. But, no one knows that my daughter also looks like me."

"You have a daughter?" he asked.

"Yes. I'd tell you more but we really have to go."

Janet, Alex, and Ethan left.

Kaitlin stood behind the counter at the music store.

"Close up," Lucas, her co-worker, said tossing her the keys. He put his arm around his girlfriend, Callie and headed towards the door when someone walked in. "Bradin!" Lucas yelled.

"Hi," Bradin said surprised. "What are you two doing here?"

"Lucas works here," Callie said. "What are you doing here?"

"I know Kaitlin," he said.

"Oh. She's the girl you were looking for the other day?" Callie asked.

"Yeah. Where is she?" Bradin asked.

"Somewhere inside the store," Lucas said, "We have to go. We're going to Mike's party."

Bradin walked deeper into the store as Lucas and Callie left. Kaitlin walked out of the back room and froze when she saw him standing there. He noticed that she had a bruised eye.

"What happened?" he asked worriedly.

"Nothing," she said as she went back to work not wanting to tell him anything.

"Kait, who did this to you?" he asked calmly. She looked at him and back at her work. "Kait," he said touching her arm.

She flinched away and said, "Don't touch me."

"Kaitlin," he said.

"Stop!" she yelled moving away from him.

He put his hand down and said, "I'm sorry. I don't understand who would hit you and why." She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Don't," he said. He wanted to move towards her. He was stopped by her moving away from him. He sighed. "Please tell me who did this to you."

She placed her back on the counter and slid to the floor holding herself. She sobbed thinking of what happened the previous night. Bradin sat down next to her and gave her enough space to feel comfortable. He watched her as she sobbed. He really wanted to hold her in his arms to calm her down and comfort her.

Kaitlin sat there with tears down her face with so many things running through her mind. She was so confused on life. She didn't know what to do with it anymore. She wiped her eyes and looked at Bradin to find him looking at her with worried eyes.

"This kid Ryan," she said turning away from him, "He hit me last night as well as raped me three years ago."

Bradin tore up inside. The guy who hurt her was back again to get her again. He became scared for her. He moved closer to her and placed an arm around her. He felt her tense up.

"I won't hurt you," he said, "I swear on my life that I won't hurt you."

She fell into his arms and cried into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

"Calm down," he whispered, "It's okay. Calm down." He hated seeing her like this. It tore him up inside so much. It broke his heart to see someone like Kaitlin cry like this. A few minutes passed and she pulled away.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be," he said wiping a few tears off of her face, "It's okay."

"I should close up," she said standing up, "We can go for a walk."

"I'll walk you home. You look like you need rest," he said standing up with her.

Bradin and Kaitlin walked and talked about her problem.

"He seemed like a really sweet guy. He was like my best friend. We were at a party and he had to tell me something. He took me to Spanish Cove and just…raped me. And now he's back and wants to ruin my life again."

He placed an arm around her and placed his hand on her shoulder as he listened to her explain her feelings to him.

"I guess that I was young and stupid and needed to know him longer than a week," she said.

"Don't call yourself stupid," he told her, "You were young and brought into it. That night wasn't your fault. Don't even think about telling me that you think it was your fault."

"I thought you were going to a friend's party tonight," she said changing the subject due to the fact that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"I was going to. But, I wanted to see you. "

"Now that you've seen me, you would have rather gone to the party. Right?" she asked looking ahead.

"No. I'm glad I saw you." She looked at him with confusion and wonder. "My friend and I haven't got along that well. I decided that I needed time to myself and needed to talk to someone that understands me and cares about me. I don't care if you were in tears today. You were hurt and I understand that."

They walked up to her house and hugged.

"Thank you," she said.

"No problem. If you ever need me, call me up. It doesn't matter the time of day."

"Same to you," she said as she scribbled down her number on his hand. Small barks sounded inside her house followed by a crash and lady screaming. Kaitlin looked behind her and back at Bradin to find him smiling.

"You should go," he said, "It sounds like they need you inside."

She nodded and turned to go inside. She turned back around to Bradin. "You're not that bad of a guy," she told him.

He smiled. She turned back around and went inside.