“I’m tired of your shit, Pierce. This isn’t just about your drinking, or the cars you keep destroying, or the fact you can’t seem to control your temper. You treat Arie like garbage! Not to mention that now you’ve exposed our company to a huge amount of risk because you decided to pick a fight with the wrong people.”

I’m sitting in my dad’s office in Lower Manhattan, overlooking Washington Square Park, and trying to look as if I’m paying attention. He’s rattling off something about “joint and several liability” and “stocks dropping,” and I’m just watching the traffic go by outside. My head is killing me — probably because of the concussion I was diagnosed with by the EMT after I was booked the night of my party. It turns out that the one of the guys I started the barfight with was the son of a senator from Montana, and they aren’t just pressing charges for assault — they’re threatening to sue. I spent the night in jail, and haven’t heard from Arie since. I suspect she’s more than a little pissed that a bunch of cops saw her naked on a hotel room floor, panting like crazy after I took her virginity.

I can’t say I blame her.

I’m still staring out the window, when Dad says something that draws my attention back in a hurry.

“We’ve caught a break, however. Senator Doherty has made us an offer. If you get your shit together and join your brother Logan in the Navy, they’ll do us a favor and drop the charges. And they won’t sue.”

My head spins around so fast, I get dizzy, and my temples begin to throb even worse. “Whoa. What the fuck did you say? If I do what?”

“You heard me. You’re going to get over this damn concussion, you’re going to get your affairs in order, and then you’re going to enlist in the Navy. I’ve already spoken to a friend who runs the BUD/S program in Coronado, and he’ll be expecting you for the start of their next six-month training. They’re rushing you through enlistment so we can get this nonsense off our plate before we announce our IPO. And let me make this crystal clear, Pierce John Cochran. I don’t care how miserable you are, or how much pain you might be in. You will finish the program.”

I know my mouth is hanging open like an idiot. I can’t seem to form any sort of coherent sentences. Cochran Securities Ltd has been in our family for three generations, and now my father, James Cochran, is taking the company public for investors. It’s all he’s been worried about lately: keeping our image squeaky clean so we can avoid any scandals before the announcement. My getting into a bar fight with a senator’s son? That definitely doesn’t fit into his plan. But forcing me to enlist in the Navy? Hell, nah.

“This is fucking insane, Dad. No way. I just graduated college. I’m supposed to work here, with you. And what about Arie? You’re telling me to just leave her?” I can feel the bile rising in my throat. Logan has always been the boy scout, the good kid. He always wanted to be in the military. But me? I’m not cut out to serve and protect… anyone. But dear old Dad holds up his hand, cutting off my rant.

“It’s all settled, Pierce. There is nothing more to discuss. And frankly, Arie is a lot better off without you. You’ve been a drain on her for as long as I can remember. She deserves someone who won’t string her along.” He’s not even making eye contact with me now. He’s looking at something on his computer and scanning sheets of paper on his desk. I’m getting increasingly pissed.

“String her along? Do you have any idea how long I waited…”

My father shakes his head, his disappointment palpable. “I’m not talking about just fucking, Pierce. I’m talking about being a man, about stepping up and taking responsibility for your actions like an adult. You’ve never done that for her. You’ve never done that for anyone in your life. And it’s time for you to do it. You wouldn’t be of any use to me here acting the way you do now. And you damn well won’t be of any use to Arie.”

I start to protest, but I can tell by look in his eye that the conversation is over. It was over the minute he made up his mind about me joining the Navy. I stand up from the chair across from my father and leave his office with my shoulders practically drooping down my knees. When I get out of the building and onto Fifth Avenue, I grab my cell from my back pocket and dial Arie. She answers, her voice hesitant.

“Hi, Pierce.”

I take a deep breath. “Arie, can you meet me at the coffee shop next to my dad’s building? We need to talk.”

* * *

When Arie walks into the coffee shop, she is wearing what looks like four layers of clothing, including a giant baggy sweater, even though it’s May and hot as a whore’s ass outside. When she sits down across from me, she crosses her arms over her chest and doesn’t make eye contact. I feel like an asshole, though I’m not a hundred percent sure why.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

She looks at me like I’m a massive idiot, then hugs herself tighter. “Half of the NYPD saw me naked, Pierce. At any given moment, I could run into a cop who has seen my tits. So, you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel or look my best right now.”

“I don’t… I mean, I guess I’m sorry but you can’t really blame me for that.”

Her face turns bright red and I see a kind of anger in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. “What do you mean I ‘can’t blame you?’ Who the hell else should I blame, Pierce? You had every opportunity to warn me what was about to happen and instead you just let me be humiliated. There were reporters at my house, Pierce!”

My stomach drops. “Reporters? Did you tell them anything?”

When she slaps me across the face, I’m more shocked by it than anything. Suddenly, every eye in the coffee shop is on us, and I try to smile at them. “It’s fine. We’re fine. Mind your business.”

But Arie is seething. “Are you kidding me right now? All you’re worried about is whether I outed you to reporters as the naked guy that was dragged out of The Carlyle? How can you be so selfish?”

“Practice,” I answer absently. “Look, I have to tell you something.”

She doesn’t seem to be listening to me, so at the same time, we blurt out what we came here to say.

“Dad is making me join the Navy.”

“I can’t see you anymore, Pierce,” she says, before I can say anything else.

“What?” we sputter over top of each other.

“You’re breaking up with me?” I ask, suddenly incredulous, even though I was here to do the sam.

“You’re joining the Navy? What? Did your Dad offer to pay you?”

“Well, that was uncalled for. No. I don’t exactly have a choice. If I don’t enlist, that senator and his douchebag son are going to sue my father, and by extension, the company. It’ll ruin his IPO. You know he’s not going to let that happen, so as soon as this fucking concussion heals, I’m gone. But back up for a second here. You’re dumping me? You’re dumping me?”

Arie pulls her sweater tighter around her and shakes her head with a sad smile. “You make it sound like I’m breaking up with the perfect Prince Charming. I just can’t do this anymore, Pierce. You made your priorities more than clear that night in the hotel, and they don’t involve me, or my feelings. Or my safety. So yes, I’m dumping you. Prince Pierce Cochran, he who deigned to date the garbage man’s daughter all these years. The scholarship student. I know you probably think you were doing me a favor, but…”

Tears start to form in the corners of her eyes, and my stomach hurts in a way I’m not used to. Is this guilt? Is this what guilt feels like?

“Hey… It’s not like that. It was never like that. I… I love you, Arie.”

She shakes her head again. “I don’t think you know what love is, Pierce. But maybe you’ll learn. One day.”

With that, she gets up from the table and walks out of the coffee shop, without so much as a backward glance. And I’m left sitting alone, consumed by an emptiness I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling.

I let her walk away, and I have a sinking suspicion I will regret it for the rest of my life.