An Essence bestseller, Before I Let Go is the sexy story of three male best friends' dramatic search for love, intimacy, and the perfect relationship. Nate is a D-O-G with an obsession for conquering as many women as possible. But when he breaks his own rules and falls for two women at the same time, all hell breaks loose. Brendan is the type of man every woman claims to want -- at least until she gets one. Will he ever find a woman as sweet as he is, or is he doomed to be the poster child for "Good Guys Who Love Bad Girls"? Cory is successful, smart, and handsome. He's never gotten over his first love, and when he moves back to his hometown, he has to face secrets and make decisions that will change his life forever. Before I Let Go is a sizzling, entertaining tale of how men come to terms -- in the most startling ways -- with lust, love, and life. “There is no other way to say it: Darren Coleman keeps it real in Before I Let Go. He creates outstanding characters and drama that make you want to keep turning those pages. This is the Waiting to Exhale of the 2000s.” - Shannon Holmes, author of the bestselling B-More Careful An Essence bestseller, Before I Let Go is the sexy story of three male best friends' dramatic search for love, intimacy, and the perfect relationship. Nate is a D-O-G with an obsession for conquering as many women as possible. But when he breaks his own rules and falls for two women at the same time, all hell breaks loose. Brendan is the type of man every woman claims to want -- at least until she gets one. Will he ever find a woman as sweet as he is, or is he doomed to be the poster child for "Good Guys Who Love Bad Girls"? Cory is successful, smart, and handsome. He's never gotten over his first love, and when he moves back to his hometown, he has to face secrets and make decisions that will change his life forever. Before I Let Go is a sizzling, entertaining tale of how men come to terms -- in the most startling ways -- with lust, love, and life. Darren Coleman is the author of Before I Let Go and Don't Ever Wonder . A former elementary-school teacher, he is now a full-time writer and coaches in a youth football league. He lives in Bowie, Maryland. Before I Let Go By Coleman, Darren Amistad Press ISBN: 0060594845 Chapter One Surviving the Game My whole life changed when Shelly said those three littlewords to me: "Cory, it's over."We were in the throes of a discussion about how to keepour soon-to-be long-distance relationship alive and well when I lefthome to go to Atlanta for graduate school. At the time, getting a goodjob and making plenty of cash were my main concerns. I'd never beenrich, but I wasn't prepared to struggle due to bad decisions either. I believedwholeheartedly that an MBA from Georgia Tech in projectmanagement was sure to open a few doors for me in the future. I'd done well in undergrad, but it wasn't as if schools were beatingdown the doors to get me to choose them. I had attended MorganState University, a small black school thirty miles from my home inthe suburbs of Washington, D.C. It was no secret that the prominentgraduate schools held that against you. Their unspoken mantraseemed to shout "Sure, you may have performed well against yourpeers, but that doesn't mean that you can make it here with the privileged."That's why when I was accepted to grad school at Tech, I choseto go there instead of even thinking about applying to Temple, whereShelly was headed to work on her master's. The fact that I was leaving the D.C. area and heading down southmeant that we wouldn't be within driving distance, but I was convincedwe could make it work. I knew it would be difficult missingher. Through my years at Morgan State it had always been easy to findme. If I wasn't hanging out downtown in the clubs with Brendan and Nate, then it had been a safe bet that Shelly and I were together. Adjustmentswould have to be made. I'd assured her there would be longweekends and holidays for us to see one another. Hard as it is to believenow, I had had no idea that I was tearing Shelly's heart apart inways that I couldn't have figured out at the time. After she'd rocked my world with her statement, Shelly didn't lookme in the eyes. I was speechless, trying to figure out where she wascoming from. She went on to say, "A boyfriend 750 miles away can'tmeet my needs, Cory." Her words and attitude made her seem like a different person. Duringthe three years we had been together she had never given me anydrama other than an occasional lovers' quarrel, and at first I expectedthis spat to be no different. But somehow Shelly had turned as cold asice. I'd thought that I'd picked up on her fears, and maybe she was justfeeling unsure of our being able to maintain the relationship over thelong distance. When I questioned her about it she told me that shedefinitely had concerns, but not just about me remaining faithful.When I asked her what she'd meant by that, she flatly