How should this have been played?

[cmillard]

I will try to give as much information as possible. First time I had played in this home game, no real reads on anyone other than they seemed like solid, by the book type players. Blinds are at 100/200, I have ~2,100. I am in the SB with A,4 diamonds. One player calls, I call, BB doesn't raise. Flop comes 2,8,6 with 2 diamonds. I check, BB checks, next player bets 500 (his stack is about 900 after this 500). After some thinking, I call, leaving me ~1,400, BB folds. Next card is a 9 of hearts and he pushes all in. I have him covered, but will be really low if I don't hit, I have a descent amount already commited, short version....I call, don't hit,he has 6's and 8's, I am down to about 500. Looking back, I should have realized that with a bet of 500 after the flop, he was willing to push it all-in........any suggestions about the mistakes I made, or what I should have done differently?
Thanks.