She scoffed. “After Brandi, I was bringing home an addict? With a record? No way. I knew what Jim would do. I wasn’t going to let that happen. Not to Adrian.”

“So how was it your fault, Dani? Because I don’t believe it was.”

She huffed. “We’d been together for two years when he had another motorcycle accident. Put him in the hospital this time, not just a trip to the ER. He had a concussion and a broken arm. They tested him for HIV because he needed surgery for the arm.”

“And he came back positive.”

“Not just positive. He had AIDS.”

His eyes widened. “He’d had it for a while, then.”

She nodded. “And because we were engaged, and I was on the pill, we’d stopped using protection. The doctor told me to get tested.”

“And you were positive, too.”

She nodded wearily. “I was . . . shocked. I mean, Adrian had told me he was negative and he believed that. But I asked if he’d been tested and he said he had.”

Diesel frowned. “Didn’t they test him when he came to the ER?”

“No. I wondered the same thing once I found out our status, so I went back into the system and checked his records. He’d refused to consent to the test.”

Diesel clenched his teeth. “He lied to you.”

She looked up at him. “Yes. I was really angry. I wanted to hurt him. I felt so powerless. I should have waited until I’d calmed down to see him. I had no business visiting him when I was so angry, but I did. And I said some horrible, hurtful things. Called him terrible names. Accused him of infecting me on purpose. Then I slapped his face and called him a killer. All while he lay in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery. I slapped an AIDS patient.”

“You slapped the man who lied to you. I think your anger was justified.”

“Ugh.” She wanted to throttle him. “Of course my anger was justified, but not what I did when I was under its influence.” She closed her eyes. “I was like Jim.”

Diesel made a strangled sound. “You are nothing like him. Were you sorry?”

“Afterward, yes. Of course I was. I tried to apologize, but Adrian wouldn’t see me. I’d hurt him too much.”

Understanding finally dawned in his eyes. Finally. “And you think you’ll lash out and hurt me like you hurt him.”

“Yes,” she said, relieved. “You get it now?”

“I get that you were upset and said things you didn’t mean. I get that you tried to apologize and he sulked.”

Dani clenched her hands into fists. “Goddammit, Diesel.”

He shrugged. “How did you kill him?”

“I never said I killed him. I said it was my fault that he was dead.” She drew a breath, the memory of that day playing in her mind. “He committed suicide.”