“No, I mean it. Maybe you are a creature of Hell, but people feel better when they’re around you. You have this way of talking and smiling that affects everyone. You’re nice, you’re good-hearted, you worry about others . . .” He sighed. “But when you’re with Dante, it’s like all that light that normally shines out from you gets sucked away.”

“That light got sucked away a long time ago,” I said bitterly. “Long before he came along.”

“No, it didn’t. It’s there, and if you’re going to be involved with someone, you need someone who sees it, someone who loves you for it and wants to help bring it out.”

I had someone like that, I thought. You.

“Dante and I work well together, no matter what any of you think. He understands me.”

“No,” said Seth flatly. His voice was low, but I could hear the anger in it. “He doesn’t.”

“What other options do I have? You’re throwing me into an impossible situation. You know I can’t date anyone who’s good. I can’t risk hurting them, but I don’t want to be alone. This is my only option.”

“No. It can’t be. Before we were together, it wasn’t like this. You weren’t drinking all the time and having sex with anonymous guys in bathrooms!”

And that’s when I did it, just like a dad on a road trip. I pulled the car over to the side of the road. It was a long, country highway, and there wasn’t much traffic. Seth stared incredulously.

“What are you doing?”

“Saving us from an accident,” I growled, turning so I could meet him straight in the eye. “And you’ll be lucky if I don’t make you get out and walk the rest of the way. Look, you want to know why I wasn’t dating loser guys when we met? Because I wasn’t dating anyone. I took my hits and went home alone. Why is it so wrong for me to want to be with someone now?”

“It shouldn’t matter if you’re dating someone or not. You still shouldn’t be acting like this!”

“You’re telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing? It’s my business. You have no right!” I yelled back.

“Friends have every right to tell friends when they’re on a bad path,” he snapped back.

“Bullshit! I’ve never seen you interfere with anyone else’s life, no matter how badly they were screwing it up. I’m the only one you seem to want to mess with. Why do you care so much about what I do?” Seth and I had raised our voices only rarely while dating, and it had never even come close to this. It was a wonder we didn’t shatter the windows.