bottom lip trembles. Fat, angry tears fall down my face.
“I’m sorry.” Violet sputters out. “I never meant for you to find out this way.”
“Too late. Get the fuck out of my house.”
“I’ll take you home,” Dad says, turning now to Violet. Another blow to me. He’s choosing her over me. Like he does with everything else.
“No, you won’t!” I snap. “She’s a big girl. She can find her own way home.”
“Hazel—”
“No, she’s right. I’m fine,” Violet says, and without another word, she walks out of my house.
As soon as the front door shuts, I pick up the porcelain vase on the entryway console and throw it. Dad ducks just as it slams into the wall, shattering behind him.
“Jesus, Hazel. Calm—”
I pick up another vase and smash it against the wall. “You want me to calm down?” My own reality is slipping. “You want me to calm down?” Another expensive sculpture shatters against the wall. “How about you explain to me how you can be such a fucking asshole!” I scream. “You’re fucking my roommate! My roommate! How could you?” Tears blind me as they rush in violent waves down my cheeks.
Dad tries to take a step toward me, but I threaten him with another pricey decor piece. “Don’t touch me. I can’t believe you. How long, huh? How long have you been fucking my best friend? Jesus, you’re more than twice her age. Couldn’t you find someone your own age or at your clubs? You had to go for my roommate?!” I attempt to throw the statue, but he tackles me before I get a good launch. His large arms wrap around me, and I fight in his hold. I drop the sculpture, and it shatters at our feet. My fists beat against his chest as I wail and scream how much I hate him. How I hate her. I never want to see either one of them again. When I’ve expended all my energy, I push away from him. The reality of it all weighs too heavy on my chest, and I’m suffocating in the betrayal from all the people I thought loved me.
“Leave.” My voice trembles.
“I’m not going anywhere until—”
“Leave, or I swear to God, I’ll call the cops. Tell them you hit me. Shit, I’ll tell them how I walked in on my predator father sexually assaulting my roommate!”
“That’s insane. You wouldn’t—”
“Try me!”
He stares at me bewildered. But it doesn’t last long before he begins to soak in the severity of my threat. “Fine. I’ll leave, but only to let you calm down. I love—”
“LEAVE!” My hands shake. My legs shake. My heart shatters into a million devastating pieces. He finally nods, grabs his keys, and leaves. When I hear the roar of his sports car speeding down the driveway, I walk numbly to his liquor cabinet, grab the most expensive bottle I can find, and whip it across the room. I grab and throw a second, then a third, then a fourth, until I’m down to the last one. I tuck it under my arm and head to my bedroom, where I drink myself into a stupor and pass out, hoping it’s the last I see of this fucked up shitty world.
Hazel
I wake up with an excruciating headache. When I lift my head from my pillow, my room looks like a madman went through it. Or just a girl scorned by her father, best friend, lover… Shit. My thumbs dig into my throbbing temples. Memories of last night evade my mind, and the pain in my gut almost has me expelling the booze still sloshing in my stomach. After I kicked them out, I came up here and lost it. I tore up my room, cursing my dad and Violet. The worst part was when it started to click why Gabriel was so insistent I get out of the house. I came to one conclusion: he knew about them and didn’t tell me.
The fire inside me ignites all over again. How did it happen? And right under my nose. All the times Dad came to visit. Was it for her or me? The calls. The accusations that made me feel like shit because I wrongfully accused Dad of paying more attention to her. The whole time, he was.
I swipe an angry tear away and get up. I’m wobbly on my feet and in need of a hot shower. I check my phone to see I’ve missed a bunch of calls from Dad and Violet. Not a