Sweet Little Lies (Dirty Little Lies Duet 2)

“Baby girl, it’s not what you think.” Dad steps away from a naked Violet. He tries to console me, but I slap his hand away, my eyes burning into Violet.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Tell me this is not what it looks like. I swear to God…” What is it with everyone betraying me? I bite down on my lower lip to the brink of breaking the skin and run out of the room. I hear the loud footsteps of my dad behind me. His hand clasps on my shoulder, and I whip around, but she’s standing behind him. I finally snap.

“How could you, you slut! He’s my fucking dad!” I scream, my throat burning. I push at my dad and go after her, but he grabs me and pulls me back. I want to smack the guilt from her deceiving face.

“Hazel, I swear, I didn’t plan this. It just happened—”

“Fuck you, you whore!” I go at her again, only to have my dad stop me.

“Hazel, baby girl, please.” He tries to soothe me, but I push him away.

“Oh, no. Don’t you pull this baby girl bullshit on me! You should know better.” I can’t breathe. Everything is spinning. This can’t be happening. I don’t know who to turn my anger on. I hate them both. “You should fucking know better!” I throw my finger at Violet, never taking my eyes off my dad. “How could you? She was my friend.” My voice cracks.

“I’m still your friend!”

My dad doesn’t catch me fast enough this time, and I throw myself at her, taking a swing. My nails make contact with her face, and her cheek instantly stains red. “Fuck you! You’re not my friend! You never were. Slut! Whore! Fucking tramp! No wonder your mother hates you. You probably did sleep with her boyfriends!” I scream and yell, spewing all the hatred I feel for her, my dad, for everyone else in my life.

“Hazel, that’s enough!” Dad says, taking her side, and the world below me shifts. How can everyone in my life care so little about me? My 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.