Dismount (Off Balance 5)

My jaw

dropped to my stomach. "I love him!" I shouted as I shook like a leaf on a tree blowing in the wind. I couldn't control it. "I love him," I repeated. "I love him, and there's nothing you can do about it. You'll never be able to change that."

Dad reared back. Repulsion filled his face. "Puppy love, Adrianna. You're just a child. You don't know the difference."

I rubbed at the ache across my chest, unsure whether the shooting pain was from the tension in the room or my kidney disease. It bothered me that he could disregard my feelings so easily when I’d told him the truth.

"It's not rape when I willingly gave myself to him. I'm eighteen. I’m telling you the truth," I implored him to believe me.

"I don't want to hear another word," he responded with a wave of his hand. "It's making me sick to my stomach to hear this. Say another word and I'll kill him for touching you before any inmate can get their hands on him. You know prisoners hate child abusers. Don't test me, Adrianna."

I was taken aback by his harsh tone. I was losing everything that mattered most to me. "It's not his fault." I wiped the tears away and said, "You can't stop me from seeing him. He's the reason I'm not living on antidepressants and rocking in a corner. He was there for me when my world fell to shit—"

"He took advantage of your most vulnerable state!"

Frantically, I shook my head in disagreement. "He didn't. I know you want to think that, but he didn't." I licked my dry lips. "When is he getting out of jail?"

"Not anytime soon, if I can help it."

All the air seized from my lungs until they constricted in desperation. How was this happening? Chills rolled down my arms as I stared at him wide-eyed in complete disbelief. Dad was really going through with this.

The door to my room opened. A nurse strode in and headed straight for the machine behind me. Dad and I glared at each other. He looked like he was going to ring my neck, but I wasn't backing down.

"All right, what do we have here?" the nurse asked.

"Nothing." I glanced away from Dad’s lethal gaze and dried my eyes. "I’m fine, just talking to my dad."

She eyed me for a minute. "I'll be back in a few to change your IV. In the meantime, you need to rest." She turned her attention to my dad. He got the hint and stormed out of the room without a word, and the nurse followed him out.

I stared at the door as it closed behind them. A shadow shifted in the corner by the window, startling me. Sophia. I groaned in mortification.

"I forgot you were there. I’m sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to bring up your past."

"Don't apologize. It's an awful feeling when you think the world is against you." One corner of her mouth drooped down. I nodded in agreement. "He's just angry, you know." Her voice shook as she spoke. "He feels like he failed you as a father."

I closed my eyes and released a sigh. What a fucking mess. Quietly, I said, "He didn't."

"No parent will ever see it that way," Sophia said delicately. I looked up at her and she took a few steps toward me. "May I sit?" she asked, pointing to the chair Dad was just in.

"Of course."

"He just needs a little time to cool off. Frank worries about you all the time. His only daughter is extremely ill. Then he found out his friend was having an affair with her that resulted in a pregnancy. It's a lot to handle. When you didn't wake up yesterday and the hours kept passing, his coloring started to fade and he couldn’t stop shaking. He was sweating profusely. I was worried he was going to faint that I had a nurse check his vitals. His blood pressure was high enough that they wanted to admit him for observation, but he refused."

My stomach tightened and shame colored my cheeks. I felt terrible he’d suffered like that. I’d always known if Dad had ever found out about Kova and me it would be comparable to at least a category three hurricane.

I didn't expect it to be catastrophic. That was the last thing on earth I wanted, and it made me feel like garbage because of it.

"Kova didn't rape me. He didn't take advantage of me. It wasn't like that."

Sophia gave me a knowing look. "Has your dad ever told you how he and I met?"

I shook my head. "No, but I haven't had much time to ask him about it. I know you were his assistant."

"We had a whirlwind type romance where the feelings lasted longer than the affair was supposed to. Frank was this big, powerful man, and I was a young girl with big city dreams in her eyes. I’d just graduated from high school early and had plans to attend the community college while working. Frank was this sought after real estate mogul at the time, and he’d happened to be looking for a part-time assistant." She gave me a helpless shrug. "We’d hit it off by accident, really. He would show me properties he was considering investing in, or buildings that were heavily detailed he admired, ones you'd have to have an eye to notice. He showed me the tricks of the trade. It was all very innocent at first.

"I was in awe of what he'd accomplished at his age, and I started talking to him about my future and asking questions and looking for advice. We’d connected and didn't even know it. The more we worked together, the more impossible it was to stop the growing feelings between us." She hesitated. "Frank was married, so I never hit on him, but I couldn't deny what I felt for him either. I wish I could pinpoint when and how, but things just clicked into place one day and we never looked back. We knew this was it." Sophia paused, quiet for a moment as she reflected. "There's a lot of things we would've done differently if we could go back. What I went through alone at the time was one of the most challenging moments in my life. No one understood me. I was labeled a homewrecker. But what people didn't know was that Frank and Joy were already on the verge of a divorce before I came along."

This was news to me. I felt bad for Sophia. She seemed like she had a gentle soul with good intent, yet she lived with so many regrets she still dealt with on a daily basis.