Page 100 of Off-Limits

“Are you really going to sit here and deny it?!” she screams, jumping out of the chair and knocking it down in the process. “Dottie! She is my best-friend, my cousin,your fucking niece,and you preyed on her and took her virginity.”

Now it’s my turn to be angry.

“Don’t you dare talk about something you know nothing about, Arriana Woods, because that is not how it fucking happened.” I seethe, and she levels me with a glare.

“Bullshit. Mum told me all about it.”

I laugh mockingly.

“And you believe that witch, after everything she’s done, everything she’s put us through?”

“At least she told me!” she screams back, and I close my eyes to compose myself.

“Have you spoken to Dottie?” I ask, fear and anxiety wrapping around me at what may have transpired.

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

“I’m worried about you and her, yes, but I want to know if you allowed at least one of us to explain before coming over here and accusing me of taking advantage of her.”

“I can’t believe you did this, dad. You watched her grow up. It’s fucking sick!”

“We are both adults.”

Arrie rears back like I hit her. “Are you seriously defending yourself right now? She. Is. Your. Niece. Whom you watched fucking grow up. You are twenty-two years older than her! It’s fucking disgusting.”

“Oh, I’m disgusting?” I try and hold my words in, not wanting to lash out at her, but my tongue is forked and full of venom with the loss of control I’m experiencing. “What about you fucking two different men, huh?”

She staggers back as if I cocked a gun and pulled the trigger, fresh tears falling from her eyes, and if I could take my words back I would. But the damage is done, and this is going to go down as my most unproud moment.

“Arrie, wait, I didn’t…”

“Shut the hell up!” she seethes, her voice catching at the end. “How - how could you?”

I close the distance and reach out for her, but she smacks my hand away, and I feel the panic attack coming on. I can’t lose my daughter, I can’t, but I also don’t want to lose Dottie. I’m at loss for words, and although I’m looking at Arrie, I know no matter what I say, it won’t undo the damage I’ve just done.

The calamity I’ve set in motion.

“I - I can’t even look at you right now.”

She turns on her heels and storms toward the door, my heart cracking into pieces and the foundation I’ve built around me begins to crumble. I race after her, knowing it will be fruitless, but I need her to hear me.

“Arrie, please, just wait.”

“Not now, dad. I - I need some time, and in the meantime,” she says, stopping and pinning me with a glare. “Stay the fuck away from Dottie!”

The door slams behind her with force, and my feet stay rooted to the ground as tears start to fall down my face. I can hear my dad’s voice in my head, telling me to suck it up, that everything will be fine, but I don’t feel it, and I only wish he was here right now to help me through this clusterfuck.

I walk back to my bedroom and fall onto the bed unceremoniously. Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands, allowing the melancholy, frustration and ire to swallow me whole.

How could I let this happen? I should have told Arrie sooner instead of allowing that bitch to get one up me.

How did she even know? More to the point, is she the reason Dottie hightailed it back to Sydney? Leaving me here with a broken heart, and a mess I don’t care to clean at the moment. So many scenarios run through my mind, and the tension headache is hating me for it.

Standing up, I stagger when I realise it’s actually a migraine setting it. Cursing, I stumble around the room, close all the curtains, and grab my phone. With one eye open, I squint and type Archie a quick message about cancelling today. I don’t tell him about the bullshit that just set me on a downward spiral, no, I simply say I have a migraine.

The thumbs up text is immediate. Groaning, I try Dottie one more time. It goes to voicemail again, but this time I don’tleave a message. I don’t think I would be able to articulate words anyway.

Pulling open the drawer, I fish out the pain tablets and pop two into my mouth, followed by a deep pull of water and swallow them down. Rolling over to my side, I grab the pillow Dottie slept with when she was here last and cuddle up to it like a pussy.