Page 71 of Refuel

“At first, I was surprised, still am honestly. But this baby is a blessing.”

“So, I’ll be Auntie Essence, throw a huge party, and cook,” Essence said.

“Slow your roll, Essence. I’m only a few weeks along. No reason to try to poison me with your food.”

“I plan on getting Ivy to help me if you must know,” Essence snapped and waved us off. Rylee and I laughed at her pouting with her lip poked out and arms crossed.

“I’m glad you’re keeping the baby, Ari. Kamden was worried. It’s the main reason he took off to Vegas, to drink his problems away,” Rylee informed me.

“So, it’s not to get under another woman?” I questioned.

“I can’t answer that. You know him better than me,” Rylee said.

“I thought I did,” I muttered as I watched Shane dribble the ball and dunk it to win the game. We stayed outside for a few hours until I got tired. Rylee drove me back home, and I soaked in the tub and read a book, trying to distract my mind from thinking about Kamden and Vegas. He probably thought I was taking up with Freddie, which wasn’t true. Too much was going on when I woke up in the hospital. I still felt uneasy being in a car sometimes, but I knew it wasn’t about the car, but the person who tampered with it to get me out of the race for her own selfish reasons, to win Kamden back. Was I standing in her way? Was Kamden having second thoughts about us? Those were all the things I’d been thinking about for the past few days.

22

Arianna

A month later, Kamden and I still weren’t back together. We were cordial and spoke when I had my first doctor’s appointment, but other than that, we hadn’t had a conversation of where we stood. I hadn’t confronted him about Vegas, and he never offered to tell me what happened. I saw photos of him in the gossip magazine of a woman hanging on his arms and him back racing again. Today, Ronald was pleading guilty to the charges, and I debated about going to the courthouse; I didn’t want to add to the media circus. I was now going on two months pregnant with a little pouch poking out and eating everything that was placed in front of me. Standing in front of the mirror, looking at my nude body, I saw my curves even more with the added weight gain.

Essence was coming over to take me out to a local restaurant to eat and watch the race. I was over being stuck in the house and beyond ready to move back home since my strength was back. I even had a meeting with Sarai about a few interviews that wanted to talk with me about the crash and what happened. Hearing a knock at the door, I grabbed my robe and slipped it on.

“Come in!”

“You ready?” Essence questioned, twisting the keys around her finger. I walked to my closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and t-shirt with a large hoodie to cover up my stomach. Picking up my Adidas and purse, I lay down on the bed to get into my jeans and slid my socks and shoes on.

“Yep,” I told her, standing to grab the brush off my vanity mirror to pull my hair into a ponytail.

“I’m starving,” Essence blurted out. I pushed her out of my room, laughing at her dramatics, and turned my light off in my bedroom. We walked out to the living room to see Dad rubbing Mom’s feet while watching TV. They looked over at us, and I strolled over to kiss them both on the cheek.

“Heading out to lunch with Essence and then back to my place,” I said.

“Are you sure, baby?” Mom asked.

“Yeah, it’s time for me to get back to work, and I want to sleep in my own bed.”

“Have you talked to Kash?” Dad questioned.

I shook my head no. “Last I talked to him, we had a doctor’s appointment.”

“Baby, he’s not my first choice for you with everything that has happened, but I can tell you he loves you based on the way he was ready to fight your brother in the hospital,” Dad told me.

“I hear you, Pops,” I said.

“Call us when you head to your place?” Mom requested.

Essence and I waved goodbye as Cicely stepped inside the house. I hugged her and said I was headed home.

“Where are we heading?” Essence asked.

“I have a taste for burger and fries with a large milkshake.”

“The sports bar is popping right now, so we can hang out there,” Essence said.

“Did Rylee say she was coming?” I asked.

Essence nodded her head, turned the key in the ignition, and reversed out of the driveway.

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