Page 63 of Refuel

“Cicely, it’s not that bad, is it?” Essence inquired.

“Baby, I have to agree with Chavonne. You can’t cook for shit,” Cicely answered, passing the salad around. They cooked a big barbeque feast of ribs, burgers, hot dogs, spaghetti, lemon cake, baked beans, and green beans.

“Kam—” Essence started to ask, and Kamden held his palm up, stopping her.

“Essence, I’d prefer to stay on your good side,” Kamden said.

Essence jumped up, grabbed her mashed potatoes, and stomped off toward the house.

“See what y’all did. Now I have to hear this for the rest of the week,” I spat.

“At least you don’t have to eat it,” Rylee joked.

“Rylee!” I cackled at her joke.

Fifteen minutes later, Essence came back and sat.

“Sorry, friend,” I said, getting up and walking over to whisper in her ear.

“You’re good.” Essence sighed.

“You must have tasted it,” I commented, and she nodded her head.

I shook my head at her and sat back down to eat and talk with my family about the race.

Three hours later, I was in bed, riding Kamden backwards as his hands spread my ass cheeks, watching me take all of his thick length.

“Keep going!” Kamden yelled.

“Thank you…” I moaned out.

“Shit, Ari!” I bounced harder, grabbing Kamden’s ankles and bouncing faster.

“I appreciate you, Kash.”

“Fuck! I’m coming, baby,” Kamden grunted and before I jumped up, I felt him release inside me. I fell back on the bed and felt myself drift off to sleep.

Charity Race

Finally, it was time for me to solidify my name in the racing world. The crowd chanted and roared as the drivers lined up. I looked over at Kamden, and he smirked back at me. Reminding me of where those lips were a few hours earlier. We’d had a rocky ride since we met, and now this was the moment we’d both waited for. I glanced at the patch with my last name sewn across. My entire family was in the stands watching me. Even my niece, nephew, and sister-in-law who rarely had time to get out because of her business as a chef were in attendance. I waved as my family held signs with my name and number across them. A few feet below, I noticed Josie sitting in the stands. I found that strange; usually she’d be out doing interviews. Sarai asked if I wanted to do some interviews for magazines, and I said I would even if I didn’t win. I was still flying high from the dinner at my parents’ house. Nothing would derail my dreams. The announcer called for silence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the national anthem,” the announcer said.

Everyone stood with their hands across their hearts as a local twelve-year-old sang. We all clapped for support. I double checked my helmet and gloves before jumping inside the car while the pit crew stood off to the side. Essence stood with Tennessee, and I found that odd since she hadn’t talked about knowing him outside of briefly meeting him at the club. I pumped the gas as the adrenaline pulsed through my blood. I closed and opened my eyes, breathing slowly, and looked to the right of me and saw Ronald smiling at me. I shivered at the fakeness and made a reminder to tell Kamden after the race to have a talk with his friend. Taking off, I listened and talked with my team through the headset and focused on nothing else but the finish line. I kept a steady pace, not overpowering like the last race. I watched as one car passed me, and I bit my bottom lip. As the curve came up, I pumped the gas full force and kept both hands on the steering wheel taking a lap around. I was still in the top three cars and almost running out of time. Tasting the finish line as we came up on the last lap, I released a long-held breath and pushed myself even further and passed the other two drivers and finished first.

“OMG! I won!” I screamed while the team congratulated me through the headset. When I tried to slow down, the brakes didn’t work.

“Ugh… guys, something’s wrong,” I said.

“Arianna, listen to me and breathe,” I heard Colton through the mic.

“Colton, something’s wrong,” I reiterated, trying not to panic.

I continued to try to push the brake pedal, only nothing happened.

“Ari! What’s going on?” Kamden asked.

“Kamden, the brakes won’t work!” I cried out.

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