Page 69 of Refuel

Rylee: Please don’t get her started.

Essence: Rylee, you said it was good!!

Rylee: I lied to spare your feelings.

Me: What was it?

Essence: Spaghetti and meatballs.

Rylee: The meatballs were still frozen.

Essence: They were Italian style.

Me: What’s Italian style, Essence?

Rylee: Please, explain that.

Essence: It’s a new thing on TikTok.

Me: You made a meal from a TikTok video?

Essence: All right, when you say it like that, it doesn’t sound right.

Rylee: That was the edible part.

Me: OMG, are you okay, Rylee?

Rylee: Barely, and the boys said Essence isn’t welcome at the house.

Essence: Shane smiled when he tasted it.

Me: He probably wanted to spare your feelings, boo.

Essence: Whatever.

Rylee: Lol! We still love you.

Essence: Anyway, when can we see you?

Me: I’m here if you want to come pick me up.

Rylee: Shower, and we’ll be over soon.

Me: Sounds good.

I clicked out of the messages when I received a notification. I clicked on the tag and saw Kamden in Vegas with some friends in a club, drinking. Shaking my head, I tapped into my contacts and blocked his number. I got out of bed and went to my closet to grab some clothes to dress in for the day. Grabbing a jogging suit and sneakers, I walked to my shower and placed the items on top of my counter. He was out living his life like nothing had happened, so I’d do the same thing. I knew I couldn’t trust him with my heart, then he had the balls to fight Freddie in my hospital room like his ass was so squeaky clean. I turned the water on and checked the temperature before jumping inside with my shower cap on to keep my hair from getting wet. I scrubbed my body twice over, seeing the bruises slowly clearing up with some scars that might take longer. The doctors said they could do plastic surgery, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go that route just yet. I heard a knock on my bathroom door and called out.

“Yeah!”

“Arianna, Rylee and Essence are downstairs,” Mom said.

“Okay, tell them I’ll be down soon.”

“Don’t overdo it, Arianna. You’re still recovering,” Mom told me.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Okay.” I heard her say.

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