Page 76 of Refuel

“I’m going inside with you,” I said.

“I’ll be fine.”

I sat back in my seat and sighed. She was shutting me out again, same as the hospital.

“Don’t shut me out, Ari. We need to talk.”

“I haven’t shut you out, Kamden. I tell you all of the appointments for the baby.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not doing this with you,” she muttered.

“We’re doing this, and you’re going to listen to me.”

“Why? So you can lie and run off and sleep with someone else?” she spat before she jumped out of the car and slammed the door. I got out of the car, pissed, and chased after her.

“I didn’t sleep with anyone in Vegas!” I yelled, following behind her in the building.

“I don’t believe you,” she snapped and tried to close the door in my face.

“What do I have to do?”

How could I tell her I didn’t want her racing anymore? This crash was a wakeup call for me. The guilt I harbored from dealing with Josie and Ronald being jealous of what I had didn’t sit well with me. Arianna thinking me to be a manwhore pissed me off; it showed she didn’t trust me after all this time. We were building something before everything blew up, and now having to work on getting us back into a place of love would take more than she was probably willing to give. Plus, finding out she was pregnant, I didn’t want to add any stress on her and the baby.

“Kash, I need time, okay?” Arianna asked, walking inside the elevator. A few minutes later, we got off in front of her door. She slid the key inside and kicked off her shoes. I took my jacket off and sat on the couch.

“We need to talk.”

“I need space.”

“How are we going to get through this if we don’t talk?” I asked.

“You don’t understand,” Arianna said.

“What don’t I understand?”

“You’re the star, Kash! You have everything handed to you, and I’m just getting started,” she argued.

“I worked my ass off to get here, Arianna. I won’t apologize about that,” I spat back.

She threw her hands up in annoyance.

“Right, and now you want me to step aside and put my dreams on hold?” Arianna stated. I ran a hand down my face, thinking about her question.

“Baby…”

Arianna held her hand up to stop me from talking.

“This baby won’t stop me from driving, neither will the women you flaunt around town. I suggest you figure out how you’re going to deal with both,” Arianna informed me, then walked over to the door and held it open. I stared at her to make sure she was seriously acting like I didn’t believe in her dreams. Grabbing my jacket, I walked over and stood in front of her face, caressing her cheek.

“This is what I want, Arianna, just you. I can’t tell you what the accident did to me; I wanted to kill everyone who had anything to do with hurting you,” I explained.

Arianna sighed and looked up into my eyes.

“I just need a little space,” Arianna said. I kissed her forehead and walked out of her place and over to my penthouse door. Security would probably call about my car not being parked correctly in the morning, but I’d deal with it later.

The next morning, I ate the breakfast Cicely made and waited for Sarai to come over to chew me out for the latest news about me. Right as I sipped my coffee, the doorbell rang, and Cicely walked over to open it. Sarai walked inside and came to sit at the counter next to me and dropped her purse and binder.

---