Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“Whenever we get to Green Springs, the three of you can go off together and leave me alone and I’ll just do my own thing. But until then, please refrain from talking about me like I’m not sitting here. Now, if you’d kindly, unlock the windows please, Brianna, so I can roll mine down because the smoke is making me sick, otherwise, I’m going to throw up all over the back seat.”
No one spoke for several moments until Briana kissed her teeth. “You’re so damn sensitive. That’s why we never want to hang out with you. We were only joking.” She tapped the button on the side panel of her door.
“What part was supposed to be funny?” Kaliah challenged.
“See, I told you, she’d pull a stunt like this,” Nicole chimed in.
Kaliah glared at her seatmate. “Pull what kind of stunt? You mean standing up for myself? You know, Nicole, you’ve had a lot to say since this trip started but you haven’t said anything directly to me. I’m sitting right here.”
Nicole folded her arms across her chest, turned her body away from Kaliah and stared pointedly out the window as if she couldn’t be bothered to respond. She had always been the one the friend group who had the most to say but whenever anyone called her out, she went silent. All bark and no bite.
“Ugh, I can’t wait to get out of this damn, car,” Sasha groaned and took another puff from her joint before handing it to Brianna.
Clearly none of them were willing to apologize or even address her concerns, so Kaliah had no choice but to let it go. At least the window was now unlocked.
She inhaled deeply once the cool, fresh air flowed into the car.
This was supposed to be a nice vacation to the Tennessee Mountains in a nice cabin over-looking a scenic view of the forest. It was just outside of the city where there would be a lot of activities and an annual Halloween festival that usually drew people from all over the country.
They rode in silence for several more miles. Kaliah pulled out her phone and noticed there was still no signal. It was odd that they’d been in a dead zone for so long. It was starting to get dark and there didn’t seem to be any signs that indicated upcoming rest stops or gas stations. The road was surrounded by woods one either side of them and it seemed unending.
“Fuck!” Brianna slammed her hand against the wheel.
“What’s the matter?” Sasha asked, rolling down her window briefly to toss out the remainder of her joint.
“The fucking check engine light just came on. And do you hear that? The engine sounds funny.”
“The engine always sounds funny,” Nicole snorted. “I told you, you should have rented a car instead of packing us in the hunk of junk.”
“Yeah, with what extra money? Your cheap ass didn’t want to contribute to a rental and my baby was running just fine before we left,” Brianna responded.
“And now it isn’t. We’re not going to make it to Green Springs tonight. We’ll have to find a cheap motel and in the morning figure out what to do about this car situation,” Sasha reasoned.
“With what money? I didn’t budget to spend extra money on a hotel. We may have to sleep in the car tonight unless one of you can cover me.”
Nicole scoffed. “You always want someone to spot your broke ass, Brianna.”
The car swerved slightly before Brianna straightened it out. “Bitch, you were the one crying broke last month at brunch because you had to pay your boyfriend’s child support to keep him out of jail. We all had to cover the tab even though you were ordering stuff off the menu you couldn’t pronounce. I don’t even know why you’re with that bum in the first place.”
“At least my man isn’t fucking my best friend who’s been smiling in my face this entire trip.”
Kaliah’s mouth fell open.
The smirk of evil satisfaction on Nicole’s face told Kaliah that Nicole had been holding that bit of news for a moment like this.
How had she considered any of these women her friends? People who clearly didn’t like her. Hell, they didn’t even seem to like each other.
Once again the car went deathly silent as realization dawned on the other occupants of the vehicle exactly what Nicole meant.
Sasha flipped her an errant strand of her long hair over her shoulder and released a nervous laugh. “Nicole, you’re always running your mouth about stuff you don’t know anything about.”
“What the hell is she talking about, Sasha?” Brianna demanded.
“I have no idea. You know Nicole likes to make shit up.”
“Was I making shit up when you told me you’ve been fucking Damon for the past three months and you felt bad for going behind Bri’s back? But you can’t stop because the dick game is sensational. In fact you let him hit raw and I took you to the drug store to get three pregnancy tests when you were late. I recorded one of our conversations by the way.” The smug smirk returned to Nicole’s full lips.