“Jordan! I’m…” My voice cracks, “I’m okay.”
“Baby, I’m coming to find you. Where are you?”
“Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast. Before I drop you a pin for where we are, I’m going to need proof of a nice little deposit.”
“Don’t give her money!” I shout before she can pull it away from me. “I can take care of myself.”
“Kenni, no…” He says, voice laced with worry. “I can’t…fuck, I can’t lose you.”
Tears threaten to spill down my cheeks, but I take a deep breath and force them back. This whole ordeal is worse than when I accidentally bought a fall-scented candle, and it made my house smell like maple syr—oh my God. My jaw falls open, my eyes finally opening wider.That’s it.“Jordan, don’t give in to her demands. I’ll be fine. Just…go on with your day game routine; make your peanut butter and maple bacon sandwich and watch your game tapes. Watch them and study the time on the clock, just like you always do.”
“What? Kennedy, I don’t?—”
“Pretty-boy,listen to me. Watchyour game tapes.And, whatever you do, don’t wire her the money.”
“Shut the fuck up, Blondie,” she snaps. “As for you, Jordan, contrary to what your latest fling of the week says over there, you cannot get out of this. Neither can she. You have one hour. Ten million in the account I’m about to text to you, then I’ll send you a pin of where your precious little pilot is.”
“Angelica, don’t do th—” she ends the call before he can finish, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
Shit.Please don’t let him wire her the money. If he does, this will never end. I push every ounce of my energy into willing him to find me. He’ll do anything to protect me. Hepromisedhe’d never let me go. I wiggle my wrists behind me, making sure I can get my hands free when the time is right. My gut screams at me like a siren—even if he gives into her demands, she won’t keep her end of the bargain.
63
jordan
Go on with my game day routine?! Fuck. That. Kennedy’s got to be fucking kidding me, telling me not to come and look for her. I don’t care if she fell in a goddamn volcano—I’m jumping in after her.
I pace around the apartment, eerily reminded of when I was pacing outside her hotel door before our first date. That same panic flutters in my gut, but this time it’s accompanied by pure dread. Where the fuck could she be? Is Angelica going to hurt her?
“FUCK!” I pound my fist against the kitchen counter.
Stay calm, Jordan.I call the one person who always helps me in these types of situations, as I nearly wear a hole in this floor walking back and forth.Who cares…I’ll replace it. I can replace floors, windows, phones, and cars. A sharp pain nearly sends me to my knees—what I can’t replace isher.
“Jordan? What’s up, bud? You never call me before a game; it’s bad luck.”
“Dad. Fuck my routine. It’s an emergency. I don’t care if I never touch the Cup outside of a museum in Toronto. It’s…it’s Kennedy.”
“What? What about her? What’s going on, son?”
“Angelica,” I say, nearly vomiting from speaking her name. “She has Kennedy. She’s asking for ten million in the next hour or…or…fuck,I don’t even know what she’s going to do, but it doesn’t sound good.”
“Angelica?! What?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I didn’t…” My voice cracks. “I didn’t know, Dad. I don’t know what’s happening, but I can’t lose her. I can’t. I’m afraid that even when I find her…You know she’s crazy. I don’t know what she’ll do.”
“It’s okay, JJ. Calm down. Have you called Ray yet?”
“Can you call him? I’m going to see if I can find any signs here of what happened. I left to go to morning skate, and as soon as I got back, I got a call from fucking Cruella demanding money,” I mutter, making my way around the house, back to the bedroom where we woke up and enjoyed each other only a couple hours ago.
“Does anything look off?” he calmly asks. God bless him, he’s trying to keep me calm.I’m not sure it’s helping.
I scan the room, letting my dad know what I see. “The bed’s made, which she usually does. Her sneakers are gone, so she must have gotten dressed to go somewhere. Let me check the bathroom. Maybe she didn’t get…” I freeze. Paralyzed, I swallow the lump in my throat as my eyes catch on something on the counter. Something very out of place. My heart pounds, a spark of fear and excitement coursing through me.
“…dan? Jordan…are you still there?”
“Yeah…yeah, I-I’m here. Hey Dad? I’ll call you back. I’m, um…I’m gonna see if I can ping her phone to see if it’s here. You’ll call Ray?”
“Will do. Jordan? Don’t do anything to put yourself in danger.”
