“Thanks, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you too, bud. Be careful.”
I throw my phone toward the bed and practically sprint to the bathroom counter to pick up the smooth piece of plastic. I’ve never held one of these in my hands before. This little device, one I’ve seen on commercials since I was a kid, changes everything simply by the placement of a line. Two lines, actually. Two lines forming a symbol glaring back at me. My eyes go wide as if I’m in a staring contest. I don’t think I could blink right now if I tried. My heart beats in a way that melts every part of me.Nothing else matters now. Not hockey. Not money. Not anything I’ve worked to achieve in my life.
This? This is all that matters now.
I’m even more determined to doanythingto find her. I will scour every inch of this town, this earth. Even though this started as fake dating, it wasneverfake. Not for me. Not for one minute. She’s always been my real-as-fuck girlfriend. The one person I somehow always knew I could trust. The one person who has seen the real me and accepted me regardless. The one who completes me. The love of my life.
And the woman carrying my child.
64
jordan
Where the fuck could Ursula have taken her? My heart stops. Oh my God, it’s not just her…it’sthem.I have to findtwohumans now.Wait, what if it’s twins? Triplets?!I mean, with my athletic talents, I would not be surprised at all if I had multiple strong swimmers. Holy shit, I’m gonna be a dad. The way I already have baby names ready to go.Okay…calm yourself down.She’s pregnant. That’s all you know. Let’s just focus on finding the woman carrying one or more of your children before naming them all and crying tears of joy.
I open my laptop to track her phone. Surprisingly, her last location shows here, but it also says last tracked an hour ago. I hit the button to ping it, crossing my fingers, but…silence.Fuck.Angelica is smart, the bitch, I’m sure she has it turned off or destroyed.Double bitch.
Think, Jordan. How can we find her? She was being weird on the phone.What did she say?My mind whirls as my stomach churns, trying to replay every word. She said just to go through my pre-game routine. She knows there is no way in hell I’m leaving her kidnapped while I make my pre-game meals and take a nap.Wait…she told me to make my peanut butter and maple sandwich. She knows I hate maple anything, and that mypre-game snack is always the traditional Genovian dessert.Is she talking in code?Fuck, does maple mean something?!
She also said to watch the game tapes like I always do.But…I don’t watch game tapes. She knows I only watch reruns before every game. Why would she tell me to watch game tapes? And study the time on the clock…the fuck? Why would I watch?—
I feel my eyes bug out of my own skull.Her watch.She has her watch on! Holy shit. I pull the laptop up again and search for her watch location. When I see the map, rage surges in my veins once more.You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
I grab my phone and keys and race out the door, hoping I’m not too late.
Parking my car, I send a text to my dad and Ray so they know where I am. They told me to wait. To be smart. They told me, under no circumstances am I to get out of the car and try to find her.Fuck that shit.She’s somewhere in thegoddamn arenaI’m supposed to play in tonight,of course,I’m going to scour every inch of this place until I find her.
She’s here, and there’s no way in hell I’m sitting in my car waiting for backup.
I know this is the part of the movie where someone says this, then something bad happens. But even when that happens, it always works out in the end, right?
Stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind me, I think about texting Jonesy. He used to work security here; maybe he knows some places I wouldn’t think to look. But before I can pull out my phone, I see someone approaching my car in my peripheral vision. My hands shake. Blood pumps through my veins with rage.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Hello Jordan. Always so nice to see you,” Chadd says, his fist hitting my face.
65
kennedy
I’m annoyingly groggy as hell, but it’s a little more manageable. The haze is still there, but I can keep my eyes open for longer.Baby steps.My goal is not only to survive, but to escape. Dammit, I haven’t seen the results on that little stick in my bathroom yet. But the idea that it could be positive? My heart melts at the thought. And my adrenaline kicks in with full force—I’m here to fight. For me, for Jordan, and for the potential of what may be growing inside me.
While Angelica is busy on her phone, I glance around again, trying to get a sense of where the hell we are. It’s like some sort of abandoned warehouse or storage facility. There are paint cans, a broken ladder, and random bricks strewn about on a hard concrete floor, all covered in dust and spider webs. Tall cinderblock walls close us in with no windows—we’re underground.
I look to see if there is anything I could use as a weapon if I get free. This chair is metal, so picking it up and swinging it at her is an option. But first, I need to get out of this zip tie. If it were in front of me, this would be much easier, but right now, my only option is to create friction against the chair and try to snap it. I just have to keep her talking and distracted while I doit. I’d rather be force-fed black licorice than have a conversation with her, but this calls for an act of desperation.
With her distracted and seemingly doom-scrolling, I’m afforded a few precious moments to start my plan. I rub the back of my wrist against the metal on the chair—feeling a slight bit of heat as I do, which is exactly what I need. I’m jolted from my actions as a muffled noise fills the space.Is that a boat horn?Angelica seems unbothered—as if she was expecting it—but she glances my way, giving me a smarmy smirk. My gut churns, and not in the potential morning sickness way.If I don’t get out of here before she gets what she wants, I won’t be getting out of here at all.I shove the panic threatening to rise down as hard as I can. I’ve been in near-death situations before. I’ve come out stronger, wiser, and harder to break.Focus on the plan, Kennedy.
“So, you moved to Milwaukee just to extort money? I came for the beer, cheese, and insane abundance of festivals in the summer.”
Her glare turns angry. “Don’t even try it. You think I didn’t Google ‘tactics to get out of a kidnapping situation’ before I did all this?” She swaps her phone for the knife on the table, running her finger along the side of the blade as she turns it over in her hand. “You’re not going to be able to talk your way out. I’m not an idiot.”
Well, that’s debatable.
“I’m simply making conversation while we’re just sitting here in this dark, musty space. I would never try to talk my way out of this.”
