Their voices were right there as if they were following me, but I kept moving until I reached my car, then I turned around.
Legend, Aria, and Tempo were coming toward me with worried faces. Reek and Saint were right behind them, as if they saw us running and took off to find out what was going on.
“What’s wrong?” Legend demanded.
I tried to speak, but nothing came out. My throat closed. My tongue felt heavy. My hands shook so bad I almost dropped my phone. I stared at them, then looked back at the screen where Rhythm’s location kept moving.
Aria stepped closer. “Sincere, what happened?”
I swallowed hard and forced air into my lungs. “She called me. She didn’t mean to. It sounds like Kodi is with her.”
Tempo’s face changed instantly. “Kodi? Who is that?”
“Her ex. It sounds like he has a gun on her. I heard her telling him to put it down. I heard her asking where he’s taking her.”
Immediately, Legend, Saint, and Reek’s faces hardened. Their eyes went cold and focused, and in that moment, they looked exactly like the killers I knew them to be.
Aria’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my God.”
Legend took one step toward me. “Where she at?”
“I share location with her,” I said, holding up my phone. “It’s live. She’s moving. I’m going to her right now.”
Legend turned into that other version of himself. His eyes went cold as he told me, “C’mon. I’ll drive you.”
23
RHYTHM BROOKS
My hands shook in my lap while Kodi drove with one hand and kept the gun pressed into my side with the other. Meanwhile, the kids sat in the backseat with their headphones on. Kinsley hummed under her breath, distracted by whatever cartoon song was playing. KJ stared out the window.
“Kodi, please,” I begged. “We can talk. We can talk about whatever you’re feeling. Just slow down and let’s pull over.”
“It’s too late for talking,” he barked with his eyes hard on the road. “You had months to talk to me.”
“Kodi—”
“Nah, don’t start that sweet shit now. You only want to talk because you’re scared.”
I swallowed, trying to keep my tears under control. “Iamscared. Because you’re doing too much with the kids in the car.”
He laughed psychotically. “Good. Now you know what it feels like.”
“What it feels like to do what?” my voice shook.
“To lose,” he said. “To feel everything slipping away from you and can’t stop it.”
I looked at his face from the side, and it scared me more than the gun did. He looked different than he had just months ago. His cheeks looked hollow. His eyes looked sunk in. He looked emotionally sick, the way most people do while going through a crippling heartbreak. But Kodi wasn’t heartbroken. He was jealous and his ego had been bruised. He was operating from fear that another man had what he fumbled and could not get back. That kind of fear was the most violent because it was the most desperate to win.
“Kodi, we can —” He pressed the gun harder into my side, making me wince.
“Shut the fuck up.”
My throat closed. I stared ahead and forced myself not to look back at the kids. I didn’t want them to see the fear in my eyes.
The streets blurred past us. Lights went by in a blink because of how fast he was driving.
Then a black truck slid up in the lane next to us. It matched our speed and held it, so my eyes went to the tinted windows first. Then the window on the passenger’s side rolled down.
