Page 108 of Finding a Melody

He grabbed my arm and yanked me with him as he marched right toward a tall, Black man who was talking with another man in a police uniform.

“Davies?” Toby called out. “What is going on?”

Davies looked at us, his eyes widened slightly before he controlled his expression and smoothed it out. He whispered something to the police officer and then came over.

“Toby. Paxon. Is practice over?” he asked.

“Yeah. What’s going on?” Toby asked.

I glanced around some more as they talked until my gaze landed on Cadence’s familiar maroon Impala. “Where’s Cadence?” I asked, finally turning back to Davies. She should have left by now. She was going to miss her appointment.

He grimaced. “That’s what we’re looking into.”

“What do you mean?” Toby asked in a harder voice.

“The Ryders acted faster than we thought. Frankly, we were only a couple days out from making our arrest on the whole gang. My team was going to watch over her until all the arrests were made, but they decided to act sooner than we thought after their failed attempt on Sunday.”

“Where is Cadence?” I bit out each word as my stomach twisted hard and nausea built up inside of me. I was going to throw up. I knew it. I could already feel my lunch coming back up.

“They got her. When she was walking out to her car, they took her.”

I coughed as my stomach clenched, and there was no holding back. I bent over and threw up all over my sneakers.

Cadence was abducted. Here, at school. In broad daylight.

And what was I doing? Probably just messing around out on the field like an idiot, oblivious to what was happening to her not that far away.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Fear was choking on the cloth shoved into my mouth.

Fear was tears burning my eyes as I tried to breathe through my nose.

It was feeling the ropes tightly around my wrists.

It was my heart beating so hard my chest hurt.

I was choking, dying, suffocating. So much fear coursed through me that I thought I was going to drown. This was past panic. This was beyond any emotion I felt before. Every bump, every sound, every time they whispered only sent me closer and closer to the edge of hysteria.

Needing to do something, anything really, I tried to sit up. Harsh hands grabbed my shoulder and shoved me back down. They didn’t say anything, but they didn’t need to. Their bruising touch was enough as a warning.

Stay down. Stay still.

I whimpered, the sound of my chaotic breathing only making it worse as I tried to draw in air. Having my mouth gagged, sight taken away, hands bound left me feeling completely defenseless. They could do anything to me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop them.

The turns weren’t gentle as I rolled around, nearly falling off the seat each time. The stops were the same, jerking me forward.

What was I going to do? What could I do? Did I kick out and try to break the window? Or would they only hurt me for it.

The twists and turns of their driving quickly grew nauseating. I wasn’t sure how long passed, I just knew my hands were cramping, my arms sore, and my whole body felt stiff and uncomfortable. It was also long enough for me to have sane thoughts again as I thought about my situation. The fear was still there, nearly crippling, but at least I could think. And breathe. Breathing was important.

For a time, I had to focus on it, to remind myself to draw in a full breath and let it out through my nose. That helped to calm my chaotic thoughts too.

I never thought I’d be abducted. That something like this just wouldn’t happen to me. It was too surreal, too ridiculous. What did they want with me? Why were they doing this to me? I didn’t understand. There was so much I didn’t know.

Yet, now, I had to face the very real thought that I wasn’t going to come through unscathed.

That thought settled deep within me.