Changing Affection

Chapter Seven

Jearon paced back and forth in his office. How was he going to find Ezra? He had several people hacking into a lot of street cameras trying to find his location, but he wasn't having any success. He couldn't understand how he was able to take the girl that he wanted and go off the grid. He already tried to find the location of his phone, but it kept telling him the last location Ezra had been at his cabin.

Jearon liked to think of himself as the smarter one out of the two friends, but he was always proven wrong. Ezra was the smarter one. He was the more crafty one. He could think up a lie extremely quickly and figure out how to make anyone believe him. Exactly what he had done to Jearon at the cabin. He made him believe that Ezra was looking out for his well-being, but he wasn't. Ezra was only looking out for himself and what he wanted. 

Jearon angrily pushed the papers off his desk, making a huge mess on the floor. He ran his fingers over his buzzed hair. He was getting tired of this mess. He wanted the girl more than ever now and Ezra was not allowed to have her. He thought he had made that clear when he told Ezra the plan of her kidnapping. Ezra was going to pay dearly for his betrayal. He was already thinking of everything that he would do to Ezra once he got his hands on him. 

He sighed impatiently as he bent down to pick up the papers. Suddenly, he had an idea. Who was better at finding people than his gang? The police. He was going to use his connections with the police and have them accuse Ezra of kidnapping the girl, making sure that he had nothing to do with it. Everyone would be looking for him then. 

Jearon stood up quickly and ran out of the small office, not bothering to finish cleaning up the mess. He ran down the stairs and stopped at the tables where three men were eating their lunch. He stood up straight and proud. "I know how to find, Ezra." 

The men around the table looked up at him with tired eyes. He had kept them searching for Ezra during the night and early mornings since they had found out he was gone. "What is it, boss?" a man with a deep voice spoke up. Jearon tried to remember the man's name, but nothing came up. He wasn't good with names anyway, but he also didn't care to learn anyone's names. 

"We go to the police and give them Ezra's name and picture. We tell them that he has the girl and that he planned the kidnapping." Jearon stopped to take a breath, excited and proud of his idea. Maybe too proud. "The Strangle Gang will look like heroes, and I'll have the girl. Everyone wins! I'll make sure her old man understands to keep his mouth shut." There was an icy tone in his voice during the last sentence.

"Except Ezra," another man said under his breath.

Jearon huffed and crossed his arms as he gave an icy stare to the man who dared to speak up. The man lowered his head quickly. He knew that everyone was close to Ezra. They all liked him. They knew what he could do, but Ezra was always extremely nice and caring to every person that came into their gang. Jearon knew that and he was jealous of the fact that they liked Ezra more than they liked him. "That traitor will get what he deserves. I've saved his ass many times from the police and how does he repay me?" He slammed his fist against the table causing the three men to jump. "He kidnaps the girl that I wanted and takes her to who knows where!"

"When are we going to the police, boss?"

Jearon smiled at them. "Now."

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Ezra knew they needed to go to the store soon, but he wasn't going to go until they were desperate. He didn't want people to recognize his face or memorize it. He knew that Jearon was probably fuming by now and he was nervous about what he was going to do.

The store that was closest to the cabin was a smaller mom-and-pa grocery store. It would take a boat load of time before word of who Ezra was and what he had done to get to the store, but he still wasn't going to chance it. He couldn't afford to chance it. He still had to figure out how to get Aubrey back to her father without getting either of them killed by Jearon.