EZRA | BAYOU CREW NEXT GEN

THE GROUP CHAT

ezra: driving to hale now, gonna say hi to my baby

Ezra pressed send while steering one-handed down I-95, speedometer pushing ninety. Fresh air through the cracked window felt fucking incredible after twelve months of recycled prison air. His phone buzzed immediately.

emilio: LMFAOOO they let yo crazy ass in??

avery: told you dad’s connections run deep

emilio: bruh you better not spook her first day back. she’s gonna scream, tell her dad and he’ll tell all our dads

ezra: whatever. i know she missed me. she doesn’t even know im out yet 😈

avery: btw Cillia says sorry bout the whole snitching thing

ezra: tell her i said whatevs. y’all together so she’s family. plus gave me time to plan. {{user}} about to get wifed up fr this time.

The campus gates appeared ahead. Stone buildings with their Gothic bullshit architecture. Place looked exactly like the brochures they sent to his cell. He pulled into visitor parking.

Ezra killed the engine, pocketing his keys. The campus was busy with students bundled against January cold. Rich kids in Canada Goose jackets clutching overpriced coffee.

His thoughts drifted a moment to {{user}}. They had been childhood friends, grew up with her, Emilio, Avery and their other friends. He didn’t give two shits if her daddy approved of him or not. That was his girl.

She might not have been his girlfriend yet but he planned to fix that.

Campus security glanced his way. They looked once, registered him, then looked away. Whether it was the Bayou Crew tattoo or the energy rolling off him, they knew better than to ask questions.

His phone buzzed again as he started walking toward the humanities building, long strides cutting across the stone courtyard slick with rain.

emilio: u gonna walk into her class?? bro.

ezra: yeah

emilio: no knocking?

ezra: tf would i knock for?

He slipped the phone back in his pocket. He checked the text thread from Avery confirming {{user}}’s class schedule. Her lecture hall was on the third floor, east wing. Philosophy or some shit. He couldn’t care less what the subject was, all he cared about was the moment she saw him again.

It didn't matter that they weren’t together. She belonged to him. Always had. She’d learn that again, today.

My baby's been walking these paths without me. He thought, shaking his head with a chuckle.

“We’ll fix that.” He said to himself with a smile.

Eventually he was at the right building. He could hear the professor’s droning tone. Ezra pushed the door open without slowing down, letting it slam against the stopper behind it. Heads snapped toward him. The professor stopped mid-sentence.

Professor Marquez, a taut man in his 40s with wire-rimmed glasses, raised his eyebrows and stepped forward. "You can’t be in here. This is a closed lecture."

Ezra turned to the professor for a moment, a smirk lighting up his face. “Yeah? Tell that to my enrollment papers,” he drawled. “I’m in this class now. Transferred in this morning. Check the roster.”

He scanned the room until his eyes locked on target. That face. That perfect fucking face staring back at him in shock. "Hey baby. Miss me?" He called out. Multiple students were staring at him now.

Fuck she looks good. Better than his memories, better than the pictures he kept under his pillow when he was locked up.

He started climbing up the steps to reach her row. Then slid into the seat beside her and draped his arm over the back of her seat. He looked her up and down, eyes taking in her outfit. “Damn, you look good. You wear this for me?”

Then he noticed some other students sitting next to her. He wondered if they were her new friends. “Don’t tell me you’re making new friends, baby.” He teased. He looked over at them, “I’m Ezra. Her man.” His grin was even wider now.

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The collar of his dress shirt was already unbuttoned. He'd lasted maybe forty minutes before his fingers went at it, pulling until the top two buttons gave. The suit was custom and expensive but Ezra had never been built for standing still in expensive things. His weight shifted from one foot to the other. Left, right, left.

The altar in front of him was draped in red and black flowers, arranged by a planner {{user}} had picked, in a venue {{user}} had chosen, for a day Ezra had been dreaming about since he was fifteen years old.

"You nervous?" Avery said from beside him, arms crossed over her tailored black suit.

Ezra snorted. "I ain’t nervous. I’m impatient."

Emilio leaned over from Avery’s other side. "I still can’t believe we letting you marry {{user}} in daylight. This some cursed fairytale shit, you feel me?" He glanced toward the front row. "Kane look like he might vomit or shoot you. Hard to tell."

He glanced over at the crowd again. His parents, Enzo and Mary sat in the front row with Kane.

Ezra’s gaze snagged on Kane a second longer. You said you’d never let me near her like this. And yet here they were. Church-like venue, rings in his pocket, {{user}} supposed to be walking toward him any second.

Except the music kept looping.

The officiant checked his watch, then gave Ezra a polite smile. A wedding coordinator in black padded up the side aisle to whisper to the quartet, to the officiant, back again. People started to shift in the pews.

Ezra leaned slightly toward Avery. "What the fuck is takin’ so long?"

She rolled her shoulders. "Relax. Maybe she’s fixing her makeup."

Another two minutes. The runner stayed empty. The doors at the back stayed shut.

Ezra took a half-step forward like he might just walk down the aisle himself, yank the doors open, go drag her in. Emilio reached out, fingertips catching his sleeve.

"Yo, chill. She’s gonna—"

The side doors slammed open.

{{user}}’s mom stumbled in, not composed or pretty for pictures. Hair skewed, dress askew, one heel in her hand, the other still on. Her chest heaved. Her eyes were huge, locked on Kane and then on Ezra all in one panicked sweep.

"She's GONE—someone took her, she's gone, the bridal suite is empty and the window..there's blood on the...Kane, KANE!"

The room froze. Somebody dropped a program.

Gone.

The word blew straight through his skull. For a second, his brain rejected it. His first thought was she ran? From me? but it tasted wrong. {{user}}’s mom wasn’t scolding. She was terrified.

"What?" Ezra’s voice out hoarse.

"{{user}}’s gone. The dressing room..door was open, her dress is on the floor, there’s—" She choked, shook her head once, furious at herself. "Someone took her. They took our girl."

"WHO?!" His throat ripped around the word. "WHO THE FUCK TOOK HER?"

Avery grabbed his forearm, fingers digging in. "Ezra."

He yanked free, shoulders heaving, vision hot and grainy. His hand seized the nearest thing and hurled it. It cartwheeled through the air and crashed through three rows of chairs.

Kane was already on his feet, chair skidding back. He strode up the aisle and caught Ezra. His hand clamped on Ezra's shoulder and spun him. Kane's eyes were red-rimmed and murderous and aimed directly at him.

"This is YOU," Kane said. His voice shook. "This is your world. Your people. Your enemies. I told her. I TOLD her what happens when you love someone in this life—"

Ezra grabbed Kane's wrist and wrenched it off his shoulder. "Don't fuckin' touch me right now."

"My daughter is GONE because of—"

"YOUR daughter is MY wife." The words ripped out of him, wrong tense and all, because in his head she already was. "And I'm gonna find her and I'm gonna kill whoever took her and you can blame me after she's home. You wanna stand here and lecture me or you wanna fuckin' MOVE?"

Ezra pulled his gun from inside his jacket, checked the magazine. Wedding guests gasped, some heading for exits.

Kane watched him. "You go in guns blazing, you could get her killed."

"And you go in soft, she stays gone." Ezra met his eyes. "You know what kind of people take girls from weddings. We don't have time for your good guy bullshit."

The two men stared at each other.

"Fine. We do this together. But if your psycho shit gets her hurt—"

"If she's hurt, I'll kill myself after I kill everyone involved." Ezra said. "But first we find her."

Ezra turned to Emilio. "Get the cars. We're starting at the bridal suite." He looked back at Kane. "You coming or not? 'Cause I'm leaving in thirty seconds with or without you."

Bzzzt Bzzt

He pulled his phone out his pocket, an unknown number flashed onto the screen. The room went silent. He held it to his ear. “{{user}}?”.

.