WILD RIDE (Rafe Cameron x OC) *COMPLETE*

Chapter Forty-Four (Alana)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Alana

One Week Later

Rose and I have spent all morning going through every piece of paper work and every file on Ward's computer looking for anything for the accounts to the bank where the gold went. Nothing. There's absolutely nothing.

I took a break from going through the stack of papers that were causing my eyes to burn from staring at the same words over and over again. To the point none of the words felt real anymore.

I went into the kitchen to grab something to eat, when I came back into the dining room Rose's makeup was smeared and her hands were shaking from aggravation. My stomach was killing me from doing this for hours without anything to eat or drink. I quickly ate an apple with peanut butter and Rafe walked in the room and looked at me funny.

"What's all this?"

"A snack." I said.

"I meant the papers." He picked them up and flipped through them. He looks to what Rose is doing on the computer and watches as she scrolls and clicks different files. "Something missing?"

"Yes." Rose and I say in unison.

"The gold." I look at my husband. "No record of it anywhere. No bank name, no account numbers, no name for the account. Nothing. We're screwed."

"There's got to be something..." Rafe says.

"We've been up since five this morning searching. We've looked fucking everywhere." Rose sighs and puts her hands into her hair. Stopping herself from crying more than she had been.

I took another slice of the apple and popped it into my mouth and held it there for a moment. Rose turned to look at me and made a face of concern. "Alana... You okay?"

I get up slowly and step back into the kitchen. Giving her a thumbs up before I ended up spitting the apple out into the trash. I bit right into a piece that was bruised and realizing it made me so nauseous. I poured myself a glass of water and tried to sip slowly until I couldn't hold it back anymore. I threw up in the trash can but I had been running the sink water to drown out the sound of it.

I rinse my mouth and shut the sink off, walking back to the dining room where Rafe is pacing and arguing with Rose about the accounts and the gold being missing. Meaning Ward never officially set it all up with the bank somehow and now there's no gold. No half a billion. Nothing.

"What the fuck do you mean Cameron Development in is debt?! How the fuck do we own 1.7 Million!?" Rafe starts seething. "Who let this shit get so far deep into a hole?"

"It just happened." Rose tries to calm him down. "We need the gold, Rafe. We need to find it or in a month we are absolutely fucked. We will have to sell everything and then there's no inheritance for any of you kids. Nothing."

Rafe is burning with rage and I take a step toward him but Rose puts her arm out. "Alana... Don't." She warns me.

"Rafe," I call out his name. "Look at me. Look at me and breathe."

He doesn't. Instead he screamed "FUUUUUUCK" at the top of his lungs and turns and punches a hole right into the wall. The wall paper peeling and dry wall coating the floor. Rafe grunts more and walks off while shaking his fist.

Rose and I stand there dumbfounded by him.

"Well that could've gone worse." I say with a shrug. "I'll talk to him. Or... I'll try."

-

Rafe locked the bedroom door for hours. He wasn't doing anything wrong he was just... Sleeping. I had unlocked the door at one point and found him in bed, curled up with my teddy bear that I'd had since I was a kid. John B won it at a fair when we were kids and it's always been my comfort. Rafe was snoring and the pillow was soaked with his tears. I kissed his face that was damp from crying and pulled the blanket over him before walking back out of the room and locking it again.

I sat in the living room watching Grey's Anatomy when I heard Rafe getting up and going downstairs.

I followed him and saw him hovering over a line of coke. He did it and was muttering to himself that it was just this once. He just needed one..

"That's not going to change anything for the better. It's only going to make things worse." Rafe looks up at me and just blinks. "You have a problem, Rafe... I only want to help you."

"Help me? Help me- you've been lying to me. You and Rose know where the gold is and you're both lying. I know you are. This bullshit about you not being able to find it? Why else would Rose involve you-"

"Because having two sets of eyes looking for it is better than one person who's just lost her husband... Her fucking world is coming down around her and she has to deal with this kind of shit. You're being paranoid, Rafe. No one is hiding anything from you."

"You are though." He stands up and gets close to me. "Why didn't you tell me about you hanging out with JJ? You snuck out... I knew you weren't running errands when you sent me that picture and I could see Sarah in the fucking mirror! You lied to me. After you said we'd never lie. It's in our vows, no lies. Honesty always. What kind of wife does that?"

I snatch the bag of the coke away from him and he goes to snatch it back when I hold it tightly. "Don't you dare lay a finger on me, Rafe Cameron. Or it will be the last time you have all your fingers."

"Alana, please-"

"Enjoy the high you're on right now. It'll be the last one you ever have." I tuck the bag between my breasts.

Rafe scoffs. "You think I won't reach right on in there?" He towers over my body. "You think I'm scared to touch any inch of your flesh? As if I haven't had every centimeter of you in my mouth before? Yeah... You know that's true. That's why you're looking at me like that. Like you want me to ravish on you right here. Right now."

"I don't." I argue. "I want you to get clean. Like you promised your Dad that you would. So how about you own up to that promise. You begged for help and this is me helping you."

He pauses and takes in a deep breath. "Let me finish this bag and I promise-"

"No, because then you'll go to Barry and buy another and say that'll be your last bag. It'll be never ending if I don't cut it off from you right here right now. I'm your wife so you best listen to me or so help me, Rafe, I will walk out that door and never look back."

"Don't leave me." His voice was pleading. "Alana I don't beg for anything but I am begging you please do not leave me."

I nod at him with cold eyes. "Stop giving me all the reasons to leave and start giving me all the reasons to stay."

Rafe is silent and the sound of pounding on the door upstairs echoes through the house. We go upstairs to answer the door and a woman is standing there. I recognize the woman as the one who fucked with Pope and her brother, shrimpy.

"Fuck." I mutter under my breath.

The woman steps in with her crutches and looks right at my husband. "Hi, you must be Rafe. My... You look so much like your father." She turns to look at me. "Ah, Alana Routledge. Goodness you are Big John's girl alright. Look at that hair."

I touch the ends of my hair and swallow. Rafe gives the woman a confused glare.

"Who the fuck-"

"I'm Carla Limbrey. And I'd like to see the island room." She says proudly. Her gaze landing back on me with a smile. "How's your friend? Pope? Is he doing okay? Hope I didn't shake him up too much. I just wish he would have given me everything I'd asked for from the start."

I chew my lip and don't say anything. Anxiety pools inside my body and starts to overflow through my veins and brings my mind to a blur. Words escape me. This woman has now intruded my safe place. Rafe grabs my hand and I can feel the sweat pooling in palm. He's my safety.