WILD RIDE (Rafe Cameron x OC) *COMPLETE*

Chapter Seventy (Alana)

CHAPTER SEVENTY

Alana

Two days later

John B had me stay put while he broke Dad out of the house where Singh was keeping him. I didn't see Singh. I didn't hear him either. But I heard Dad insulting someone in that house in only the way that Dad would insult someone.

When he got Dad out he shared with him all the maps and translations that Dad would need to unlock the key to El Dorado. We've made it this far... This far and I just want to turn back and bring Dad home. Fuck the gold. He can take my share of the cross money if that's what he wants. If he wants fame I can't give him that but I can give him enough to live comfortably off of.

I just want my Dad back.

I was wrong for not forgiving him. Wrong for not wanting to make things right when he literally came back from the dead. Maybe I should have been a better daughter all those years. Maybe I should have helped him the way John B always did and just then I would have gotten the love from him that I deserved.

Everything's quiet between me and Dad until we make it to the boat to bring us upstream. Ward joins with us and he's the only one besides Sarah who's talking to me. But Sarah won't talk to Ward. Ward won't talk to my Dad. Dad won't talk to me. John B won't talk to Ward or myself. And Sarah won't talk to John B either unless it's important.

"Listen... Singh is dangerous and you're all in over your heads." Ward says while we're trying to exit the market area where Sarah and John B sighted him. They forced me onto the boat so quickly I didn't even have time to go in my bag for the gun.

But a market full of people isn't the best place for me to shoot down Carlos Singh. This is personal. This is between me and him and I don't even think he knows it. I want him to know it. I want him to know that every night I still have nightmares and that I'm still trying to recover from what he did to me there. How he kept me locked in that room and he's so lucky I was in there with Rafe.

I sit on the floor of the boat and stretch my legs out, leaning back against my backpack and groaning as my spine feels tighter than ever before. John B looks at me and then looks away. Dad gives me a somewhat glare before he finally speaks.

"Still got that condition, huh?"

Ward shoots him a death glare. "Is that really how you talk to your daughter? I mean seriously? You're acting like she's having chronic back pain."

"Maybe she wouldn't have fallen under these circumstances if your son kept his dick in his hundred-dollar shorts and didn't prey on vulnerable girls." Dad barks back.

"They did a two-person tango, John. Neither one of them is at a higher blame than the other." Ward defends me and I just look away out the side of the boat. "Babies are a blessing. I've had a lot of time to think about it and... I don't think I really accepted it the way I should have. Rose sort of opened my mind to it."

"She never texted me back." I say looking away still. "I thought of all people that Rose would hop on the first flight to come and be with me. And if not that then at least call or text.. She ignores me."

"Rose has been busy." Ward tells me. "She's got Wheezie and she's trying to restart the business since Rafe took over the one we had in Kildare. You know... The one he's laundering money with. Yes, I know all about it, Alana. No need to seem shocked. Rafe told me everything."

"And that's how you raised your son? And you don't think he's a bad influence? Alana was a good girl. School and work. That's all she ever knew." Dad scoffs. "She meets your son and now look at her. Just like Julia."

My head snaps toward him and I feel my lip quivering. Coming here was a mistake... Wanting to save him was a mistake... "And who put Julia in that position? Not once but twice?" I say to Dad. "She didn't tango on her own."

The boat is filled with silence for a moment. "I just hoped you'd have been more like John B. Keep to your ambitions instead of throwing them away."

"I'll never be John B." I tell him. "I'll never be John B. I'll never be Julia. I'll never be anyone but myself, why can't you accept me for who I am? I still work. I- I paused school but... But I'm going to start again once I have the baby. Rafe is going to help me with all of that. He wants to go back to school too. And we have Tannyhill and I think.. I think we're doing okay. I mean, Rafe is trying.. He's really trying to fix his relationships with everyone but that's why he has me. Because I help with that. His main concern isn't even me right now. He's worried about Ward and Sarah. Not me and.. Well we were calling her Little Rafe but.. I don't know now."

Sarah reaches her hand over to me. I hold it tightly and she nods to me before climbing off the bench she was sitting on and sitting down onto the floor of the boat with me. Resting her head on my shoulder.

"I won't hold my breath to any of that." Dad says and my heart shatters. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"I will never be good enough for you." I look in his eyes. "I will never be enough because I'm not John B-"

"Because you look exactly like your mother." Dad growls at me. "You look like her. You act like her. You are her."

"John, she's not Julia-"

"No? She's not? Look at her Ward. You knew Julia too. Julia was your first girlfriend back in middle school!" Dad's shout echoed off the water. Ward kept his back straight and didn't fold once. He held eye contact and didn't even flinch. "Julia left because she couldn't handle having kids while I was working to find the gold. She said she'd come back if I could prove to her that it was real and all of this was worth it. She'd come back home to me and the kids. Giving up the gold meant giving up on Julia. I need to find the gold... I need to find it and she'll come home."

I fight back tears. "So she can come back and be just as disappointed as you are? Is that it? What if she's moved on with her life? What if she's got a new husband and... What if he happens to be a dentist in Charleston..."

"Limbrey told you?" Dad blinks at me.

"Did you-"

"Yeah." He nods. "I knew. I knew for a while that she was up there. Your grandmother, Margaret Lewis, came down to see me when you kids were small. Do you remember her? She gave you that tea set."

"No. That was from your mom-"

"No." He shakes his head. "I told you she was my mom so you'd stop asking when your mommy was coming home. Marge came and told me that Julia was moving on in life and for me to stop searching for her. She was with Marge in Charleston and that was all I needed to know. I promised Marge that I'd find the gold so Julia could come back home. I have a lot on the line here, kid. I won't let anyone blow it."

"So all of this... All of this is to prove a point to Mom? To try to win her back? All these years you could have just gave up and focuses on me and John B but you didn't? How could you do that? How could you seriously just think of yourself and your own happiness instead of your kids? You actually abandoned us multiple times! Just to prove a point to a woman who left you for a dentist!"

"Enough... Please. I can't listen to this back-and-forth shit anymore!" John B says. "Make up already. Alana, you're pissed that Dad stole your shoebox money. Dad you're pissed that Alana reminds you of Mom. Apologize and let's move the fuck on."

"I'll apologize." I cross my arms and stare at Dad. "You first though."

He rolls his eyes. "Sorry, Flower. I'm so sorry that you think I didn't do enough for you and Bird when I did everything I could."

I scoff. "And I'm sorry that I'd rather be a Cameron than a Routledge. I'm sorry that maybe now I see why Mom left. I've only been around you hours and I find you absolutely insufferable."

"Truce?" He says reaching a hand to me.

"Truce." I reach back and rolls my eyes. "I just hope you're better to your granddaughter than you are to me."

"Hear that Ward... We share a grandkid now." Ward isn't amused. He simply looks to me and Sarah with a look of sorrow.