Aching to Exhale (24 page)

Why had Raul pushed her to face her father alone? Did he hope she'd change her mind and leave him? He'd already sent her away once, and he swore he'd never do it again.

Then her father appeared across from her in the room. His smile sold itself, but the coldness of his gaze was out for blood. She thought of her dad's betrayal, Raul's broken promise never to leave her, her mother's death, and suddenly it didn't matter if all these people knew she was the long lost resurrected daughter of the famous Pastor Donaldson.

She wanted the world to know about the life and times of the wayward child who never fit in or found support from the people who were supposed to love her, and she'd found her own way in life despite the hardships along the way. Because no matter what happened after today, if anyone from Los Li killed her, her father publically disowned her, or Raul tried to change his mind, she was a survivor, because she always managed to save herself in the end.

"Welcome to my home." Her father sat across from her, smiling at the camera. "You'll have to excuse the emotions in my voice and my lack of words in describing how it feels to find out today that my daughter, the daughter my deceased wife and I believed was killed for the last decade and a half, is really alive."

Shuffling noise came around the room as camera lens zoomed up on the two of them, and recorders came out of pockets. Crystal folded her hands, looking down at the veins on the back, the long, slender slope of her fingers, once again reminded of her mother's hands. The grace, the patience, the calmness her mother portrayed to the public was replicated in herself. She lifted her chin and stared at the closest camera.

"My father doesn't even know how I've lived since the night I was kicked out of my own home at seventeen years old." She paused to get everyone's attention. Going by the deadpan looks, the held breaths, she'd succeeded at shocking them. "I never claimed to be a perfect child, but I was human. Like all kids, I pushed my parents' boundaries. I experimented friending all kinds of people, trying to find a place to fit in and belong. Some of those people were bad influences, some of them were exciting, but I made mistakes. When I tried to turn my life around, I returned home, admitting the errors of my way. My father never allowed me back inside the house. My father told me to go away, never to return. I was seventeen years old, broken, and scared. I swore never to come back."

"Chrissy, my door was always open. We both spoke in anger that night, and I've made my fair share of mistakes. As I teach my followers, we all sin, but we can all ask forgiveness." Her dad nodded at the camera. "Our first step is for both of us to ask for forgiveness."

She peered at several of the strangers standing in her father's house, seeing if they believed the shit spewing out of his mouth. They all wore looks of interest, but they had no emotional investment in saving her soul or watching a reunion show.

They were here to get news. Not one of them supported her decision.

She had no one.

Raul left her to face her father alone. He never planned to stay with her. She wasn't strong enough to face the future without Raul. He was the one person who mattered to her.

She stood. "Excuse me, this is over."

A microphone showed up in front of her. "Miss Donaldson, where have you been for sixteen years?"

An overweight man blocked her path. "Are the rumors true that you turned to drugs and the sex trade?"

"W-what? No!" She pushed the camera out of her face.

"What about the reports you were found dead of an overdose, a letter written to the devil in your hand? How do you explain the false reports?" A young woman, no more than twenty-one years old, lifted her brow and challenged her.

"Really?" She planted her hands on her hips, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Since I'm standing here, I'd say whoever reported me dead would be the one to ask."

All the attention swung to her dad. She swallowed her disgust and continued her path out of the room. At the archway leading into the foyer, her father's words penetrated her shock.

"…she'd whored herself out to a gang of bikers. To us, she was dead. Only the path to heaven will be filled by those who live a sinless life."

She slowly turned around. "Are you serious?"

"She must repent and—"

"Bull shit." She walked back into the room, looking at no one but her father. "You want to know what I've been doing all these years, I'll tell you."

"That's not necessary," her father said.

She laughed without any humor. "Oh, it's very necessary. You see, while you were out saving people's souls and cushioning your pockets with their hard-earned money, I was out surviving on my own. To keep hidden and hide your dirty little secret failure, I bussed tables, served beer, danced on poles—she nodded at the gasps in the room—taking my clothes off for money. When that didn't keep a roof over my head, I relied on a motorcycle club to put food in my stomach and keep me warm in the winter."

Her father sneered. "You're proving my point, daughter. You were a whore."

"If you call a whore someone who gave her heart and soul to one man, then yes, I'm a whore." Her voice warbled. "I've found acceptance for the first time from a man who most people wouldn't believe is capable of love. He doesn't judge me, and I don't have to be awesome every second of the day to hear he loves me. Most of all, he stays awake at night just to watch me sleep. I know this, because I test him and only pretend to sleep, so I can experience what it feels like when you're the other half of someone's soul. I push him until I drive him insane, and he still stays by my side. When he walks into a room, I'm the only person he looks for and his eyes never stray. He is who he is, and he accepts that. Through him, I've accepted who I am, and because of no fault of my own, I'm strong, I'm a survivor, and despite my parents lack of love, I'm capable of loving. I love Raul to the bottom of my black soul, and it doesn't matter if you accept that or disown me again, because dad…you can…you can go fuck yourself."

She turned to Big Joe. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get the hell out of here before my panties start on fire and I burn the house down."

Big Joe grinned, hustling to her side. "You got it, chickie."

She marched out the front door. Raul might've left her to deal with her father on her own, but she had no doubt he loved her. The asshole thought he was protecting her again. Until she defended her life in front of everyone, she'd been ready to crumble. Now she was ready to fight. All her promises to herself were off the table. When she found Raul, she was going to kick his ass for leaving her here to deal with her dad herself.

Then she was going to cling to him tighter than leather on his ass, and never let him go.

 "Crystal, wait up." Big Joe jogged up to her and stopped her on the lawn of her father's house. "We can't leave the property until Raul calls and lets me know it's okay."

"What are you talking about?" She searched the crowd in front of the house. "Isn't he out there?"

Big Joe hung his chin. "He and Duck went to head off Garcia's men. The Lagsturns are boxing them in. He…"

She smacked his chest. "What?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you. I think Prez expected your reunion to take longer." Big Joe removed his baseball hat, ran his hand through his hair, and put the cap on backward. "We need to hang out here for a little while. Maybe you can answer questions from the reporters in the yard if it makes you more comfortable than being in the house. Whatever we do, we need people around us all the time. Raul doesn’t want you alone."

"Unbelievable," she muttered, and crossed her arms. "Does it look like I want to answer questions or talk to those people?"

"No."

"Do you really think they care about me?" she asked.

Big Joe rubbed his hand over his chin. "I don't know."

"No. They don't." She sighed. "This was a huge mistake. These people don't matter to me, and I don't need my parents' approval."

Sirens pulled her out of the conversation, and she watched as a police cruiser inched its way through the crowd until they were directly in front of the gate. She looked at Big Joe. "What do you think they're doing?"

"I don't know," he said. "Stay low. We don't need that kind of trouble here."

"Maybe that's what we do need. Why don't you go open the gate?" She grinned. "Maybe my father called them and they're here to arrest me."

Big Joe hesitated, and she gave him a shove. "Go. They have nothing on me. I'm safe."

The moment the gate came open, the black cruiser pulled through the gate with their lights flashing. Two dressed officers exited the front of the car. The back door opened, and Tango stepped out.

"Oh, shit." Crystal moved forward until she was in front of Tango. "What did
they
nab
you
for? Everyone has been looking for you for two days."

"Yeah." He lowered his head. "Something came up, and I had to head out. Obviously, you know I'm here, but I'd appreciate it if you keep that knowledge to yourself until I leave. I won't be going back to the Lagsturns, but I also don't want any trouble until I'm done here."

She nodded. "Okay, but Big Joe's here."

Tango peered around, spotted Big Joe, and grimaced. "Try to hold him off on calling the MC with my location just yet, will you?"

"Yeah, sure." She put her hand on his arm and stopped him. "What are you doing here? Do the cops have something on you? Do you need one of us to help you bail?"

"I'm sorry, Crystal. I'm here on official business." He walked away and joined the other two officers at the door. On the count of three, the biggest man shoulder opened the door and all three disappeared inside.

Official business? She rubbed her forehead. He almost acted as if he came here under his own power with the other officers…

"Tango," she whispered, dawning coming to her.

How could she not have known? Tango had kept her safe at the take down of Garcia. He'd known how to get info on Raul when no one would tell her how he was doing after the shooting.

Crystal ran to the house, and slipped into the living room to see her father sitting in the chair, three pistols aimed at his chest. One of the men armed and sporting a badge was Tango. She grabbed the edge of the wall.

Tango moved forward and said, "Mr. Donaldson, you are under arrest for laundering money, extortion, tax evasion, and ordering a hit on Chrissy Donaldson and Raul Sanchez. You have the right to an attorney…"

Crystal slid down the length of the wall and sat on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chin. She stared straight ahead, unable to understand what she was hearing. Her father ordered her and Raul dead too?

Chapter Thirty

Three miles out of Las Vegas, Raul and Duck hunkered down behind their motorcycles, pistols drawn, and faced the men from Los Li. The other members of the Lagsturns were nowhere in sight.

"What the hell happened?" Raul fingered the keypad on the phone. If he chanced calling his contact at the bureau, if his clearance still even worked, he'd give too much away about his connections to Duck. Hell, at this point backup wouldn't even arrive before they both met the end of a semi-automatic. "It took ten minutes for us to get here. The Lagsturns can't be that fucking far behind them unless they ran into trouble."

"We need to get away from our rides before they decide to use one bullet to blow us both up." Duck sat back on his boots, swiveled and pointed. "There's a building a block behind us on the right. It'll provide more protection until the other members ride in. I'll cover you."

"Fuck that." Raul pulled out the eight-shot magazine in his forty-caliber pistol, shoved the full mag in his back pocket, and then replaced it with the twenty shot out of his saddlebag. "I'm not backing away. Reload. We're going to meet them face to face."

"Are you fucking crazy?" Duck followed the directions, despite his objection, and jammed the other mag in the handle of his pistol. "That's suicide, man. They'll pick us off before we clear the bikes. We're not even sure how many of them are in the vehicles, but with at least 4 drivers, we're already facing twice as many men as we have."

"You must've aced math as a kid." Raul grinned, ready to take the assholes down.

"No. But I hotwired the principal's car twice before I hit eighth grade." Duck's mouth tightened. "Man, I don't like this. We should wait."

"I'm not giving them the courtesy. I have a woman going through her own hell back at Ronald McDonald's Fun House. I'm running out of time." Raul pulled back the barrel of the gun. "Stay low and on the move. Use every bullet. There's a dumpster on your side, make sure you stay alive long enough to reach it."

Duck grabbed Raul's cut stopping him from standing. "Where are you going?"

"Into the fire." Raul stood before Duck could stop him. "Let's roll!"

"Dammit." Duck stood, shooting his way around the motorcycle.

Raul stalked down the center of the road while Duck created the explosive distraction. He aimed his pistol at the windshield of the first car, arm braced, and trigger happy. He had twenty seconds to put a bead on one man before Duck had to change his clip. The odds were in his favor that the leader was in the first car, passenger side.

He counted Duck's shots.

Fifteen.

Sixteen.

Seventeen.

He picked up his pace.

Eighteen.

Nineteen.

Raul stopped in front of the Crown Victoria and widened his stance.
Twenty.

Silence filled the air.

"Out," Raul shouted. "Or I blow your leaders head clear off his fucking body."

Eight car doors clicked open, swinging out to the sides of each car. Raul's aim and gaze never wavered from his target. He gambled on having the right man calling the shots in his sight. If he was wrong, he was a dead man.

A dark skinned man in his forties walked out from the cover of the passenger door. Dressed in black trousers, a red silk shirt, and a black bandana tied around his forehead, keeping his brown hair off his face, the man watched him carefully with an air of arrogance. The man held his arms out to the sides, showing empty hands. Carrying no weapon meant zilch when the guy had numerous men behind him all aiming loaded pistols at Raul.