Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
M icah
Excitement buzzed throughout the Stone Family Inn. Everyone was getting ready to travel to Washington, DC, and surprise Brooks for his birthday. Strike that—almost everyone. While the others were getting their packing done, Micah sat on the couch and played with little Ajay, who had just turned two. Six-year-old Trey Junior was going back and forth between playing with them and running in circles.
Micah’s mother had married Trey Stone seven years ago after getting divorced from Micah’s father. It had been quite a process of combining the families, but in the end, his mother had had these two cute kids with Trey. They were so much younger than Micah, and he loved them. They were the little siblings he’d never known he wanted.
After high school, he had done one year in college and then decided to join the Navy. His mother had mixed feelings about him wanting to do this. Of course, he wanted to be a SEAL just like Trey and some of his uncles. Now that he’d gone through two years in the Navy, he was getting ready to do BUD/S training to see if he could qualify to be a SEAL.
Trey walked into the family room and set down the bags he was carrying. Then he noticed Micah playing with the kids. “Are you sure you’re okay to stay back and watch this place? I hate that you’re not coming with us.”
Just then, Marshall walked in, bellowing that everyone had better be ready. His wife, Kat, followed close behind him, with their kids trailing behind her.
Marshall’s son Kade ran over and hugged Micah. “Come with us.”
Micah hugged him and grinned up at Trey. “I’m okay with not going. Plus, I want you all to be there for Brooks and I know that wouldn’t happen if I didn’t stay.”
As if to prove his point, Trent and Liberty walked in with their kids. Two of them ran over and threw themselves on Micah. “Micah!” they screamed.
Trent frowned. “I think I should hang back,” he said to Trey.
Hunter and Cheryse walked in, Hunter holding their baby, Hunter Jr. “I think I should stay back.”
Micah cocked an eyebrow.
Trey grunted. “No, Micah volunteered.”
Micah loved all his cousins and all the babies being born to his new uncles. He also looked forward to the quiet of the house for the next couple days. “I’ll be just fine here by myself.”
Trey wrapped an arm around him, then took baby Ajay into his arms and tossed her in the air. She squealed with laughter.
Hunter nodded. “Of course you will, but call if you need anything.” The baby wiggled in an attempt to get down. “Let’s go, people.”
Trent wrapped his arm around Liberty and affectionately patted her baby bump. “Yes, let’s go before my wife has to eat again.”
Liberty laughed and swatted his arm. “You have to feed me whenever I want.”
Trent smiled and kissed her.
Micah watched them fondly. He loved how close the family was.
Ava rushed into the room, looking flustered. “Okay, I’m ready.” She turned her gaze to Micah. “Just come with us. We don’t need to leave anyone here to watch this place.”
The whole group went silent. Micah knew that wasn’t the truth. There was still the whole gold threat hanging over the family. They’d had too many experiences where gold seekers would try to break into the inn or get on the property.
Micah shook his head. “Are you kidding me? I don’t want to go with you rowdies. I am trying to keep my mental focus and train for BUD/S training.”
The men laughed. They understood.
His mom frowned and moved toward him, tears welling in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him in a big hug. “I love you. I love you. I love you. We’ll only be gone for five days. And then you’ll be here another week, right?”
Micah always choked up when his mother held him tightly and whispered those words. She’d always say it three times. “I’ll be here another week after that, Mom. So you can smother me with motherly love to your heart’s delight.”
She laughed and pulled back, a tear sliding down her cheek. “And I will.”
His little brother and sister clung to his legs. “I love you, Micah,” Trey Junior said.
“Love,” Ajay said.
He kneeled and pulled them into his arms, finding himself getting emotional. “You’d better be good for Mom and Dad. Or else when you get back, I’ll have to put you in a snake anaconda hug.” He squished them together, picked them up, and made a hissing noise.
Both of them squealed.
“Hold up,” Trey said. “Let’s have family prayer before we go.”
Micah liked that his new father—well, his father for six years—had always brought prayer into the family. He loved that about the Stones.
They all kneeled and joined hands with whoever was next to them.
“We ask you, Lord, to bless this home while we are gone,” Trey prayed. “Bless my son Micah to have discernment and be alert to any danger and protect his home and himself. We are so grateful, God, for all our blessings. Bless us as we go on this trip that we all can be safe, and our children can be safe. Bless Brooks and Serenity that they can feel the love we have for them as we surprise him for his birthday. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
The rest of them said amen, and then everyone took turns hugging Micah.
Finally, they all got everything in the car—they were still talking about details of the trip—and Micah waved goodbye from the front porch. He watched them pull away, overwhelmingly relieved that he had the house to himself.
He took a walk around the outside to make sure everything was safe. Just as he walked inside to check on the security system, there was a call from Trey.
He answered it. “It hasn’t even been ten minutes yet, seriously.”
Trey laughed. “Oh, I know. But I just got off the phone with Porter Cross.”
“Okay?” Micah knew that Porter was the oldest brother of the Cross family. This must have something to do with the gold.
Trey coughed and went on. “You might not like this, but Porter’s younger sister Cheyenne is in town. I think you met her at Blaze’s wedding a couple years ago.”
Of course Micah remembered the beautiful blonde. She had taken him riding horses and he’d pretty much fallen in love with her. “I remember.”
“Porter is concerned because she came to South Port on her own. She’s here right now, on her spring break from college. I guess she had a friend that was supposed to come with her, but her friend had to cancel. Porter is asking if our family will check in on her. I told him that we were all leaving on this trip, but that you would be here and I would have you check in on her. I will send you her address. Apparently she is in a condo on the beach. I think it’s close to where Kensi lives.”
Micah thought he remembered a condo close to Kensi, but there were a lot of them popping up. “What am I supposed to do? Just go knock on her door?”
Trey sputtered out a laugh. “Well, you could send the messenger pigeon, but I think knocking on the door might be a faster way to check on her.”
Micah rolled his eyes. Trey’s humor wasn’t always funny. “Fine. Do you have her phone number?”
“He gave me the address. Just go knock on the door, okay?”
Micah could always tell when the Navy SEAL had taken over and he just wanted him to follow orders. “Fine. I’ll eat something and then check on her.”
“That sounds good.”
Micah got off the phone with Trey and pulled out some of his mother’s famous lasagna that she had made for him for this week. He put a slice on a plate and then popped it in the microwave. While waiting for it to heat up, he remembered how anxious he was to chill out and watch movies on the big couch by himself. He would eat and watch a movie, taking his time before going over and checking on Cheyenne.
His phone dinged. Trey had texted him the address.
Annoyance pulsed through him. He would check on her, but then he would head to the gym. No one would get in the way of his workouts this week. Plus, why did he have to check on her? By his estimation, she was only a year younger than him. She was a grown woman. She was fine.
He pulled his food out of the microwave and then went for the remote control. He lay back on the couch, propped his feet up, and settled in as he turned on a police show. His mother’s lasagna tasted as good as it always had. This would be a nice, calm week. He could get his mind straight before going back to the Navy. It was sorely needed. He took another bite, then closed his eyes. Surely he could rest for a minute before he went and checked on her.
Suddenly, Micah jerked awake and sat up. He still had an empty plate of lasagna on his lap. The clock on the wall said it was almost nine p.m. Crap. His dozing had lasted too long. He bolted to his feet and put the plate in the kitchen. Then he checked his phone for messages. There were none.
Good. He still had time to go check on the girl.
He grabbed his wallet and moved to the front door. It slammed behind him, and he hastily set the security code.
Everything was on high alert around the Stone Family Inn. It was how Trey operated, especially with the legend of the conquistador gold always looming over them. Luckily, Micah had found that most people didn’t associate him with looking for the gold because his last name was Jamison, like his birth father.
His birth father. They were on okay terms. It was typical that his father didn’t take that much notice of him. Although he had made amends with his mother and they were civil, Micah wasn’t really that interested in dealing with him. Even growing up, his father had never been interested in what was going on in his life.
The truth was, Trey was more of a father to him. Trey would randomly call him or text him, and they would talk. They had a relationship that his mom hadn’t needed to help nurture. If he ever needed fatherly advice, he called Trey. Unless, of course, he needed some type of legal advice; then he would call his father. Luckily, that wasn’t very often. And with the way his career was going, it felt like Trey was the one he would be calling for the rest of his life.
Micah hopped into Trey’s blue truck. It was an older truck, one that Micah always used when he was in town. The condo shouldn’t be that far away. He could run to it on the beach, but he wanted to get there quickly and be able to head to the gym after he said hello.
For some stupid reason, he was nervous. The memory of meeting Cheyenne during Blaze’s wedding flashed in his mind. The whole Stone family had helicoptered out to Wyoming to Cross Creek and the Cross ranch. He had liked Cheyenne, but it had been just that one night. They had danced and talked a little. At that point, he hadn’t even decided to go into the Navy yet. He had been about to start college.
From what he remembered, she had won the rodeo queen title and had a big belt buckle. It had made him smile at the time. Her long blonde hair and slim figure, not to mention her catlike green eyes, had made her look older back then. She had told him she planned on going to Montana for school. Had she done that? Maybe he’d find out.
Micah pulled up the address on his phone and before long, he was rolling up into a parking lot for some condos. Once he’d parked the truck in the visitors’ section, he made his way along the sidewalk around a little park toward the condo that she was staying in.
He paused. It was getting dark, but ahead of him he could see a woman with blonde hair talking closely with some guy. Then the guy leaned in as if he would kiss her.
For some reason, Micah’s protective instincts kicked in. She was supposed to be alone. Her friend hadn’t shown up. He stepped out of the shadows. “Cheyenne, is that you?”
She jolted and stepped back before her lips could press against the guy’s, which made Micah unreasonably happy.
The guy she was with looked angry. “Who is that?” He gestured to Micah. “Who are you?”
She squinted at him. “I’m not sure.”
Micah forced a laugh and moved closer to them. “It’s Micah Jamison. I met you at your ranch a couple years ago. At your uncle’s wedding.”
Cheyenne looked confused, gave him a once-over, and then nodded. “Right. Micah.” He couldn’t tell if she was happy to see him or not, but she moved toward him and put her hand out. It was obvious manners had been drilled into her. “Hi. How are you?”
He grinned and shook her hand. “I’m great.”
“Do you live here?”
“Not in these condos.” He didn’t want to give away too much. He looked past her, eyeing the guy she was with. “What have you been up to?”
Cheyenne looked back at the guy. She gestured to him. “This is Eli Waters.”
Suddenly, Micah felt like he had taken on Trey’s personality, including all of his suspicions. He glared at the guy and then nodded to him. “Hi.” He crossed his arms, indicating that the guy had better watch it.
Eli was clearly confused, looking between them. “Well, I guess I’ll say goodnight, Cheyenne.”
Cheyenne’s eyelashes fluttered, and she looked nervous, looking from Micah and Eli. She didn’t seem sure whether to end the night with Eli. Then she faced Micah again and said, “Okay. Thanks for dinner, Eli. I had a good time.”
Micah felt almost like a protective parent. He felt guilty because he was supposed to come check on her earlier. Trey would not be happy that she had gone out with some random guy. Micah would have to pay attention to who the guy was. His whole family was highly suspicious of everyone after all their dealings with treasure hunters. And Cheyenne was a Cross. Her family had gone through their share of grief about the gold. It would not bode well with Trey that Micah had slacked on his job.
Micah turned his full attention to her. “Can we talk for a little bit?” He would not be talking in front of Eli, whoever the guy was.
Cheyenne hesitated. “Sure. Goodnight, Eli.”
The dude seemed reluctant to leave. “Okay. See you tomorrow?” His eyes flashed back to Micah as if to say, I’ve already claimed this woman.
Micah raised his chin, mentally saying, No, you haven’t. Which was ridiculous, because he didn’t want to fight over this woman like a couple roosters fighting over a hen. It wasn’t like that, but he wanted to dissuade this guy from being around her. He wouldn’t stand for letting this guy hang around without a thorough background check.
Then he realized that if he wanted to run a background check, he would have to call Trey, or maybe Kensi’s husband Tim, who was a cop here. Both of them were out of town. Maybe he could go to Tim’s second-in-command instead of bugging his family. He quickly dismissed the thought, however, because Trey would want a full report on everything. Micah was doomed.
Eli turned and moved to a condo to open the door. He paused again and said, “Cheyenne, if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. Even tonight. Just text me.”
Micah couldn’t help but let out a light laugh. Did the dude think he was going to hurt her?
Cheyenne said, “Thanks.” Then she turned and scowled at Micah.
Eli shut the door, leaving the two of them alone.
Cheyenne cocked an eyebrow. “You’d better tell me what this is all about.”