Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
C heyenne
Cheyenne had no idea what was happening, but she did not like Micah Jamison. She turned and crossed her arms, assuming the same position he had. “What are you doing here, and why are you acting like you deserve answers?”
Micah’s face went somber, and he pointed to the beach. “I would prefer we don’t talk right here. Can we go to the walkway on the beach and walk and talk for a second?”
Annoyance pulsed through her, but she knew she needed to pay attention. If Micah was here, he must have been sent by Trey. Both of their families had been through a lot with the conquistador gold in the last couple years. “Fine.” She began walking toward where he was pointing. It was getting dark, but the pathway was lit by garden lights.
He fell into step beside her, and she smelled sandalwood or cedar or some type of cologne.
Why was she smelling him?
He looked … grown up. Way more than he had at her brother Blaze’s wedding. When had that been? Three or four years ago? She wasn’t sure. She remembered he had been about to go to college, or maybe the Navy, but she had not gotten an update on him since. Why would she? It had been one horseback ride with him. He had been interesting, but they had led different lives.
The walkway turned into boards above the sand. There weren’t many people out—some kids that looked college-aged sat around a bonfire, and one other person was playing a guitar. The water was calm, and she found that she loved being here.
“Okay, you can talk,” she told him. She was doing her best to tamp down her irritation.
Micah scoffed. “Is that how you talk to all the guys you date? Is that how you talked to Eli before I showed up?”
“Eli and I … We aren’t dating.”
“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow. “It looked like you were about to kiss him.”
“ I am none of your business.”
“Listen, I don’t care about Eli. I was asked to check in on you.”
She threw her hands up. “By who?”
“Porter asked my dad. My dad asked me.”
“Of course he did.” She moved to stand at the edge of the walkway, drawing in a deep breath. “Of course he did.” She was tempted to call her brother right now and tell him he could just stay out of her life.
A rumbling laugh came out of Micah. “It’s a good thing he did, because you were about to kiss that guy. You don’t even know that guy.”
The words caused her to feel a mix of embarrassment, humiliation, and anger. She whipped back around to face Micah. He was significantly taller than Eli—around six foot or maybe six one, she would guess. He had blond hair, dark brown eyes, and very tanned skin. She could tell he was built from the way his clothes fit snugly around his shoulders. Attraction burned in her gut, but she pushed it away. “Why do you care if I was about to kiss him? He is staying in the condo next door to mine. He asked if I wanted to go to dinner, that’s all. It’s harmless. And he is not a stranger.” She didn’t have to tell this guy her life story.
Micah shook his head. “Right. A random guy asked you to dinner and then you almost kissed him. Were you going to invite him in?”
Now she was ticked off. This guy was accusing her of being loose in her morals? “No. I wasn’t going to invite him in. Not that it’s any of your business.”
His jaw clenched, and he crossed his arms again, assuming the kind of stance she imagined she’d see on a cop or military person. “Trey made it my business. And your brother made it his business. Which means it’s very much my business.”
Cheyenne wanted to push this guy back. It wasn’t like he was trying to get into her personal space, but he was a big guy, which automatically made him closer to her than she wanted. “I will call my brother and tell him I’m fine. You can go back to wherever you were and do whatever you want.” She turned on her heel and walked back toward the condo.
He quickly caught up to her. “That’s not possible. When Trey asks me to do something, he expects me to follow through. I’ve been asked to keep an eye on you all week. I assume that’s how long you’re going to be here. Spring break, right?”
“As a matter of fact, I am on spring break. The first spring break I’ve ever taken. I’m a senior in college, and this is a gift that I have worked for and earned. So don’t act like I’m just some random spring breaker. I’m going to do whatever I want.” She kept walking. This guy had no power over her.
Micah took a few quick steps to pass her and blocked her path. She almost lost her balance and fell, but he was quick to steady her.
She yanked away from his grasp. “Would you just get away from me?”
He let her go but shook his head. “I can’t.”
Cheyenne bristled. Apparently they were going to have to finish this conversation.
“I’ll be honest. I thought it was a stupid assignment at first, but after seeing Mr. Waters, I’m starting to think your brother has the right idea.”
She was baffled. “You don’t think I can hold my own with men? News flash: I’m twenty-two. I’ve been holding my own for a couple years. I’m fine.”
“I don’t like that guy,” he said, looking concerned. “He asked you out the first night you’re here. Don’t you think that’s suspicious? Plus, he almost kissed you.”
“Do I think it’s suspicious that a cute guy asked me out? No. I think you’re being rude.”
Micah put his hand to his chest and broke out with the serious guy laugh. “Rude? Sure,” he said, waving a hand. “You’re beautiful. But that guy was just … I don’t know. You almost kissed him. What do you even know about him?”
Cheyenne was appalled that she had to explain herself, but her attention caught on the fact he’d said she was beautiful. She hesitated. “You want to know what I know about him? Fine. He goes to Duke Law School. He’s a first-year student, and his father owns a law firm. Some of his friends were supposed to come down here and meet him tomorrow for spring break.” She held back on the part where she’d known him in college and he’d asked her to marry him.
Micah put up his hand. “Did you tell him your friend was supposed to meet you before he told you that?”
Cheyenne hesitated, trying to remember, and then got irritated again. “I don’t know.”
“See?” He pointed at her. “He just told you the story you told him. But you don’t know if that’s the real story.”
She took a step back and put her hand to her head. “You think he just made it up to copy my own story?”
Micah shrugged, and his eyes moved back to the condos. They were still a fair distance from them, but he acted like someone could be listening in on them. His eyes swung back to hers. “I don’t know. My gut just says to be careful. What else are you planning to do this week?”
She shook her head. “I don’t really have to tell you, but clearly you’re not leaving.” She flung her hand into the air. “I have parasailing tomorrow at ten.”
“Right. Probably at the dock at the public beach.”
Cheyenne nodded.
“I can make that.”
She sputtered out a laugh. “What? You’re not coming.”
Micah shrugged again. “Why not? Since you were probably going with the friend that bailed on you, you probably have a ticket for an extra person. I’ll buy it off you.”
“No thanks.” Cheyenne didn’t need someone hovering over her, and this guy was kind of cocky, acting like he could just go with her. She turned away but called back over her shoulder, “I will make it clear to my brother that I don’t need a babysitter. You can get back to doing whatever spring break activity you were doing and pretend we never met. Again.”
Micah didn’t follow her. When Cheyenne reached her door, she looked back to find him walking the other way. Even though she had told him she didn’t need his help, it was rude that he wouldn’t say goodbye. “Goodbye,” she called to him.
He turned back and gave her a confused look. “Goodbye,” he said uncertainly.
Cheyenne slipped into the apartment, all riled up. How dare he show up here just to keep track of her. And how dare her brother think she needed someone to keep track of her!
She whipped out her phone and moved across the condo, stepping out onto the back deck. She turned to look at the deck next door that belonged to Eli. He wasn’t there, and she was grateful for it. No need to make things more awkward.
She pressed Porter’s number.
“Hello,” he said after one ring.
“I do not need a babysitter. How dare you send someone to check up on me?”
Porter was quiet for a minute.
“Well? Nothing to say for yourself?”
Porter let out a long sigh. “Listen, I know you don’t need a babysitter, but I need to check up on you. Don’t blame me. When Dad put you in my care all those years ago, I felt fatherly over you. That’s Dad’s fault.”
Cheyenne’s irritation flared up again. It wasn’t just the circumstance that bothered her; it was the fact that all of her brothers acted overly protective of her. “I’m not a minor anymore, Porter. I’m not in your care. I’m twenty-two.” It felt funny to her that in a single day, she’d had to remind two people of how old she was. Not that Micah would know her exact age.
Micah. She remembered how his blond hair looked. It was red in some places, and it had a natural wave to it. She thought of those brown eyes, like chocolate swirls. He’d been so angry about how he needed to fulfill his duty to watch over her. It was sort of cute.
No. She wasn’t going to think that way. She was only going to be here for a week.
“Chey, did you hear anything I just said?”
Jolting back to the present, she focused on her conversation with Porter. “Sorry. I was distracted.”
“By what? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I was just looking at the view. My place is right by the ocean, and it’s beautiful. The moon is out, and I was thinking about how warm it is here.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I hope you are paying attention to your surroundings.”
Of course Porter wouldn’t be impressed by anything like that. Sometimes she wondered if her brother was a robot. He’d served in the Air Force for so long, and now he ran the ranch. Sadie, his wife, was all warmth and sunshine, and the contrast couldn’t be clearer. He was lucky he had her. The whole family was lucky they had her.
“Please get Micah off my back,” she said. “I’m fine.”
Porter cleared his throat. “Well, how was your date?”
Cheyenne let out a light laugh. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Again, she was leaving out the name Eli Waters. Porter knew all about Eli’s proposal, her refusal, and the stalking that had ensued after. She would not let it slip to Porter that Eli was staying in the condo next to her, as weird as it was.
“Porter, listen. Put me out of your mind this week. Remember I’m a grown woman. I love you. I can take care of myself. Tell Sadie and the kids hi. And say hi to all my other dork brothers who I’m sure are going to keep tabs on me. Bye.”
She hung up before Porter could say anything else.
She put her phone into her pocket and stared at the ocean. The moon was bright, and she leaned over the railing to better soak in its light.
Noise sounded from next door. Voices. Then she heard laughter. She looked over and saw shadows spilling out onto the porch. Eli’s friends must have joined him. Well, that was fine with her. Mostly. How strange that she was a tad jealous. They had almost been engaged, but that was no big deal. It had been fun, but she and Eli would never get back together.
Once again, her thoughts returned to Micah’s molten brown eyes. His blond hair. His physical presence and how he’d reached out and caught her before she’d fallen. The smell of Irish Spring soap in their shower at home. Yes, that was what Micah had smelled like.
Sometimes her friend Samantha liked to play a little game. When they were talking about guys they liked, she would tell Cheyenne to decide who she would pick if she had to pick right then. The question flitted through her mind right now.
Unfortunately, Micah’s face flushed into her brain. She pushed it away. She wouldn’t pick Micah. He wasn’t one of her choices. Eli didn’t seem as appealing as he had before, but he didn’t matter anyway; his friends had clearly shown up.
Cheyenne moved inside and went to her school bag, which she had left on the kitchen table. She opened it out and pulled out two notebooks. One was an old journal from her father, the same one Chance had brought when he’d come down to South Port. The other was her own journal, where she’d jotted down her thoughts and observations in her own hunt for the gold.
She flipped to her own notes. Blaze had discovered that some of the conquistadors’ gold had ended up melted down by someone on the Windsong Reservation, then given back to Chance’s wife’s family, the Hamiltons. Then it had been disseminated by her grandparents, who were dead. It had been hard on her family to realize that the gold had been on their ranch and that their father, for some reason they didn’t understand, had been part of this collusion. Nash had gone to Florida to figure out if an older gentleman who’d been an attorney for Windsong Reservation had any information for the Stones and Crosses … only to find that he’d passed away, leaving the trail cold.
As Porter had mentioned, it’d been a year and a half since they’d heard anything new about the gold. Honestly, her brothers seemed relieved about that. They got on calls with the Stones periodically, but they were just living their lives, trying to keep the random reporters who came around off their backs. She knew they didn’t want to be thrust back into the search for gold. That was fine with her. She wanted to do her own investigation, and Samantha had given her the perfect cover.
It irritated her to think that Micah had been sent to check on her. Was he trying to prevent her from finding the gold? Determination burned through her. Nothing would keep her from checking out the gold situation. Nothing.
There was a knock at the door. Surprised, she moved toward it, taking care to check the peephole first. It was Eli.
She pulled it open. “Hey.”
His brow crinkled. “Hey, I … I know this might seem strange. Would you like to go to dinner again tomorrow? I mean, we barely got to catch up before … he interrupted us.”
Eli looked good. It didn’t hurt that he didn’t have a girlfriend yet. Was it stupid if she’d been sort of jealous that he might?
“You don’t have to. I just … I’ve missed you.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “And I know I got a bit stalkerish last year when you told me you wouldn’t marry me.”
She said nothing but knew her face was on fire.
“I just … Today, when I saw you, it was like … and then we went to dinner, and it was … so good.”
She smiled despite herself. Dang, she did still have a soft spot for this guy.
“I’ve missed you this past year, Chey. And we were friends before everything went south, right?”
“Right.” She’d missed him, too. She was allowed to miss an old boyfriend.
“Would you want to have dinner again tomorrow night? We are all going to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity tomorrow, but I’d love to see you. I’ll introduce you to my friends.”
Why did it make her feel so good that he didn’t have someone else? Why did it feel so good that he wanted to introduce her around? Why did she feel conflicted about him because of Micah Jamison?
Anger bolted through her. Her brother did not get to control her through Micah.
“I’d love to go,” she blurted.
“You would?” Relief seemed to wash over his face. “Great. Six?”
“Yes.”
They both stood there for an awkward amount of time. She suddenly wondered if she’d made a bad decision.
A male voice from next door shouted, “Eli?”
Eli jerked a thumb in that direction. “Okay, I’d better get back there.”
“Okay.” She told him goodbye and shut the door.
Cheyenne leaned back against it and sighed. She probably should have turned him down. There was already a lot for her to do. She would go parasailing tomorrow, and then she planned on taking an Uber to Wilmington. She wanted to check out the church Chance had told them all about, the one that had the symbols from the gold and their father’s journal. She had a working theory on where some of the gold might be stashed.