Page 5 of Cheyenne

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 arelationship 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.

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