Chapter Seventeen

In all his years in the army, the last decade as a Ranger, Stone had been in more gunfights, knife fights, fistfights, and sticky situations than he cared to count. But right now, being separated from Jovy and losing contact as the storm bore down, he’d never been so damn terrified in his life. Not knowing if she’d made it to the shelter. Not knowing if she was okay. Not knowing the fate of the woman he loved nearly drove him mad.

And he did love Jovy. No reason to deny it. Nor did it matter that they’d only met two weeks ago. His connection to her was stronger than with people he’d known his whole life.

She just had to be okay. He was so damn worried for the woman from the east who didn’t have experience with this type of storm. God, she was probably so frightened. His stomach clenched tighter than his fists. He fucking hated that he couldn’t be there with her. That he couldn’t keep her safe. But there hadn’t been time.

Skeeter, Cece, and Blanche know what to do, his mind reasoned. Jovy will be fine.

Stone held on to that thought during the longest six fucking minutes of his life. When everything finally grew quiet and the storm moved on, he and his workers, along with Mr. McGregor and his staff, emerged from the steel-reinforced storm shelter behind the old storage building.

Daylight peeked through a small section of missing roof, all the glass had blown out of the windows and doors, and three shelves had fallen into each other like dominoes, but overall, the feed store had fared pretty well.

Once he was certain no one was in any immediate danger, Stone ran full-out down the street toward the garage, heart in his throat while his mind noted that the café and shops were fine. The storm missed the center of town, and the lack of damage and debris eased a little bit of the tension from his shoulders, but he wouldn’t take a breath until he saw Jovy with his own eyes.

Rounding the corner, he sucked in a breath and his heart leaped in his chest at the sight of the woman standing with the others, hair windblown and knotted, a dazed look on her face. She’d never looked so damn beautiful. “Jovy!”

She twisted to face him, joy softening hard lines of worry. “Stone!” She dropped her purse and laptop and raced to meet him the rest of the way, throwing herself in his arms. “Thank God you’re all right.”

Echoing the sentiment, he crushed Jovy close and held her trembling body tight. Or maybe he was the one trembling. It didn’t matter. She was safe and in his arms. Stone took what felt like his first breath since his phone had died. “I’m fine,” he reassured her, gathering her closer still, kissing the side of her head to keep from blurting that he loved her. He didn’t want to panic the poor woman. She’d just had enough of a scare for one day. “I’ve got you. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

The words were meant to calm her, but they also calmed him. She was okay. He was okay. They’d be okay. Now if he could just shake off the feeling of doom. Then it hit him. The ranch. His brother. The veterans.

Shit.

Once again, his focus had solely been on Jovy.

He drew back as fear returned. “At-Ease is west of town. Right in the storm’s path.” Guilt clawed at his gut. Not once during the past half hour had he even thought about the ranch. Or his brother. Or his friends. Just Jovy.

She sucked in a breath and pulled out her phone. “It’s still not working. Is yours?”

“No,” he replied, staring at his screen. No service. He bit back a curse. “Come on. Get your stuff. Let’s go.” As much as he wanted to check on the ranch, he couldn’t bear to leave the woman out of his sight.

While she gathered her purse and laptop, he made sure Skeeter, Cece, and Blanche were okay.

“Yes,” Cece said. “But I need to go check on my husband and our house. It’s also west of here.”

“I’ll drive,” Blanche offered, draping an arm around her friend.

“And I’ll see if anyone in town needs help.” Skeeter nodded and headed up the street.

Ten minutes later, Stone was driving toward the ranch with a quiet Jovy. The only sound in the cab was her indrawn breaths whenever they encountered debris. The farther west he drove, the worse the damage.

“Oh, Stone, look, the fence is all down and Lula Belle’s not in her field.” Tears filled Jovy’s eyes as she stared out his window. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“I don’t know.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed. God, it was so cold. “She could’ve just wandered away.”

She nodded and smiled a watery smile. “Probably looking for you.”

He grinned back. “Probably.” But his smile faded when he turned onto the road to the ranch and had to weave around debris.

Trees and fence, and…ah, hell, pieces of buildings littered the drive. The backhoe impaled the ground, protruding out of a field. Stone’s heart took up residence in his throat again, and he prayed his brother and the men were all right as they slowly made their way toward the ranch.

“Oh my God.” Jovy gasped out the words his throat couldn’t form as he parked where his brother’s truck used to be.

Now the new Ford looked anything but as it jutted out of the bunkhouse roof. The house appeared to be the only structure untouched. He got out and hadn’t taken two steps before Jovy entwined her fingers with his, her presence calming him, giving him strength to walk toward the men gathered where the new bunkhouse once stood.

It was gone. Decimated. Only the foundation remained. Not one damn wall stood where it had been that morning.

“I’m sorry, Stone.” Jovy squeezed his hand tight, her voice wavering. “I’m so sorry.”

So was he. It felt like the ground buckled beneath his feet, and he couldn’t catch his footing.

“Stone! Jovy!” Brick emerged from the crowd, relief visibly easing the tightness around his brother’s mouth and quieting some of Stone’s fear. “So damn good to see you’re all right,” he exclaimed, engulfing them both in a group hug. “How’s the town?”

“Good. The feed store has some damage but the rest of the buildings are fine,” Stone answered as if on autopilot, his mind still trying to process what he was seeing. “Is everyone here okay?”

He hoped so. God, it looked like a war zone. And he’d seen too many. They all had. He hoped it wouldn’t adversely affect the men.

“Everyone’s fine.” Brick drew back and nodded. “I’d just stopped in for lunch when the storm hit. Most of the men are still at the job site. I don’t know how they are. Damn phones are still down. Those of us here holed up in the new shelter. It worked great.”

It was surreal. Here they were, standing, smiling, acting like everything was fine. And it was. He was so damn grateful there weren’t any casualties or fatalities on the ranch. They were so fucking lucky they hadn’t taken a direct hit.

But on the other side of the coin, everything wasn’t fine. The new bunkhouse was gone. The men’s bunkhouse was too damaged to live in. The rear of the stable was crushed, and the one that stored their equipment had fallen in on itself as if it had imploded. The property was insured, but not the equipment or tools in the building.

How the hell were they going to work? Or repair the men’s quarters? And where would the men live in the meantime? He swallowed a curse and then another. No way would he send them away. No fucking way.

“How long do you think the phones will be down?” Jovy asked.

He drew in a long, calming breath and lifted a shoulder. “Depends on how bad the cell towers were hit.”

She nodded. “I hope it won’t be long. You’ll need to call in a claim.”

“Not much we can do without cell service,” Brick stated, running a hand through his hair. “I need to put in a claim on my truck, too. And I just washed the son of a bitch yesterday.”

Jovy’s lips twitched. “Back in Philly, it usually rains whenever I do that. Remind me never to wash my car here.”

Stone chuckled. Only she could make him smile despite his heavy heart. He pulled her in for a kiss, soaking up her strength, basking in her spirit, uncaring that his brother stood two feet away. She made him stronger. Better. Determined.

The vets were not going to suffer. He’d find a way to make the money to get the bunkhouse repaired.

She drew back and blinked. “Wow.”

The appreciation in her slightly dazed gaze drew another smile to his lips. He loved that his kisses wowed her, because she had the same effect on him. Even in a damn crisis.

She cleared her throat and palmed his chest. “Why don’t you and Brick start taking pictures of everything, and I’ll go check to see if you have power and internet, so you can submit the claim. If not, maybe I do back at my apartment.”

Levelheaded. She’d proven that twice today. Jovy was good in a crisis. Another endearing asset. It’s a shame there was a crisis. Short of controlling nature, there wasn’t a damn thing Stone could do about the storm. But he could control his actions in the aftermath.

His focus.

He needed to get more of it off her and back onto his men.

…

He was failing his men.

By the time Monday rolled around, Stone was no closer to finding a quick answer to his money problems than he had been just after the storm. Although yesterday, he’d received a mysterious email from a vendor offering an exuberant amount to lease the vacant store next to the café…and the café, too. He refused. Wouldn’t do it. Even though legally he could because Jovy had breached the lease with that late payment in the beginning. Still, leasing the place out from under her was never an option.

He’d just have to find some other way to replace equipment and tools, and repair the men’s quarters. The women’s bunkhouse was put back on hold until the rest of the buildings were fixed. Stone had spent all day yesterday going over the books, powwowing with the guys, trying to figure out how to come up with the money not covered by the insurance. Their current jobs were fine, and luckily, most of the material they’d ordered for the week had been used by the time the storm had hit. So there wasn’t much of a loss to make up there, and the horse stable was an easy fix. They repaired it over the weekend.

That left the equipment stable and the men’s bunkhouse. Right now, some of the men were staying in the house, while several others opted to pitch tents and camp out in the field. He hoped it didn’t cause flashbacks.

Leo left, said he was going to stay with his family for a while. Stone didn’t blame him. Even cleaned up, the place had a chaotic vibe that affected the men, and he couldn’t come up with one damn solution. Christ, he hated having his hands tied.

Feeling as if he had a Humvee strapped to his back, Stone sat down to breakfast without much of an appetite. What really sucked was the fact that he could fix the mess. Get things back to normal. But not without money. What the fuck good was his ability without means? About as useful as feeling sorry for himself. They were just going to have to make do. Make it work.

Replacing the backhoe, which ended up in a twisted heap a half mile down the road, was another story. His grandfather had bought it brand-new three decades ago. The insurance money wasn’t going to be enough to cover the cost of a new one. And Foxtrot needed it for two jobs this week.

“Looks like I’m going to have to head to Dallas to rent a backhoe for tomorrow.” Brick sat at the breakfast table with him, Vince, and Cord, pouring enough syrup on his stack of bacon-topped pancakes to drown a fish. “Do we have enough money to cover it?”

“Barely.” Stone sighed into his coffee. “There wasn’t anything available closer?”

Brick shook his head. “No. I called all over the county. Everything is rented out because of the storm.”

That’s what Stone had feared. “We don’t have a choice then. You better call and secure that one before it’s gone, too.”

“All right.” His brother cut into his soggy stack and nodded. “I’ll pay for it out of my savings.”

Stone’s gut tightened. His brother had already forked over most of it last night when the four of them had shut themselves in the office to discuss finances. After they’d made repairs to the stable, paid the men, and bought material for the jobs this week, they were broke. Brick had written him a check to cover payroll for the next month. By then, the insurance money should start to kick in, as well as job capital. “You already did enough.”

It was frustrating as hell. His friend took off, the men were suffering, and now, so was his brother’s bank account. Some fucking leader I am.

Brick lifted his gaze and scoffed. “I’m not the one who funnels most of his check back into the company. I mean, hell, Stone, other than gas money, you don’t even take enough to buy a case of beer.”

He shrugged. “I don’t need it. Or anything else right now. I have a bed. Vince cooks the meals—”

“From the money you give him for food,” Brick cut him off. “All I’m saying is that you sacrifice everything.”

“We all do,” he pointed out.

“Not like you,” Cord spoke up. “Brick is right. And you know if it weren’t for my family, I’d be happy to do more.”

Vince nodded, helping himself to some pancakes. “Me, too.”

“I know,” Stone said. “None of you have to do what I do. It’s my choice. This place. This business was my idea. And I don’t have any other responsibilities.”

Cord was paying his grandmother’s medical bills and Vince was paying off his late grandfather’s debts. They were taking care of their own, and so was Stone.

“I don’t have any, either.” Brick regarded him closely. “So, end of subject.”

He stared right back. “I’m not the one saving up to buy a penthouse in Vegas.”

His brother shrugged. “Vegas will be there next year.”

“Yeah, but will the position Roman offered you?” Stone wasn’t stupid. His brother was going stir-crazy. He missed the adrenaline and buzz of their missions. A job offer to work at their former commander’s security firm based out of Vegas was ideal for Brick. Stone hated that he was interfering with his brother’s plans. Sticking around Joyful was sucking the life out of the guy. He’d put it off for almost two years now.

Of course, the stubborn fool would never admit it.

“Yes, it’s an indefinite offer, so again—end of subject.” Brick rose, grabbing his empty plate. “I’m taking your truck to get that backhoe, Stone, since mine is still maimed and snoozing in the bunkhouse attic. I’ll be back before noon.”

Stone shook his head, smile tugging his lips. Stubborn brick wall. Maybe they were going to be all right. As long as nothing else went wrong.

A loud crash outside had them all on their feet rushing through the door to find what was left of Brick’s truck now residing on the first floor in what used to be the men’s rec room.

Son of a bitch.

More repairs. More money. Stone’s shoulders tensed. More delays before they could get the men back in their quarters and reduce their damn stress.

“I’ll call Skeeter to let him know he doesn’t need a crane to get it out now,” Brick stated with a shake of his head before he got in Stone’s truck and drove away.

True, but now they had to eat the cost of a crushed ceiling. He pulled out his phone to take new pictures to submit to the insurance company, that phantom Humvee weighing on his back turning into a tank.