“No, you’re not, unless you want me to press charges against you. You hit me first!” Rachel yelled down at him. “Get up and go on home, Jared, before I call my brothers and you leave here in an ambulance.”
After Jared managed to get to his feet, he and his buddy took off to their car.
“Are you okay?” Cash asked, staring at her cheek.
“Yes.”
“Gotta go, Cash.”
“Thanks, Stud,” Rachel said before he could leave.
He gave her a nod. “Later.”
Rachel began walking to her car, which she had left across the street at the church.
“I don’t get a thanks?” Cash asked mockingly, falling in step beside her.
“Thanks,” Rachel said ungratefully as she came to a stop beside her car, staring at it in dismay.
“I guess the restaurant wasn’t Jared’s first stop.”
All four tires of her older than dirt car had been slit. The tires would cost more than the car was worth.
“Dammit.” Rachel reached inside her purse for her phone.
“Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.” Cash took her arm, leading her back across the street to the diner’s parking lot.
“I’ll call my brothers. One of them will come and get me.” She didn’t get inside his truck when he opened the door.
“If you call them, then they will go after Jared. You can calm them down if you’re home when you tell them.”
He was right, but it would be just as bad for them to see her getting out of Cash’s truck.
“Get in, Rachel.”
“I still think I should—”
Cash lifted her up, placing her on the bench seat in his truck, then slammed the door closed, effectively cutting off her protests. Sliding into the truck, he turned the motor on.
“I can have you home before you make up your mind.”
Rachel sat back against the seat, closing her mouth.
“So, why was Jared so pissed off at you?”
Rachel turned sideways in her seat to stare at his profile. “I can’t tell you. It’s private.”
“It quit being private when he assaulted you in public.”
Rachel kind of agreed, but she was ultimately respecting Cheryl’s privacy, not Jared’s.
“I still have to respect his privacy.”
Cash threw her a quick glance. “If you can’t keep your brothers from going after Jared, it could get messy. Jared has a large family, too. Someone could get hurt.” His warning didn’t fall on deaf ears. She was well aware of the consequences if her brothers stormed off after Jared.
“I think that’s going to happen, regardless.” Rachel thought of Cheryl. She didn’t think it would be fair not to tell her what she had discovered about her cheating husband.
“How often do you volunteer at the church store?” The abrupt change of subject threw her off-guard.
“Three days a week.”
“That’s a lot of time to volunteer.”
“I enjoy it.” Rachel shrugged.
Cash made the turn onto the steep hill that led to her house, the truck bouncing on the rutted lane.
“How in the hell does your little car make it up this hill?”
“I know where all the holes are.”
“Jesus. Why won’t Tate just pave the road?”
Rachel laughed. “You know Tate; he’s a cheapskate.”
“Among other things,” Cash said grimly.
“I heard that.”
“I wasn’t trying for you not to. You’re his sister; you know he’s an ass. They all three are.”
“They’re not so bad,” Rachel defended her brothers.
“When’s the last time they let you go out on a date? The last time I remember is last summer when they let you go to a movie with Harvey Green.”
His sideways look caught her shudder at the reminder of the disastrous date. It had been a miserable experience from the time he had picked her up at her house, with all three of her brothers casting threatening looks, to the moment Greer had turned the porch light on when Harvey had been about to kiss her goodnight.
Rachel was embarrassed by Cash’s knowledge of her lack of social life.
“I don’t let my brothers dictate who I go out with.”
The truth was Treepoint didn’t have a large selection of eligible bachelors she would go out with. They were either jerks or like Cash, only interested in sleeping with someone before moving on to the next available woman.
His snort of disbelief had her temper rising.
“I go out with anyone I want to.”
“Prove it.” His challenge shocked her.
“How? By going out with you?” Rachel wanted to take back her words as soon as they were out of her mouth. Her face flamed with embarrassment.
“I wasn’t thinking of me. I’m too old for you and I don’t date.” He turned his attention away from the road, brushing her body with his gaze, as if she was lacking what it took to capture his interest.
“I wasn’t asking you out on a date,” Rachel snapped back at his brush-off.
“That’s what it sounded like to me,” he said, pulling up in front of her house.
“Well, you were wrong. When I go on a date with someone, I at least have to like them.” Rachel opened the truck door, sliding out.
“Keep those brothers of yours under control. A feud between them and the Macys would keep the hospital busy.”