Cash nodded.
“Fuck. Fuck. I don’t know what to do anymore, man. I can’t fucking stand having her mad at me all the time.” Carson raked both hands through his blond hair, then took a determined step. “I have to go after her.”
Cash hastily moved into the other man’s path. “I think you should probably give her some space.”
“Space,” Carson echoed, his tone wary.
“Hold up, let me put these away.” Without waiting for an answer, Cash quickly ducked into the kitchen and dropped the beer cases on the counter.
When he returned to the hall, he studied Carson’s ravaged face and softened his tone. “Let her be for a while. Maybe Jen should go and talk to her. They’re close, right?”
“My sister’s the one who got my wife riled up in the first place,” Carson snapped. “She filled her head with all these ideas about how we’re not communicating. Like Jenny’s one to dish out relationship advice, for fuck’s sake. Any advice, for that matter. Her taste in men sucks, she can’t hold a damn job, she’s the biggest underachiever I’ve ever known, she—”
“Enough,” Cash growled.
The hallway went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“What the fuck, McCoy?” Carson finally said.
“Don’t talk about Jen like that,” Cash retorted, trying to control the anger flowing in his veins. “I get that she’s your little sister, but she’s not a child, Carson. She’s a grown woman, and it’s pretty damn sad that you don’t know a thing about her. She’s intelligent and compassionate and talented and she deserves a helluva lot more respect than what you give her.”
Another deafening silence followed.
Cash caught his breath, instantly regretting the outburst, but the damage had already been done.
Understanding had dawned on Carson’s face, along with the hard glint of accusation. “You’re sleeping with her,” Carson hissed out.
Cash held the eye contact. “Yes.”
“You’re sleeping with my sister. Jesus Christ, McCoy. I told you I didn’t want you messing around with Jenny.”
“Jen,” he corrected. “And yes, I didn’t listen to you, okay? But I don’t regret getting involved with her. I care about her. She’s amazing, and it’s a damn shame you can’t see that.”
Carson must have picked up on the possessive note in Cash’s voice, because his eyes blazed once again. “You care about her? You expect me to buy that?”
“It’s the truth.”
Carson swore savagely. “This ends now. I don’t want you playing games with Jenny.”
“I’m not playing games,” he said evenly, crossing his arms over his chest. “And I’m not ending it. I told you, I care about—”
For the second time that week, a fist came flying at Cash’s face.
And yet again, those irate knuckles caught him in the side of the mouth, ripping open the cut that had just began to heal. Blood spurted and dripped down his chin, but this time, Cash didn’t fight back.
He just stood there and eyed Carson. “You done?”
The other man was breathing heavily, his fists clenched as he glared at Cash like he wanted to kill him. “Yeah, I’m done,” Carson spat out. “And so is your involvement with my sister.”
“What the hell is going on?”
Both men spun around to see Jen standing at the end of the hall. Shock and horror contorted her features, and when she caught sight of Cash’s face, she raced over and damned if she didn’t blot the blood on his lip with the sleeve of her thin blue cardigan.
Keeping her sleeve there to staunch the blood flow, she turned to glower at her brother. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
“Me?” Carson said bitterly. “What’s the matter with you? You’re the one sleeping with McCoy.”
Jen remained completely unfazed. “So what if I am? Who I sleep with is none of your business.”
“It is when it’s my teammate you’re fucking.”
She flinched at the crude word, but recovered quickly. “So what?” she said again. “You just said it—Cash is your teammate. He’s your friend. I don’t see how you can be so opposed to this.”
“I’m opposed because I know the way he operates,” Carson retorted, speaking as if Cash wasn’t standing right there. “He doesn’t do relationships. One-night stands and casual flings, that’s all he’s interested in, isn’t that right, McCoy?”
Cash decided now wasn’t the time to admit he wanted more with Jen, so he wisely kept his mouth shut.
“Well, you deserve better than that,” Carson told his sister. “You deserve someone who’ll love you and honor you and—”
“Are you kidding me?” Jen interrupted.
She dropped her sleeve from Cash’s mouth and got right in her brother’s face—well, more like his chest, seeing as Carson was a foot taller than his sister. But she didn’t back down, and her petite frame vibrated with anger.