During a rare moment of peace, I entered the break room and refilled my coffee thermos after chatting over the phone with our client. For once, we’d gotten ahead of schedule and weren’t at risk of falling behind.

My little cousin Xavier stepped in, mopping sweat from his brow with his shirt.

“Sup, kid?”

He brightened and smiled. “Hey. Haven’t seen you at all today.”

“Lots of paperwork to complete and too many calls to make. I’m playing catchup on all the admin I missed when we were behind.”

“It must feel good to not have to be out there every day with us now, huh?”

“Nah. It’s okay. I don’t mind helping you guys. It only sucks when I got other shit to do, you know?”

He filled a cup with water from the purifier. “So? How’d it go, man?”

I glanced at my younger cousin. “Hm?”

“How’d it go with your sexy blonde? Did she freak out over the blood?”

Knowing what I did about Sasha now, I snorted. “Nah. She’s been hunting as long as you’ve been alive, kid. She could probably teach you some things.”

“No way.”

“It’s true. She took down one of those deers I brought home without even aiming.”

“Damn.”

Damn was right.

“So, did you get lucky out there?”

“None of your business.”

“So you did.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Lucky bastard. That girl is one fiiiine piece of ass.”

A surge of irritation welled inside my chest. My left eye twitched and both hands flexed at my sides. Xavier was a real douche when it came to women, operating on a love ’em and leave ’em code of ethics that left a trail of brokenhearted girls in his wake.

“Bet she was a real wildcat in the sack, eh, Stebi? Bitch looked like her pussy’d be tight as a drum—Fuck!”

Xavier stumbled back three steps and pinwheeled his arms. He lost balance anyway and sprawled on his ass with blood dripping from his nose.

My eyes fell from his startled face to my bloody knuckles. I didn’t even remember moving to hit him. It just happened. Reflex. One jab to the face like a cornered wild cat striking out.

“What the fuck?” His nose made a honking sound when he spoke.

“Keep your damn thoughts about Sasha to yourself, all right? Aunt Laura taught you better than to talk about women like that. Let me hear you call another woman a bitch again, especially mine. She’s my girlfriend. Mine, and the next time you disrespect her, I’ll stomp your ass into the ground.”

He backed away with both hands raised, palms out. “Christ, dude, okay. No disrespect meant.”

When I turned around, three members of the crew were standing in the doorway, wide eyed and hesitant to enter. Sergio pushed his way between them and entered.

“Yo, what’s going on in here?”

Xavier grimaced and tore a paper towel from a roll above the breakroom sink. “Nothing.”

Sergio crossed his arms and stared me down. “That doesn’t look like a bunch of nothing.”

“We had a misunderstanding. I corrected him.”

“Corrected him? You’re twice his size, man. What the hell happened that you put your hands on family?”

“Good question,” I muttered under my breath. As the heat faded and my sense returned to me, I shot a glance at Xavier. He leaned against the wall with his head tilted back and tissue cupped to his nose.

Angelo stepped inside and guided Xavier away. “Come on, cuz. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

While I washed my hands at the sink, Sergio leaned against the counter and watched me. “Wanna talk about it? You stressed? Something going on between you and your girl?”

“No. We’re fine.”

“Medrano family come to harass you again?”

“It has nothing to do with the Medrano family.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what happened? This isn’t like you.”

I snatched a paper towel from the roll and dried my hands, a heavy lump in my throat now that Xavier was out of sight. Words. They’d only been words. Shamed by my behavior, I sagged into a chair and told Sergio what happened.

His mouth flattened. “I would have hit him, too, but not in the nose. Probably a good gut punch so Mamá and Aunt Laura couldn’t see it. Even Uncle Lorenzo had a talk with that kid about the way he refers to women.”

“Still, they were only words.”

“I know how much you care about this project, but Mamá is right. You work yourself to the bone, hermano, and you need a break. You haven’t taken any vacation time this year. You’re a machine, always on the move arranging contracts, meeting with clients, working on the site to fill in for guys. You can’t do it all.”

“I know.”

“Take some time off.”

“Actually, I meant to have a word with you about that. A friend is heading to Chicago on a business trip in a couple weeks and could use my help on the road. You mind flying solo here for a few days?”

“Do I ever?”

I rose from the seat, a weight lifted from my shoulders. “Thanks.”

“De nada.”

I found Xavier before the shift ended, his nose swollen and pink, both eyes smudged black. He shrank back from me, eyes darting to the side like a prey animal seeking an escape route.

“Look, if you came to finish the job, I’m sorry. I get it.”

“No. I came to apologize. I should have handled it better. But you should know better than to speak about women like that. Aunt Laura didn’t raise you to be a douche.”

Xavier touched the tender tip of his nose and grimaced. “I know. I really didn’t mean to disrespect your woman like that.”

“Thanks.”

A moment of silence passed between us with me on the end of his quiet scrutiny before he said, “You really must feel some kind of way about her. She’s real pretty. Rich, too, huh?”

“Yeah, I do.” I smiled, looking forward to another night at the penthouse. Another visit with my ladies. “Let me put it this way—her money is the least amazing thing about her.”