Breaking The Sinner (The Breaking Series Book 4) Read online

  “Wanna watch some YouTube?”

  Another pastime of the household: get lost in video holes, hours spent going from one video to the next. Starting on something innocuous—MMA fights or big dudes reprimanding strangers for smoking in public—usually ended up in some festering fetish hole of girls pissing on each other, kittens getting hurt, sick shit that usually made him leave the room.

  “I gotta run, man.” Cobra grabbed a mug, pouring himself a cup of tepid coffee. The first taste told him how long it had been sitting there. But it didn’t matter.

  “You’re off today.” Klay’s flat voice didn’t sound pleased.

  “I know. I’m going out. Gotta grab something.”

  “What?”

  Cobra sipped at the coffee, buying himself a few extra seconds. He’d never admit he was meeting up with someone like Gen. They’d laugh him out of the apartment or worse. Try to meet her, rope her into their world. Suggest a gangbang. Probably spike her drink. “Papers for the job.”

  Klay jerked his head into a nod and fell silent as he navigated the smart TV’s apps to find YouTube. Both of them were jealous as fuck about his job. And Cobra hadn’t even told them how much he was actually getting paid. He had to knock it down a few dollars per hour so they wouldn’t flip their shit.

  Cobra finished his coffee and snagged the last piece of bacon before heading to the bathroom. Mold dotted the tiles at the base of the sink, and the small space smelled musty. He yanked the crusty shower curtain back, thinking about the curtains at Holt Body Fitness. Those things were smooth, practically mesh and silk. How much did those things cost?

  He’d been disgruntled with this place for too long to remember. But it was a fact of life, like how LA summers were unreasonably hot and the way traffic sucked but everyone dealt with it. This was his home; things could be better, but they weren’t.

  But Holt’s place offered a glimmer of hope he was afraid to latch onto. And Gen offered…something else he didn’t even know how to categorize.

  It wasn’t that he wanted to scoop her up and ride off into the sunset. But he definitely wanted her in his arms…and maybe they could watch one sunset together.

  His head fell to the side, eyes pinching shut as his mind wandered to Gen. That first day he’d seen her come into the gym, her pale skin practically glistening under the lights, her vixen auburn hair swept to the side, begging for him to snag a bite of her neck. She was the pinup of his dreams, but with an innocence and freshness that slapped him across the face.

  His cock strained at attention, swollen and aching from the briefest imagination of Red’s body. He wanted to bury his face in those tits, taste the damp heat from his breath in that sweet valley. And then he’d yank that bra off, tear the straps down over her shoulders. Hear a girlish gasp that only she could make. And then he’d find out the exact shade of pink of her nipples.

  That sent him over the edge. His abs tightened and thighs went hard. A moment later he spurted all over the tiles, the shower water washing away the cum.

  He stared at the drain for what felt like forever. He didn’t normally come so fast. But something about Gen had him on edge. Curiosity mingled with lust; desperation edging into tenderness.

  She could probably look at the crotch of his jeans and he’d come.

  Cobra toweled off, readier than ever to get out of the apartment. He dressed in his bedroom quickly, grabbing for a white tee and black training pants. He double-checked his bedroom door was shut tight, then angled a chair under the knob for good measure.

  And then he lifted his mattress, tugging out the small black bank bag he’d stashed there just a few days ago. He unzipped it, checking the scant bills inside. Fifty bucks. Still real. Still there. He took a deep breath and zipped and stashed the bag again.

  His first-ever life’s savings.

  Klay was buried in YouTube videos when Cobra breezed out into the living room, the click of the door getting lost in the grunts of safari animals fucking as he slipped out of the apartment.

  Cobra didn’t breathe until he reached his car. Once the engine rumbled to life, he was able to sit back in his seat.

  Another day. He’d make it another day. In this apartment. With this car. In this life.

  He took a deep breath and pulled out of the parking lot.

  Chapter 9

  Gen had been circling the block for forty-five minutes before she spotted Cobra sauntering up. He wasn’t late; in fact, he was right on time. She couldn’t wait any longer to commence her first ever, totally official date. Hovering near the date location for almost an hour beforehand seemed acceptable. Others probably did stuff like this too. It’s not just you.

  Sophie had made her hand over the address of the coffee shop in case she needed to hunt Gen down later. And told her that if she wasn’t back by nine p.m., she’d call the police…which seemed unusually restrictive for Sophie.

  The sight of Cobra waiting for her at the coffee shop, Grounds for Discussion, stole her breath. He clung to the stucco wall, knee bent with a foot propped against the side, his gaze stuck on something out in the world. Tattoos crept down his arms from under his white tee: a skull, a rose shedding its petals, a faceless woman. Poking out above the collar of his tee, curving up along his collar bone, was the eponymous COBRA tattoo.

  Beside the coffee shop, a palm tree trunk sprang up like a grounding rod, the leaves whooshing in the breeze. When he turned and spotted her, her stomach pitched to her feet. Her legs stopped moving at the same time his lips curled up at the corners.

  “Sup, Gen?”

  She closed her mouth to stop from gaping and white-knuckled the strap of her tiny purse. “Hey, Cobra. It’s good to see you again.”

  That smile widened. He stood up straight. “You too.”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip, unsure what to say next. He stole her breath and all of her thoughts. He practically crippled her.

  He reached out, tugging on the tassel of her purse. “Let’s go inside.”

  “Yeah.” The air in her lungs whooshed out. At least he had a plan forward.

  Gen followed him in stiffly, feeling like a marionette that the artist only tinkered with in advance of the performance. A cool waft of coffee-tinged air swallowed them. The quiet chatter of patrons soothed her, while some jazzy rock lilted through the shop. A few sets of eyes found them as they walked toward the front counter, but other than that, nobody cared that they were there.

  Gen couldn’t fight the grin on her face. The coffee menu was expansive, nearly endless. She sighed heavily. “Do you even like coffee?”

  Cobra’s eyes narrowed. “Are you serious?”

  She shrugged. “Asking me out on a coffee date doesn’t mean that you like coffee.”

  “I like coffee.”

  She tilted her head back up toward the menu, absorbing the swirly fonts and the ostentatious drink options. She’d kill two birds with one stone today: Meet someone for a crazy coffee and Go on a date with a man. Maybe three, if she ended it with a toe-curling make out session.

  She leaned closer to Cobra and asked in a stage whisper, “What are you getting?”

  He scrubbed at his jaw. “I have no idea.”

  “Ooh! How about this? I pick for you, you pick for me?” She smiled up at him, batting her eyelashes. A jolt of excitement coursed through her, the same way it did when she and her sister would play this game for picking out fabrics at the craft store.

  Cobra looked down at her, a sexy smirk wringing his lips. “You sure about that?”

  She nodded.

  His gaze slid back to the menu. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Okay. I know what you’re getting.”

  She swallowed a gasp and reassessed the menu. The options were somehow clearer when the destination was Cobra’s lips. “Okay. I’m ready too.”

  Cobra stepped up to the counter, his broad shoulders stretching the thin fabric of his T-shirt tight. She blinked a few times. It didn’t seem real. Was this what a date was like? This wa
s…somehow easy. Yet totally strange and new. Did he always look so hot? What did men even do to look better if they didn’t wear makeup? And why didn’t men wear makeup?

  “Gen.”

  She blinked, realizing it was her turn to order. She’d missed his order entirely.

  “I’ll have the Cinnamon Mocha Latte Wowee,” she said past dry lips. “But, it’s for him. I mean, I’m ordering it, but he’s gonna drink it.”

  Cobra licked the corner of his mouth, his onyx eyes glinting. “Are you serious?”

  “What?”

  He shook his head, knocking her with his shoulder. “That’s what I ordered for you.”

  Warmth trickled through her. When Cobra took out his wallet, she realized the time had come to pay. She fumbled to get her money.

  “No, Red.” Cobra shoved dollar bills at the cashier before she could even unsnap her wallet. “I got it.”

  She waited for him to pay the cashier before they both wandered down to the coffee pick-up area at the end of the long counter. “Thanks. That was nice of you. You didn’t have to pay for me.”

  “But it’s a date. I asked you out.”

  His words made something spark and burst into flames inside her. If he ever uttered actually sexy words to her, she might die entirely. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

  Their drinks were called, and Cobra scooped up both. He wandered over to a pair of overstuffed leather chairs looking out at a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking a courtyard lined with rose bushes.

  Gen settled into the leather chair, unable to look away from Cobra. When he handed her the drink, their fingers brushed. Her low belly cinched tight. A warning.

  “Have you ever been on a date before?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Not really.”

  “Oh.” She ran her finger over the white plastic lid of her coffee cup. “Well, why not? It’s normal, right?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not so normal if neither of us have done it.”

  “According to the movies I’ve been watching recently, we’re supposed to kiss and fall in love after the date,” she said matter-of-factly. The crazy coffee concoction steamed in her hands. The heat made her bold. “But something will prevent us from being with each other, like a tornado or your sudden terminal illness.”

  A laugh burst out of him. “What’s my illness?”

  “Probably cancer, I hate to say it.” She watched him for a second. “Like muscle cancer.”

  “Why muscle cancer?”

  “Because you’ve got so much of it.” She took a sip of her drink, but it scalded her lips. She inhaled sharply. “Oh fudge, this is like lava.”

  Cobra’s eyes narrowed. His scrutiny left her on pins and needles. “You don’t swear, do you?”

  “I just did.”

  He cocked his head. “No, you said ‘fudge.’ That’s not swearing.”

  She cleared her throat. Uh-oh. She’d been outed. “Well, you know what I’m trying to say.”

  “Fuck.”

  A shiver went up her spine. “Yeah.”

  “So say it.”

  She gave him a duh look. “Fine.”

  Silence stretched between them. His amused smile crept wider and wider. Her skin prickled.

  “I don’t feel like saying it right now.”

  He nodded, finally taking a sip of his coffee. “Okay.” He looked at the coffee cup, then took another sip. “Fuck, this is good.”

  “Fuck right good.” The words tumbled out of her. And then she realized they didn’t make any sense. She covered her face with her free hand. “Well, there, I said it.”

  Cobra snorted, leaning back in his chair. “That your first time?”

  “No. But maybe my fifth.” She tried to mimic his relaxed posture, but her muscles wouldn’t loosen.

  “You think swearing is evil or something?”

  “No, not evil. Just…” New. Weird. Forbidden. “Not something I normally do.”

  “Like all the other stuff on your list.” His umber gaze seared her. “Be real with me. Are you an alien?”

  A laugh popped out of her. Cobra looked as pleased as she felt.

  “No. Unless you are too. Maybe we both are.” She ran her thumb over the plastic lid again, gaze drifting toward the roses outside. “Why do you think I’m an alien?”

  He leaned forward, his voice dropping a little. “Because you’re gorgeous, you’re a red-head, you don’t swear, and you’ve never had alcohol before. Either you were raised in a cave, or you’re from outer space.”

  Darn. He was onto her. The integration wasn’t going as well as expected. Admitting to him where she came from seemed…naïve, somehow. Being a newbie wasn’t something to be proud of. Especially when connected to gorgeous. “Well, you guessed it. Raised in a cave.”

  He leaned back, his smug smile the stuff of fantasies. “You’re sassy for being raised in a cave.” He took a deliberate sip, his gaze leaving goosepimples in its wake. “I like it.”

  I like it. Something so satisfying in those words, as if she was personally responsible for creating pleasure. His pleasure. Even if it was distant amusement, she’d take it.

  Because the longer she was around him, the more she realized she’d take anything he had to offer. As long as it meant more Cobra.

  Chapter 10

  “What do people normally do after dates?” Gen’s emerald gaze punctured him. She was the living embodiment of sweetness and light. It took everything in him to look away.

  “I think that’s up to us. We’re new. We get to decide.” He kicked at some stones on the path, watching them disappear into the mulched beds lining the sidewalk. What he wanted to do was jump right to item number nine of her list: Have sex. Scratch that. He wanted to jump to item number ten: Have GOOD sex. And then repeat it five times over.

  Every last part of him craved Gen, and just as much of him knew that she was the last girl he should get involved with.

  Was that why he’d offered to help her with the list? Otherwise, rationality would have led him away from her. Now, he could pretend he was doing her a favor. Teaching her something. Showing her new things. Whatever the reason, it was a temporary lending hand. Cobra knew where he fit and who fit with him. Without the list, she would have been another girl who was wrong for too many reasons.

  “I dunno. Maybe we should go to the library?” She squinted up at him, one eye pinched against the glare of the late-evening sun.

  Warmth trickled through him. He wanted to laugh, but not at her. More like the way proud parents in the sitcoms he used to watch did when their kid did something special. But more than that, too. Like he could eat her up, all at the same time.

  “Why do you want to go to the library?”

  She shrugged. “A place to hang out.”

  Too innocent for words. “I’ve never hung out in a library before.”

  “Maybe you should start.”

  He caught a hint of sauciness in her tone and knocked his hip into hers. She inhaled sharply.

  “I didn’t see the library on your list. But we can still go, if you want.”

  “Well, it wouldn’t be on the list, silly. I’ve been going to the library since I was a little girl. My community had a small religious library.”

  Cobra sniffed. “It would be sorta new for me. I think I went to the school library once or twice.” He paused, gauging her reaction. They were more different than she could even fathom. “Like, for class.”

  “You went to a regular school?”

  The question floored him. “Of course. Didn’t you?”

  She remained quiet for a few moments, adjusting the cream top stuffed loosely into a pair of high-waisted olive shorts. “I was homeschooled.”

  “Ah. Yeah. I know about that.” He nudged her again. Electricity shivered through him. God help him if he ever got this woman naked and alone. He might explode. “They threatened to homeschool me ’cuz I was bad.”

  She sent him a sharp glance. “Threatened to?”


  “Yeah. Like, if I couldn’t keep my grades up and stop beating people up, they’d make me get homeschooled.”

  Sunlight glinted off her auburn tresses, sparkling wild and red in the beam. “I guess it is sort of a punishment. I would have done anything to go to a regular school.”

  “Wasn’t that great, I can tell you.” He scuffed his foot against the uneven brick pavement. “Lots of kids. Lots of drama. Lots of homework.”

  “What classes did you take?”

  He shrugged. “Regular shit. Biology. Math. Chemistry. English.”

  She blinked a few times, tracing her fingertips over her cheek as if she’d discovered it for the first time. “Chemistry?”

  “Yeah, ever heard of it?”

  He’d meant to be funny, but when she didn’t respond, the distance between them—their upbringings, their life experiences—spread open like a gulf. What the fuck was he doing with a chick like this? She basically was an alien.

  “You didn’t miss much,” he hurried to add. “Lots of chemicals, beakers, and shit. Bunch of equations that I could never keep straight. I failed it, so…”

  Silence stretched between them again, and Gen had slowed. Cobra stopped, watching as she bent down to examine spiky plants bursting out of a planter. A smile curled through her lips. She looked up at him, the sunlight washing over her face.

  She was an angel.

  “I love flowers,” she said simply, popping to her feet. She rejoined him, and they continued walking. “Don’t you?”

  He’d never considered them before. But Gen made him eager to start. “Uh. Sure. What’s your favorite?”

  “Daisies.”

  He scratched the back of his neck, looking around at the flowers. He’d seen them, sure, but he hadn’t seen them. Bright pinks, lush purples, columns of scarlet and billowing white. He didn’t know the names of a single one. Hell, he couldn’t even place daisy in his head.

  Gen looked up at him, curiosity glittering in her eyes. “What’s yours?”

  “I don’t have one.”

  She scoffed, heading toward a long bed of flowers. It looked like a repurposed, overturned fishing boat. Sweet smells wafted toward him, but what they were, he couldn’t identify. A strange spiky succulent fanned out, with one large stalk shooting upward.