Page 104 of Breaking the Sinner

On Saturday morning he slept in, then slipped out of the apartment as fast as he could once he realized Klay and Tyler were out. The idea had been simmering in the back of his mind for a while. Thinking about how much she would like a puppy. Imagining the way it would light up her face. How hard she’d hug him. Helping her cross off one more item from her list.

He’d never had a pet growing up, so this would be a whole new world for him. He chose an adoption shelter—something about orphaned animals spoke to him, and he figured Gen would feel the same. He walked rows of cages full of dogs with droopy faces, pointed snouts, tawny fur, different colored eyes. They had a few puppies, but Cobra knew the one he wanted the second he spotted it.

Jack Russell terrier, they told him. Named Stella. Potty trained, timid, discovered on the side of a road with some signs of neglect. When the shelter employee handed Stella over to Cobra, she fit into his hands easily, and her warm body sent a wave of recognition through him.

“Hi, Stella,” he said, bringing his face close to hers. She licked his nose tentatively, those big brown eyes making his heart wrench.

“This is the one,” he said, tucking her into the crook of his elbow. Her paw hung over the side of his forearm as if she’d been chilling there for a lifetime. “I’ll take Stella.”

Stella watched the world around her curiously as he completed the paperwork. By the end of Cobra’s visit, she was licking the side of his face, her entire butt wagging with happiness.

“She really likes you,” commented the shelter worker.

“My girlfriend is gonna go wild for her,” Cobra said, laughing as Stella traced his jaw with her puppy kisses. The wordgirlfriendthrummed through him. It fit. And however much the idea scared him, hopefulness showed up to balance it out.

The shelter set him up with some basics—some dog food, a leash, a pee pad, and plenty of pamphlets about caring for your new dog—and sent him on his way. In the car, Stella sat comically tiny in the passenger side seat. He tried to put a seatbelt over her, but Stella wasn’t having it.

“Ready to go meet your new mom?” Cobra asked. The grin on his face stretched from ear to ear. Fuck, he hadn’t been this giddy in…maybeever. His forearms prickled with anticipation. He’d never, ever done anything like this, not even remotely close, for anyone.

And Gen would know how special this was. She’d see it. Immediately.

Cobra wanted to show up with the full package ready. He made a pitstop at a boutique grocery store, and carried Stella through the aisles while beautiful middle-aged women cooed at him. The attention overwhelmed him. Between the gasps and the curious questions and even one small group of Asian girls who insisted they take his picture with Stella, it took him way too long to get three new bouquets of daisies and a large gift box.

In his car, he poked practically a hundred air holes into the gift box, extra big, for his new little buddy Stella. Then he set her inside, along with the leash and the pee pad and the pamphlets, and drove the rest of the way to Gen’s house.

The gift box came with a garish red bow on top. Perfect. He popped the lid on right before he turned down Gen’s hallway. In front of the door, he hoisted the box under his arm, then arranged the daisies. No hands left, he rang the doorbell with his elbow.

Silence blossomed in the seconds after he rang. No movement from inside. He rang again.

And then he knocked with his elbow. Just for good measure. In case the doorbell had broken. In case Gen and Sophie were both in the bathroom, using hair dryers at the same time, while metal music played at high volume.

His belly knotted. A warning signal. He knocked a third time.

And then he heard it. The soft scuffle of footsteps. He wet his bottom lip, anticipation sliding cold and slick through him. It was almost too much. He couldn’t handle it.

The door swung open.

Sophie leaned against the door, rubbing at her eyes. Jet-black hair stuck up out of a loose ponytail.

“Cobra?” she asked, squinting out the door.

“Hey.” Disappointment shuddered through him. The box slipped a little so he let it slide to the floor. Stella whimpered from inside. “Is Gen home?”

Sophie blinked a few times, staring at the box. “Is something alive in there?”

“I need to talk to Gen. This is a present for her.”

“Yeah, sure looks like it.” Sophie laughed a little, then she peered up at Cobra. “Gen’s not home. She won’t be back for a while.”

His entire body deflated. His gaze fell to the box. To Stella. Waiting for her new mom. “Okay, well…when will she be back? I’ll wait for her. I don’t mind.”

Sophie cleared her throat, straightening. The air thickened between them, the barometric shift preceding bad news. “She’s actually not in LA anymore. She left the country.”

It took Cobra a few moments to process her words. And even when he did, it still didn’t make any fucking sense. “I don’t…so she’s coming back tonight?”

“No, Cobra.” Sophie smiled sadly. “I don’t know when she’s coming back.”

He blinked. The wrappers of the bouquets crinkled as he shifted them to his other hand. Sophie sighed.

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