Page 13 of Breaking the Sinner

“Your roommate wasn’t too happy,” Cobra said, tapping his knuckles against the doorframe. His face softened, allowing a flash of some inner part of him. Like the hermit crab’s soft, gelatinous underbody. He peered back down the hallway, the impassive mask sliding back into place.

Gen’s face flamed, but what could she do? Everything had exploded. The one thing left was to have Cobra walk in on her taking a crap. Mid-wipe, even. That seemed par for the course.

“She thinks I need an intervention. I explained that I’d never tasted liquor before.”

Cobra blinked. “For real?”

“Yeah.” She slid into her chair, skin prickling under Cobra’s attention. “So it was the first and the last time.”

“Well, listen. Here’s a pro tip: don’t mix your liquors.”

His steel gaze held her captive. His words felt like an admonishment, but also like a password. A secret entry to a world she was only beginning to learn.

“Got it,” she said, drawing a deep, cleansing breath. In her previous life, one thing had ever made her stomach clench up like this—doing readings at church. This was way more intense. Cobra’s scrutiny burned over her in a way a congregation of fifty politely engaged God-fearing peers couldn’t.

Cobra’s jaw flexed, and then he turned, leaving a tension in the air behind him. An unspoken comment, an aside that maybe he’d thought better of. She sat paralyzed in the silence, wanting more of him but unsure how to get it.

She turned on her loaner laptop and got busy before she could spiral into the cyclone of doubts and second-guessing. Her entire being felt fragile. Another effect of the hangover, probably—whisper-thin defenses that could crumble under one stern admonishment. And today she’d already had several.

“This is what adult life is like,” she murmured to herself as she logged into the Holt Body accounting software. “Hangovers and hotties. Get used to it.”

She’d been introduced to the accounting software yesterday, and thankfully there wasn’t an audience here as she got used to the strange format. She could fumble and ponder in peace, without the worldly stares of people who’d grown up with this technology.

After over twenty years of living in the 1950s style bubble of her closed religious community in central California, she didn’t want to admit how many facets of the modern world were as bizarre as a science fiction movie.

The first of which she’d seen last year.Men in Black. And honestly, it was a little disappointing that tiny aliens didn’t lounge in the break room here at Holt Body Fitness. Of anywhere, this sci-fi gymnasium would be the secret cosmic portal.

Her computer knowledge came from borrowed time at the hospital after her accident. Cooped up for three months after the car wreck that changed her life, she’d had more access to the outside world than her parents had ever intended. Sitcoms on television, music, the Internet, swearing. She’d accessed the slow-as-molasses computers in an Internet room during specific hours of the day, after visiting hours were over. Her daily, sinful refuge.

And all of the influences they’d striven to protect her from flooded out, monsoon-style, until she was drowning in the possibilities of life. Suddenly, there was so much more to existence. More than just family or Bible study. More than quiet, passive murmurings about a woman’s rightful place: in the dark, and in the kitchen.

No, her unrestricted Internet free-for-all, which included everything from scary romps through Reddit, enlightening articles on sexual organs, and a free accounting class that helped expand on her bookkeeping role at home, cultivated a worldly Gen. The worldliest of anyone in her family, at least.

She’d always had curiosities pushing at the edges of her mind. Inklings she knew to tamp down, lest anyone suspect she wanted anything other than their God-centered lifestyle and closed community.

The accident had been the hardest part of her life. But maybe also the biggest blessing.

Gen murmured to herself as she clicked through the recent expenses at Holt Body Fitness. “Hangovers and hotties. Lessons and embarrassment.” She shook her head, envisioning steel armor clicking into place around her body. “This is exactly what you asked for. Farts and all, you better make the best of it.”

“What was that?”

Her gaze shot to the door. Cobra had returned, three bottles tucked under his arm. He sauntered inside, the bottles making distinctthudsas he set down each one in turn on her desk.

“Um…” she began. Her embarrassment fermented, creating a live culture of dismay. Maybe she should stop trying. At least with Cobra. Since, clearly, she was destined to eat her words, stick her foot in her mouth, and generally make a fool of herself. “Just singing to myself. What’s this?”

“Water.” His expression saidduh. “Mix this into at least one bottle.” He set a few packets of something down. “And then take these.” He sprinkled a couple of pills onto the desktop from his other hand.

“What’s all this for?” she asked, blinking up at him.

“Hangover cure.” He winked. The simple act sent a tidal wave of heat through her. “It’s ibuprofen. Drink up, Red.”

Cobra turned and strutted out of the office. She gaped after him. This man was more than just a sexy colleague or someone she consistently, unabashedly stumbled in front of.

This man was her guardian angel.

Chapter 5

Cobra’s mind drifted as he spotted for a client on the bench press. He hadn’t stopped thinking about Gen since the moment he laid eyes on her yesterday. Couldn’t have stopped thinking about her if he wanted to.

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