Page 40 of Breaking the Sinner

Back in her room, Gen sent a text despite the hour.

GEN: Just woke up, thinking of you. Sorry if this is too late. I can’t sleep now.

Cobra’s response came before she could even set the phone down.

COBRA: Welcome to my life. So thinking about me keeps you up?

GEN: Yeah…thinking about 2nd base. And 3rd. And home.

COBRA::) :) :)

COBRA: Once we go all the way, you won’t be able to think about anything else.

Like she could think about anything elsebeforegoing all the way? She hopped back into bed, cozying up to the phone like it was Cobra himself. Like maybe he might spend the night sometime. Like she could wake up to his fragrant heat, that rock-solid torso, his lips on her hairline.

GEN: Why’d you leave?

COBRA: You were tired. I work tomorrow.

GEN: Then you need to go to sleep!!!

COBRA: Can’t. Rules of insomnia.

GEN: Have you always had insomnia?

COBRA: Long as I can remember. Go to sleep. Night, sexy.

Gen set her phone down like a good girl and curled into her covers once more. She stared at the window ledge across the room, her mind wandering to Cobra. The way his warm hand had crept up her tank top. The almost-guffaw he had when he thought something she said wasreallyfunny. The break in his veneer at times, which allowed her to glimpse something soft and vulnerable underneath, like looking at the little boy he used to be.

Cobra was fascinating. He was hard-edged but soft in the middle. He gleamed with toughness but wasn’t proud enough to reject her onion-cutting class in the kitchen.

She wanted more of him. As much as she could get. She’d see him every day if he’d let her.

Gen burrowed into her pillow, a smile making its way onto her face.

If nothing else, Cobra had become an important fixture in the grand hallway of her new life.

And that was worth sinning for.

Chapter 17

Cobra was at work when the 559 area code number called. He was on his way to the employee lounge area, where Travis had surprised everyone with build-your-own-subs. He swiped the phone on, stopping in his tracks.

“H’lo?”

“Brendan.”

Iciness slid through his veins. He hadn’t heard this voice in over a year. His mother. By biology alone. He pinched at the bridge of his nose. Usually he ignored her calls. If the voice wasn’t a clue, her use of his given name was the punch in the throat.

“Carla.” He cleared his throat. He could hang up now. Sayfuck itand not bother pretending like this was anywhere close to normal. But the tiny, flickering hope always got him. The weak ember that whispered,But she’s the only blood family you’ve got.“They must have moved you.”

“Yeaaap. Different facility.” Her longtime smoker’s voice sounded gritty, much worse now, since she’d been incarcerated for over ten years. Probably smoking on the hour, since there weren’t many vices to latch onto on the inside. He’d been fourteen when it all went down. When she pulled the bottom out from under him, showed him that real life didn’t have happy endings.

He stared at the lounge door. Travis walked out, deep in conversation with Lex. Cobra leaned against the wall, nodding their way.

“What do you want?”

“Can’t a mama just talk to her boy? Her long-lost boy?” A laugh rattled out of her. It was never that simple with her.

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