Page 42 of Breaking the Sinner

Fuck it.He clenched and unclenched his jaw, gripping his phone as he contemplated what to do next. He didn’t want to go back there. He needed the rest of the day to decompress. To stuff the leak that his mom had created eleven years ago when she murdered the only decent human being in his life.

Gen didn’t know what she was getting into. If she was smart, she’d stay far away from his mess. He was a loser. A fuckup. Someone who couldn’t even stay at work without his demons chasing him out.

When he got to the parking lot of his apartment building, he cut the engine and stared at his phone. What to do? His heart thumped a little louder, considering the consequences. His M.O. was to say nothing. Let the pieces fall where they fell. He could call Travis, maybe, and make up some bullshit story…but no, that was trying too hard.

When the seeping heat of the early afternoon started crowding him out of the car, his phone buzzed.Holt Body Fitness. His stomach pitched to his feet. Here it was.

He picked up the phone, thumb poised to swipe it to silent. But at the last moment, he chose to answer it. Bewildering even himself. He brought the phone to his ear.

“Hey, Travis.”

“Cobra. You okay, buddy?” Genuine concern filled Travis’s voice. “Gen told me you had to leave because of your cousin. Just wanted to check that everything was gonna be okay.”

Cobra drew a low breath, pressing his forehead to the steering wheel.Red.She’d come through for him. When he least deserved it. Relief staggered through his chest, and he had to pause for the wave of emotion to crest and dissipate before he could speak.

“Yeah. Sorry, man. I woulda told you myself, but it happened fast.” He cleared his throat, squeezing the steering wheel. “Hopefully my cousin’s gonna be fine. I’ll be back tomorrow morning for sure.”

Cobra hung up the phone, staring at the battered steel door that led to his hallway. By now, the heat had sunk into him, urging him outside. He pushed open the door, one foot dangling out.

He didn’t have to go to work, but he didn’t want to go inside his apartment either. It would be a cesspool in there. The same dank, shadowy hole waiting to consume him. Snuff out any inkling of advance or motivation.

Klay would ask him why he hadn’t quit yet. Ask him how he wasn’t sick of showing up every morning by nine. Then he’d show him some weird sex chat he’d gotten into. It was always the same.

Cobra ground his jaw, staring at the cracked asphalt. Shouts drifted toward him on the breeze. Angry undertones coming from a neighbor. Angry enough to make his stomach wrench.

He pulled out his phone again, swiping to the message thread with Gen.

COBRA: Thanks for covering my ass. You didn’t have to.

He didn’t expect a fast response if she was at the gym. But the dots popped up that showed she was typing.

GEN: I sincerely hope everything is okay.

Her concern bled through the screen, dribbling into his parched being. He didn’t deserve her kindness. But it was hard to tear himself away. Her kindness made him want to open up, and maybe that was worst of all.

COBRA: Can we hang out later?

GEN: Absolutely. What do you want to do?

Cobra leaned back in the driver’s seat, contemplating the slice of blue sky visible between the side of his decrepit building and the mangled palm tree shooting up out of a thicket of weeds and engine junk.

COBRA: Meet me at Clutter’s Park after work. I’ll be waiting for you.

Cobra slammed his door shut and started the car again.

Chapter 18

Gen eased into a parking spot near the bluff at the intersection of Imperial Avenue and Sheldon Street. Cars stretched ahead of and behind her, lining the sides of the road. Clutter’s Park. She’d never heard of this place, and upon seeing it, couldn’t imagine why Cobra might have asked her to comehereof all places.

People lingered near a chain link fence, a few sat on park benches, while others played chess at small tables along the sidewalk. The fence overlooked a highway. Gen clutched her purse strap to her shoulder as she stepped between cars, feeling a lot like the butt of a joke she didn’t understand. Maybe Cobra had lied to her. Maybe she’d gotten the address wrong.

And then she spotted him. Bent over, elbows pressed to the tops of his knees, jet black hair tousled and overgrown. His haunted gaze cast out past the chain link fence. His broad shoulders stretching the back of his T-shirt tight made her breath evaporate. For a moment, she couldn’t move. Didn’t want to break his reverie, wherever he was inside his head.

She’d seen a new side of Cobra earlier that day. And even though it threatened to break, explosive and jagged, in her face, she wanted to see more of it.

Gen straightened the black Holt polo tucked into her black shorts. She’d come straight from work, eager to meet him as soon as humanly possible. Cobra glanced her way as she approached, his hardened expression melting into something softer.

“Hey, there.” She nudged his ankle with the toe of her flat.

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