Page 50 of Breaking the Sinner

She stretched her arms out, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. Clarity returned to her memory—the last wisps of consciousness before she’d fallen asleep on the couch in Cobra’s arms, sometime in the late evening after they’d made quesadillas with mushrooms and the spiciest salsa they could muster.

And now? She groped for her phone. Not on the nightstand. She grunted, her mind immediately moving to Cobra. Wishing he were here. That he’d stayed. That he’d wanted to put his arms around her and spend the night half as bad as she wanted him to.

The apartment was eerily quiet, almost like she’d caught the living room in the middle of acting naughty, so it had seized up and clamped its mouth shut. She flicked the lights on long enough to spot her phone on the couch. She snatched it up.

No new messages. She frowned.

She’d had a more than fulfilling evening with Cobra. So why did she want more of him, as though she hadn’t taken her fill and then some? The man had brought her to climaxtwice. That might be more than any of her friends back home achieved in a lifetime.

This was greed. The natural progression from lust. She’d turned to the dark side, and now nothing would sate her. It would never be enough.

She sighed and collapsed back onto the bed, staring at the bright screen of her phone. Dark side? Bring it on. Maybe she wanted to see how dark it got down there. She just hoped Bethany wasn’t watching from Heavenallthe time. She opened the message thread with Cobra.

GEN: I just woke up. Where are you?

He didn’t respond immediately, like her pounding heart desired. He didn’t even respond within a few minutes. As she tugged off her shorts and reached for her pajamas, his response came.

COBRA: Home. You passed out hard.

GEN: It’s fine to spend the night. Why not stay?

Another long pause emerged, one that allowed her to change into a hand-me-down Ramones T-shirt from Amara, brush her teeth, and pull back the covers. All set for bed. His response came as she slipped between the cool sheets.

COBRA: That’s not what I do.

She stared at his response until the words stopped making sense.

GEN: I don’t get it.

COBRA: I don’t spend the night. It’s not what I do.

She frowned, rolling to her side. She could imagine him here, lying beside her as she got lost in the flecks of caramel in his eyes. Finding the soft lines hidden beneath his hard shell. She was starting to love finding those soft lines.

GEN: Maybe you should sometime. It seems like it would be fun.

She sent it knowing full well it was needling. But this was the dark side, right? Why not jump all the way in? If she was going to hell, why not go twice?

COBRA: Thought we had rules.

GEN: We do. Sorry. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.

She set the phone down, resolving to let it lie. But after a few moments of tossing and turning, she realized she was far from done. She snatched up her phone again.

GEN: Did I wake you up?

COBRA: Nah. I never sleep.

GEN: You might if you spent the night with me.

COBRA: You’re real funny now that I made you come twice in one night.

GEN: You’re the funny one. That made me laugh so hard I woke up the whole floor.

COBRA: Lies. But I like that you try to make me feel good.

She smiled at the screen for a while, every inch of her wanting Cobra. Wanting to cause that crack in his façade. The one that made that certain brand of smile show up. The one that told her she’d earned a space in his heart.

GEN: Try to sleep a little. I’ll see you…hopefully soon?

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