Page 71 of Breaking the Sinner

“Yeah.” He swallowed a knot in his throat. “I will, Red.”

“Good.” She squeezed his hand. “I asked Travis where you were. He said you called in sick.”

He worked his jaw back and forth. He’d at least taken care to text the boss. That alone was leaps and bounds better than he used to do. Even though the certification paperwork had scared the literal shit out of him, he’d still left the door open to stay at Holt Body Fitness. Though why, he couldn’t say.

“I’ll need a doctor’s note or something,” Cobra said, rapping his knuckles against the counter. “I don’t know where to get one.”

Gen hummed as she thought. “Why don’t you tell Travis you didn’t see a doctor? Like, you had a really sudden illness. Food poisoning! What about that?”

Cobra shrugged. “Worth a shot, I guess.”

Gen looked so excited he didn’t have the heart to tell her it didn’t matter. The certification paperwork would be the death blow to his stint at Holt Body.

“You didn’t skip work for two days because I asked you to Thanksgiving,” Gen asked, “Right?”

He shook his head. “Nah. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Thanksgiving at someone’s house sounds like a drag. But I wouldn’t skip work over it.”

She smiled, but it faded fast. “So why did you skip?”

“You already know. Food poisoning.”

Gen frowned. “I mean for real.”

Cobra sighed. “Red, it’s too early to get this heavy. Let’s have some fun first, at least.”

Hope sparked in her eyes. “Okay. What do you wanna do?”

Cobra wracked his brain for the most opposite thing he could imagine. The type of activity that Red would suggest, if she weren’t so eager to receive him at her apartment. The type of thing that he knew would make her light up like a firecracker.

“Let’s check off another item on your list.” He knew exactly where to start. “I think it’s time to go scream ‘fuck’ off a mountain.”

Chapter 29

Cobra and Gen took turns screaming “FUCK!” into the golden sunset over Los Angeles until their throats were raw. At first when people wandered by, Gen clammed up, claiming she didn’t want to be vulgar. But after a while, Cobra convinced her to throw all her fucks to the wind.

Her auburn hair moved in the breeze as she threw her head back and laughed. He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her back flush against his chest. She fit against him like a puzzle piece. One he’d known was missing but had forced himself to not look for.

He pressed his mouth to the back of her head as they stood there, swaying, looking out over the distant buildings of downtown LA. He knew better than this. Relishing sweet moments like this, with a sweetheart like Gen—they didn’t belong to a man like him.

But it was hard to pull away.

Impossible, actually.

“Got all your fucks out?” he asked, looking down at her. A dimple flashed as she smiled up at him. Her face radiated joy. Like looking at a child playing in the rain. But she was all woman, too. She might have started out green, but she was ripening up now.

“All of them and then some,” she said. “This is so nice, Cobra. Can we never leave?”

“Sure.” He surveyed the outcrop they stood on, her hips pressed to the steel railing so they didn’t topple off the edge of the outlook. “We’ll buy a tent and stay here. Until the cops kick us out, I guess.”

She giggled. God, he’d never get tired of hearing that angelic laugh. “And even that would be fine. I need to get arrested once, I suppose.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“You’ve been arrested?”

He shrugged. “Here and there.”

“Jeez, Cobra.” She ran her fingertips over the length of each finger in turn, like tracing the pattern of him. “There’s nothing you haven’t done.”

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