Page 73 of Breaking the Sinner

He clutched her by her lower back, bringing their bodies back together. The warmth of her against him was a relief. “So I’m the bad influence, huh?”

“Maybe.” She tilted her head, the late sunset hue glinting off her pale skin. Making her glow. Like the angel she was. “Or maybe I’ve been a bad influence in hiding all along.”

Cobra pressed his forehead to hers. “Naughty.”

“I’ve been waiting my whole life to be naughty.”

“And will you be naughty forever now?”

She smiled, but didn’t look amused. “Until I move back home, I suppose.”

Gen turned then, confronting the sunset once more, allowing Cobra to fall deep into her words.Until I move back home. He’d never considered the possibility that she’d go back to that. To the people who had driven her away. And if she went back to them…what did that mean for him?

“Let’s go,” Cobra said, tugging at the belt loop of her jeans. “Our parking meter is probably up by now.”

They walked down the dusty path in silence, and Cobra fought to keep his anxieties at bay. They’d put a time limit on this…thing, whatever it had become. But even so, once three months were up, he’d counted on her still being around. Accessible. Available.

Any thought to the contrary sent a cold fear snaking through him. One he didn’t even want to think about, much less confront.

Back at Gen’s apartment, she led him straight into her bedroom. She shut the door behind him with a determination that he didn’t dare test.

“Okay,” she said, resting her hands on her hips. “I’m ready for toking.”

He smirked. “That’s not exactly what you say when you wanna smoke up.”

She sighed, throwing herself onto her bed. “I would say I want to learn how to say it, but I have a feeling this will be my first and last time trying it.”

Cobra dug out the tiny pipe and stash he had buried in his back pocket. Easing onto the bed next to her, she watched him like a med student studying a surgery.

“What’s that?” she said, pointing at the slender one-hitter he had in his hand.

“The pipe.” He packed a little bit of already ground weed into the end. “This is what we smoke out of.”

She snorted. “No way.”

“Have you ever smoked anything before?”

She shook her head.

“Okay then. This is gonna feel weird.” He held it up so she could see. “And it might hurt your throat a little. But watch.” He flicked the lighter and brought the slender end of the pipe to his lips. He took a curt inhale, held the smoke, and met her gaze as he let the wisps escape his mouth in a slow, controlled exhale.

“Do I have to do it just like that?”

“Inhale. Hold. And exhale.” He passed it to her, butterflies in his belly like his first time all over again. She took the lighter from him and then the pipe.

“I don’t know,” she murmured. Gen flicked the lighter, and then again. It didn’t light.

“I’ll do it,” he offered.

She nodded, lifting the pipe toward her face. Then he brought the flame to the end. She furrowed her brow, scowling at the pipe, and brought her lips up to the edge. But she faltered.

“Inhale,” he said.

She rounded her lips around the tip and then shied away again.

“Come on. It’s ready.”

She dove back in, taking a deep inhale like he’d instructed. But she must have rallied every last ounce of courage, because she hit the pipehard. The tip burned white hot for a moment. And then mere seconds later, Gen coughed. Coughed so hard a lung might’ve come up. Cobra hadn’t heard anyone cough like that since he was fourteen. He lunged for the glass of water at her bedside, offering it between gasps.

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