Page 10 of Breaking the Sinner

Break her into pieces and get drunk on the shards.

“You need to go to bed,” he said. She wobbled toward the hallway, and he caught her again before she pitched forward.

“Actually,youneed to go to bed,” she slurred. “Don’t tell me who needs to go to bed; I know who needs to go to bed. I need to go to bed.”

Circular drunk logic. He bit his lip to keep in the laugh as he guided her down the hall. She listed toward one of the doors. Probably hers. She pushed at the door, and he flipped the light on, stomach tightening as he awaited the verdict: her room or her roommate’s.

The equivalent of a dollhouse bedroom stared back at him. Neatly made twin bed, oak dresser, a flowery lamp that sat primly on an otherwise empty nightstand. One suitcase stood upright, unopened, near the door.

“Lay down.” He stayed near the doorway. Maybe more for his own good than hers. She flopped face first onto the bed. She mumbled something into the comforter, and then her eyes closed.

A moment later she fell asleep.

The quiet of the apartment descended on him. Reminded him that he was in somebody else’s apartment on the side of town that wasn’t his. Tension prickled through him. As he headed for the door a paper fluttered from underfoot. He stilled so he could identify it. Not his.

He blinked a few times, trying to read it from where he stood midstride. Feminine handwriting. Probably Red’s. The urge to see it up close overcame him. What had she written, alone in this strange, empty room? He snatched it up.

Things I Seriously Need To Do Before I Go Home

Pay rent and utility bills on time and with a smile!

Have an excellent, toe-curling make-out session

Go on a date with a man

Cobra blinked, looking up at Red. Holy shit, was she a terminal cancer patient or something? Red continued snoring softly.

Go to one of those art classes where you drink wine and everyone paints the same picture and most of them look horrible, but hey, at least you tried

Scream “fuck” from a mountaintop

Meet someone for a ridiculous coffee creation

Fix my leg

Get a guy’s number

Have sex

Have GOOD sex

Have an excellent, toe-curling orgasm with a man

Cobra’s mouth fell open, and he looked back at Red. This couldn’t mean…

He blinked again. Somehow, it all made sense.

She was a virgin.

Spend the night at a man’s house, and the next morning he does NOT want me to leave!

Get flowers from basically anyone, but it would be nice if it was also from this man

Shock the family, bring a man home?

Use the Maps application with the British voice

Get drinks after work with my coworkers like the rest of the world does.

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