*Isabella's POV*
After we ate breakfast, he led me to the couch like he had something big to unload. My nerves were already buzzing. "Okay, so…" he started. I raised a brow. "You can't start a presentation with so."
"Smartass," he muttered, fighting back a grin.
"Stop stalling," I shot back, folding my arms.
"Alright, fine." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, serious for once. "The reason we can't sleep together… yet… is because you're not ready."
I blinked at him. "Ready for what exactly?"
His eyes didn't waver. "For me and Damien." My stomach dropped. I stared at him like he'd suddenly sprouted horns. "What the fuck does that even mean?" Jacob let out a breath, running a hand through his messy hair. "Do you know now why I came to Raleigh? Why now?" He was watching me closely, searching my face for any flicker of understanding.
But I was completely lost. "No, Jacob. I don't fucking know," I snapped, frustration boiling in my chest. "You show up, you turn my world upside down, you make me feel things I don't even want to feel—and now you're throwing Damien into the middle of this like I'm supposed to connect the dots?"
He didn't answer right away. Just sat there, jaw tight, like he was debating how much of the truth he could actually spill. And that silence made me want to scream. Seeing no flicker of understanding on my face, Jacob pressed on, his voice low but insistent.
"Damien and I… we have this connection. When we were little, we used to call it magical. But it's not magic, Isabella. It's something raw. Human. Real." His eyes darkened as if pulling from memories he couldn't escape. "Being twins… we're connected in everything. Pleasure. Pain. Doesn't matter. We feel it. We share it."
I frowned, my mouth going dry. "What do you mean 'share it'?" Jacob's jaw tightened. "I mean if he's in pain, I fucking feel it. If he's utterly happy, I feel it. If he's… excited. Or aroused." He stopped, his gaze flicking over my face, gauging my reaction. I stared at him, wide-eyed, my brain short-circuiting. The words pleasure, aroused, twins tangled together in ways I couldn't fucking comprehend. My stomach twisted, heat rushing to my face.
"You've got to be shitting me…" I finally managed, shaking my head.Jacob didn't laugh. Didn't smirk. He just held my stare, steady and dead serious.
Jacob's tone dropped lower, more serious, like every word carried a memory he'd buried but couldn't keep down.
"It's like a surge," he continued, his hand running through his hair as if grounding himself. "The greater the sentiment, the greater the surge. When we started going out with girls… we didn't know. Not at first. We were ashamed, confused. We didn't even talk about it to each other. But if the girl was special enough—" he paused, exhaling like the memory itself was heavy, "—the other would feel it."I froze, my heart pounding.
Jacob's gaze lifted to mine, unwavering. "Soon, we couldn't date on our own. We both dated the same girl." My stomach dropped. "So... you're both liars? You'd deceive the girls and make them believe you were Damien one moment, you the next?" I asked, my voice sharp, almost breaking.
"No, doll." His reply was soft, but steady, like he'd rehearsed this before. "We were as honest as we could be. They knew. We dated the same girl… and we slept with her. At the same time."
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth as my whole body stiffened. The words hit me like a slap, leaving me staring at him in disbelief.
Jacob didn't flinch. He just looked at me with a strange mix of contempt and defiance, like he expected me to run away.
"I… I don't know what to say." The words tumbled out of me, shaky and nervous, breaking the heavy silence.
"You don't have to say anything," Jacob replied calmly, though his eyes searched mine like he was gauging whether I'd bolt. "I get it. It's strange at first. You just need to let it sink in."
I swallowed hard, my chest tight. "So… what does this have to do with why you're in Raleigh? You said something about it in the beginning."
His jaw flexed as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "I felt the surge," he said simply, like that was supposed to mean something to me. "And it's stronger this time. Stronger than any other time."
My brows knitted. "What surge?"
Jacob looked at me then, really looked, like he was about to lay something dangerous on the table. His voice dropped, low and deliberate. "The surge that comes when Damien and I both want the same girl. When we're both pulled in. When the connection doesn't just flare—it fucking ignites."
My breath caught in my throat, realization slowly dawning, though I didn't want to admit it.
"Damien… has strong feelings for you. Be it lust or something else. It doesn't really matter. I felt it, and I came. I couldn't bear it anymore," Jacob said, his tone final, like he'd just placed the last card on the table.
But my mind was a storm. His words slammed into me, one after another, each more unbelievable than the last.
Damien has feelings for me.
For a second—just one reckless, fleeting second—a flare of joy sparked in my chest, so strong I almost smiled. Damien. The man I'd spent years quietly admiring, dissecting every tilt of his head, every line in his voice, like he was some impossible equation I wanted to solve. I'd had the biggest, most humiliating crush on him since the moment I walked into his office, and now Jacob was saying…
No.
My stomach twisted sharply, joy smothered under the crushing weight of disbelief. No. Damien had never looked at me in any other way but professional. I would know. Hell, I'd spent more time studying that man than I'd spent studying for my college finals. Every glance, every word, every moment—I'd catalogued it all, hoping for a crack in his armor, some proof he saw me the way I saw him.
But there was nothing. Always polite. Always formal. Always Mr. Lancaster.
I shook my head, almost laughing at the absurdity. "That doesn't make sense," I muttered, mostly to myself, though my voice cracked like the words were jagged.
Jacob didn't argue. He just watched me, eyes soft, like he was waiting for me to catch up to a truth I wasn't ready to swallow.