*Isabella's POV*
"Wow, thanks for fucking knocking," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm as Jacob leaned against the doorframe, a smirk playing on his lips. He looked entirely too pleased with himself, like a kid that had just caught his mom sneaking candy.
"Do I get a goodbye kiss too?" he asked, pushing off the door and walking into the room. His presence was so large, so commanding, it felt like the air was sucked right out of the space.
A sigh escaped my lips. "Of course, silly," I said, trying to sound more put-together than I felt. "As long as you understand I still have to go." The words were a final, desperate attempt at a boundary, but we both knew how flimsy it was.
As soon as the words left my mouth, his lips found mine. But this wasn't his usual gentle, sensual kiss that made my head spin in a good way. No, this was demanding and dominating, a claiming. His hands gripped my hips, pulling me flush against him, and his tongue parted my lips with an urgency that left me breathless. It was a kiss that said you're mine, and for a terrifying, thrilling second, my body agreed.
"You're still my sweetheart," he said, his voice a low rumble against my lips when I finally pulled back, gasping for air. "You'll forever be my sweetheart." His eyes were intense, burning with a conviction that both scared and exhilarated me. "I promise me and Damien will do things right," he added, his thumb stroking my cheek. "I think you're our soulmate. We're destined to be together."
"How can anyone have two soulmates?" I asked, the question tumbling out, laced with a disbelief I was desperately trying to hold onto.
"Apparently, you can," he said, a small, sad smile touching his lips. "We're twins. When we were sixteen years old, right before our mother died..." he was saying, his voice dropping with the weight of the memory, when he was abruptly cut off.
"Stop, Jacob. Don't say it. It's stupid and not relevant," Damien's voice cut through the heavy air, sharp and cold. He was standing by the door now, his arms crossed, his jaw tight.
"What is?" I asked, my gaze flickering between the two of them, my heart starting to hammer against my ribs. But both remained silent, a wall of unspoken history between them. "I want to know," I added, my voice firmer this time, a spark of frustration igniting. Still, they said nothing, their eyes locked in a silent battle.
"Okay, fine!" Damien finally snapped, throwing his hands up in surrender. "You can tell the fucking story. But for the record, I didn't want to be here. Jacob made me do it."
"Won't you just shut up?" Jacob shot back, glaring at his brother.
"Our mother was in terrible condition," Damien said, ignoring him and directing his words at me, his tone laced with bitterness. "And he just had to have a date, and his date had a sister that needed to be entertained." The words were a jumbled mess, confusing me even more. What the hell did their mother's illness and a teenage date have to do with me?
"Hey! I was sixteen, I had to have fun!" Jacob defended himself, looking like a spoilt child.
"Whatever," Damien said, rolling his eyes. The tension in the room was thick enough to choke on, a tangled mess of love, resentment, and secrets I was suddenly desperate to unravel.
"So, the girls wanted to go to a fucking amusement park," Jacob began, a nostalgic glint in his eye as he leaned against the wall. "Damien had the most annoyed expression the whole time, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else on earth."
"After the usual cotton candy, rides, and some bumper cars, Damien wanted to ditch me and go home," Jacob continued, a smirk playing on his lips. "But when we passed near a tent..."
Flashback
The discord of the park was a dizzying swirl of screams, laughter, and blaring music. The air was thick with the scent of sugar, popcorn, and hotdogs. "Madam Suzanne Deluxe is here to read your fortune!" a woman with heavily lidded eyes and a cascade of fake jewels called out, her voice a dramatic, husky murmur from the entrance of a purple and gold tent. Her eyes landed on them. "Oh, a set of twin souls! You are connected like no other. Come inside, and I'll read your fortune."
"Jacob, I want to go inside!" his date squealed, clutching his arm.
End of Flashback
"I didn't think Damien would approve, but the way she said 'connected'..." Jacob's voice trailed off, a faraway look in his eyes.
"My interest was piqued." Damien said from his corner of the room, not even looking at us. "I still knew she was a fucking scam,"
"The girls went crazy excited about having a reading," Jacob pressed on, ignoring his brother, "but she paid no mind to them at all. Like they were never even there."
Flashback
The inside of the tent was dim and smelled of incense. Jacob and Damien entered, the flap falling shut behind them, muffling the sounds of the park.
They sat down across from the woman and her glowing crystal ball. "Your soul is one," she began, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper as she waved her hands over the ball.
"It's connected beyond all perceptions of reality." She looked from one twin to the other, her gaze piercing. "But this connection is so strong and pure that it is not allowing you to feel or love separately. This is why you can only get one soulmate... because you're in no way divided."
End of Flashback
"That's... creepy," I whispered, a chill running down my spine despite the stuffiness of the room.
"You think?" Damien countered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Flashback
"Your promised one... it is there... I can see her," she continued, staring so intently into the crystal ball it seemed she might fall in. "We have a promised one?" Jacob asked, a nervous excitement making his voice crack. Damien rolled his eyes.
"Yes," the fortune teller said, her voice suddenly sharp and certain. "And you'll know it's her when your connection will be so strong that it will not know boundaries of time or space."
End of Flashback
Jacob pushed off the wall and took a step towards me, his eyes burning with an intensity that made my heart hammer against my ribs. "You get it?" he asked.
"What?" I was completely shocked and confused, my mind struggling to process the bizarre story.
"You're our soulmate," he said, his voice low and certain. "With any other girl, if we were far away physically, we felt nothing. But with you... it's different. You're our fucking soulmate, Isabella."