Twin Flames: Soul Memory (4 page)

Did I hit the mirror twice?
She couldn’t remember. Numbness settled
in, dissipating the pain.

Joy plucked the bigger pieces from the wounds, dumped her
make-up bag on the vanity and grabbed tweezers to do the rest of
the job. There was no feeling as she picked out each sparkle and
sliver. Once finished, she turned the faucet on and let the water
wash away the drying blood.

She grabbed a towel and patted the abrasions, waiting for the
bleeding to stop.

Something took her life from her. Not just her past and
present but her future as well. Joy had zilch and at one time, she
knew she must have had it all and more. Now only a black void
existed.

Did she have siblings? Husband and children, a
boyfriend?

Anger beat at her, demanding release. Rage for losing her past
and present bubbled, percolating to the surface. How could she be
so careless?

She reached for the pair of trimming shears on the vanity’s
edge that had fallen from her makeup bag and yanked a hunk of hair
over her shoulder. Her gaze glued to the reflection in the
remaining piece of mirror not spider-webbed, tears fell as she
opened the blades, and slid them across the strands.

“
Why did I let it grow this long?” She clenched her jaw and
squeezed the handle, but could not depress them
completely.

Joy stared into her mirrored eyes. She hated the dire abyss
there. Did the gods despise her? Had she committed some crime that
turned them against her? Was this her punishment, a karmic
debt?

Where did that come from? Do I worship gods in the
plural?

With a snarl, she flung the scissors at the unbroken glass. It
splintered and fell to the vanity top.

She’d pay for the damage when she checked out.

Hated tears coursed down her cheeks as she turned away. She
stumbled toward the bed, collapsed on the comforter, and curled on
her side, sobbing.

Why had she lost her memory? What happened?

Joy squeezed her eyes closed. She didn’t want to see images of
the man anymore. Shoving the heels of her injured hands into her
eye sockets did nothing to alleviate the heartache flowing along
her veins. How could she have an emotion when she didn’t recognize
the person? It did not make sense, she couldn’t interpret it. The
harder she tried to remember him the more frustrated she
got.

Hell, I can’t even put a face with the names in my fucking
cell or place myself…

This time when the stabbing pain started, she gnashed her
teeth and clenched her temples. The agony of the cuts was minimal
compared to what tore through her brain. She’d take those over the
cleaver splitting her head. Swallowing a moan, she inhaled. Praying
sleep would be her escape.

He would be there, waiting.

“
Baby, where are you?”

She sobbed in earnest as the male voice caressed her mind
comfortingly and with love. The desire to relax into the soothing
tone appealing, but she also wanted to remember. No matter how hard
she tried, she couldn’t do both at the same time. It was too
painful. She had to do one or the other. Right now, she wanted to
escape the pain.

Joy had to let him in…fully.

He was the lesser of two evils.

She sighed as the dark curtain of sleep enshrouded
her.

* * *
*

Thick silence encased him. With the exception of the machines
blipping and in the distance voices echoing, he sensed he was
alone.

Time had no meaning while he was like this. Had it been hours
or days since he heard the voice of his sister and the man she
called “doctor”?

What happened to land his fool ass in the hospital?

Images of his mother’s vacation cabin filtered through the
curtain behind his eyelids. He remembered leaving his tattoo parlor
and traveling. Get away from what or was it a who?

“
Can you hear me?”

Her voice tormented him. Jairo could see her face, but
couldn’t place a name. Did he know her? Who was she to
him?

He could not recall.

Someone entered the room. He sensed her life essence.
Jezzaray. Scraping sounded along the floor and a warm hand folded
over his.

“
Jay? Can you hear me?”

Jairo tried again to squeeze his sister’s fingers, nothing
happened. Was he paralyzed?

“
I want you to listen to me Jay.” Her hand tightened and he
heard a sniffle. “You have to wake up now. We’re waiting for you,
we miss you.”

A sigh and material rustled.

“
I tried calling Joy. She didn’t answer, so I left a message.
As soon as she calls I’ll tell her what happened.” Pressure and a
light brush against his palm, as she continued, “I know she’d want
to know. Why did you go to the cabin? You said you were giving her
space, I never thought you’d head there. I guess everything happens
for a reason.”

Joy?
Jairo focused on moving his hand, but no matter how hard he
tried his body refused to heed his demands. He remained a silent
observer in his present life. He wanted to ask who this Joy was,
and why her name sounded familiar. Was she a part of
him?

The curtain once again clouded the fuzziness behind his
eyelids. He didn’t want to sleep, but his body had other ideas.
Like a movie projector, images unlike earlier, filled his mind’s
eye. He was one of the participants, an actor in a played-out
scene.

Was it a dream, or a memory?

* * *
*

Jairo watched her dance moves with a smirk as her body moved
to the beat of the music, so loud it blocked the click of the door
closing. She didn’t know he was home.

Arms banded across his chest, his gaze followed the curve of
her bare calf and the bounce of her ass. He loved watching her
move. The shake of her hips caused the animal to claw at his
insides. He collared the beast so fast it barely registered she had
a skirt on.

She only ever wore jeans. He swallowed.

Her filmy and long skirt cut high at the sides left her legs
bare to her waist, similar to a gypsy’s dress. His mouth went dry.
The gemstone anklets shifted, revealing a tattooed capitalized
letter ‘J’ with an asterisk mark to the right side.

Jairo struggled to remain passive. A small part of him refused
to move, or couldn’t? His gaze traveled up to her hips and then her
back….the air stopped in his lungs.

The sway of her waist length hair revealed the petite blonde
wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a bra. His heart dropped to his
stomach. He wouldn’t be able to resist her seductive movements
enticing him much longer. The leash slipped, he didn’t want to
catch it as heat spread through him.

She was his.

In one fluid motion, he stepped forward and grabbed her by the
waist. He twisted her around and crushed her lips under his as he
backed her across the room, against a wall somewhere behind them.
He had to brand her with his body…make her move for him the way she
did to the music.

She belonged to him.

The animal wanted her, to make them whole. It desired to be
buried deep inside her until her mind emptied of all else but
him.

Jairo’s hands on either side of her head bracketed her in, and
he held her still with his weight. Her hands moved up his chest,
breasts arched into him.

Would she stop him? Or pull him closer?

He didn’t know—he just had to have her, now. To ease the
burning in his body, only she soothed the beast he
became.

Jairo gripped her thighs, lifted, and linked them around his
narrow hips. Her naked heat beneath the skirt taunted him and he
growled. Her wetness brushed against him and he pressed into her.
With one hand, he moved to release his dick. Part of his mind
begged him to hold off, the other denied. Silken flesh tormented
him. He thought he’d be able to handle the beast. But she slid
against his fly and he threw caution to the wind.

She was as ready for him as he was for her.

When the zipper gave way, Jairo pulled his cock out. Its head
brushed her warm flesh and she jerked. Her moan of pleasure shot
through him and her fingers gripped his hair. With one thrust, he
buried to his balls. She gasped and he groaned.

Intense sensation of her closing around him caused him to
stop. He couldn’t move, not yet. He needed to regain some of his
faculties before they fell over the edge without even
moving.

“
Please—”

Her soft moans in his ear sent him over the cliff. He pulled
out and surged forward, lost in the torrent pulsing through
him.

* * *
*

The beeps picked up as his hearing adjusted to
reality.

“
What’s happening?” his sister’s voice came through, clearly
concerned.

“
Nothing to be worried about,” a strange woman replied,
followed by softer beeps. “The machine just needs to be reset. It
happens every twelve hours. Your brother is fine.”

Why couldn’t he open his eyes to let Jezzaray know he was all
right?

“
What about his brain activity?” He heard a faint click and
papers rustled.

“
The recordings show Jairo’s brain is functioning. That’s a
good thing, other than that, I can’t say more.”

“
And the doctor, can he give me more details?”

Metal on metal clanked lightly, a clipboard being attached to
his bed?

“
I will tell the doctor you wish to know about the results of
the brain waves.” Heels clicked on the tiled floor. “Please do not
be distressed, Miss Silverthorne. This is not the first case we’ve
seen involving coma patients.”

Silence enveloped the room again, his sister sat at his
bedside. He remembered her doing the same thing a few years back,
when he was in rehab. He wanted to reassure Jezzaray, tell her he
was okay.

The words remained locked behind the door of this semi-sleep
state.

“
Jay? Can you hear me?” She sighed. “Reach for her. You know
where she is. Call out to her. Joy can hear you if you’d just
swallow that damn male pride of yours and ask for help, you
idiot.”

What can this “Joy” do when I don’t remember her? He thought
as the curtain descended.

Joy walked through an unknown corridor. She remembered crying
and closing her eyes, but everything else was a blur.

She paused and cocked her head as images of a beating filled
her mind. She suppressed a shiver and moved forward. Her memory
fogged with hazy edges. Something whispered this had happened
before. Pieces of the missing puzzle, but she recalled
nothing.

Had her mind picked up where she left off when she woke
up?

Her jaw ached and teeth felt loose. Falling asleep had been
her escape from the agony of abuse. The new scene set before her
was sterile white. No depth and contrast, absent of color and
emotion. Like a hospital.

Where am I?

She took each stair step as if she knew where to go. She
hadn’t visited this particular building before. So why did she
sense she’d been there before and was safe?

A door opened and she walked through to a bedroom.

Shame filled her at the realization she let herself be beaten
and he had witnessed everything. A soft click signaled being
enclosed, but she wasn’t afraid. She glanced around until she
located him near a darkened window. One hand on the frame, the
other at his hip, Joy took a single step and stopped.

Why had he stayed away? The only time he’d been near was when
she fought for her life.

He’d given her strength when she just wanted to lie down and
die. He refused to let her go. Why?

She didn’t have his name so she couldn’t call to him. Instead
she waited. He’d sense her soon enough. This man knew whenever she
came near. His shoulders would tense and then relax. He’d tilt his
head and like a wolf, lift his nose, as if catching the scent of
prey.

Was he a predator?

“
Why?” He did those actions and his voice shook.

“
Why, what?” She walked closer and then stopped.

Fear flooded her. The terror of how she sensed him stabbed her
heart. She voluntarily let herself be fooled before, another piece
of memory slipped into place.

All her past choices had been to prove her mother right and
herself wrong, to reinforce the logical and rational side of the
world; that a person only had five senses and not more.

Could she be mistaken about him?

“
I’d
never
hurt you.” His voice, laced with an accent she
couldn’t place, answered the question in her mind. “You are my
heart, my soul.”

She fought to keep the tremors at bay and when he turned to
face her, she stepped back. The expression that crossed his
features hurt, she didn’t back away, ever. It seemed like forever
in the past.