Page 829 of One More Kiss

Rhys

How didI know that Anders was going to fuck this up and retreat back into his shell? Because he was my twin and that’s what we both did. We fucked shit up when we really wanted something.

As I rushed forward and caught Jenika just before her head would hit the floor, the moments when he finally told me about her flooded through my brain.

2 Months Earlier

I walked into Anders’ office to see him scrubbing his hands over his face. Uh oh. I knew that look. It was the Anders was thinking too much look.

“Tell me what’s going on?” I pulled out his rolling stool and sank down onto it. He used it for tattooing. I thought the thing was uncomfortable as fuck, but Anders insisted it was good for his back and posture.

“This girl.” His phone hit the desk as he tugged on his thick blond hair.

I snatched up the device before he could stop me, unlocking it with Face ID, because…well, we had the exact same face.

Other than our hair style, you couldn’t tell us apart.

Mom, Dad, and Papa could, but that was about it.

“I really need to put a fucking passcode on that,” my twin muttered.

“Nope, because, I’d figure that out too.” I chuckled, then stopped abruptly at the face splayed across the screen. Hair in a kaleidoscope of blue shades spread out to frame her face. A bright smile and steel blue eyes threatened to steal my soul from my body. “Who is she?”

“A new client. She saw your tattoo and wants me to do a design of that magnitude and nature on her inner forearm.” He paused and I lifted my gaze to see the haunted expression playing out over his face. “She has almost the same scar as you.”

“What’s her name?” I asked without even realizing I spoke the words aloud. The screen name LokiJMD didn’t really give much away. Except she was a Loki fan.

Wonder if she was a Thor fan too…

“Jenika.”

Fucking beautiful name. Something stirred inside my chest at the name and the possibility of this woman. Could it be what I was thinking…

“Tell me.”

Anders spoke about her for the better part of an hour. Telling the story of how they started talking, the casual ease in which they spoke. Something that had always been difficult for them both, but especially Anders.

“When is she coming for her tattoo?”

Anders looked down at his sketchbook just as I saw the various elements he’d drawn. Loki’s helmet. The eye of Horus. A book. A few musical notes.

The process he had for incorporating all the elements a client desired was what made him one of the most popular artists in the greater Phoenix area. He was able to take small details and incorporate them into a larger piece that was breathtaking.

“Trying to figure out how to put it all together?”

He nodded, tapping his pencil against the pad of paper. “I want to make this perfect for her. She’s been through so much and this is her healing piece. Taking–”

“Something that’s a harsh reminder of the past and making it beautiful.” I finished the sentence for him, knowing it had been exactly what I told him two years ago when he’d done my tattoo over the very same scar Jenika had.

I laid my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “You’re going to make it perfect for her.”

Just like Jenika was for us. Perfect.

She was the other half of our soul. I just knew it.

Somehow,Anders and I always knew we’d be with the same girl. All of our relationships had fizzled out, not engaging all the parts of our souls.

Mom liked to say that we were twin halves of the same soul. Just like our Dad and Papa had been. Before Papa died when we were sixteen.

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