Tamed by love-Book 4 of Untamed Series

Chapter Three

Walking down the familiar streets of Los Angeles sparked dark memories that followed me all the way to Jaylin’s dance studio. Jaylin has shared her darkest secrets with me and I had to see her have a breakdown when she came face to face with her mother.

Unlike her—I chased my emotions into a cage and locked them up with the thought that I will get over them, but slowly the locks that were bounding the cage were disintegrating and soon they will be breaking free, and I will have no choice but to face them.

I wasn’t ready for that day when they do.

It was easy to talk to Jaylin and forget about my miserable past life. She ignited a fire in my chest that wants to break free from my ribcage and learn how to accept the feeling of moving on.

It’s hard to believe that I watched her fall in love, get over her misery, and then had to watch her take the world by storm with her ambition. When I look at my reflection in the mirror, I don’t see someone who has changed—I was still stuck behind prison walls.

I paused at the entrance of the studio when I found Jaylin warming up to a hard rock tune and watching her own the dance floor with her shift, smooth leaps.

“Why does this look familiar?” I stifled a smile at Fernando’s voice and glanced over my shoulder.

“The studio knows how to take a non-believer of magic and turn her into one of the wizards wanting to learn the sorceress tricks,” I always believed that a dancer possesses a kind of magic that they use to pull people.

“It’s not magic, but burning ambition and skill,” Fernando reminded me.

“You just broke my heart,” I joked pushing myself up when Jaylin made her way over to me after noticing me.

“I wondered when I will be seeing you,” Jaylin noted.

I shrugged. “Elizabeth has me travel the globe with her to find dancers for her next dance competition,”

She gave me a doubtful look. “Sasha told me that you already arrived a week ago,”

I am going to kick that badass hockey player’s butt when I see her again. “Did she at least remember to mention her crush or that her team is busy crushing other hockey players?”

“You are not going to get me side-tracked, Hal,” Jaylin said giving me a pointed stare.

“Coming back here was hard especially since one of us moved on while the other is still holding onto a past and afraid to let go,”

Chase is the reason I saw the light and realized I was killing myself. When we broke up it was hard to comprehend that my pillar vanished and I was left to fend off the wolves alone.

“You heard about his engagement?” I was baffled by Jaylin’s surprise.

I nodded. “Yeah, my brother, Joey informed me.” Joey is the only one in the family who still stayed in contact with me all this time.

“I did everything possible to avoid bumping into him because it will hurt like hell,” He was the first and only man I ever truly loved. People thought our love would fade after school, but it never did—not even when he left me.

I had a glimpse of real love even at a time when I believe it was only puppy love or a s****l attraction, but we experienced things together, our first kiss, the first time making love and laughing at how awkward things are, but the bigger world was out there and suddenly things seem different.

We chased to find ourselves separately.

“You made it seem that you were over him,” Jaylin noted with a frown.

I felt like a hypocrite. “Years of experience to suppress my emotions kicked in because I was certain I am facing things on my own again,”

“Here I thought I had you figure out,” Jaylin at least said it with a smile in her voice.

“I have a lot layers to peel back before you get to see the real me,” I confessed.

I didn’t have an identity—I only have the one my mother created for me and the only thing I was certain about was my love for dancing.

Jaylin stepped aside and gestured towards the empty studio. “I guess this is what you call therapy to cut through the chains,”

I nodded and removed my jacket. “It’s the only thing that is real to me,”

When I move my limbs to the sound of music, my mind clears up all the fog I kept fighting to see daylight and I see myself crystal clear. The voices fade when my heart rate picks up and all I see is the broken girl of my past.

I run to her wanting to save her, but then the fog closes back around me and I am lost again.

How do I save myself? How do I cure the beatings of my past or remove the memories of how my mother mistreated me?

How do I get to live without wanting to kill myself?

How do I remove the mask from my face and let people see me?

I stood up from the ground, feeling my limbs hissing at me when I pushed myself too hard.

A water bottle came into view and when I raised my gaze, I found Jaylin holding it out to me. “I used to be where you are now, Hal.”

“I remember,” I remarked accepting the bottle and taking a big swig.

I finally got to my feet and rolled my stiff shoulders to remove the unease. “You had someone who gave you comfort.”

“And he reminded me that I have meaning without my mother,”

“I was fine until Elizabeth announced that my mother is going to be a judge at her dance competition she is holding in a few months and I am going to be one of the dancers competing,”

Jaylin was informed of the developments when it came to Elizabeth’s dance competition since she works is working for Elizabeth and running one of her high-end studios.

“I’ve been judged by that monster my whole life and now I have to choreograph a dance with so much hate because I will appear in front of her who knows nothing about my dance style.”

I was confused when a smile appeared on the corner of her lips. “Then use this moment to show your rage and your incredible talent. You’ve broken rules, rose from the ashes and won dance battles with your breathtaking skills, why do you need her consent to believe you are good enough?”