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Chapter 22 (1,7K)

Jace's PoV

As I'm waiting on my bed for Clary to come out of the bathroom, I start to feel uneasy. I don't know why … There is just this unsettling feeling rising in me. She ran off to the bathroom as soon as she could, and … I'm scared that maybe I pushed her into it too quickly. Maybe she wasn't as ready as I thought to take that next step in our relationship.

Or maybe it's my love declaration that scared her. Who says that like that? I really screwed up this time. I keep looking at the door, waiting for her to come out, but I only hear the continuous water fall.

After half an hour, I go knock on the door, worried that maybe she slipped or something. There are no answers, so I call her names a couple of times, before trying to enter. But of course, Clary locked the door. And … it might be something simple, but it makes my insides freeze.

Something is wrong.

I walk to my bedroom's door, so I can go in hers and try to open the bathroom from her side, but before I even reach it, someone is knocking on the door. I open it and find Izzy standing on the other side (look who finally learned to knock).

"Guys, you better dress up in two seconds. Luke is here, and I don't think you guys want him to find you in an abnormal position." She warns me, and I brush it off,

"Clary is in the shower, so nothing abnormal here."

She looks down, a smirk creeping on her face, and I just ignore her, even though I am fully aware that my statement is completely decayed by the fact that I am in boxers. Without another word, I close the door and quickly get dressed, sitting back on my bed and looking intensely at the bathroom door, willing for Clary to come out.

I don't think that Luke will appreciate finding me in Clary's room, with her just fresh out of the shower, dripping wet. I'm not even sure if Clary wants me in her room at the moment. Since we started sleeping in the same bed, she never locked the bathroom door whilst using it. And I've always felt lie it was her way to implicitly show me her trust. Like she knew I wouldn't barge in if she was in it.

So I'm staying in my room, wondering why Luke comes to see Clary every single day, when her mother never even bothered to call even once.

I'm so lost in my thoughts that I only noticed Alec's head in the doorframe of my room when he loudly clears his throat, "Luke is starting to lose it. Please just release Clary."

Then he looks around the room, seeing the obvious and I frown, my eyes going back to the door. The water is still flowing inside the bathroom, and Alec gets in my room to knock on the door, calling her name just like I did a while ago.

But there are still no answers. Alec looks back at me, and I see my worry each in his blue eyes. Without further hesitation, I get up and pick the lock (a skill that I've learned from Valentine). I enter the bathroom, it feels a bit like walking into a thick fog because of the ever-present steam.

Once again, I call out for Clary, but I have to admit the obvious, she is not here. She is gone. I hear Alec curse behind me,

"Damn it. I knew she was lying!" I turn off the water, asking him what he means. "I saw her on the parking lot, she said she was just taking her bike to the auto shop, but she seemed off. And about to cry …"

Oh, so I made her cry again. I didn't even know that I made her cry and run like that. I really suck at that boyfriend thing!

"Jace, you didn't …" Alec starts, probably worried that I babbled after our last conversation.

"No, I didn't tell her anything about that! Everything was just fine and now she's gone! Damn it!"

I storm out of my room, heading straight to the auto shop, even though I know deep down that I won't find her there. Of course, the place is empty, and I let myself fall on the floor, feeling completely beaten down. I have failed everyone that was counting on me.

Robert, Maryse, Clary … myself. I had one job, one single job, keep her safe and sound in the Institute, and I miserably failed at that. I actually did the contrary of keeping her in, I made her run away from me, and therefore the Institute.

I get up and go back to the Institute, wondering what I could have done to make her so afraid that she'd run away. And I that bad of a person that she couldn't talk to me first? Did I scare her that much?

Once back upstairs, I find Izzy and Luke in Clary's room, Luke looking through Clary's drawers and closet whilst Izzy is texting. I have no idea where Alec has gone.

"What are you doing?" The question is for both of them and Izzy is the first to answer,

"Alec went to Magnus' to find her. He's keeping me in touch."

"Where is her sketchpad?" Luke asks and I look at him, unsure of what he means. I know exactly where it is, and with a little chance, she might be with it. But how in Hell her sketchpad would help him find her? I shrug and he curses.

"What's going on?" I ask again.

"I had hope that she would have left it behind."

"Why?"

"There's a face in it that I want to see."

"Who's face?"

"The face of one of the people who might be responsible for her disappearance."

Well … I'm certainly not going to tell Luke that I'm the reason Clary ran away. He is going to kill me on the spot. The worry in his eyes is incommensurable, but there is also that gleam there, showing that he would kill anyone hurting his Clary.

Suddenly Izzy shouts us to look at her phone.

Found her at Magnus'. She's okay, we're on our way back. ~ Alec

"Of course she would go there..." Luke mutters under his breath

The relief that I'm feeling is quickly replaced by curiosity due to Luke's statement.

"Why would she go to Magnus?"

"That's not my place to tell you." He says after long looking in my eyes, before leaving, saying that he is going to wait for her in the parking lot.

You know what, I'm starting to get tired of people telling me half-truths, and then whining that it's not their places to say the rest. Especially when it comes to Clary. In that case, don't fucking open your mouth. Gee.

I turn to Izzy, who simply shrugs and goes to her room, and so I go to the rooftop. there, there is this small ache in my heart. Not even two hours ago, we were sharing a passionate kiss that led to so much more, and now …

I bend down to pick up her sketchpad, but just as I'm about to open it, I hesitate. I'm pretty sure Luke wanted to see the face of her ex when he talked about a face, and I'm pretty sure as well that Luke knows what the ex did to her. But … opening the pad feels like betraying her.

It's her secret garden, her illustrated diary, and opening it without her consent is like violating her privacy. So I go back to my room and put the sketchpad in my nightstand. I stay a while sitting on the bed, giving myself a pep talk for not opening the pad when someone knocks on the door.

But instead of Clary's face, I get Alec's. He looks tired and worried, which isn't really a good sign.

"Where's Clary?"

"She lost me in the traffic."

"But how could you let her take her bike when you knew she could do that?"

"And what was I supposed to do? Tie her and throw her in my trunk!?"

I growl, completely panicked. Now it's obvious that I am the one she is running from. I fall backwards on my bed, rubbing my temples to calm myself.

"I lost her. I went too quickly and now I fucking lost her!" I confess and at least Alec is not stupid like me to get angry at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I mean! We had sex and now she's gone because I couldn't hold it in my pants!"

"You think that's why she's gone?"

I nod, my head in my hands. I hear Alec sigh before sitting on the bed next to me.

"I don't think that's it. I think she's just really worried about other things in her life ... and that she doesn't really know how to deal with everything."

"That doesn't explain why she left just after we had sex."

He doesn't say anything, and we stay quiet like that for a moment, each thinking, lost in our own thoughts. Suddenly, Izzy barges in, her phone in her hand.

"Simon forwarded me this. 'I'm okay, don't worry. I found my Mom and we want to talk about things, so don't come over (we're not here anyway). Call you later to explain everything. (BTW can you tell Izzy, Luke and the guys that I'm fine). XOXO, Clary.' He said that it wasn't her number."

"What does she mean she found her Mom?" I ask, and Alec squirms before saying :

"She was staying here because her Mom was missing and that's all Magnus told me. I don't know anything else so don't ask questions that I obviously know nothing about."

"But that doesn't make any sense. She never said anything about her Mom missing! Did she Jace?" Izzy counters and all I can do is shake my head at Izzy's question, trying to sort out the ones in my own mind. Suddenly everything starts to make sense, Luke's daily visits, the fact that she never talked about her past, and the longing I saw in her eyes when she showed me drawings of her mother. I let myself fall back on the bed, saying my hands over my eyes :

"It's not because she's with her missing Mom that it means she's fine! It just means that they are both missing now!"

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

💚 Okay, do you agree with Jace's last statement? Are they both missing?

💚 and do you think Jace will look at her sketchpad?

💚 And … well, Clary found her Mom. Yay?

💚Well, let me know what you think. What was your favourite part? What do you think will happen next?

💚 Cassandra Clare owns the names of the characters from the Mortal Instruments franchise, everything else is mine.

Love, Mina💚💚💚