Heya guys :) How are you all?
So I have a little warning for you guys, this chapter is not beta-ed! So it might be a tad error-ish :P, but I couldn't wait for you to read it because...ahh well read it and you'll see :)
I have a apology for you all (it seems like I'm always apologising :P). My slow updating is due to my school life and my part-time job. My time is actually getting swallowed by them! But guess what! When it's all over, I'll be updating a few times a week :)
Enjoy :)
"Are you sure you want to do this sweetie? There's going to be complete strangers there," mom said walking into my bedroom as she fixed up her nicest jacket that fitted perfectly on her slim figure.
"I have to do it," I whispered as I stared at my slim figure in the mirror, eying my Levis that fitted me effortlessly and my jacket that covered up as much skin as it could. Brushing my hair, I bought my red locks together to make a loose side braid.
Slowly walking over to my unmade bed, she placed herself down and picked up a top I had thrown down, folding it before placing it back down. "Why? Is Jace forcing you?" she asked seriously, "I was talking to his mother earlier and she seems to think he's got an attitude problem."
I shook my head, before turning around to face her. "He didn't force me to go. He only suggested it because it's a step," I said softly, before bending down and retrieving my shoes.
"But are you sure you can handle it? What if you have a break down?" she inquired, standing up and smoothing her jacket.
"Mom…I need to do this. I-I want to get better," I manger to stumble out.
Nodding, she gave me a smile. "I understand baby, and I'm very proud of you for trying," she gleamed, before walking to the door. "Now come on or we'll be late."
Parking, I glared up with wide eyes at the historical looking house that stood before us. It looked newly done up, but the structure of it still seemed to be old and mysterious as if it had been ripped from an old fairy-tale. It was truly beautiful, much more beautiful than our place.
"Wow…" Mom said near speechless. "These people must have money."
"I'd say," Luke said breathtakingly, "who has a house like this anymore? Millionaires maybe."
Glancing around, my breathe started becoming heavy as the fact came hard hitting that people were here…total strangers. "Baby, are you alright?" Mom said, turning around and spotted my near panic attack. "Remember what Doctor Blackthorn said when you feel a panic attack coming on, breathe through your mouth and try clearing your mind and just focus on your breathing."
Nodding, I let my breathing take main focus in my head as I let deep breaths blow in and out of my shaky lips. After a few minutes, my small, un-harmful attack seemed to leave me, but still seemed to linger close behind me in the shadows. Closing my eyes for a short second, I reopened them to a worried looking Luke and Mom. "I'm fine," I manger to cough out, knowing what their exact next words would be.
"We can go home," mom said softly.
"Yeah, pumpkin. We can go home and watch a movie or something," Luke smiled at me.
I shook my head. "No, this is a step. I need to do it, and I promised Jace I would go," I said, clearing my throat from the lump that had seemed to settle there.
"He'll understand," Luke said, confidently.
I shook my head once again before settling my gaze upon them. "I can't keep putting recovery off…" I said in a clear voice but the shakiness in it seemed to remain.
Nodding understanding my wish, Luke turned off the car before smiling back at me. "Let's go then, shall we?" he asked, with a proud grin plastered on his face.
Nodding, I smiled back at him. "Let's," I grinned.
We all slid out of the car, and headed towards the fairy-tale house. Smiling over to me, I watched as Mom held Lukes hand, watching me with proud green eyes. Once we reached the house, we knocked and soon enough Maryse, Jace's mom answered the door.
"Jocelyn, I'm glad you came," Maryse smiled at mom with a sparkling smile before looking down at me. "Jace is in the backyard hun."
Nodding, she moved to the side for me and pointed to the direction I must take. Squeezing past her, I gave my parents a soft smile before inhaling a deep breath and making my way towards the backyard in fast strides. As I was walking to the back door, I couldn't help stop my eyes from wondering. The place looked even more enchanted than it did on the outside. The walls were wood, that was plan but looked perfect on its own. Staring up, my eyes widened at the high ceiling…
"Nice place isn't it?" an unfamiliar voice sounded from behind me.
Turning around quickly, I took a big step back from the unknown figure causing myself to ram into a delicate table. Staring wide eyes, the unknown figure had shocking light hair and dark, deep eyes, clearly a male. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," he said, taking a small step forward with his arms risen.
My breathing seemed to race, and my body seemed to cringe. "Please don't come any closer," I begged in an innocent, whispered-like tone.
Raising an eyebrow, his eyes looked confused as he reached out for me. "I won't hurt you-" he started before a hand swiped his arm away. "She said to not come any closer, Sebastian," I heard Jace growl.
Ripping my gaze from who must be Sebastian, I glanced upon an annoyed looking Jace. Noticing my breathing, Jace grabbed my hand in a tender way and squeezed it lightly. "She just got a fright. Now can you go away and let me talk to this beautiful red head," Sebastian grinned at me. Red… I closed my eyes as the words rushed back to me 'I like feisty reds.' My heart seemed to pound against my chest, as I tried to force the memory back down, pulling myself into Jace's side as if for protection and comfort.
"Let me spell it out clear so you can get it through to your thick brain," Jace said through his teeth. "You. Are. Not. Coming. Near. Her. Got it?"
Rolling his eyes, Sebastian growled at Jace. "Whatever Jace, just because you want to get the action," he argued.
Jace's eyes seemed to darken. "Get out of my sight or I'll make you myself," Jace threatened.
Narrowing his eyes at Jace, he growled. "Whatever," he said, before turning to me and winking, "I'll see you soon."
Holding back a little cry of surprise and terror, I felt Jace let go of my hand and snaking his arm around my shoulders in a comforting manner, sensing my tension as we watched Sebastian leave. He then let his arm fall from my shoulders before grabbing onto my hand once again, and stared into my eyes. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you about him before you came, but don't worry, he won't be coming near you again, I promise," he assured me.
Nodding, I shook back the feeling of uneasiness that Sebastian left me with and glared around my surroundings. "Nice house… It looks like it's supposed to be in a fairy-tale," I manger to cough out.
He let go of my hand, lifting it and raking it through his golden locks as a chuckle left his mouth. "You think?"
I nodded, as I turned all the way around examining every little detail. "It's magical," I said, turning back to him with a smile.
"Well lets go grab some dinner and if you're lucky I'll show you around," he smirked as he grabbed my hand once again and led me towards the backyard where the smell of food lingered causing my stomach to growl for the food it was missing out on. Smirking down at me, he led me out to a strangely small backyard that had tall fences to prevent anyone peeking over. The barbeque was on and the food was getting cooked by a tall man with black hair, next to him stood another man who sipped away on a drink that he clutched in one of his hands. Glancing to the side, I saw two girls peering at us with their eyes narrowing in a hungry, jealous manner. The first one seemed to have an Asian background with short black hair, but was beautiful neither the less. The other girl was shockingly beautiful with a tall figure, with blonde hair and big, blue eyes…
Raising an eyebrow I was about to ask who they were when someone bet me to it. "Don't worry about them. They're total b-itches," a girls' voice perked up. Looking up at the girl who had spoken, my eyes set upon a girl that was a younger version of Maryse, tall, blue eyes and beautiful. "The one with black hair is our cousin, Aline and the one with the blonde hair is her friend, Kaelie," the girl said.
"Why do they look so sour?" I questioned.
"Because Kaelie can't have what she wants, and Aline being her friend wants the same for her," the girl said, rolling her eyes.
"Which is?" I questioned again.
"Me," I heard Jace sigh beside me. Glancing up to him, I watched as he lifted his other hand that wasn't holding mine and ran it through his hair looking uncomfortable. "Can't you like go tell her to back off Izzy? How many times do I need to tell her that I'm not interested?"
Laughing, Izzy questioned him, "So you want me to tell her where to shove her fake boobs?"
Before I could help myself a chuckle left my lips. Raising my hand to my mouth, I felt my cheeks burn as both Izzy's and Jace's eyes were on me. "So you must be Clary?" Izzy questioned me.
I nodded. "Yes, and you are Jace's sister?" I asked.
Nodding, "yes, he's my adoptive brother but neither the least, he's my brother and annoying as hell," she stated.
Rolling his eyes, he chuckled. "So are you going to help me or what?" he asked.
Folding her arms over her chest, she smiled. "I get something from this right? Like those shoes I love for my birthday that I should remind you is coming up soon," she tested.
"Yes, Izzy," Jace huffed.
"Yay," she beamed before looking between both of us. "Get closer to each other and try act as if you're together."
"Why?" I asked, suddenly confused.
An airy silence came between us for a moment before Izzys glaze went up to Jaces, and spoke in a whisper like tone. "I'm not mistaken when you said she doesn't mind touching you after she…"
Knowing what she was about to say, my own voice cut through her whisper in a shockingly confident way. "You're not mistaken," I said, looking up at her, feeling Jace's eyes on me. "I don't know why, but I'm not afraid when Jace's near me. That's why his touch doesn't affect me like others do."
Her eyebrows then drew together as words flowed from her mouth. "So since you must know I know about what happened…can I ask you something?" I gave her a slow nod, letting her go on. "Why is it that girl's touches affect you too? When I read that when it's a male attacker, it's usually only males that the victims scared of…"
Knotting my fingers together, I let my mind wonder over the question before a vulnerable whisper escaped. "They feel like they're suffocating me… like any hand contains the power to redraw the breath from within me…"
Nodding softly, her eyes grew soft. "Do you think it'll get better?" she asked.
I shrugged. "I'm trying…" I whispered.
"Before you guys say anything else," Jace's voice cut through our difficult conversation, "the two bimbos are coming our ways."
Izzy quickly looked over to them, then back at me. "Clary I don't have time to explain it better, but here's the best I can do: you need to act as if you're Jace's girlfriend, just for a moment. So you need to get closer to him and look cozy," she whispered.
I just nodded and looked up at him to show I approved of the idea. Giving me an easy smile, I felt him pull me against him softly so my back was against his solid chest as his hands rested softly on my stomach. "Are you sure this is this okay?" Jace whispered down at me. I leant into his hold, feeling the safeness and content I had missed since the night it was ripped away from me. His smell of soap and guy spray lingered through my nose, giving me a scent of goldenness. Breathing in softly, I placed my hands on his.
"It's fine…" I whispered before feeling another blush heating my cheeks. "It's actually nice, you know to have someone hold you when you haven't had anyone do it for so long."
Smiling down at me, his arms tightened around me before looking up at the approaching girls. "Hey you two, what a pleasant surprise," Izzy said cheerfully, sarcasm rolling off her tongue.
Both girls seemed to ignore Izzy and focused on me and Jace. "You can't be serious Jace?" the one that supposedly called Kaelie spoke up. "We all know what you're trying to do here."
"And what is that?" Jace asked smoothly.
"You're trying to make me jealous by using this poor girl!" she said, pouting her lip at me then glancing up Jace. "Just because you're the only one that can touch her, doesn't mean you can use her to get to me."
Izzy seemed to let out a forced laugh. "Sometimes Kaelie…you talk so much shit it makes me laugh. Could you just hear yourself? You think he'd use her to make you jealous? You must really think he's a horrible person if you think he'd do something like that!" she stated, narrowing her eyes at Kaelie.
"Oh no, I don't mean it like…" Kaelie started, but Aline cut her off.
"I think it is funny how this girl puts on an act that she's afraid of everyone, but Jace," Aline said as her eyes drove daggers into me. "Have you just put this act on to steal Jace away from Kaelie?"
For a moment I was dumbfounded, but soon enough my words flowed with anger. "Excuse me? I don't even know you or her, so why would I come up with a stupid plan like that?"
Aline stepped closer to me, causing me to back closer to Jace. "Why is it that your words show confidence, but your body shows weakness?" she said in a warning-like tone. My breath caught as a lump formed in the back of my throat, but the smoothing feel of Jace's thumb running across my hand seemed to settle my breath.
Izzy shoved her back lightly, and stepped closer to her. "Why is it that I'm about to shove my four inch heels up your fat ass? Oh, because I'm kicking you and your plastic Barbie out," Izzy cursed.
"My parents are still here, so we can't go anywhere without them," Aline smiled wickedly into Izzy face. Izzy seemed to inch closer to her in a dangerous manner, but Jace stepped out from behind me easily and reach out to her, pulling her back.
"Just get away from us. Both of you are really starting to piss me off," Jace warned to Aline and Kaelie.
"But baby…" Kaelie started.
"Don't baby him," Izzy said rolling her eyes. "He's Clary's, not yours."
Kaelies eyes narrowed as she looked back at me, then up at Jace. "Then kiss her," she smiled up at him as if she's pulled him into a trap.
Glancing back at me, Jace seemed lost for a moment, which gave Kaelie the answer she wanted. "See, I knew it. You two wouldn't be together because she's too weak for you, oh and needless to say she isn't that attractive," Kaelie shot a smirk back at me.
Jace stepped closer to her, and lowered his face so he looked straight into her face. "Maybe you're right. Clary and I aren't going out, but that doesn't mean I don't like her," he smirked at Kaelie.
"Oh, that's crap. You don't like her, you're just trying to be horrible to me," Kaelie spat.
Jace straightened up, the smirk still evident on his face. "You're right, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't choose Clary over you any day," Jace said smoothly. "So let this be the message that I'm not interested and never will be, so stop with the staring and texts and well…everything. I'm not interested."
Kaelie stood with her mouth open as Jace walked back to me and grabbed my hand. "Suddenly I'm not that hungry. Why don't I show you around?"
I nodded, before letting him lead me inside. I looked back once more to see Izzy laughing and both Kaelie and Aline shooting daggers at me with their glaze.
How did you like it? Was my editing bad? :P
Review and tell me what you think :)
Ex oh ex