Hey, beautiful people! Here's the next update, hope you guys enjoy it. Also—I've got Pink's concert next weekend! She's going to be fucking amazing!
"So who is it that you're having a friendly chat with today?" Clary asked, her voice slightly teasing. It was a Thursday morning, and she had no classes today, and Jace had asked if she could come with him to a meeting on the other side of town, in the industrial area. Alec had appeared in her apartment after she had sent a text to Jace saying that he was ready. Alec and Max were the only one's of Jace's men who had been in her apartment, even Jace hadn't been there. Alec and Max had only been there because of their abilities to teleport, otherwise Jace wouldn't have allowed them there, wanting to keep her home safe.
"His name is Hodge," Jace answered as he buttoned up his white shirt over the bullet-proof vest he was wearing. "Hodge Starkweather." Clary frowned as she searched through her memory, recognizing the name. Isabelle Lightwood came into the room while she was thinking, smiling widely at Clary as she came over.
"Hey, babe," Isabelle greeted her.
"Hi, Isabelle," Clary gave the dark haired girl a smile.
"Jace wants you to wear this," Isabelle held up her hand, and hanging off one finger was a bullet-proof vest, almost identical to the one that Jace was wearing, just in a smaller size. Clary cast her confused eyes over to Jace.
"I don't think there's going to be any problems," Jace muttered. "But just in case," he nodded at the vest. Clary bit down on her lower lip and swallowed hard as Isabelle walked over and handed her the vest. Jace had always been careful with her, most of the time he kept her at a distance when it came to his meetings, in a separate room from where the meeting was taking place, or out in the car with one of his men. It was the same today, she meant to stay behind in the fully armored SUV with Raphael, stretching out her mind to keep Jace's mind safe from any telepath that Hodge might bring, and probe into Hodge's mind to search for any information.
"Alright," Clary said and Isabelle flashed her a quick smile before leaving the room again. They were in Jace's office on the top floor, but there were barely any men on the floor, like there were last time Clary was there. Isabelle was facing the other way outside, and so was Raphael, so Clary stripped out of the sweatshirt she was wearing, and took off her shirt, so that the bullet-proof vest could fit snugly against her chest. Jace watched her put it on, and then moves forward, fingers expertly tightening the straps at her side and fixing the velcro. She had worn them a couple of times before, but they were easy enough to adjust.
"He's a bad guy, but he's not violent," Jace told her quietly.
"But you still want me to wear a vest?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow as she pulled her shirt back over her head. Jace approached her, straightening out the shirt that she was wearing, smoothing his hands over her shoulders and tugging at the sleeves.
"It's just a precaution," he muttered. The pressure and worry was back in his head, she had felt it there since Alec had brought her here an hour ago. And it wasn't just about Hodge, it was the same thing that had been worrying him the other day. She still hadn't pried, she respected that it was something that he was keeping close to his chest, and trusted that he would tell her when he was ready.
"So," Clary began as she pulled on her sweatshirt and straightened it out. The bullet-proof vest was made of some of the most expensive material there was, and it was thin, barely even visible once she had her sweatshirt on. It just looked as though she was wearing layers of clothing. "Hodge. Is there any particular reason for the meeting today? And why you need me to come?"
"He asked to meet," Jace said as he looked down at the expensive watch on his wrist. "I'm not sure why, he's not someone that I usually do business with." Clary pursed her lips together.
"Can I see?" She asked softly. Jace nodded without hesitation. Clary stared at him for a moment, and then felt herself get sucked into Jace's mind. There were his big concerns, the things that he had been worried about for the past week or so, but she skimmed past those. There were a few other things, there was her, and his cousins, and something about a new building that he had just purchased and was getting renovated.
And then there was Hodge.
Jace's mind was beautiful, and she could spend forever in there if that was a possibility. She spent a lot more time in his head that she had with anyone else, in her whole life. A lot of people didn't want everything laid bare, and she could completely understand. A lot of people didn't know how her power worked, the fact that she didn't have to uncover every single one of their buried secrets, she could dance right over those. But Jace knew how powerful she was, he knew what sort of control she had, and he trusted her inside that beautiful, scary mind of his.
Hodge Starkweather was a business man, and he was dangerous, despite Jace dismissing himself so easily. He was technically a property developer, but 'loan shark' seemed to be the better word to describe him, just from what Clary gathered from Jace's thoughts. He signed people in at a low rental agreements with loopholes in the contracts, which stopped them from being able to back out, but didn't lock in a fixed amount. He inflated the prices rapidly, until people could barely afford to cover the rent for their homes or businesses. He also loaned out money, making it seem as though they would be able to afford the interest rates, and then all of a sudden hitting them with penalties that were crippling when they couldn't afford to make the repayments.
His mutation was that he could see peoples worst fears, and he would play on it. Clary hated men like that, taking advantage of people using their powers. That was why so many people feared mutants. It sounded like a powerful mutation, but it was mainly only smoke and mirrors. He couldn't transform into that fear, or project it, he could just use it to manipulate people.
"Doesn't sound like a nice person," Clary concluded as she withdrew from his mind, and Jace shook his head from side to side ever so slightly.
"He's not," Jace agreed with a shrug. "But he's also not the worse. I've never had anything to do with him before, he's not someone that I've ever been in business with before. I don't know why he wants to meet, and that's why I want you to come. But you," he lifted his hand to touch his finger to her nose, softly pressing down. "You're going to stay in the car. I don't think this man is stupid enough to try anything, but I want you to keep him out of my head, and make sure he's not lying to me when we're in there."
"I can do that," Clary nodded. There was a knock at the door, and Clary knew that it was Isabelle standing there before she turned around. Isabelle looked pretty badass, decked out in armor with a leather jacket on, and a gun and a lethal looking knife strapped to her hipped.
"Let's go," Isabelle said with a nod to Jace. Alec and two other men appeared at the doorway, and Jace put his hand on Clary's lower back as they walked from the room. The six of them headed for the elevator—the private elevator that only Jace and his men had access to, not any of the other floors. They took the elevator to the ground floor, and Isabelle and Alec stepped out first, glancing around before jerking their heads at the rest of the people in the elevator. They walked quickly, out of the building and toward the two SUV's that were parked at the curb. Isabelle and the two men headed for the first car, while Alec pulled open the door for the second one, waiting for Jace and Clary to get in before shutting the door and getting in the front seat, next to Raphael.
"Morning, boss," Raphael said, looking over his shoulder at the two of them. "Morning, florecita." Clary gave him a small smile, and then Raphael turned back around and pulled away from the curb, following close behind the first SUV. They had been driving for nearly twenty minutes, going from one side of the city toward the other side, when Clary began to get a bad feeling.
"You alright?" Jace asked, his eyebrows pulling together as he noticed Clary's change in expression.
"Yeah," she flashed him with a small smile and looked ahead. She was just taking on the worries and concerns from Jace and the people around her. Even Raphael, who was usually so easy going and completely relaxed, had had a cloud hanging over his head since Alec had brought her to the building last weekend.
"You sure?" Jace still looked a little nervous as he reached over and took her hand. There was a slight pressure from her ring, but Clary just nodded, looking out the window.
"Five minutes out, boss," Raphael said over his shoulder. They had reached the other side of the far side of the city, the industrial area where there were burnt out cars in front of almost every haggard looking building, and most of the warehouses around them all looked abandoned. There a couple of people that Clary saw, most of them looked homeless, two of them just looked like teenagers who were looking for trouble. She still couldn't shake that feeling inside her, that something was wrong, but even as she searched for what was causing that niggling feeling inside of her, skimming through the minds around her, she just couldn't place it.
That was until, all of a sudden, her body jerked forward, and their car was spinning through the air.
Now, my first thing is a Youtube video. It's only a couple of minutes, but it is absolutely fucking beautiful, my heart just...Shit. Anyway. Watch it. It's called Homophobia In 2018 | Time For Love on the channel BBC Social. Please watch it. It's just a few minutes, just a tiny bit of your day, but it's just incredible.
Okay! So I have so many songs! Okay, so Afterlife by XYLO. And then 1950 and Talia by King Princess—also, I heard that she and Amanda Stenburg are dating? Not sure if that's true, but damn cute couple if they are. Then there's Wild Love by James Bay. The music video for this is absolutely amazing, Natalia looks fucking heavenly. I can't get over that song. Then there's Skydiving, Saviour and We Were Here by Lights. And then an older one, Life After You, by Daughtry. And What's Love Got To Do With It, the cover by Prides, which I heard in Dynasty and fell in love with.
Cloak and Dagger has recently finished and it was amazing, and you should all definitely be watching it. There's also the show Castle Rock that we've just started with Bill Skaarsgard, and I'll watch anything with him in it. Movie wise, we've recently watched Game Night and Stronger, which were both really good. We're September now and there's so many new seasons of my shows starting! What ones are you guys looking forward to?
As a closing note, is anyone else keeping up with all this Jeffree Star drama and his ex-friends? I'm finding all of it hilarious. Me and one my best friends are in love with it all. Haha. Oh—and 21/08/2018 was apparently Fanfiction Appreciation Day! So, happy...That? Haha.
OMG—and everyone should watch Crazy Rich Asians. I fucking loved it.
Let me know what you thought of the story, let me know if you want a preview of the next chapter x