Chapter 8

Alec POV

No, no, no, no, no this could not be happening. Not only did I have Magnus's phone but it kept ringing and I didn't want to answer it because whoever was on the other line might get suspicious and call the cops or the CIA or whatever they did if they thought the top fashion designer in the world had been kidnapped. This was ridiculous why didn't I just go back over to his flat and give him his phone back and get mine. I knew the answer to that, because I was embarrassed that I had overreacted like I had and now he probably hated me anyway, that and the fact that I didn't even know if he was home.

Now I was watching the phone buzz with the name Ragnor scrolling across the top of it. The first time it had went off the ringtone was something really loud and sounded like some sort of pop music shit that Magnus would listen to so I turned it on silent.

"Alexander Lightwood are you even listening to me," screamed my sister before she snatched the phone from my hands.

"Izzy don't do that…" I started say but she had already picked up the phone and was screaming into it. I could hear the other person's voice screaming back at her, he sounded pissed. Then she abruptly stopped screaming and her face paled, she hung up the phone and handed it back to me.

"Why do you have Magnus Bane's phone?" she asked. I didn't want to answer but something told me that she would get the answer out of me one way or another, and I really didn't want to start and scene at this restaurant.

"I picked up his jacket, which had his phone in it, by mistake this morning when I left the flat after I had just finished screaming at him and basically calling him a man whore." I said as calmly as I could manage.

"You did what!" she screeched and I flinched like she hit me.

A few people in the restaurant turned to look at us but no one dared say anything. Izzy was red in the face and looked like she was going to kill me, that or just stab me with the fork she was holding in a death grip. She didn't do any of those things though she just got up and walked outside leaving me sitting there looking after her like a sad puppy that was watching its owner leave from the window.

After a minute she walked back in and threw a copy of today's Times on the table in front of me.

"Flip to page six and don't say anything until you do," she said. I did what she told me and flipped through the thick newspaper until I found page six which was what most people called the gossip column. It wasn't hard to find what she was talking about because it was splashed all over the page with the headline in big bold print at the top. "Magnus Bane's new boy toy."

Someone had managed to get a picture of me and Magnus last night, it wasn't like you could really tell that it was me but it was a disaster either way, and it wasn't like we had been dancing or something no, whoever took this picture had managed to snap a shot of us kissing.

"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed and people looked over at our table again. Izzy laughed once at my reaction but was serious immediately after.

"Alec you do realize that Magnus could tell the reporters who you are if you really pissed him off, and since you think you're coming out would ruin your career then this might end up being worse than it already is."

I didn't really see how this could get worse than it already was but I nodded anyway before I put my head in my hands and didn't look up again. Izzy didn't say anything after that and only sat back down in the seat across from mine. I didn't know what I was going to do, what if someone figured out it was me, my life would be over and so would my career, then Jace would be alone on the ice to make terrible plays and lose the championship tittle that we worked hard to keep under our belt. At the thought of the ice and hockey I remembered the fact that the team had practice today at three. I glanced down at Magnus's phone and saw the time, it was fifteen till three and the arena was all the way across town.

I jumped up startling Izzy and the poor waiter that had the misfortune of being assigned to our table and ran out the door to the café only stopping to wave goodbye to Izzy before jumping into my car and speeding out of the parking lot and onto the busy NYC street. Horns honked and some Brooklyn cab driver cussed at me in the clipped tones that you usually heard from the people of NYC and more specifically Brooklyn. That was another thing that was strange about Magnus, although he had seemed to live in Brooklyn for quite a while he didn't have the harsh accent he sounded like he was from somewhere in Europe and I hadn't been able to tell where although the slight lit to his vowels reminded me of the brits.

I was speeding through the streets at a rate that I would never have even dared to think about before and I was lucky that the NYPD were so lazy, because if not I would never have been able to made it to the arena with all of three minutes to spare for my crazy driving. Jace was waiting in front of the arena looking very much amused when I jumped out of the car and tried to look not as though I hadn't just raced through the streets of NYC like I was in grand theft auto.

"Where have you been Alec? Coach was starting to get worried so I told him you were with someone," he moved his eyebrows suggestively "but he didn't seem to believe me. I guess the whole team really does think that your asexual" He grinned at me in that way that would usually have made me shiver and then blush when I realized that I was lusting after my adoptive brother but at this moment only irritated me further.

"Come on asshole let's get to practice," I said and Jace laughed.

Being on the ice was mind-numbing it was like nothing I had ever experienced before, it was like every thought and every worry was out of my mind and it was only the cold sweat that stung my eyes and the strain of my muscles urging me to give into the exhaustion. The ice was an unforgiving friend but the rewards for sticking with her were greater than the risks and injuries, it was this addicting mix of peace and adrenaline that kept me coming back to the game after every lost championship and broken bone. I assumed that my brother felt the same because no matter how much he said he hated the game sometimes he would never leave it because without the ice who were we besides the famous name of Lightwood. Like what Isabelle would be without her fashion and her label, another pretty face with famous parents and an almost inexhaustible bank account.

It was only when we took a break two hours into practice and I looked up into the stands out of habit that I saw a person sitting there watching me and the unmistakable shine of glitter that proved what I thought. Magnus Bane was here.