17

Clary's POV

The moment the doctor removed the sling from my arm, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I rejoin Isabelle in the waiting room- she volunteered to take me to the doctor while the boys went to the gym after school - with a smile plastered on my face. Considering that I've regained most of my shoulder's mobility, I don't think my current state of happiness is uncalled for. My ribs are still broken, but healing, and I still have a soft pounding in my head, but at least I can move my arm now without screaming in pain.

"I don't think I have ever seen you smile so damn big." Isabelle greets me as we head out towards the parking lot to her car, "I feel like I can actually function now," I grin, "can you take me to the gym?" She throws a look at me over her shoulder as we reach her car, "Did the doctor clear you to fight?" She asks me and I scoff. No. But she doesn't need to know that.

"I am not going to work myself hard, but I feel like I am just going to go stir crazy unless I do something soon." I tell her, sounding pleading even to my own ears, and eventually Isabelle caves, "Fine, but I am telling the boys to keep an eye on you." I smile widely at her as we make our way to the gym. I also think being able to see Luke in person will be a good thing- that way we can discuss whatever he didn't want to tell me over the phone.

"Also," Isabelle tells me as she pulls up to the front of the gym, "my parents are home, which means Alec and I may need to stay home for the next couple days." I nod at that, "Yeah don't worry about it, I can get around my house fine." I tell her with a grim smile on my face, "I'm not worried about your physical health, I'm worried about your mental health while you deal with Jonathan and your mom." She tells me as I step out of her car, "Don't worry about me. Thanks for the ride today, I appreciate it." I tell her, closing the door, but Isabelle rolls the window down, "If you need me, you call me." She yells to me as she drives off out of the parking lot.

I laugh quietly as I walk into the entrance of the gym. The smell of rubber and sweat hits my nose, and I can't help as my smile widens. It has only been a week, but I have missed it so much. I am slightly bummed to see that Simon and Luke are nowhere to be found- but I am sure they are just busy.

I slipped to the locker room relatively unnoticed, frustrated that I forgot to pack my boxing stuff. I settle on stripping my t-shirt off, throwing it and my sneakers in a locker, and returning back to the gym in leggings and a sports bra .

As I make my way to an open spot, people's eyes find themselves on me and I turn red. It doesn't take long for them to find the large bruising on my ribs, and I can't help but feel self-conscious. I wonder how many people here know what happened. I train my eyes on the floor as I make my way to the nearest free bag.

I can't hit very hard, and the movement is straining my ribs, but truthfully, I feel better, even though my body is burning, "Don't hurt yourself Red." I hear from behind me as a hand comes around my waist from behind. I turn around, expecting to see Jace, but grimace at the sight of Sebastian. I shove him roughly away from me, causing a jolt of pain to run through my body, "Don't touch me, you creep." I frown at him, not having the energy to pick a fight with him.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that." He reached towards me but I smack his hand roughly away, flinching again, "Are you alright, your ribs look a little," he pauses, "punched. Rumor has it I was right about Seelie, you're lucky she didn't kill you." He reaches towards me, trying to get a feel of my bruising.

"I'd recommend you don't touch her." Jace appears next to me, his hand coming to my side, and pushing me lightly, "And you shouldn't be here." He gives me a pointed look, his attention going back to Sebastian, "Relax man, we were just messing around." Sebastian replies, to which I roll my eyes.

"Really? Cuz Clary doesn't seem too thrilled about what's happening right now." Jace's voice is intimidating, and his eyes narrow at his so-called friend, "Stay away from her." Jace tells him. I can't help but smile, it's oddly attractive for Jace to be protective of me, "Whatever Jace, who knew a girl would turn you into such a bitch." I feel Jace stiffen beside me, like he is ready to lunge at Sebastian.

"Walk away Sebastian." My tone matches Jace, and eventually, the black-haired boy lets out a loud sigh before walking away from us. I let out a breath before running a hand through my hair, feeling odd to be able to use both of my arms.

"You should not be here." Jace tells me, stepping in front of me and putting his hands on both sides of my hips, "Just because you don't have a sling anymore doesn't mean you are healed." He tells me and I scrunch my nose at him, "I am not sitting in my house any longer, I will go crazy. Plus, I need to talk to Luke about the fight." I tell Jace, pulling away from him, and putting a hand on the swinging bag, "I'm pretty sure you are supposed to be training right now, so," I push him in the chest with my other hand, "run along, I'm sure Alec is looking for you." I tell him, and he lets out a sigh, "I don't like this-," he starts, but I shove him again, "I don't care. I'm going to punch this bag- and you can go get punched by Alec." I narrow my eyes at him, begging him to challenge me, but eventually, he sighs, "Fine." He caves, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Oh, also can I ride back to my house with you? Isabelle dropped me off." He raises his brow at me, "So first you make fun of me, then you tell me that Alec is going to beat me in a fight, and now, you are asking me for a ride?" He teases me, "I feel like I am being used." He tells me, and I can't help the small laugh that slips through my lips, "That's because you are." I respond, noticing that a few of the other gym-goers have noticed our conversation, and are watching us with a newfound curiosity, "People are staring." I point out, suddenly feeling uncomfortable at the number of eyes on us, "Correction, they're staring at you." He tells me, smirking at me, "They're probably thinking about how pretty you are, or how good of a body you have, or what a horrible bruise you have, and how you are an absolute moron for fighting in this condition." Jace tells me, making me scrunch my nose in protest, "I honestly don't see anything wrong with me fighting," I start, before knitting my brows, "doesn't it bother you to see other guys staring at me?" I know how much it bothers me when I catch girls eyeing Jace, even when we were just friends.

"Of course, it does, but as long as they keep their distance, I won't have to go all 'crazy protective boyfriend' on them." My face flushes at the term 'boyfriend' involuntarily. I know we talked about this last night, but it still feels too intimate for me, "Oh," Jace touches his chin, his eyes looking beyond me, "sorry, I didn't mean to-." I cut him off, with my eyes trained on the floor, "No, it's ok." I chanced a quick look at his face before continuing, "That's what you are, right?" The words just tumble out of my mouth, leaving me embarrassed at the state of raw emotion we are displaying in public, "Yeah, it is." He tells me, seeming like he has something else to say, but Alec calls to him from across the gym. "Come on Jace, you can flirt later!"

This brings a laugh out of the both of us, and Jace gives me one final glance before jogging off to his best friend. I shake my head clear, before going back to the task at hand, striking out at the bag slowly, attempting to loosen up my muscles and get back into the swing of things. I don't get very far though, because about five minutes into my workout, I am interrupted again, this time by Luke.

"I'm glad I was able to run into you today." Luke tells me, a smile on his face, "How are you doing kiddo?" He asks me, his eyes jumping down to the nasty bruise on my side, and back to my face, which is still slightly cut and bruised.

"I'm still breathing, aren't I?" I respond, causing a small laugh to escape his lips, "Follow me, we need to talk." I nod, obliging as he leads me through the gym, towards a stairwell. At the top of the stairwell, Luke pushes open a door, which leads us into a living-room styled area, "You live up here?" I ask him, looking around his loft as he goes to take a seat on the couch, "Yeah, it's not much, but it's home." He pats the seat across from him, encouraging me to sit. I listen, sitting down across him, crossing my arms across my chest.

"I need you to understand that what I am about to tell you is going to upset you, but I want you to listen to me, and not make any rash decisions." Luke starts off with, and immediately I gulp- this gives me zero confidence, "I convinced the arena's manager to let me take a look at the CCTV footage from after your fight. I wanted to see where Seelie went, who she talked to, all of that, because if you're right about someone coming after you, I wanted to see who it was." Luke says and I nod, perching forward in my seat, his words intriguing me.

Luke pulls out his phone, queuing up the video so I can watch it, "So from the minute Seelie got pulled away from you, she got rushed out by these two men," Luke points at two tall men rushing her out of the arena, towards a black car. I press my lips together, "I swear those guys were following me the other day, everyone else thinks that I am crazy, but these are too many coincidences." They have to be following me, I know they have.

"Keep watching," is all that Luke replies with as the footage keeps rolling. The two men jump into the front of a large black SUV, and Seelie climbs into the back seat. They seem like they are about to pull away from the lot, when a tall figure comes running out of the building and to Seelie's car. It only takes a moment for me to recognize the boy, and I can't help the noise of surprise that slips through my lips when I see my brother talking to the girl who brutalized me.

They talk for just a moment, before the car door swings open, and my brother slips inside. The door slams shut, and the car pulls away. Luke shuts his phone, ending the footage there and lets out a loud sigh, "That is all that the footage I caught," I can't force myself to respond, rather I push myself to my feet.

"I need to go," I spit out, my anger building inside of me. Jonathan said he needed to take care of something- did that mean he had to pay her for hurting me? All of the possibilities are swimming around in my head as I make a beeline for Luke's door, "Clary, wait one second please," Luke moves quicker than me, my broken ribs hindering my agility, "I know you probably have about fifty-five scenarios spinning around in your head right now, but you need to take a deep breath. We don't know what your brother was doing with Seelie, and we won't if you confront him now. I need you to give me a little bit of time to put some more pieces together to try and figure out what happened. As for those men following you, if you only saw them a couple times, it may have been a coincidence. For now, I want you to forget about all of this." I scoff at him, "Luke, someone is trying to hurt me, someone already has, I can't just forget about this." I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes in defiance.

"I just need a couple days, please." He tells me, putting a hand on my healthy shoulder, giving it a squeeze, "Two days, and then you can handle it whatever way you want." Luke lets go of my shoulder, standing up straight. After letting out a loud sigh, I nod, caving, "Fine." Luke steps out of my way, allowing me to exit out of his home, "I'll talk to you in two days. When my ribs are healed, I want a rematch with Seelie." I tell Luke, before turning my back completely on him, and bounding down the stairs.

My lip is pulled between my teeth as I head back towards the bag I was pulled away from. Shaking my head clear, I throw myself back into my workout. I find it hard to concentrate now- my mind bouncing from Luke, to my brother, and now, to the newfound feeling of someone watching me at all times. I swing over and over again, ignoring the screaming coming from my body as I hit the bag repeatedly.

I feel the blood rushing to my head, causing my hearing to go fuzzy, and a pounding sensation to form in my head. The fast motion upsets my ribs and my partially healed arm to no end, but this is the only semi-healthy coping mechanism that pleases me at the moment, "Clary," Alec comes into my peripheral view, putting a hand on my shoulder, "we've been trying to get your attention for like five minutes, are you alright?" Alec gives me a small shake, I turn to look at him, seeing both him and Jace looking at me, eyebrows raised, "Oh shit." Alec says, and I squint my eyes in confusion, "What?'

"You have a nose bleed." Alec says, looking at Jace with concerned eyes, "I told you it was a bad idea to fight." Jace scolds me as I reach up to touch my nose. I taste the metallic blood as it runs into my mouth, "Oh no." Does this mean my brain is hemorrhaging? Do concussions cause brain bleeds? Am I dying?

"As someone who gives great advice, I advise you to go to the hospital." Alec tells me as I turn away from him, feeling wobbly on my feet as I make my way towards the locker room, "And I advise you to shut the fuck up." I grunt to him, feeling them follow behind me as I shove my way into the locker room, "This is the girls locker room, get out." I snap at the two of them, looking over my shoulder and seeing four of them instead of two.

"Get your things, you need to get home." I spit blood on the floor at Jace's words, struggling to bend down to gather my things. When I attempt to stand up, I feel myself getting light headed, and before I can stop it, I feel myself fall face-first towards the floor, my vision fading to black.

o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
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When I come to it, I am lying face up in my bedroom, with an ice pack placed firmly against my forehead, "Welcome back to the land of the living." I hear from my right side, and I can't help myself as I shoot upwards. Jace is sitting next to me with a soft smile on his face, his hand finding my hair, running his fingers through them, "You worked yourself too hard." Jace tells me softly, "Did something happen at the gym?" Jace's intuition will probably piss me off for the rest of my life.

"Yeah," I cave, rolling towards him so my hand is knotted in his shirt. I tell him everything that Luke told me, word for word. I tell him that I think someone is coming after me, I tell him that I'm scared my dad has something to do with it. I tell him everything that was running through my brain during my time at the gym. I explain to him why I lost my mind today, and he listens to every word of it.

"I want to confront Jonathan, but I promised Luke I would give him two days to handle it." I finish, my eyelids feeling heavy as my headache has returned, "If you wait two days, I promise I will refrain from killing your brother in the meantime." Jace says into my ear, his hand still making its way through my hair. I let out a groan, "Deal." I respond.

"But for now, I think it's best you go back to sleep, my dear. Your brain is probably scrambled eggs right now, and if you want to get back to fighting soon, the best thing for you to do is sleep it off." I don't have much of a response, rather, I tuck my nose against Jace's neck, closing my eyes, and allowing my exhaustion to take over me.