18
Clary's POV
"Eliza and Michael want to meet you," Jace leans against my locker. I can't help the alarm bells that go off in my head at the mention of meeting his adoptive parents, "they became curious after I stopped coming home for a bit. I told them that this obnoxious redhead was holding me captive in her basement so they naturally became curious." Jace teases me, and I can't help the small laugh that comes out of me, "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone." I tease in return, pushing him lightly on the chest.
"Seriously, I think you should come over for dinner tonight. They're in town for a few days in between business trips." He reaches down for my hand, holding it in his own. My face flushes at the public display of affection, "Listen Michael is kind of a hard ass, but Eliza is sweet. Plus, with your family problems my adoptive parents look like stellar ones." He tugs me along with him towards our friends in the parking lot, "I have practice tonight, can I pick you up after?" He asks me, not giving me the chance to deny his invitation. I do want to hang out with him, and I know that girlfriends and boyfriends meet each other's parents, and he's already met my mom, but knowing what a dick Michael is, I don't know how I feel about it. Reluctantly, I nod in acquiescence.
"Good, then I'll see you at your house at seven?" He asks me as we approach our small group of friends in the parking lot, and I nod, "Ready, Jace?" Alec asks, his sports duffle bag in hand. Jace nods towards him, turning his attention to me, "Text me when you're on your way." I tell Jace as he lets go of my hand. In a swift motion, he catches my lips with his own, as if to tell others around us to back off. It feels protective, not romantic.
He pulls away with one last smile, walking off towards the football field with Alec and Jordan on either side of him, "What the hell have I missed?" Maia says, a shocked smile across her face, "Jace broke Clary." Simon says exasperated, crossing his arms, giving me a look, "Did that concussion make you lose all your brain cells?" Maia asks me, and I sigh, putting a hand to my forehead, "I don't like where this conversation is heading." I mumble, looking over at Isabelle, who has a stupid smirk plastered on her face.
"Are you two," Simon puckers his lips, making a face at me, "dating?" I smile, crossing my arms at him, "As a matter of fact, we are." I narrow my eyes at him, daring him to say something about it, "Wait, since when?" Isabelle gives me a look of betrayal, "Why haven't you told me?" She pouts and I sigh.
"It happened quickly, don't be like that." I respond to Isabelle, and she sighs, linking her arm with mine, "I got to take the cripple home, if I get any more information out of her, I'll be sure to relay it." Isabelle smiles at Simon and Maia, before tugging me off into the parking lot towards her car.
"I never thought you'd be one for PDA." Isabelle smiles at me as we make it to her car. I step into the passenger side, buckling up as we pull off towards the exit, "I'm not, trust me, but Jace seems to be, so I just kind of go along with it." I respond, looking out of the window as we drive into the city, towards my apartment.
"He isn't," Isabelle pulls her lower lip between her teeth, "he never cares enough to show affection in public. But with you, he really likes you. I remember when we first met you, how pissed he was that you weren't giving him the time of day." I chuckle at the memory, "He was there for me, you know." I say and Isabelle nods knowingly, "I didn't think I had feelings for him, but then after seeking refuge in his house, and him being there for me when I couldn't be there for myself, I guess it just snuck up on me." Isabelle shoots me a wide smile in response, before her look goes somber, "Listen, Jace is complicated as I'm sure you've seen, especially with the whole 'attempted murder of the lineman' thing he pulled. I love Jace, he's been like a brother to me for as long as I can remember, but he is not without his faults. I just don't want to see either of you getting hurt, since both of you lack any sort of emotional intelligence." Isabelle offers me a small smile at the last part, obviously trying to lighten the mood.
"Gee, thanks." I pause, rolling my eyes, "We both have our own faults. I think if anyone is going to get hurt," my voice develops an edge in it as we approach my home, "I'm almost positive it won't be me." I grab my backpack as we pull to a stop, and I throw her car door open.
"Thanks for the ride." I smile at her with a small wave, pushing the door shut, turning my back to her and walking up towards my house. I swing the front door open with a smack, and take a quick glance around the home. My mother is nowhere to be found, which isn't very surprising, but Jonathan is sprawled out on the couch.
I have been avoiding him like the plague, spending lots of time locked away in my room with Jace, or Isabelle, out of respect for Luke. I gave him the two days he's begged for, so now, as he has given me nothing, it is about time that my douchebag brother sets the record straight. I want to know what he was doing with Seelie; I want to know who paid her, I want to know if my dad had anything to do with it, and above all, I want to never see my brother ever again.
"Is mom home?" I address my brother as he stares me down. When he nods 'no' at me, I stalk over and drop into the large arm chair situated across from him, attempting to fight off the urge to rip his head off, "What type of business did you need to take care of after Seelie kicked my ass?" I ask him, crossing my arms, my eyes scanning over his face to catch any signs of him lying.
"I needed to go talk to dad, he sent me a text to come home, and that it was important." Liar.
"And Seelie gave you a ride back to dad, I'm assuming?" I ask him, but it's less of a question, and more of an accusation. Jonathan goes to answer, but I don't give him a chance, cutting him off, "So did you need to pay her, for almost killing me, or did you need to thank her? I'm just trying to figure out what business you had being there at all. Did you come to my fight to make sure that Seelie did the job?" I snap at him, my voice rising, green eyes staring intently into his black ones, "Clary, you don't know what you're talking about. I never wanted this to happen." Jonathan responds, extending his hand in a sign of surrender, his body language caving.
"Well then, make it make sense to me, because if you don't, I am just going to assume." I growl at him, "I can't tell you everything, it isn't safe and you could get hurt." He starts, but I cut him off once again, rising to my feet and grabbing the hem of my shirt. I tug it upwards to show him the sickening bruises that still mar my stomach, "I already did get hurt. So, you tell me everything - right now." I demand, sitting back down in my chair, "Dad got mixed up in some dangerous stuff when we left Florida, that's why we moved. I don't know the extent, but what I do know is that he has dragged me into it, and he's trying to do the same with you. He just wants our family back together. He employed Seelie to," "Beat my ass," I fill in the blanks, "No, to beat you. He wanted you to lose, in the hopes that your sponsors would drop you, he wanted you to need him again. He thought that if you lost your sponsorships, you would lose money, and would eventually need some. I know Mom barely makes any, and Dad knows that too." He replies, and I scoff. Of course, Valentine had his hand in this all along.
"Where is he?" I narrowed my eyes at him, "I want to see him now." I cross my arm, "No, you only want to see him because you're mad at him." Jonathan says back and I throw my hands up in exasperation, "Of course I'm mad, he basically put a hit on me." I seethe at him, "If I see him, I'm going to kill him!" I yell, before there is a loud smack on the front door, causing me to jump. I don't budge from my position, and eventually, my brother caves, walking off to the front door, and swinging it open, "What?" he exclaims, before his features widen in surprise.
"Oh, Clary, your neighbor is here." Jonathan says, and my eyebrows knit in confusion as I walk to the door. Madame Dorothea, my downstairs neighbor, is standing in front of me, with her arms crossed in front of her and tired eyes, "Can you keep it down please, you interrupted my daily meditation." I sigh, putting a hand against my forehead, "Yeah, sorry about that." With nothing but a huff, she turns her back to us, stomping away, and I slam the door shut behind her.
"I think I should leave, let you collect your thoughts." Jonathan says hurriedly, "I wasn't supposed to tell you any of this." Jonathan tries to rush past me, opening the door widely, "You don't get to just run away!" I exclaim as Jonathan yanks the front door open, "I'll see you tonight, once you calm down." I think about punching him, and it takes a lot to hold myself back as he slams the front door in my face.
I let out an angry yell, stomping up the stairs towards my bedroom. I am feeling murderous.
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
"Clary!" Jace's voice radiates through my house as I stare at myself in the floor length mirror. I have never been one to second guess myself, but I have been pondering all night what to wear to meet Jace's adoptive family, "Upstairs." I call back down to him. The tears that stained my face from the conversation with my brother are long gone, but the anger inside of me is still bubbling up. I give myself a once over, pursing my lips. At this moment, my tight jeans, and my purple colored blouse feel severely underdressed. I can't help the feeling that I am going to disappoint Jace's parents from rising in my chest.
"Hm, look at you all dressed up." I look at Jace over my shoulder, smiling slightly at his freshly showered form, "Got a hot date?" He quips and I roll my eyes, "Your mom." This gets a snort out of him, "Really, the 'your mom' joke? Low," He approaches behind me, pressing a sweet kiss to my cheek, "ready to go?" I hummed in response, collected my things and allowed Jace to lead me out of my house. I grin silently to myself at the sight of his motorcycle; I haven't been on one since my injury.
Without question, I climb behind Jace, my hands encircling his midsection as he starts the engine up, "Hold on tight, I don't need you falling off the back." I laugh at Jace's words, into his back.
The ride to his house is unpleasantly short- I've missed this feeling. When we park in his driveway, I feel nervousness rise up in my stomach again. His parents are going to hate me, I already know, "Clary, if you want to actually go inside, you are going to need to let go of me." Jace's laugh vibrates through me as I loosen up my hold around his waist, "I am perfectly content right here" I respond, letting go of him, "I'm sure you are, but we must appease Michael and Eliza." Jace steps off his bike, offering me his hand, helping me off, "I guess we do." I feign sadness, "But first," Jace takes my jaw in his hand, bending down and pressing a firm kiss to my lips, making my heart jump to my throat, "did you have a good day?" He asks against my lips and I let out a groan- he just had to ask.
"We can talk about it later," the look in my eyes tells him to drop the conversation. He just nods in response, taking my hand in his own and leading me up into his house, "We're here." Jace calls once we enter, and when he doesn't get a response, he drags me along with him into his kitchen, where his adoptive parents are setting the table.
"Ah, Clary!" Jace's adoptive mother throws her hands up in excitement, pulling me from Jace, and into her, in a tight hug, "I'm so glad to meet you." I awkwardly hugged her back, still feeling out of place. When she finally releases me, I wave oddly at Mr. Wayland, who does nothing but stare at me. I can't imagine that he is too fond of me; I know he blames me for Jace losing focus on football.
I can tell from the moment we sit down at the dinner table that tonight was going to be rough. Eliza is very interested in me, asking questions about my parents, my home life, what I do for fun, all the things that I hate talking about, while Michael just stares intently at me. I can't help as my knee bumps nervously under the table.
"So, Jace said you're a really impressive fighter," Michael says and I can't help as the smile creeps up my cheeks, "I wouldn't say she's impressive-" I kick Jace under the table roughly, shutting him up immediately, "I'm kidding; she definitely holds a candle to me, way better than Sebastian and Alec ever were." Jace tells his adoptive parents, "I'm not sure if that's a good thing, seeing as she's barely a hundred pounds." Michael replies; the smile drops off my face.
"So, uh," Eliza attempts to break the tension in the room, "Jace told me you were hurt, are you doing alright now?" My mind jumps to the earlier conversation with Jonathan, and I can't help it as my temper flares up, my body temperature rising, "
"I got my sling taken off a few days ago, now I am just waiting on my ribs to heal." I answer plainly, not wanting to go into much detail out of fear that my anger will consume me if I allow it too, "And you couldn't function around your home with a sling and broken ribs on your own?" Michael asks me and I feel the tension in Jace's body radiating off of him, "It wasn't my idea for them to stay with me, but I was grateful they did." I explain calmly, attempting to keep my disdain for the man out of my voice.
"I guess I'm just concerned that your relationship with my son has negatively affected his performance in sports." Michael narrows his eyes on me, and I feel Jace find my hand under the table, "Your concern is misplaced." I respond, my voice icy now, "We just lost one game, it isn't the end of the world." Jace replies cooly, obviously used to his father being a dick, but I am really getting sick and tired of asshole dads today.
"That type of mentality will get you absolutely nowhere in life, you need to be the best, and if you aren't-," Jace cuts Michael off midway, "I need to become the best. I know Michael." Jace's voice now matches mine, "I brought Clary here for you to meet her, not for you to interrogate her, or harass me about football." His hand grips mine uncomfortably hard, "So either drop the hard-ass act, or Clary and I can go somewhere else for the night."
"No, you guys should stay, please." Eliza asks in her sweet voice, and I can't help but want to stay for her. She is a really nice lady, nice to me, and obviously nice to Jace. I cave, giving Jace's hand a squeeze, and throwing a soft smile at Eliza.
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
"That was horrible." Jace laughs humorlessly as he lies next to me in my bed. We didn't speak the whole way home from his house, tension was too high, and I'm sure we would have just made the situation worse due to bickering.
"It could have been worse, Eliza was nice." I reply, turning to face him. This causes a small smile to form on Jace's face, "Yeah, she is." Jace pauses for a moment, before shooting upright, looking down at me, "Wait, what happened today? Did Luke talk to you, did you talk to your brother?" He asks me, and I sigh, sitting up so I am facing him.
"I haven't heard from Luke since I talked to him at the gym. I'm assuming that means that he doesn't have any updates for me. So, I took matters into my own hands today with Jon." I tell him, and Jace's brows shoot up in the air, "Do tell." He sounds like a teenage girl. I break down the conversation I had with Jonathan today - attempting to sound as detached as possible. I don't want him to know how much this situation is affecting me. Plus, on top of that, Jace's adoptive father deciding that he hates me isn't making me feel any better.
"So, does that give me full rights to brutalize your older brother?" Jace asks me, his hand finding mine in the bed, "I don't know if that'll make me feel better. I just don't know where to go from here. All of this is just confirming my suspicions that someone is coming after me." I tell Jace, my voice wavering, giving my emotions away, "And I'm scared, if my dad doesn't get what he wants, since I haven't lost any sponsors yet and I'm definitely not going back to my him any time soon, what if he sends someone else after me, or someone after you guys?" I give his hand a hard squeeze; Jace reaches his hand up, putting it softly against my cheek.
"I promise you, your dad isn't going to hurt you, and sure as hell not going to hurt us, I swear on it.:" His thumb runs over my cheekbone, and I allow my eyes to flutter shut against it. I wish I wasn't overthinking so much, I wish I wasn't so stressed - maybe then I could enjoy sweet moments like this.
