20
Clary's POV
When I finally cornered Jonathan and Seelie down an alleyway, my chest was heaving, and catching my breath was not coming easy, "Fuck you guys." I start, placing my hand on the brick wall, struggling to keep myself upright. Jonathan can't look me in the eyes, angling his head towards the ground and looking towards his feet. Seelie on the other hand has her arms crossed in front of her, and is shooting daggers at me. It is taking a lot for me to keep my cool. I want nothing more than to strangle her right now, but I can't help the little voice in my head that tells me that I can't take her.
"Jonathan, what the hell are you doing, and why are you with her?" I point towards Seelie. He doesn't answer me, and Seelie lets out a loud huff. My anger boils up inside of me, and I stomp towards my brother, grabbing him by his collar, "Listen to me Jonathan, you dropped a bomb on me and left me with nothing. You told me what you thought would get me off of your back, and then you ran." I tug his shirt hard. He doesn't fight back, rather, Seelie handles it for him, grabbing my arm below the elbow in an iron grip, "Let him go." She says to me, but I don't listen, "Stop being a coward Jonathan, tell me everything, now." I shake him and he snaps his head up to look at me. His eye is swollen, nearly shut, his lip is cut, his cheek is bruised. It looks like he took a serious beating. I let go of his shirt, bringing myself back a step and ripping my arm from Seelie's grasp, "What the hell happened to you?"
"This is why I left." Jonathan crosses his arms, before looking at Seelie, "Keep your hands to yourself, ok?" She rolls her eyes at the comment, "I'm telling you, dad knows everything, and he found out that I told you, and he found out that Seelie didn't do a good enough job to get your sponsors dropped," he shoots a glare to the girl beside him, "it's not my fault she started screaming." Seelie scoffs, and I clench my fist tightly, fighting the urge to smack her on the side of the jaw, "I can't tell you anything, because right now, dad is violent and upset that he isn't getting what he wants, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. I didn't want anything to happen to you or mom, so I just left, I didn't know what else to do." Jonathan says, leaning back against the wall as I hear Jace come skidding into the alleyway, "Clary what the hell is wrong with you?" I turn quickly to look at him, "You son of a bitch." Before I can stop him, Jace brushes past me, and advances towards my older brother, his eyes almost black with fury, "You almost ruined your sister's career." I grab Jace's arm roughly, planting my feet so I can pull him to a stop, "Jace, just wait, just for a second please."
"Clary, if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of it, for once in your life, just stay out of it. Dad is mixed up in all sorts of nasty shit right now." Jonathan sounds like he is on the verge of begging. I take one last look at Seelie, who is staring dreamily at my boyfriend. Jace on the other hand, is standing angrily next to me, his posture rigid, arm still in my hand.
"Fine, you know what," I step to the side, making a passageway for my brother and the bitch, "leave, get out of here. You don't have to tell me jack shit, whether you're protecting me or not, but you need to get away from me. Stay away from me, my friends, where I fight, everywhere. If you aren't going to help me, whatever, but I don't want to see you. And, maybe choose your friends more carefully. Hanging out with the girl that our dickhead dad hired to kick my ass doesn't make me like you any-more." They don't answer me, rather, Jonathan stomps past me, heading out towards the exit of the alleyway. Seelie, on the other hand, makes a point to roughly bump my shoulder on her way back past me. The frustration I have been holding together in that moment bubbles over, and I just about blow my top. I shove Seelie hard in return, "Want me to break a couple more bones?" She sneers at me; my hands reacting quicker than my mouth as I smack her upside the jaw, causing her head to toss back with a painful crunch, "Seelie!" My brother calls to the girl, while Jace grumbles for me to knock it off and leave it. I don't listen- I never do- swinging again at the girl, throwing all my weight behind it, "It's no fun when we can both break the rules, right?" I taunt Seelie as she drops to a knee. Jonathan has now materialized beside her as we advance towards each other.
Jace finally gets a hand on me, grabbing me by the waist, pulling me back towards him, "Enough Clary, it isn't worth it."
"You're dead, Morgenstern." Seelie growls towards me, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up, "I'm right here." I respond, making Jace tighten his grip on me, "Shut up Clary." He tells me in a low tone as Jonathan positions himself between us and the bitch, "Seelie, that's enough, we need to go." Jonathan actually seems… scared. Without another glance my way, Seelie stands up from the ground, spitting blood towards the two of us, before stomping away with my battered brother.
Was that the right thing to do? Absolutely not. Was it worth it? Fuck yeah.
The minute they leave, I feel my anger dissipate, and get replaced by a large range of emotions, "Damn it Jace." I mumble, taking my hands and shoving him hard away from me, "Clary," he trails off at the sight of my red eyes, tears threatening to spill over. All of this anger is turning into sadness, and I am sick and tired of it.
With a loud, and frustrated sigh, I look at Jace, turning to the blonde and pushing my head into his chest, sniffling as he encircles me with his arms, "You run off like that again and I may have to kick your ass." Jace places his chin on my head. He obviously has so many things he needs to ask, but I appreciate him putting his questions aside right now, "I don't think you could take me." I say through a teary chuckle.
"Fine, Alec and I, together, will beat your ass." Jace says before kissing his teeth, "I hated the way that sounded, ignore me." He laughs awkwardly, before pressing a kiss to the top of my head, "If you let me take you back to your house, we can talk about this, and get this all sorted out." Jace offers and I sigh, nodding against him. I don't make any attempt to move though, rather I keep my feet planted until Jace untangles himself from me, and grabs my hand in his. He tugs me behind him back in the direction of the bike. I'm angry that I've allowed Jonathan to hurt my feelings so much, I'm angry that Valentine has scared my brother into silence, and now he's turned violent? My dad is a lot of things, he's a deadbeat, sure, but he never was violent with us. He always had a temper, he yelled a lot, but he never put his hands on any of us.
Jace climbs on his bike, patting the small space behind him as an invitation. I oblige, wrapping my arms around him as he starts up his bike. It's chilly out, the November air finally setting in, but Jace's body is providing a little bit of much needed warmth right now.
When we arrive at my house, I make a mental note that my mother's vehicle isn't home, and I throw my duffle bag over my shoulder, rushing towards the house to get out of the cold weather. Jace follows quickly behind me, pushing the door shut behind him, "So, your dad is a part of the mob?" Jace asks me after a moment of silence and I can't help the hysterical laugh that comes out of me, "According to Jonathan." I respond, scrunching my nose, "Geez, I smell." I state pointedly, "So do I, your point?" Jace furrows his brows, obviously confused at the switch in the conversation.
"I need to shower before I implode. You can too, if you want." I tell him, turning my back to him as I head up the stairs, "Did you just invite me to shower with you, Fray?" replied a stock-still Jace, "Shower sex isn't really my thing," I call back to him, looking over my shoulder, attempting to control the blush that is rising on my cheeks, "but you can use the guest shower." I smile at him; he matches it.
Finally, both clean, we lie on my bed, staring at each other, "So, daddy's in the mob." Jace repeats his earlier statement; I sigh, "According to Jonathan, sure, but I don't really consider him a reliable source. My dad never laid a hand on any of us, he drank and was loud and obnoxious, but he never, ever touched us. I find it hard to believe he did that to Jonathan." My words tumble out of my mouth faster than I intended. Talking about my childhood makes my stomach twist in ways that I don't like, "But if he did, you know, go after Jonathan because he told me the truth when he shouldn't have, I'm going to handle it." I state pointedly, attempting to convince myself as well as Jace. I feel like I could take my dad, I guess. Maybe not the whole Idris mob, but my old man? Sure, I guess.
"Remember how I asked you how exhausted you feel?" Jace asks me quietly, and I can't help as my brow shoots up in confusion, "Yeah," I reply, "You have that look in your eyes again. All of this weight and stress isn't good for you." He reaches out, putting a hand softly on my side, "I know things are hard, and I wish I had an answer for you, so I could help make it go away, but I can't." He leans forward, putting his forehead against mine in a sign of intimacy. I know he's right; I know I shouldn't sit here and stir about something that I don't have a solution to, but truthfully I am scared.
"You're smart, and you're strong, and you will get through this, I know you will. And if your dad really is a big time mobster who is beating the shit out of people in an attempt to force you to live with him, I'm pretty sure that between Alec, you, and I, we could take him. Maybe we can even enlist Sebastian for help as reinforcements." Jace tells me, his gold eyes searching mine with a stupidly attractive smirk on his face.
"I would rather never speak to Sebastian ever again. I'm pretty sure if he touches me again, I might have to rip his hands off." This causes a reaction to pass Jace's face that I didn't expect, "Is he still bothering you, even after the gym altercation?" Jace's hand becomes a bit firmer on my side, and I can't help the warm feeling that passes my body at his protectiveness. I think if this stupid teenage boy has taught me anything, it's that relying on people, and allowing them to help and protect you isn't a weakness, it's a strength.
"No, nothing worse than before. He still makes his stupid comments in passing and stares a bit too long, but he's been keeping his hands to himself." I tell him, unable to help the small smile that grows on my face, "I guess we will have to have an old fashioned duel over you, just like they did in 'ye olden days." Jace tells me, kissing me briefly on the lips, "Leave my mark on you, stake my claim, make sure everyone knows your mine, that whole bullshit." His lips leave mine, and leave a slow trail down my neck. If I wasn't enjoying it, maybe I would give him shit for his slightly patriarchal statement.
"Or," Jace mumbles against my neck, my hand instinctively goes to the front of his shirt, feeling his abdominal muscles through the fabric, "I could just do this." My brain is fuzzing with enjoyment and confusion at his words. His teeth nip lightly at my skin, his hands working across my lower stomach, under my shirt, making goosebumps rise across my body.
When he finally removes his mouth from my jugular, he stares at me with a smile, "Not my best work, but Sebastian should get the message." My hand immediately jumps to my neck, "Jace." I groan in a warning tone, knowing that Jace must have left the mother-of-all hickeys on it, "I am not your territory, you can't just piss on me and scare other guys away." Jace just laughs in return, "Sure, but now boys will have no excuses when they bother you, which means I get to kick some ass, no questions asked. Plus, you and I both know I don't like the way other guys look at you." His hand is aimlessly drawing patterns on my stomach as he hovers over me, the same stupid smirk plastered on his face.
"So, I have to worry about fighting the mob, and keeping you out of prison on assault charges, I'm pretty sure we were just talking about how much stress I'm under." He chuckles, dropping down next to me, his hand still on my stomach, "I will keep myself out of fights, just for you." Jace replies, "Perfect." Is all I can muster; the look that he is giving me is making me flustered.
"For what it's worth," Jace starts, "I'm glad your brother got his ass beat, even though I wish I was the one that did it."
