Well hey there! A new chapter already! I totally wasn't kidding when I said I was back in action now I have a new laptop! Thank you for the lovely reviews! It's nice to see you're enjoying this. Hope you enjoy this one too! It's more M than usual, but hey, who's complaining? Can we get to 150 reviews before I finish the next chapter? I bet we can! So whoever you are, drop them notes and we'll make it! Read on and enjoy! x

The two week milestone has passed us by already, and it doesn't feel like it's been that long since we started travelling together. Jace receives a call a few days after we leave the forest areas, and it changes everything.

Jace on the phone is what wakes me up that morning, groaning lightly as I raise my stiff neck from the lumpy pillow. He's sat up in motel bed, hair a tangle of golden curls. His eyes are heavy with sleep, barely open as he talks.

"Yes Alec. Uh huh. But... that isn't up to me. I'm not the one driving." Jace frowns and raises his free hand, rumpling his hair up further. "I'll ask okay?" he says through a loud yawn, looking as if he wants nothing more than a few more hours sleep. Jace sighs and nods, stifling yet another yawn. "Sure, whatever. Leave the room open for me, I'll be down when I get there." He ends the call and I pull myself up into a sitting position, asking tiredly "what was that about?"

Jace sighs lightly, turning his phone over and over within his palm. He looks strangely beautiful while half asleep. It's then that I realize the obvious; I've been sleeping in the same room as a boy –a hot boy – and it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. More good signs that Jace is exactly who I need to be around right now.

"My friends" he tells me with a groan, eyes drooping half shut. "They've been in London since last year, but now they're back. We made plans last year that I was going to move in with them when they returned. I needed to get out of New York, and still do. They were the perfect opportunity."

Jace is so lucky to have friends like that. I have Simon but... it's not like I can move in with him. Not when his house is so near to that hellhole.

He clears his throat lightly, turning his gaze on me. "Clary I... don't take this the wrong way, but I do want to go down there."

Why does he think I'll be of-? Oh. He thinks it might sound like an excuse to leave me in my mind. I smile and shake my head. "I think it's a fantastic opportunity for you."

Jace suddenly looks awkward, his posture tense. "I know you said you wanted to go nowhere near Florida, but... is there any chance I could hitch a ride until we're close enough? I can grab a bus from there or something."

"Oh, um..." I tug the covers more around me and guilt bubbles up in the pit of my stomach. Can I really just drop him off and leave him to hitchhike or whatever he has to do to get there? It doesn't sound safe, no matter how tough a guy Jace is. "I- I didn't want to go anywhere near it, really." The fear of my father or Jonathan watching me, watching us rises like a cork in water inside my mind.

Jace nods in understanding and smiles sadly. "I guess we're parting ways then soon."

Parting ways doesn't sound like a good idea in my book. I'll be alone again with no idea where to go, and with no one to talk to. No company to stop me from going insane. I'm... afraid to be alone. And I like having Jace nearby. He makes me feel something I've never felt before; safe. I don't know why he has such a calming effect on me, but he does.

I don't want to leave him, and I don't want him to leave me.

"I'll take you" I tell him firmly, reassuring myself more than him. "The whole way."A nervous giggle slips from my throat at my next words. "I could go to Disneyland while I'm down there."

Jace looks genuinely surprised – and pleased. "Really?"

"Really." Jace is getting his life in order, and if I can help in any way with that, I want to. It's the decent person thing to do, after all.

After a day of lazing around in our room doing nothing but plotting the quickest route from here to Miami on our rather badly pockmarked with ink and pen circles map, I experience another new first.

Going to a bar for a drink.

"We won't get you hammered" Jace tells me as we walk through the twilit main street towards a gaggle of shops with a solitary modern bar called Faeriewalker. "You'll puke everywhere and you'll feel like total shit tomorrow."

"Just what I need (!)" I joke, feeling underdressed in boring dark blue jeans and a band t-shirt proclaiming my love for 30 Seconds to Mars. Jace is wearing tight black jeans with a white shirt topped with his usual dark jacket with patches on the elbows. He looks great and smells incredible. And then there's me... fresh out of the rag pile looking like a sack of potatoes with ginger frosting.

Truth be told, I'm excited to try alcohol. Dad had made that one of his priority rules; drink alcohol and you're out of this house. But... he'd drink at times. Such a two-faced bastard. He'd even threatened Simon once that if he gave me any, even a sip, he'd have the police on us for underage drinking, and he'd make sure we were punished.

It's a miracle Simon has stuck by my side for all this time after how dad has treated him. And Jonathan, for in High School before he was sent away, he and his gang of cronies would tease us both, doing such awful things to Simon just because he was hanging around me.

"Clary is my sister" Jonathan had told him once, his black eyes full of dark amusement as he continued to twist Simon's wrist around until it broke behind the soccer stands, me watching on helplessly, powerless and too afraid to stop him. "She is mine. My blood. Mine and you cannot have her. Mine."

There has to be something wrong with my brother well and truly. No one can be born such a monster, and certainly not him; the apple of our father's eye and his every whim catered to.

"We'll get you a JD and coke" Jace now says, unzipping his jacket as we reach the scarlet door for Faeriewalker, snapping me back into the now. I blink and frown, confused. "JD?"

"Jack Daniels. Bourbon" Jace explains, holding the door open for me to walk in first. It mollifies me, his gesture – no one has opened the door like that for me before. I could get used to this.

The inside of the bar is loud, but not as loud as I thought it was going to be. It causes the nerves fluttering in my stomach to die down in relief – all my 'fears' are starting to mean nothing. No one pays attention to us as we walk in and take the sofa in the corner of the room. Not even when Jace leaves me for five minutes when he goes to the bar for our drinks.

It's amazing in here. So full of life and different kinds of people. There's a bunch of teenagers that have obviously dressed like adults and done their hair sophisticatedly just to get in and be served; two old men sit playing cards over gigantic glasses of what looks like beer; a trio of young men are eyeing up a young woman in a skin-tight dark sapphire dress sat at the bar, daring each other to go up and say hello and get her number.

"What's wrong?" Jace asks when he returns, startling me from my bout of people watching. "You look like you're about to sneeze."

"It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be in here" I admit, gazing at my drink as Jace sets it in front of me. "I had this crazy idea in my head that when you sit down, people will constantly glance at you and... well, stupid stuff like that."

Jace has a glass of JD and coke as well. He raises it to his lips and takes a sip before answering. "Most of the things folks worry about never happen."

He's wiser than I gave him credit for. I raise my glass and Jace smiles, touching my own to it. "Chin chin" he says, making me giggle before taking a sip of my first ever alcoholic drink. And I like it, I really like it. Jace chuckles and takes the glass from me when I next to glug half of it down in one. "Whoa there girl, not so fast."

I smile guiltily, licking my lips. I want more. "Ooops. It's just... nice. I like it."

"Anyway," Jace now says, setting his own glass down. "I wanted to talk to you about something. The other day when you –"

My heart drops through my chest in horror. He's going to mock me for being such a freak, I know it.

"What don't you want me to talk about, or mention?" He asks, running his little finger around the rim of the glass. "Sex right?"

Or not. "Just... no details like last time" I laugh awkwardly. "I'm sorry I-"

Jace snaps his fingers loudly, instantly causing me to jolt and fall silent. "Wh- what?" I exclaim, eyes widening. "What was that for?"

He grins. "Every time you try to apologize for no reason, I'm going to do that so you know to shut up."

My cheeks burn red in embarrassment; maybe this would be good for me, actually.

Jace flashes me a wink. A real, actual wink as he picks his glass up once more. "I'll have you trained before long, little Carrot."

"Carrot? Seriously?"

Jace's grin just continues to grow. "Well your hair reminds me of it." He leans over the table and raises a hand, winding a finger around a curl that sits close to my cheek. My heart thuds inside my chest, but not from fear. Something very different that I can't place. Something I haven't felt before and it feels good.

"Carrot" he tells me again, leaning back in his seat and letting my hair go. Collecting my scattered thoughts, I glance to his own hair and smirk. "Lemon."

"Of course" Jace snickers, waggling his eyebrows. "The girls sure love to squeeze mine an-" he stops dead when I raise an eyebrow, nodding. "Right. Violating rule ten."

"Just a little." Far from upsetting me, it makes me giggle – maybe rule ten won't last forever with him and his jokes around. Jace's grin falters slightly. "While we're on the subject of rule ten, uh, would you mind letting me have the room for a few hours or so when we get back? It's been a good while since I last... you know. I tend to get cranky when I don't..." his eyes flicker to the sapphire clad young woman at the bar. When I sneak a glance, she keeps doing the same... but with Jace. She can't take her eyes off him.

"That's fine" I blush, turning away from her. Jace is a normal guy. I can't begrudge him this or tell him he can't do it until he's in Florida. "I saw signs for a cinema while we were walking. I'll catch a late show." My cheeks burst into flame. "You'll be... done by then. Right?" Two hours is more than enough... yeah?

Jace nods, knocking back the rest of his drink. His eyes keep flickering to the girl and I'm pretty sure he's more interested in her more than me right now. She's beautiful, so I don't really blame him. I roll my eyes. "Just go already."

It's his turn to go red. Spots of it appear in his cheeks, followed by a sheepish grin. "Am I that obvious?"

Even for someone like me who has no experience with matters like this... "yes."

"Cheers Clary" he says gruffly, rising to his feet. "Drop me a text when the movie ends, yeah? I might still have company when you come back. That'd be extremely awkward." Without another word, he makes a beeline for the girl. Within fifteen minutes, they're leaving the bar together. A part of me can't help but wonder what the exchange of words had been.

I wind up watching a special Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two screening since the new stock of new releases hadn't arrived that day. And at half the usual ticket price, it was a steal.

After the movie I take a seat outside the cinema and gaze up at the dark and starry sky – it's so clear here compared to New York. The air is cleaner, fresher. I can breathe deeply like I never have before. It's liberating. Even though it's just gone ten, I pull out my phone and scroll through my contacts and press a button.

"Y'ellow?" a sleepy voice says after a few rings. I roll my eyes. "Were you asleep? You never sleep this early."

"Clary-!" Simon splutters, perking up instantly. "Why haven't you replied to my messages?! Do you know how worried I've been?! You took off with that busker and poof! Vanished!" He sounds angry, but the worried, caring kind of angry.

"I'm sorry" I apologize, eyes still on the stars. "I've been leaving my phone off. You know... dad would track me if I left it on all the time."

"Are you still with that guy?"

"Mmmhmm. Jace. We're going down to Florida. He's meeting up with his friends and moving in."

A pause. "And? What about you after you've left him there?"

I haven't really thought about that. "I don't know" I groan, resting my forehead against my free palm. I really have no idea what to do or where to go once Jace and I have gone our separate ways. "I might... stay there a bit. Work out where to go."

"What, stay with this Jace longer? You don't know him, Clary... he might hurt you. He's a guy. There are bad guys in the world, and bad guys are attracted to innocence. Innocence like you, Clarissa."

I shake my head, forgetting Simon can't see me. "I trust Jace. He's... I like travelling with him. I'm happy, Simon." I allow myself a small smile. "Truly. I have a lot of money stashed away from what I took from dad. I might get an apartment or answer an ad and stay out here." Either way, I won't be returning to New York of my own free will. The streets there are nothing but tears and pain and fear for me now. Out here the roads are clear and long with no clear destination, free for me to choose my own path.

Simon falls silent and my heart drops once more. "You're angry with me" I say miserably. "Aren't you?"

"Angry-? Hell no, Clary. You just sound so... alive. Different." A pause. "Are you sure this Jace won't hurt you?"

"He won't. He's a good guy that, like me, has a pretty shit family from what I know so far."

"Okay. Just... keep safe. I won't tell anyone where you are or where you're going, I promise you."

"I'll see you soon" I smile, tears burning in my eyes.

"Take care Clary."

For a long time after Simon ends the call, I sit there and stare at the blank screen. I miss him. I miss the familiarity of him. The whole premise of safety he'd give me. He didn't have to stick by my side, yet he did. I'm so lucky to have Simon.

The walk back to the motel is long but it gives me time to think about what to do after I leave Jace in Florida. What kind of job can I get? I have the grades but... I have no idea how to write a CV. Or anything. I can't go back to New York, that's for sure. I refuse point blank to return after escaping at long last.

Bright yellow light creeps around the edge of the closed faded tan curtains when I return back to the motel room. Damn, Jace has the keys, not me. I try the handle but it doesn't open, just great.

As I'm about to knock, a loud moan emanates from the other side of the door and I freeze, chastising myself for forgetting. But still? He's still going after almost three hours straight-? How?

And then I hear "Oh, oh-! Harder. Oh god, harder-" followed by the sound of skin slapping skin, a woman's cry of pleasure right after. The sound of deep, almost animalistic grunting starts up now and it's not hard to know which of the pair that is coming from. I don't know what the hell he's doing to her, but from the gasping and cries, he's doing it right.

I lose track of how long I stand there listening, my hand still raised to knock. I'm transfixed, rooted to the spot. The cacophony of sounds is totally alien to me and it's just... I can't stop listening. I need to leave, but my feet just won't move. It's only when Jace's husky voice says "get on me and ride me hard baby" that my body starts burning in embarrassment and heat floods me, coiling within my abdomen.

Hurriedly, almost tripping over my feet, I back off and leave Jace to his conquest, walking over to my car in the lot in front of the motel and slipping into the front, my breathing heavier than it was before I reached the motel. I sigh and close my eyes, leaning my head back against the seat. I glance towards the room at the end of the row, spying the soft glow of the lamp escaping from the little holes in the curtains. He had to kick her out sooner or later, right?

With a groan of frustration, I reach up and switch the overhead auto-light off. Thinking about Jace is causing the strange burning, the yearning in the pit of my stomach to flare up again. It just won't stop. The more I think about Jace, the sounds that he made, the words he'd said, the more painful it gets. It throbs, demanding to be appeased right here and now.

I tug open the front of my jeans, cheeks burning red as I hesitantly slide my hand inside, every nerve raw and electric. My breath catches in the back of my throat as my fingers brush the fabric of my panties, the blood roaring its approval in my ears. I just want to keep going and–

And then I rip my hand out and zip my jeans back up, clearing my throat and touching my cheeks with a hand – they feel feverish with embarrassment. What was I thinking? It's just… so, so very wrong to do that. Or at least, it's supposed to be. But why does the idea still sound so damn appealing? Jace's grunts echo in my mind once more and I force them away, crossing my ankles tight as the yearning returns with a vengeance.

Part of me shies away instantly from the thoughts of what I'd heard, but another part wants to think about it. Think about Jace in particular. God this is so stupid and confusing. How can I show my face to him again after almost doing something like that with him on my mind at the time? It's mortifying. He'd laugh at me.

Light spills out from the open door as a figure leaves it, but then darkens as another stands in the doorway. A flash of flame and Jace lights his cigarette, glancing up at the sky with the stick in his mouth. All he wears is his bedcovers twined around his narrow hips and it's… I'm burning again. After the girl is gone, he retreats back inside and closes the door. The silhouette of him on the other side of the curtains shows him next to collapsing down onto his bed and he doesn't get up again.

My phone buzzes. Where r u? Jace's message says. I don't reply, climbing into the backseat and curling up upon it. I can't face him tonight. I don't think I'll ever be able to face him again.

Jace is making me feel something, and it sure isn't fear anymore.

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