Saved By You

Chapter 12 (picture of Claire)

But of course that didn’t happen. And of course it didn’t go unnoticed once Jace had clicked the belt in place, turned his body so he was facing me, eyes on me as I stared out the window trying to avoid him and calm down my heart beat.

He’s not going to hurt you. He’s not going to hurt you. He’s not-

‘I’m sorry,’ he says quietly and still, I flinched.

Damnit why did that memory have to come back!? Now he’s on my mind. Now I'm scared of everything again.

Wait. Did he just say sorry? Why the hell would he say sorry? If anything, I should be the one saying sorry.

I swallowed and looked back at him before dropping my gaze again. But at least this time I was looking his way…

‘Don't be,’ I said quietly, my voice coming out as a whisper from the years and months of not using my voice box. ‘I… I’m sorry,’ I looked up then, to find him studying me, brows pulled together tightly in what seemed to be confuse, his jaw clenched it only caused me to drop my gaze again.

From my peripheral I watch as his posture relaxes, as if he knew I was uneasy because of it, before shifting closer to me and putting a finger under my chin gently. And suddenly it was just like the second time we bumped into each other. When I had been caught off guard and cried in front of him… when he wiped away my tears and was so damn close to me I could barely even think let alone breathe… would we have kissed if it wasn’t for Mack finding us? Would we have kissed if Mack hadn’t realised something was wrong? If he was only a few minutes late?

I shivered slightly as I feel Jace’s soft gentle fingers slide up to cup my cheeks, bringing my eyes up to hold his, cheeks flaming hot as tingles exploded all over my body. And god did I want to kiss him again. And I guess I would have let him again… if not for the phone in my pocket going off again, causing me to flinch back and quickly fumble for the phone, accepting the call without so much as a glance at the number.

‘Put me on speaker Claire,’ Mack says almost straight away. Rolling my eyes I do as told and Jace quickly starts up the car.

‘What now?’ he mutters annoyed as he reached over and turned the heater on.

‘Where the hell are you? She should be home by now.’ Mack snaps but under the so called-anger-slash-annoyance, I could hear his concern and worry for me.

‘We uh… we got carried away…’ Jace says as we made our way down the winding mountain, snow and flakes falling from the sky and making everything white and grey.

I hear something that could pass for a growl come out of the phone and I almost drop the device in fear and surprise. ‘Sorry,’ Mack mumbles somewhat sheepishly as if he knew what I almost did.

I stared incredulously.

Jace laughs.

‘Look. She better be home before 5 o'clock. Got it?’

Home.

‘Alright mate,’ Jace says, sarcasm and bitterness in his tone. I'm guessing he doesn’t like getting bossed around from someone younger than him?

‘And Claire…’ Mack says after a moment when I almost went to hang up, ‘Be careful…’ he says quietly, and I knew he wasn’t just worried about my safety, warmth or hunger. He was worried about Jace. Worried about me… my father…

And with that I hung up. And with that I looked out the window, eyes on the scene flying past us and silence hanging thick in the air. Arms wrapped tightly around my suddenly shivering body as I knew Mack’s second meaning.