"You spent the night at Magnus's!" Alec's mom yelled. "Who do you think you are?!"
"I'm sorry," Alec said quietly.
"Well, that doesn't make up for what you did," Mrs. Lightwood said, leaning over the chair where Alec sat. "You," she said, jabbing a finger into his chest, "will learn your place."
A pang of fear shot through Alec's chest.**************
"I don't know, Izzy," Jace said. "Something's going on. Something serious." He paused. "It's mom. It's... She's..."
"What?" Izzy asked. "You think she's abusing him?"
Jace glanced up at her.
"Wait?" Izzy said. "You're serious? Look, Jace, I know they haven't been on the best of terms lately, but she wouldn't do that to him. Right?"
Jace was about to respond when he felt Alec.
"Alec," Jace murmured. "Shit. Where is he?!"
"What's wrong?" Izzy said, following Jace as he left the living room.
"He's scared," Jace said. "He's really scared." Jace stormed up the stairs. "Where is he damn it!"
Jace and Izzy searched almost every room upstairs. Except their mom's office. They approached the slightly ajar door silently and saw Alec.
He was sitting on the floor, clothes ripped, knees to his chest, tears silently falling down his cheeks.
"You are so fucking stupid!" Mrs. Lightwood screamed. "So fucking horrible!"
She turned around and picked up one of Alec's favorite books that he'd had since he was a child, Percy Jackson, a gift from Jace and threw it into the burning fire.
Alec lurched forward silently, hands out, as if he wanted to save the book. Mrs. Lightwood slapped his hands away, and grabbed his collar. "It's what you deserve. People like you," she said, ripping his collar, "don't deserve stuff like that."
Alec looked at the ground, clenching and unclenching his fists.
Mrs. Lightwood grabbed his chin with her hand, digging her fingernails into his skin. "You deserve the closest thing to pure misery that I can give you," she sneered.
"Get away from him," Jace said, storming into the room. "Get the fuck away from him!"
"Jace, Izzy," their mom said frantically. "It's not what you think."
"It's exactly what we think," Izzy said, her voice dripping with poison. "Get away from my brother."
Jace knelt next to Alec as Izzy practically chased their mom out of the room.
"Alec," Jace said, trying to hold back tears. "Alec it's me. It's Jace."
He took Alec into his arms. "Alec," Jace said, now crying. "It's Jace."
Suddenly a sob rocked Alec's entire body. He gasped for breath against Jace's chest.
Jace wrapped his arms tighter around alec.
"I'm so sorry," Jace cried. "I'm so sorry I didn't help you. I'm so sorry I let this happen."
Jace clutched Alec, rocking him back and forth, whispering things into his ear, stroking his hair. Doing everything he could to calm him down. His brother, his best friend, the person who was more than family to him. Jace had let him be hurt for weeks and had done nothing. He didn't know if he could forgive himself.
Eventually Alec stopped sobbing and turned into a whimpering mess in Jace's arms. Jace looked up Izzy. "Magnus," he said. "He needs Magnus."
YOU ARE READING
Shelter From the Storm (Malec) (boyxboy)
Teen Fiction***Takes place after Alec and Magnus' first kiss*** Alec and Magnus have been dating for about a month now, and while Alec wouldn't wish for anything else, things at home are getting bad. Alec's hyper controlling mom is starting to turn abusive... T...