Safe Place | j.h

23: The End Part 2

Suddenly Emery was very sober when she found herself in Jace's bedroom. She slipped off her shoes and averted her eyes from his bed.

Jace kept his distance from her. Standing still at the door, trying to figure out how she would react to his every move. Jace didn't want to startle her.

She rose to her feet and walked to Jace. Jace looked shocked by her actions, but she was too drunk to care. Emery kissed him, her hands lost in his hair while his back was to the newly closed door.

Jace pushed her hips away from him, he was breathless and his head was cloudy. He loved her, but this was not how he wanted their first night to be. He didn't want Emery to wake up with a hangover, regretting what they had done.

"Awe come on Jace," She whined, "you've been grabbing me like a piece of meat for weeks and now that I've finally warmed up to the idea of us having sex you're going to push me away?" Emery turned her back to Jace while pressing her hand to her temple, angel she had a headache.

Jace watched her strip from her clothes, a knot caught in his throat, he looked to the ground. Emery slipped on one of his T-shirt from his dresser drawer, admiring how nearly folded each one was. That was the thing about Jace, he was always so neat.

Eventually Jace slipped into bed with her. Usually he slept in only his underwear but tonight, with Emery in his bed, he had a T-shirt and sweatpants on. Emery fell asleep faster then he imagined. Her hair fallen all over and face relaxed. Jace smiled at her. She's beautiful, he thought. Jace placed a soft kiss onto her temple before rolling over and dozing off himself.

***

When Emery woke up she thought the worse. She looked down and saw all she was wearing was Jace's shirt. Taking in a deep breath she rolled over to look at Jace. He was still fast asleep, and clothed much to her surprise.

"You're staring." A sleepy Jace mumbled, making Emery jump. He smiled, sat up and tussled his hair. "Good morning." He spoke more clearly now, his one arm rested on a bent knee while the rest of his body was open to her.

Emery didn't answer him, remembering what she had done last night, what she said to him. Surely he didn't remember right?

Jace laced his fingers with hers, now she looked at him, "You could have told me." His voice was soft, he didn't sound mad and he didn't sound the slightest bit upset.

Emery cleared her throat, "Jace I don't know what you're talking about." Jace rolled his eyes in response, he tried to remain calm.

"You could have told me that your not ready to have sex." So he had figured it out, well she had given it away last night.

Emery stood up and chewed on her nails, one of her nervous habits. She didn't want him to find out like this, she wanted to tell him herself, while she was sober. Telling him drunk just didn't seem right.

"Look Jace-"

"I'm serious Em if I was freaking you out-" He paused, looking down at his hands, now he looked vulnerable, "You could have just told me." Emery was still shocked at how clam he was.

Jace was still nervous that at the slightest movement she would go running off. Dashing away from him and back to wherever in the hell the Clave has sent her. Jace didn't want this to ruin them.

"Jace I'm just not there yet." She said carefully, watching his face. Jace blinked, she could almost see the gears grinding in his head as he processed her words. "It's not that I don't care, Jace I love you. I'm just not ready to take that step."

Jace laughed. "Emery I'm not asking you to be ready yet." He shook his head and crawled across the bed to her. His face only inches from hers now. "I love you, and I'm of saying you have to be there. I'm just saying-" Jace stopped, there was a playful grin across his face. "I like flirting with you alright? It makes me happy and I thought it made you happy too. So I'm sorry if it-"

"Jace I thought you were trying to get me to have sex with you last night." The goofy grin on Jace's face fell. His chest tightened as if someone was squeezing it. Emery wasn't looking at him, that made it worse.

"No." Jace said quietly. "Emery I'm sorry it came off that way. I meant as a flirty- a um- a couple thing I guess. I didn't mean as a way of pressuring you." Guilt pegged his chest as he finished talking. He felt terrible that his words and action came off like that.

"Okay." Emery said quietly, she felt much better now about being in Jace's bed. A smile sprung on her face while she looked around. "Jace," She said gravely, "Did we have sex last night?"

"No," Jace said lightly. "I respect you too much for that." She could tell he was joking, not about the respect but the other half of it. Jace wasn't the type of guy to take advantage of anyone while they were drunk. He cared to much for that.

"I love you." She said softly, resting her hand in his. It felt good to have the air clear and to be with him again.

Jace pressed his lips to her temple, "I love you too." He said while wrapping them both back into his sheets. Emery laughed as he pulled her back to bed. Jace was her safe space, that much would never change.

~~~~~~~~
A/N
Word Count: 978

THE END!!!!!

Hey I'm gunna start posting another book called Faking It