Teeth scraped against her neck, hard, rough, merciless, feeling the pulse beneath it, the hot, soft skin he's missed so much.

"What were you thinking?"

His voice is rough, raspy in her ears and it makes her knees weak. It takes all she is not to collapse right then and there, a guilty conflicted pile of desire at Eli's feet.

"You're mine." He whispers, bringing Clare to reality.

"It's-" Clare catches her breath as his tongue darts out behind her ear, tracing patterns into her over-sensitive flesh. "It's not that simple. You know that."

"Of course it's simple, of course it's not." He whispers, because he has her pinned against the cool cement, claiming her in a way he hasn't for months; for god's sake- for ohgod'ssake, his lips are right there, darting and kissing and there's literal tears in her eyes, because she wants this so bad and she wishes it weren't this hard.

"Eli, you've got to-" His lips are lowering, leaving trails of fire in their wake, practically stinging her skin. "W-We shouldn't be doing this..." The tears are threatening to fall, even though she's whimpering and her body is moving beneath his.

Eli pulls away, rough, his eyes dark and blazing. "Why? Do you have plans with your boyfriend?" He grits out the last word between clenched teeth.

Clare has to wipe away a tear now, legs still shaking. "He's not my boyfriend, Eli. It's not like that."

He turns away from her, his body creating a barrier between the two of them. "Right. You're just friends." Eli faces her now, striding towards her, face in hers again. "With benefits. Right?"

"Eli? How could you say that?" She sobs, wanting to collapse. "He's not. He's not anything. He's a friend. That's all. Really."

"Right. Right." His eyes soften, a hand reaching out to stroke her cheek. "Because you're mine." The last words are spoken with such conviction that she has to look away. She can't face him. She can't confront the truth they both know to be true.

Clare isn't over him. Heated romps with Jake don't satisfy, in fact, with him, she's never felt more dirty. He's sweet, but he's not what she wants. She can't deal with pretending it's Eli every time he kisses her, and Eli knows it. But she can't be with him. The mature, rational side of Clare reminds her. He's manipulating you. He's messed up.

"Clare." Eli whispers to her, and her thoughts are broken. His eyes are too wide, too vulnerable, the green depths seeming as conflicted and hurt as she feels, but they make her weak. Suddenly, thoughts don't matter so much anymore.

He moves closer, his lips brushing against hers. She tenses, not used to this sudden rush of innocence and compassion after his anger. Against all rationality, she kisses him back, tasting tear drops and heat and a pure and simple word.

Unresolved.

Because it's not simple, because Jake's probably flooding her cell phone with a million messages, and Eli's got that quirky girl, Imogen, and neither can make up their minds about each other.

But as his arms snake around her waist, feeling the small of her back; his body curving naturally into hers... All Clare can think is that it feels a hell of a lot more simple than she realizes.

xx

Whew. What can I say? After those promos, I had to write something. As always my Tumblr is open for discussion. (The username is CatrienStardust- surprise surprise.)Review, please, and lemme know what you think. (: