The next morning, I was awoken by the irritating glare of sunlight coming from my window. I groaned, rolling over and pulling the covers over my face. I heard Jace laugh, but I wasn't about to wake up at some ungodly hour of the morning just to appease him.

"Jace, it's too early." My voice was muffled under the blankets, but I felt the bed creak as he sat down next to me.

"Clary, it's 2 in the afternoon. You've been sleeping all day."

"What?!" I shot up, my head spinning from the sudden movement. Jace held out a water bottle and advil, and I gratefully took it. "When did you wake up?"

"I don't know, like 2 hours ago." He stood up, and I took in his half naked body covered by a towel slung low around his hips.

"Wait why are you naked?" I averted my eyes so he couldn't catch me staring at his perfectly sculpted body. I heard him laugh, as he picked up his clothes from the ground.

"We slept naked, you seemed to enjoy it." Jace winked, and my sharp inhale of breath as I looked down to see what I was wearing had him laughing so hard he nearly fell over. I was relieved to see I was fully clothed.

"Jace! You're such an asshole." I threw my pillow at him, but that just made him laugh harder.

"Your face was priceless!" He kept laughing as I got up, grumbling to myself about how much of an idiot he was. I tripped over his shoes on my way to the bathroom, causing me to stumble into him, his bare skin warm to my touch.

Suddenly, a flashback of the night before hit me, causing me to freeze, barely noticing Jace steadying me from falling over. I vaguely recalled that we had been in this position before, his arms holding me from falling over. How much did I drink last night?

"Jace..." I looked up at him, praying what I remembered didn't mean... "Did we hook up or something last night? I don't remember anything for a good 3 hour period."

"You don't remember anything at all?" He asked, uneasily as he let go of me and sat down on my bed. I backed away, fearful of what he was getting at. If Jace and I hooked up, I would really liked to have remembered.

"No. I remember seeing you in the hallway before we left, and..." I blushed, not wanting to think about how I fell asleep in his arms last night. "Not much else."

Jace was looking extremely uncomfortable, which only increased my fear. "Listen, we don't have to talk about it. I'm really sorry if I like, threw myself at you or something. Just forget it." I made a run for the bathroom, shutting and locking the door as soon as he reached it.

"Clary." He knocked on the door, sounding upset. "It's not what you think-we-you didn't throw yourself at me or anything like that. ."

"Can we just not talk about this? Obviously something happened or you wouldn't be so upset I don't remember." I had to keep my voice from shaking. Embarrassment was flooding through me, something I rarely felt around Jace. Rejection washed through me, painfully strong.

"No, Clary we need to talk about last night." He jiggled the doorknob, and I heard him shuffling through something on my dresser. I belatedly remembered his uncanny ability to pick locks, and realized I had just cornered myself in here.

"Don't you dare pick the lock Jace." I demanded, holding the doorknob as I felt him messing around with it, most likely with a bobby pin from my dresser. "I'm naked!" I yelled, hoping to scare him out of opening the door.

"No you're not." He flung the door open, and I resisted the urge to cover myself. With my silky pajamas shorts and tank top, I felt naked.

"What if I was?"

"Then this conversation would be slightly awkward. But I'm naked, so if you insist that someone has to be for this conversation, I'll take one for the team." He gestured towards the towel around his waist, which made me look at his abs, and the v of his hipbones. Not helpful.

"Okay, so talk." I crossed my arms, trying to look threatening. It probably wasn't working, but I couldn't figure out why he looked so scared.

"Last night, we had a huge fight. I told you something that I hoped you would take better when you were drunk, but it had the opposite effect." He sighed, looking around the bathroom, refusing to make eye contact with me. "Clary, I did something that's going to make you hate me."

"Jace, what happened?" I was finding it difficult to breathe. Jace and I rarely fought, but when we did, it was ugly. We both were extremely stubborn, and knew each other so well we knew exactly what to lash out and say to achieve maximum pain. I was extremely surprised that I didn't remember.

"I joined a band. They posted an ad about it, and I didn't think it went very well since all the band members weren't at my audition. When they called me back offering to let me start as guitar and work on being lead singer, I accepted right away. And then I met the other bandmates..." He trailed off, and I was going to strangle him if he didn't get to the point.

"I'm still not sure why I should be so upset about this." I said warily, more confused than ever.

"Clary, the other guy in the band is your brother. I'm in your brother's band."

I froze. Of all the things I thought he would say, this was definitely the last thing I expected. I didn't even know my brother was in a band, much less played an instrument. My heart beat faster as Jace started explaining about how how didn't want to hurt me, he had been dreading this moment, but all of that was lost on me as I realized what he had done.

"I can't believe you would do this to me." I nearly whispered, my voice shaking. I look up at him, and his golden eyes were filled with pain. "You of all people know what a monster he is."

"Clary, he's your brother. Maybe-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." I snapped, cutting him off. The anger was burning inside me, I had never before been so angry at Jace in my life. He was choosing my brother over me. My brother, who spent years tormenting me, and bringing out the worst in me. "You were supposed to be my best friend. You've witnessed how he treats me. He makes me hate myself. He brings out the worst in me, and he enjoys it. He tells me the reason my family is torn apart is because I was born." I could feel myself shaking, my mind process the situation fast enough.

Jace was at a loss for words. I shook my head, wanting him gone before the tears started. The hurt was settling in, and I knew that Jace would not leave my side if I started crying. I didn't want him to see me like this. I couldn't stand to look at his perfect face with his concerned expression.

"Clary, please. Just talk to me, I want to fix this."

It then occurred to me why he was stilling trying to talk about it. "You just have to twist the knife deeper in my back, don't you? Let me guess, you're not even quitting the stupid band. You're going to stay in it, with my brother. Real nice, Jace." I said scathingly, pushing past him out of the bathroom. "Just leave. I don't want to be near you right now."

The next few days were not much better. I had developed a careful route around campus that allowed me to avoid Jace, and the business class we took together twice a week was the only time I had to see him. I came in at the last minute, and left as soon as the professor dismissed us. Sitting next to him during that class was the hardest, he looked miserable the entire time and never failed to try and get me to talk to him.

My mom constantly kept asking me what was up with Jace and I, but I couldn't bear to tell her the real reason. I just kept claiming he was dating someone and couldn't be around as much. This of course, made her misinterpret my mood as being jealous of this girlfriend I had made up, fueling her belief we had feelings for each other.

"Mom, I told you. Jace is busy tonight. And I'm not jealous." I snapped, before she could question me again as she came to my room one night, a week after our fight.

"Honey, drop the act. I know what's going on with you two." She sighed, moving to sit on my bed next to me. I looked up from my book, eyeing her warily.

"You do?"

"Your father called. He was surprised to see a familiar face when he showed up at Jonathan's band practice." Shit. My father had met Jace enough times to know he was my best friend, and would find it strange that Jace was in Jonathan's band considering my relationship (or lack of one) with my brother.

"Mom..." I didn't know what to say. I hadn't talked about this with anyone, not even Izzy for fear of someone telling me I was being too dramatic about the whole situation. Sure, maybe I was being hard on Jace, but I couldn't get over the face that he deliberately did something he knew would hurt me.

"I'm not going to tell you how to feel or not. I know you hate it when I assume things about you two, so I'm not going to say anything like that. I just hate seeing you so sad. He's your other half, even when you're mad at him."

"I know but mom, I can't look at him without thinking about what he did. He knows me so well, he had to have known that this would be the one thing to really hurt me. And what does he do? Try and cover it up by getting me drunk and then still staying with the band. There's other bands." I threw my book down on my bed, getting irritated just thinking about it.

"I know sweetheart. I'm not saying what he did was right. I know you and your brother have your problems, and I have never tried to force you to try and fix things with him. That's why I'm just asking you to talk to Jace, to try and find it within yourself to forgive him."

A/N: Thank you for all the follows and reviews! I'm going to be updating as often as I can, I love hearing what you guys think!