HAPPY LATE VALENTINE'S DAY!

Hope you all are enjoying the story so far!


JACE'S POV

I woke to many different sounds. Rain beating on rocks and dirt, thunder, and snoring, and growling and -

I shot up. Growling?

Clary and Max were asleep around the fire, completely undisturbed, but I heard it. I know it did. The horses must not have been too perceptive since they didn't move. I decided to double check just in case. Charmer had opened his eyes when the growling started again and moved a bit, which made me realize that it definitely wasn't my imagination. But at least he wasn't a crazy horse and didn't freak out.

So I walked over, calmed him down enough to grab my machete, and made my way to the front of the gate. My flashlight was shining ahead of me, attempting to light the opening. I wasn't sure what it would've been. Wolves? Coyotes? It was almost impossible to tell. I had tried to focus for about two minutes when I heard someone behind me.

"They won't come in here."

I turned when Clary walked towards me, a red blanket wrapped around her shoulders that she brought in her waterproof bag off of Opal's back. She had changed into dry clothes earlier, something we both did. Yes, I peeked a little bit. I won't lie. I'm eighteen so what else was I supposed to do?

She stopped next to me, looking out at the drizzling rain in the darkness. "The fire might have died down but the smoke and the two of us will scare them off. You don't have to worry."

I twisted and tossed the blade in my hands anyway. "I miss that kind of action though."

"What? Like killing things?"

I shrugged with a sly smile. "I'm not a psychopath. I like fighting, not killing. I promise I'm not insane."

"Like I would trust any of your promises. Even something like that."

"Do you hate me?" I blurted out.

That might not have been the best or the smoothest thing to say, but it was at least out there now. Clary sighed and, to my surprise, took a seat. Just plopped right down. I followed suit and sat down with a wide gap between us.

She finally answered after what felt like ages. "Yes."

"Is it because of the shit that happened back in middle school? With Kaelie and the dance?"

"Yes and no. You pissed me off that day, no doubt, but I just don't like boy you became."

I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You use people," she explained like it was obvious. There was a howl that sounded and another that sounded further away. Maybe they were leaving. "You sleep with girls because you think they're objects," Clary continued.

I leaned back on my hands with a hurt expression. "I sleep with them because they want to sleep with me. And I'm not one to say no to a wanton woman."

"How noble of you."

"I'm glad you noticed. Maybe one day it'll be your lucky day."

"I would rather be drenched in oil and set on fire in hell forever than sleep with you."

I was silent for a while after that. I knew she hated me, but damn. That was more than hatred. That was pure… discontent.

"Alrighty then," I mumbled. "You know, if it's worth anything, I think you could be a good jockey if you wanted to be."

That must have caught her off guard cause all she was able to say was, "Excuse me?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You'd be a good jockey. I saw you earlier this morning and even in the rain tonight, you kept your stance, you were in control. You can handle being a jockey, I think."

"Sure," she scoffed, clearly not believing me. "I'm not a racer. I'm way too old to become a jockey. I would've had to start years ago. I don't even have a racing horse."

"I do."

She froze and was quiet for quite some time. I could feel her eyes on me but mine stayed forward into the night, twisting my machete in my hands to pass the time.

"What are you talking about? Is this about Kaelie and her arm?" She asked skeptically.

I took a deep breathe, not sure what to say. Or how to say. Or if I wanted to say it. But I had to. Maryse will kill me otherwise.

"Kaelie broke her arm," I nodded slowly, turning to look Clary with her bright, green eyes. "She was cliff jumping for fun, landed wrong, and climbing back up, she slipped and landed wrong again on her wrist. She can't ride with a broken arm."

Clary took in the information for a while. "So, you need a rider?"

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p' as I did. "And I have to find one by tomorrow."

She leaned forward with her eyes slit, examining me. "Why me?"

"I know a good jockey when I see one."

She shook her head. "I don't even have a license."

"We'll get you one. I'll pay for it."

"You mean Maryse and Robert will pay for it?"

I shrugged with a sly smile. "They want a jockey any way they can get one. And once they see you ride, they'll pay all the expenses and you'll get paid yourself. When you win, you'll get a lot of pay actually. The Breeder's Invitational is coming up in a bit, so whoever starts riding Ithuriel permanently will ride him all the way to the Breeder's."

At that, I saw her jaw drop and I knew I had her. "The Breeder's?" she almost yelled. "Are you serious?"

"I'm always serious," I joked. "So are you in?"

Just when I thought she was going to say yes and this weight was going to be lifted, she bit her lip. It was actually… nope. I'm not even going to think that. No. No. NO.

But then she stood up and shook her head. "Too much is happening right now for me to do that."

Now, it was my turn for my jaw to drop. She stood there for a second before she started to walk back to the fire and her sleeping back but I scurried after her.

I grabbed her arm and her attention. "What do you mean? You're not going to do it? How can you pass this up?"

"I can't," she explained. "My Mom and Luke are going through some stuff right now and it's a bad time. I can't be gone, training at your ranch or working with Ithuriel. I need to be here with my family." She pulled her arm out of my grasp after that.

I ran it through my hair. There had to be something….

"What if we trained at your place?" I asked quickly. "We can bring Ithuriel to you."

She glared at me with everything she had. "What part of 'too much happening' don't you understand?" And she stared with that anger for about five seconds before she just walked off. Actually, she more of stormed off.

But I wasn't done yet. By tomorrow, this was going to work. It had to work out.


"Jace? Jace, wake up."

I swore that it was a woman's voice, but that was obviously just in my dreams. When I opened my eyes, it was Max. With sunlight seeping through the opening, his blue eyes blazing, and a slight smile on his face.

"Hey," I mumbled, slowly pulling myself up from the sleeping bag. "What's up?"

Max, surprisingly, looked pretty good. He didn't look tired or exhausted in the daylight, and he seemed to have his color back. Before he could answer me, I put my finger up to his forehead and touched it, feeling that it had even cooled off as well.

"You look better," I commented.

He nodded with a smile. "I feel better. Clary killed and skinned a rabbit for breakfast since she didn't want me moving without food in my stomach. And she's a good hunter, which I didn't know. And she brought us some water from a pond nearby that she purified." He handed me a full water bottle. "Here."

"Where is she now?" I asked, taking the bottle.

"She headed back to her house," he said. And I was surprised with how much my heart kind of dropped at that.

But with a look around, I confirmed what he said. Opal, Clary, and everything that she had with her, sleeping bag included, was gone. Just like that, it was just me, Max, and the horses with a small fire going.

"She just up and left?" I asked angrily.

Max nodded. "I mean, she explained that she has chores and things to do back at the ranch. Apparently her parents are gone for emotional reasons and she and Sebastian are running things. He needs her help."

"They run the ranch? By themselves?"

Max nodded again, but smiled proudly. "She's really smart and really good with horses. She even taught me how to break a horse."

My eyes widened. "She what?"

"She didn't let me," he quickly said as if it was obvious. "She just showed me on day. They had a new horse come from Sebastian's uncle that needed to be broken in, and she showed me how. She's amazing with horses, even though she doesn't believe it."

All the more reason that she'd be a damn good jockey. God, I needed to get her to do this. Then an idea hit me. Maybe she said something to Max about it?

"Did she happen to say anything when she left?" I asked with hopeful eyes.

Max nodded and my heart lifted. "She gave me directions to get back home," he said, lifting up a sheet of paper.

My heart sank again. What the hell was I going to tell Maryse? She was going to expect a name, and I was determined for it to be Clary's. There was only one way I knew how to make that happen.

"Max," I said slowly, "Do you know how to get to the Morgenstern's house?"

He nodded with a confused look. "When we reach the road, yes, but why?"

"I need to talk to Clary about something, something urgent."


CLARY'S POV:

"There you are," Sebastian said when he walked out of the barn. He looked me up and down, checking Opal as he did. His hands ran over her expertly, checking for injuries and after finding none, he looked at me and asked, "Did you find the kid?"

I nodded. "We found him in a cave, simple enough. With a fire and some food, I gave them directions back to the Lightwood ranch this morning."

Sebastian froze at Opal's front, looking up at me with a confusing look. "We? Them?"

I swallowed. "Um, yeah," I laughed uneasily. "I ran into Jace when looking for Max. Believe me, I tried to lose him but Charmer is pretty fast and kept up with us. And I couldn't just leave him out in the storm either."

"Great," Seb sighed. "Alright, let's not tell your parents that little detail when they get back. I don't think they'll like the idea that you stayed in a cave with Jace Lightwood."

"They know I hate him. It's not like anything happened. They know me better than that so they wouldn't be upset."

"You really want to test that theory?"

I saw his point. "Okay. Don't tell the padres. Agreed."

He helped me slide off of Opal, holding my hips. It was always weird when Sebastian touched me after that kiss. But that was it. A kiss. The fact that it was so recent, and I was drunk just made it weird. And even though he tried to bring it up, I really wished that he wouldn't and would just let it go. But he seemed to still push it sometimes.

He dropped his hands from my hips and reached for Opal's reins. "I'll put her away in the barn. Can you do me a favor and fix up–"

There was the sound of a cracking wood that caught our attention from inside the barn. Both of our heads snatched that way to see one of the black stallions, Justice, sprinting out of the doorway.

"Watch out!"

We both jumped out of the way, falling to the floor as he sped by at full speed. My heart was pounding with the terrifying aspect of almost getting trampled by such a beast.

Sebastian stood and ran out a bit, keeping the horse in sight. He gripped at his shirt in frustration. "Dammit! You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"What happened?" I asked, getting up slowly, recovering from what just happened.

He shook his head. "I don't know but go after him and I'll figure out what's up in the barn. He might have broken his gate or something."

I ran to Opal. "Come on, girl," I said quickly with a bit of exhaustion, hopping back up on Opal and taking off.

Luckily, going after Max last night, Opal was all set. I had the ropes, the bow and arrow, water, barely any food but food nonetheless, so wherever Justice ended up going, I would be able to follow.

And Opal was not a fan of losing. She sprinted after Justice like her life depended on it. And I was just along for the ride, weaving in and out of the trees, down the front path, until suddenly Justice reared back on his hind legs about ten minutes later.

"Whoa!" I heard, and Jace appeared, holding his hands up in front of him. "Whoa, buddy, whoa."

To my surprise, Justice calmed down pretty quickly once Jace got a hold of him. He rubbed the horse softly and gently, relaxing him until I walked up on Opal's back.

"Thanks," I said, holding my hand out for the reins. Jace obliged and nodded, giving me the leather straps. "Aren't you supposed to be headed back?"

"We are," Max said as he emerged from the tree line by the road, Charmer and Ithuriel at his side with the reins in hand. At least it made since why Jace was on foot now. "But Jace wanted to talk to you."

"I–" he said quickly like he was going to interrupt, but then turned towards me with a smile. "Did. I did."

I waited and when he didn't say anything, all I urged was a "Well?"

He looked back at Max before meeting my eyes again with a smirk on his face. "About the jockey thing–"

"I can't," I interrupted quickly. "How many times do I have to tell you that I can't? I don't have the time or the resources or the ability."

"You have all of those."

"No, I don't," I said adamantly.

"You want Clary to replace Kaelie?" Max asked as soon as he finally caught on. Then he broke into a huge smile and gave me his best puppy dog eyes. "Please! Will you Clary?"

"I can't," I repeated, but with a much kinder voice now. "My family is going through some stuff and my mom needs me. There are way too many reasons why I can't."

Jace frowned as Max tried to protest. "But–"

The sound of a horn cut Max off and I felt my heart instantly drop. Luke's truck was casually driving down the dirt road, heading right for us with a dust storm behind him.

"Shit," I said to myself. Luke slowly pulled the truck up as to not spook the horses and rolled down his window. "Clary," He nodded to me. "Hello, Max." He nodded to him. And then he looked at Jace. "And why are you here exactly?"

Jace waved with a small smile that fooled nobody. "Long story, but I was talking to Clary about riding Ithuriel in the next race coming up."

"What the hell, Jace?" I hissed. He shrugged at me.

"What?" My mother exclaimed from the passenger's side of the car. "You want Clary to ride? She's not a jockey."

He gave her a look. "Oh, but she is. She just doesn't have a license. And I can get her one of those."

"Would you stop?" I snapped. "I'm not riding for you and your family. End of discussion."

"Clary," Luke said sternly. "Get the horses back to the house. I want to have a word with Jace on my own. Jocelyn," he turned towards her, "Can you ride Justice back to the ranch?"

She nodded and slid out of the car with the same confused expression as I had on my own face. I glanced between Luke and Jace warily. I didn't know what Luke was up to, but I didn't like it. And whatever Jace wanted to say, I wanted him to keep his mouth shut. My mom slid up onto Justice casually, grabbing his mane since there wasn't a saddle or anything. But she was good at riding bareback.

I just did what I was told. "Okay," I said before turning and kicking Opal to start up. My mom followed, and when I knew we were out of earshot from the others, I turned towards her. "What the hell is that about?"

My mom just shrugged. "I don't know, but don't question Luke. He has reasons for the things he does. And my guess is that he wants you to ride."

"Why? I need to be home. Especially after… everything that happened."

"Don't question it, sweetheart," she said. "Okay?"

I nodded unsurely. "Fine."


JACE'S POV:

Facing Maryse is something that I've kind of come accustomed to. If it isn't for something to do with the ranch, it's some argument I had with Isabelle or something sneaky that I did with another girl or… well, you get the picture. Either way, we're professionals at having talks.

Just not at having these types of talks. This is a little more complicated because the near future of the ranch is on my shoulders. It was my fault it could fail, and it was my job to make sure it didn't. But hopefully, I figured it out.

I knocked on her office door after having a shower and trying to look somewhat professional. Maybe if I looked sophisticated, she'd give me a break.

"Come in."

I did and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. "Hey," I said.

She didn't even look up and gestured to the chair in front of her desk. Through the window behind her, the practice track was visible, Isabelle taking Ithuriel out for a warm up. He should be having a rider, and maybe he will by the end of the day. That's my hope at least.

"So?" was all she said, still not looking up at me. She was staring at the folder on her desk, Ithuriel's training schedule probably. It didn't even surprise me that she didn't ask about Max or anything. Granted, Isabelle probably already told her it was fine, but still. Some concern would be a new look for her.

I took a deep breath. "Clary is in."

She stopped at that and looked up at me. "Clary? As in Clary Morgenstern?"

I smiled. "That's the one. The fiery little redhead herself."

Maryse closed the folder in front of her and laced her hands on the desk, eyeing me carefully. "Explain. She hates you. And while I do not believe she hates us all, I know that she does not have warm feelings towards this place in particular."

"Your lack of faith in me is insulting."

"Jace," she warned.

"I talked to Luke," I explained quickly. "She denied me the first time but I had a chat with the man in charge. They could use the extra cash that Clary brings in by riding with us."

"But you didn't get her consent?"

I shook my head. "But," I interjected, "Luke can convince her of anything."

"I'll believe that when I see it. She's one of the most stubborn girls I've ever met. And that's saying something. She might even be more stubborn than you. If she doesn't want to do this, she won't'."

"I disagree."

"Jace, she can't be charmed into this."

"I won't have to charm her," I explained. "Luke told me one very important thing about her. She's compassionate. If he says that she needs to do this for the family, she'll do it, no questions asked."

Maryse shook her head. "There will be conditions, Jace. There is never a 'no questions' scenario when it comes to the Morgenstern's."

"Luke isn't like Valentine," I pointed out. "And Clary isn't Jonathan."

"But they're all still family. I know that family. And have you even thought about the idea that Clary doesn't even have her jockey license? How do you know she's even good enough?"

"We can help her get the license easily. I know everything that she needs and it won't be that difficult for her." I leaned forward on my elbows, trying to be convincing. "I promise you that she has the stuff. I've seen her ride Opal and she has the stance, the movement, the mindset. She has everything she needs to be the jockey that can get us to the Breeder's Invitational."

"And you think she can do that in two weeks for this next race? We have to win at Jocksteed in order to really qualify for the Breeder's. And then she has to impress someone to get into the Breeder's to begin with. This isn't just some joke, Jace. It may be an easy race but I don't want it to be close because we have a bad jockey."

I shrugged. "Do you have a better idea?"

She paused for a moment and rubbed her hands across her face in a stressful gesture. "You've ran off all the other jockeys around town."

"And you know how picky Ithuriel is," I said as well. "He only likes specific people. Even though Kaelie handled him, it was in easier races. We need someone he connects with in order to get him to the Breeder's."

She took a deep breath. "Okay, get her over here and work with him this afternoon then. If it works, I won't make your life miserable for the next year."

"But–"

"That's all. You can go," she said, opening the folder and getting back to work.

That was my cue to go, so I got up without a word and stepped out of her office into the barn again. The smell of hay and horses took over each time I stood in here. This was like a safe haven, some place that could clear my head. And as I stood there, I realized what was happening.

I might be working with my old middle school girlfriend. I may have to train her, deal with her, teach her. The funny thing was I smiled at the idea.

"This could be fun," I said to no one in particular before walking off with my hands in my pocket.


So what do you guys think? How did Clary's conversation with Luke go? What do you think they'll talk about? Idk, so you tell me.

Review! Stay tuned :)