To the reviewer who said that they love drama, this chapter sure does have a lot of it! But, hopefully it'll answer some questions…or bring new ones to light…or make some more confused….I'm not quite sure which one I'm hoping for yet. ;)


Jace's eyes narrowed as he turned around and strode right up to Jonathan, "And just what the hell does that mean, exactly?"

"Oh, come on, the gig is up. Why else did you help her? Why not just save your own skin and leave her…especially if you needed to get out yourself. With her slowing you down…please. I might not have even saved her under those circumstances…"

Jace punched him in the jaw.

Jonathan stumbled backwards as Jace approached him, grabbing him by the shoulders of the jumpsuit and narrowing his eyes, "You're telling me you would've left your own sister to die alone in a man's prison to save your own ass?"

Jonathan could tell Jace was deathly close to…well…causing Jonathan's death.

Belatedly, Jonathan wondered what Jace was incarcerated for.

Jonathan pushed him backwards. "Will you relax? God, you've got it worse than I thought. Of course I would've saved my sister, but had I been you? I would've probably left her behind. Which leads me to why you saved her, and I can only think of one reason…"

"Okay" Jace said, "I can guarantee you two things: the first is that you're wrong, and the second is that if you don't shut the hell up soon, you're going to be dead wrong." Jace crossed his arms over his chest and glared…daring him to say something else.

Jonathan threw his hands up, "Oh I believe you. But I also believe you like her. You have yet to deny it."

Jace glared. Truth be told, he had already thought of many different ways to pick him up to throw him out the window from where Jon was standing…which was actually quite a distance…

"I don't like your sister."

"Dude, you can't bullshit me."

"I don't like your sister." Jace repeated, arms fully crossed over his chest and he continued glaring.

Jonathan threw his arms up in surrender, "Alright, whatever dude. I'm not going to sit here and argue the point. Are Alec and Isabelle your real family?"

Jace let out a sigh at Jonathan's change of subject, and turned back to grabbing some clothes, contemplating not answering him, "No. I was adopted. Why?"

Jonathan shrugged, "No reason."

Jace threw a black t-shirt at him, and followed the t-shirt to get right in Jonathan's face. "I've known you, what, a couple hours, and I know that you had a reason for asking me that. Spit it out."

"Just the way Alec looks at you…"

Jace punched him again, "You really must not like your jaw where it is."

"Damn, you're a violent piece of shit, aren't you?" Jonathan said, sitting on the floor and rubbing his jaw.

"Only when people insult my family…or theirs…"

"No wonder you were in there. Damn." Jonathan plowed on as though he hadn't heard Jace's comment. "Anyway, you can't tell me you've lived with him and haven't seen it."

Jace just glared before turning back around and grabbing a pair of sweats and throwing them at him. "Burn those when you're done with them and get the hell out of my room."

"So, you have seen it." Jonathan's eyes narrowed.

Jace scoffed, "Yes, I've seen it. I'm not interested. There, he's all yours."

Jonathan's eyes went wide, "Oh, no…I…"

Jace smirked, and nodded, "Sure. Whatever. I really don't care. Don't stick your nose in my business and I won't in yours."

"Jace, I'm not…"

Jace held a hand up, "Ah, no explanation necessary, please."

"Jace! I am not gay!" Jonathan yelled.

Jace laughed. "Well, that was convincing. Oh, and by the way, Alec probably heard you."

"Then won't they assume you were trying something on me? I mean, you did drag me into your room."

Jace shook his head, "You followed me into my room. There was no dragging necessary. Apparently, you haven't gotten enough of staring at me either."

Jonathan scoffed, "Whatever, dude, stay away from my sister."

"I will if you stay away from my brother."

"I'm not…" Jonathan started, but after Jace smirked, Jonathan rolled his eyes, crossing his own arms over his chest, "Touché."

Jonathan knew that if Clary had been with them for that, she would've been too confused to catch up. As it was, he wasn't all that clear what had happened himself. Did Jace really just admit to liking his sister right to his face?

Then again, he did deny it…twice. Both times he had a straight face and his arms were crossed…

"Where's the nearest bathroom?" Jonathan then asked, remembering he had clothes in his hands.

"Oh, what? You're not gonna give me a show? No fair." Jace…did something short of pout.

"Shut the hell up." Jonathan retorted, grabbing the handle and walking out…laughing.

Jace put on another half smile as he grabbed some clothes for himself and walked into his bathroom, starting a shower.

TMITMITMI

"I'm Simon." Simon said, to try to cover the awkwardness. After Jace and Jonathan headed upstairs, that only left him and Isabelle.

Not that he was complaining.

She looked him up and down. "Okay." And she headed for the kitchen.

"So…" Simon said, catching up with her, "is this your house?"

He pushed his glasses up on his nose.

Isabelle stopped and turned around, "No, it's Jace's."

Simon scoffed, "Of course."

Isabelle, who had previously turned to continue walking after initially answering him, spun on her heel, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing…it's just…"

Isabelle cocked an eyebrow at Simon's stuttering.

"…predictable." Simon finished, taking a huge breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"How so?"

"Well…what were Clary's odds of being rescued in a jailbreak by … um, someone like Jace who happens to have a brother who's a doctor when she gets shot and lives in a huge mansion house…"

"Stop." Isabelle held a hand up. "I know where you're going with that. Don't finish it."

To her surprise, Simon smiled, "Aw, what's the matter? The big sister can't watch the little brother fall in love…"

Isabelle scoffed, "Please…him love her? I know my brother's type. That girl is definitely not it. It is shockingly nice of him to do what he is doing for her, though."

Isabelle refrained from smiling as she saw the look of defeat in Simon's face.

She was sure it would've been a look of triumph.

"What's wrong?" Isabelle asked.

"Oh…um, nothing."

Isabelle shrugged and continued walking.

When she realized Simon hadn't kept following her, though, she turned around.

"Oh, lighten up. I'm sure she'll find someone eventually. God, you don't have to act like…"

"Act like what?" Simon's eyes narrowed.

"Act like what you're acting like." Isabelle said.

"Oh, that's a good explanation." Simon replied.

Isabelle narrowed her eyes.

"What?" Simon asked her…the way she was looking at him…

"You like her, but whether or not she likes you, you don't want to see her heartbroken. Of course, that could also be because you'll be the one picking up the pieces."

Simon recoiled, "That's crazy. Me? Like Clary?"

Isabelle looked him up and down, "You know, for someone who's been hiding that from her, you're not a very convincing liar."

Jace blocked out whatever reply Simon had for that. He knew it wouldn't be the truth anyway. He had already heard the truth. It was undeniable.

At least now Jace knew why Simon hated him.

Jace wasn't really all that fond of Simon either.

But Simon hated Jace because he thought Jace would take Clary away from him…

Jace shook his head as he looked up and saw Jonathan standing there.

Jace stood straight up from leaning over the railing.

"How much of that…" both men said at the same time.

Jonathan smirked, "I'm guessing you heard as much of that as I did."

Jace managed to smirk along with his nod.

"Well, don't worry. If I know my sister, Simon doesn't stand a chance compared to you."

Jace narrowed his eyes, "I think you should be the next one to go see Alec."

"For what?"

"Well, whatever the hell's going on in your brain…and your soon to be dislocated jaw."

"Oh, please, you've punched me twice already and they only felt like taps."

Jace smirked, his eyebrows rose, and he even snapped his fingers, "Oh, so that's why you went flying and landed flat on your ass both times..."

Jonathan glared as Jace started walking down the stairs.

Upon hearing Jace and Jonathan come down the steps, Isabelle and Simon joined them in the lobby.

Simon grunted, "Finally! What the hell happened back there?" following Jonathan and Jace to the couches. Jace and Jonathan took one, while Simon and Isabelle took the other.

"What the hell do you think happened? She was shot." Jace retorted sitting back on the couch putting one leg over the other and crossing his arms.

"How?! She was with you two!" Simon's voice rose as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.

Jace's eyes narrowed at Simon, and he uncrossed his legs so he could lean forward now also, his arms still crossed though, "What do you think? We just let her get shot?!"

"Yeah! Isn't that obvious! You don't even know her! Why the hell would you care about her!? Especially if it was her life or yours!" At this, Simon was standing and flailing his arms as he yelled.

Jace stood too, his own blood beginning to boil, "In case you hadn't noticed, you're in my house and my brother is helping her!"

"Yeah, why? You can't possibly want the money that was in her pocket. You obviously don't need it…" Simon took a breath and Jonathan suppressed a gulp at what he was going to say next. It was all too obvious, "So, it has to be that you're just looking to get some time alone with her! How come we aren't allowed in there with your brother, huh?! Are you planning to sneak away at some point and go up there to her?!"


And CUT! What a way to end that chapter, huh? I am SO MEAN…

However, no worries, I know how you feel as a FanFiction reader myself, hopefully you'll forgive me because you see, I had to end this chapter there because I really, really, really wanted to share this preview with you – if I had added more to this chapter, you all would've started assuming who the couple was and that might be a bad thing for all of us. Unfortunately, this preview will take me a few updates to get to… :(


When I finally finished my story…one that I had been keeping from everyone, except those who were there, I looked back up at him as I sat there in his arms.

I quickly averted my gaze, however, as I couldn't believe I had just spilled my guts to him; all my secrets, the craziness…everything. Regret threatened to swallow me whole and I had to look back up at him. I had to try to read his expression if he wasn't going to say anything…

He just looked at me, but it wasn't a look I was used to, his mouth was twisted in a way that said he was trying not to smile too hard; but that look in his eyes was driving me absolutely wild. It looked like…well, pride, and if I didn't know any better…lust.

Pride and lust? What?

I averted my eyes, again, his staring at me getting a little awkward. I needed him to say something, anything…even if he was going to call me crazy, weird, a liar, stupid, anything. I had never really been this vulnerable to anyone. But after I could still feel him looking at me, my eyes darted back up at him and he finally broke the silence, "That was one of the best stories I've ever heard."

I smiled, realizing then that I had been slightly afraid of his reaction; but before I knew it…

With one hand below my chin, and the other suddenly at the back of my neck, he closed the distance between our lips and we were kissing.

And I was grateful it was time, not regret, which actually swallowed me whole.