Jace's POV
I had just finished eating my sandwich when Clary broke the silence.
"I should have gotten a scone. They have these great strawberries and cream scones that are amazing. It would have gone great with this coffee…Oh wait…" Clary's face lit up and she grabbed her purse. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small plastic bag and took a cookie out.
"Hey where'd you get cookies?"
"Maybe if you're nice to me I'll give you one." As she brought it to her mouth I snatched it out of her hand.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson." I garbled as I stuffed the whole cookie in my mouth. Clary started laughing so loud. Something was wrong with this cookie. It tasted so awful. Oh God this was disgusting. I was going to be sick. I fumbled in the middle console for napkins and spit as much of the cookie and my saliva out as I could.
"What the hell?"
"Technically I didn't do anything. You stole that cookie from me."
"Are you trying to poison me?" I spat.
"No. Izzy made those." Clary chuckled.
"You are trying to poison me." She shook her head.
"So I guess we're even for the spanking." I teased. She scowled at me.
"Yeah right, not even close."
A few minutes later we pulled up to the stables. I parked the car and reached in the backseat for my backpack. I pulled out the jeans, socks, and sneakers Izzy had given me earlier.
"Here take these and change in the backseat." I handed Clary the clothes and she just looked at me with a suspicious expression.
"Yeah. No." She was shaking her head.
"What?"
"First of all it's like a thousand degrees outside I don't want to wear jeans, and I'm not changing in your backseat."
"Let me put it this way. We're going riding, so you can wear what you have on, but I wouldn't if I were you. It won't be all that comfortable and you will definitely get dirty." She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Riding what?"
"I can give you a few options of what you can ride?" I said sarcastically as I raised my eyebrows up and down suggestively. Clary glared at me.
"Horses Clary. We're going horseback riding. Notice the big barn in front of us." I gestured out the windshield.
"No way. Horses have huge teeth. They bite. They're barely domesticated. People die all the time in horseback riding accidents. Very unsafe." Clary was shaking her head adamantly back and forth and I was laughing pretty hard.
"I'll protect you from the big mean horses with the huge teeth. I won't let them bite you." I shot back amused. Clary was still shaking her head.
"I only get to ride when we come out here over the summer. I had horses when I was young; I use to ride all the time. Izzy and Alec have allergies, so now I end up riding alone. Plus you owe me, so just change Clary." Clary shot me another glare and got out of the car, climbed into the back seat and took the clothes.
"Do you have a towel or anything I can use as a blanket?"
"Nope, but don't worry I already know what those blue thongs look like." I looked over my shoulder and shot her a wink. Her cheeks were nice and rosy.
"JACE! Eyes forward." I turned back around with a smirk. She was so cute when she was mad. I had just gotten the rearview mirror perfect; she had just unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts when she caught me. It was too confined of a space to move and I got a whack in the back of the head.
"What was that for? I was just adjusting my mirror." I tried to sound innocent, but I was sure she could see right through me.
"You're such a pervert." She snapped.
"You got the wrong guy. I'm innocent." I snickered.
"Sure. You're all innocent. You all care. You're all sincere. I've heard it all before." Her voice trailed off.
"So what's up with the doochbag?"
"Which one? They tend to flock to me lately." She sounded annoyed.
"Romeo, from Panera Bread."
"Yeah. He's an ass."
"That part I got. So how do you know him?"
"He works right next to one of the branches I cover at sometimes. I use to think he was charming and I went out with him for a while, but he's just a player. Alright I'm ready." Clary climbed out of the car.
Clary's POV
As we walked into the barn I could smell all the nasty stinky barn smells. All the horses kept sticking their heads out of their stalls and I had to bob and weave so they couldn't bite me. One of them sneezed or something all over me. It was very gross. We got down to the end of the stable and approached a stall with a large gray and white horse with a blaze like a star on its forehead. Its head popped out and I jerked back. Jace laughed. He rubbed his hand up along the horse's face and scratched between the horse's ears. The horse just kind of lowered his head, he really didn't look that vicious.
"This is Wayfarer. Wayfarer this is Clary." I looked sideways at Jace like he was crazy. He grabbed some leather looking straps off the wall and a large blanket looking thing, and opened the stall door partway; he squeezed in, shutting the door behind him.
"Wait. You're leaving me out here?" Jace laughed.
"I'm just putting the bridle and a riding pad on. I'll be right out." A couple minutes later he opened the stall door again and led Wayfarer out of the barn with me a very safe distance behind them. Once outside I noticed the horse had a small blanket like thing over its back, but no saddle. Jace walked the horse over to an odd block on the ground.
"Come on. You get on first. I'll help you." I stood where I was.
"You didn't even put a saddle on that thing."
"No I put a special pad on him for riding bareback. It's hot today. It will be more comfortable for him. Plus, if you've never ridden you won't miss the saddle, and I can ride just as well without one. It will be more comfortable for me too, just trust me. Come over here and get on the mounting block." Jace pointed to the odd block on the ground. I walked around the horse in a large circle and I climbed up on the block.
A bit of protest and several minutes later Jace had helped me onto the horse and climbed on behind me. He snaked one arm around me, holding me close to him, and the other arm held the reins. I was very aware of Jace's body. His chest and stomach were hard, very muscular, and hot. It was a hot day, but I could feel the heat his body gave off through my camisole. I could feel his chest rising and falling, and I could feel the warmth of his breath against my neck. My nerves reacted all over from his touch. I was going crazy from the proximity of our bodies. It made me a mix of uncomfortable and excited. My heart was pounding. Jace chuckled.
"You okay? Your heart is racing."
"Yes…I'm just nervous…The horse." I tried to sound convincing.
"Um Hum." I didn't think he bought it.
"So where are we going? I think we could walk faster than this." I joked.
"This isn't really an alternate mode of transportation. We're just going for a ride. We can go faster if you want, I figured we'd start at a walk and see how you felt. I find it relaxing. You don't?"
"Yeah I guess." I looked around and enjoyed the view. The lake was huge and this was another access area. The sun wasn't as high in the sky, it was probably five or so, still a few hours of sunlight left. We were following a trail right along the water. There were several brooks and streams leading to the lake along the trail. The running water was peaceful. There were birds chirping in the air and the wind through the trees caused the leaves to rustle. It was a very beautiful day. After a while, Jace pulled back on the reins and Wayfarer halted.
"So are you ready to talk about what happened yet?" Jace asked softly into my ear. My whole body tensed. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. This was not good.
"So you trapped me on a horse in the middle of nowhere to try to force me to talk to you." I spat.
"You're right. I'm not being fair." Jace's arm left my waist and he quickly dismounted. I panicked and grabbed on to the horse's mane. Jace reached his arms out toward me.
"Are you staying up there?" I swung my leg carefully over so I was facing Jace and he reached up and guided me down. He kept his arms around me.
"Ok. Now you can technically walk back if you want. We haven't really gone that far, just follow this trail." He jerked his chin in the direction we had come.
"So you are no longer trapped on a horse or in the middle of nowhere, but I think we should talk about what's going on." Jace's eyes softened as he stared directly into my eyes and smiled a very genuine smile. Oh no, no, no, no, no. This was very bad. The intensity of his gaze started to feel overwhelming. I looked away. I couldn't breath. This was too much. I couldn't do this. I tried to step away, but he pulled me to him tighter.
"Nothing is going on." I'm sure I didn't sound convincing.
"Clary?" His voice was stern. I couldn't lose this battle. Not right now. I had to stay strong. I could stay strong. I could.
"Thank you Jace. I'm sorry if I put you in an awkward situation. I appreciate you acting along." I couldn't look at him. I tried to keep my voice even.
"Clary, don't mess with me. I wasn't acting and you weren't either." His voice was very assertive. Oh God. I needed to stay focused. I just stood there. I didn't know what to say. If I spoke I knew I'd tip my hand. I'd give it all away.
"Clary?" God this was going to be hard.
"There's nothing to say…It was just a show to get him to leave…That's it…It meant nothing." My voice came out shaking. I swallowed hard. I could feel the burning in my eyes.
"I don't believe you!" Jace raised his voice. I felt like I was going to cry any second.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I spat. I knew the tears were threatening to run over at any instant. I tried to stay strong. Jace took one of his hands from behind my back and brought it to my chin turning my head up towards his.
"Clary, I've never felt this way before." I could feel a traitor tear escape down my cheek. My eyes were captured by his, I couldn't look away. He had a deeply compassionate look in his eyes I had never seen before. I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't. He was just like Raphael. He was a player. They knew lots of pretty words, but he didn't mean any of them. I swallowed hard.
"Talk to me." I took a deep breath and diverted my eyes away.
"What do you want me to say?" I choked out. His voice was forceful when he spoke. My eyes darted nervously between his and the ground.
"The truth Clary. I don't know why you're pushing me away. The kiss by the lake…the hallway this afternoon…and Panera Bread. You can't act those things didn't happen." He took a deep breath.
"I don't want to act like they didn't happen." He said softly. I looked down.
"None of it meant anything." I choked out. I bit my bottom lip nervously as a couple more tears slowly escaped down my cheeks. I glanced back up towards Jace and was captured by the painful look in his eyes. He brought his lips to mine slowly, gently. Reflexively I closed my eyes spilling more tears, clenched his shirt into two fists, and my lips returned his pressure on their own volition. The kiss was brief, sweet, and tasted of salty tears. When Jace pulled away he looked down at me with longing in his eyes.
"None of it meant anything?" He asked quietly and unbelievingly. A few more tears ran down my face as my bottom lip began to quiver and I let out a slight whimper, I couldn't do this much longer, I was falling apart. Jace dropped my chin and pulled me to him with both arms, leaned forward, and buried his face against the crook of my neck. I couldn't pull away. I leaned into him. His arms tightened around me. When he spoke his voice was very soft and gentle.
"I guess you're a really good actress then, because you sure fooled me. I don't know what you're afraid of. I'm not going to hurt you. I care about you. You can pretend none of it meant anything, but that doesn't mean it didn't. It meant something to me. It meant a lot to me. I know it meant something to you too."
"Please." I begged quietly. I couldn't breath. This was too much. All my strength was gone. I was at a breaking point. The only way to win this battle would be if Jace didn't say another word. Several minutes passed. Jace pulled back and looked at me. His golden eyes captured mine and I couldn't look away. He looked so vulnerable and his eyes pleaded silently.
"Clary, I love you." His voice was soft and sweet, just above a whisper. I couldn't fight any more. My chest tightened. I couldn't breath. I lost the battle with all the tears I was trying so hard to hold back. I fell apart. I curled my hands into fists and slammed them against his chest as I collapsed against him. The words stumbled out between choked gasps.
"You broke…my heart…I loved you…and you broke…my heart." I halfheartedly tried to pull away, but Jace tightened his hold on me. Part of me wanted to run and get as far away from him as I could, but part of me just needed to feel his arms around me. I crumbled into him. He held me tight, softly stroked my hair, rubbed my back, and rested his chin gently on my head; while I cried all those tears I'd been hiding.
Thank you for all the encouragment! I love to get your reviews.
