This is the second to last update before I go on a short break over Christmas/New Years! Hope you enjoy it :)
"You're looking gorgeous tonight, biscuit," Magnus hummed out in Clary's ear as he appeared behind her. Clary turned around to face him, the diamantes at the corners of her eyes glittering as they caught the gold and purple slights that were spinning around. "How's the crowd doing?" She had been on the door, smiling widely and lightly flirting with all the guests as they had come in, taking their money and letting them know what attractions were coming tonight. But it was now almost midnight, and the stream of guests had slowly dwindled, so one of the other girls had taken over.
"It's crazy, as per usual," Clary replied with a smile as she turned back to face the crowd. The atmosphere in Hypnotica had an almost electric energy that throbbed through it, from the girls that were dancing and twirling on the stage, to the bartenders who had eyeliner framing their eyes and flirting with men and woman alike, to the waitresses who laughed musically. People who looked down their noses at places like this could say that this club and the strip club that she worked at in her neighborhood were pretty much the same thing, that this one just came with a prettier, more expensive wrapping.
But that wasn't the case.
At least, not exactly.
There were no backrooms where girls were encouraged by their boss to do things that were technically classes as illegal. If there was any touching or unwanted contact, Magnus didn't hesitate to snap his fingers and have one of the bouncers come and escort the person out, unlike Clary's other job, where the owners would turn a blind eye in favor of higher tips. The dancing here...It was sexy. It was crazy sexy, but it wasn't slutty.
Clary loved it, and she was starting to agree with Isabelle, who had told her time and time again that she should quit at the other club and just work full time here. Magnus had been telling her the same thing as well, especially since she had starting spending even more time in the city.
"Lydia's got every eye of the house on her," she noticed as Lydia Branwell's twisted her body around, wearing only a golden leotard that had beads sewn together hanging over her legs like a veil. Lydia was the girl who had given Clary the nasty look on the day she had come in to talk to Magnus, and the relationship between them hadn't really improved, but Clary had to admit that Lydia had incredible skill as a dancer. She had been trained as a gymnast and had also taken ballet as a kid. As she had grown up, she had ended up with an addiction to coke which had gotten her kicked out of the ballet school she had been attending. She had kicked the coke addiction, but she didn't have the opportunity to be ballerina anymore. Which was how she had ended up here.
She didn't look too kindly on new people coming in, which Clary could understand, and things weren't quite as frosty as they once were, but they still wouldn't be described as friendly.
"Your boy is here with mine," Magnus commented and Clary automatically felt her eyes sliding over to where Jace was sitting at a booth with Alec. She had let them into the club about an hour ago, Alec giving her a small smile while Jace had leaned in and given her a kiss on the cheek. She had punched his arm lightly and gave him a warning look, but there was a twinkle in her eye that had said she didn't mind all that much.
"He's not my boy," was all Clary said, quickly shifting her eyes toward where a particularly drunk man was reaching out an groping one of their waitresses. From the tiny balcony that she and Magnus were standing on, they had a view over the whole club, and it was somewhere that the pair of them came quite often near the end of the night. Apparently Camille and Magnus used to come up here quite often together, and it made Clary's heart warm to know that Magnus viewed her as important enough to bring her up here.
"Yeah, right," Magnus snorted, and his eyes were on the drunk man as well, narrowing despite the friendly conversation he was having with Clary. He let out a sharp whistle to draw the attention of one of the bouncers and nodded over to the drunk patron."Is that why he's been coming in here at least once a week, and always on one of the nights that you're working, but barely watching any of the dancers? You know, the dancers who are the main attraction for coming to this club?"
"Oh, I don't know about that," Clary shot him a sultry look from underneath the fake eyelashes she put on every night before she started working. "I'd come here just to look at your fine ass." Magnus smirked at her before looking back down to where Alec and Jace were sitting, both of them with drinks in their hands. They were talking amongst themselves, occasionally looking up at the stage where Lydia had finished her dance and it was now three girls in matching red and gold dresses, performing almost acrobatic dance routines.
"Thank you, doll, but you're deflecting," Magnus told her knowingly. "You and Jace...I mean, you've slept together." Clary hadn't been the one to tell him that, he had asked her a couple of times what had happened, and then when he had asked, she just hadn't denied it. That had happened just a few days before they had seen Jace in the don buri joint, which was why Magnus had been so completely un-subtle about pushing them together. "And you're both fucking hot. I get that you've both got issues, but really just need to ignore that shit, lock yourselves in a hotel room for forty-eight hours and just go at it." Clary let out a very unladylike shout of laughter.
"Oh really? That's what you think would make everything better?" She asked him with a grin on her bright red mouth.
"Sex makes everything better," Magnus stated.
"So if we just have sex again and that resolves all this sexual tension between us and then, what? Go our separate ways?"
"Absolutely not," Magnus shook his head resolutely. "Once the sexual tension is out of the way, you can move onto figuring out the issues between you."
"Right, well, I feel as though I'm not quite as certain as you about this idea," Clary replied as she clasped her hands in front of her. One of the bouncers was now escorting out the drunk who had been trying to cop a feel with the waitress, and Clary smiled. That was just another difference between this club and her other one. Magnus made it clear that any girl who was on his payroll was carefully looked after, whereas it was all up to the girls to try and avoid sticky fingers of drunk men at the other club.
"Yeah, well, whatever the case, you two need to sort it out soon. Because you're sexual tension is rubbing off on me, and it's making me very uncomfortable," Magnus stated with a curl of his upper lip.
"I'm pretty sure you don't know the meaning of uncomfortable," Clary shot at him with a grin which froze on her mouth when Jace looked up from where he was sitting and gave her a soft look. She didn't even hear Magnus' reply, because Jace didn't look away from her, their eyes locked together. His gold eyes made sparks skitter through her stomach.
She dropped her gaze when she felt her cheeks burn, smiling at the ground.
It was late the next morning that Clary came stumbling down the steps. It was Sunday morning, and she was going to be at the strip club that evening, which she wasn't looking forward to. Before she had the job with Magnus, going to the strip club was something that she accepted as needing to do, to make money. Even though she didn't enjoy it very much, it was just something she accepted. But now that she had another job and another way of getting by, it was becoming harder and harder to drag herself into the seedy building.
She was definitely beginning to agree with Isabelle and Magnus, and quitting. She just needed to make sure that the job at Hypnotica wasn't something that was going to disappear, because she couldn't let herself be without work. But things with Magnus seemed to be permanent...Maybe it was time to let the job at the strip club go.
"Oh! Fuck!" Clary came to a stop when she got to the foot of the stairs and could see through to the lounge. Where Simon and Isabelle were rolling around on the couch and making out pretty intensely. "C'mon guys! This is disgusting!" Isabelle paused from where she was straddling Simon, her shirt hitched up around her chest and the crotch of Simon's pants purposefully tented. "What if I was Max?!" Isabelle's lips were swollen as she smirked over the arm of the couch across at Clary. "Ew," she snorted out one last time before stalking past them and into the kitchen. "It's almost like experiencing incest, watching the two of you together."
"Yeah, but it's not, so it's okay," Isabelle grinned. Simon, at least, had turned red with embarrassment.
"I'm pretty sure you won't be saying that if I was Max," Clary pointed out as she turned on the coffee machine and then turned back to look at them with her arms crossed over her chest. "Now, since we're all here, I figure we should probably have this conversation." Simon and Isabelle exchanged concerned glances and then looked back at her. "So," her face relaxed and she raised an eyebrow at them. "Are you using protection? Are you being safe?"
"Oh, fuck up," Isabelle groaned out and Simon just went even redder.
"What about you?" He managed to fire back at her. "Don't think we haven't seen Jace dropping you off here at all hours of the night. What's going on there, hm?"
"Don't worry, dad," she teased him with a grin. "There's nothing going on between me and the pretty boy." Her answer seemed to take both on the couch by surprise and they blinked back at her.
"What?" Isabelle gaped at her.
"What 'what'?" Clary asked with a frown. The coffee machine beeped and she turned back to pour it into a mug.
"What do you mean 'nothing going on'? I've seen the two of you together and there's...There's something there, going both ways, not just on your side," Isabelle said. Clary just shrugged as she walked over to the door that lead onto the tiny balcony, unlatching the lock and breathing in the fresh air. "Clary?" Isabelle got off the couch and straightened out her clothes.
"No, nothing's happening," Clary shook her head. "He's been coming by the club and giving me rides home, but nothing is happening. He's just a friend."
"No man drives all the way out of the city at three or four in the morning to drop you off and then happily drive back home when nothing is happening," Isabelle said knowingly.
"I thought you told me he was a good guy?" Clary sipped from her coffee cup and sent a teasing smile at her friend. "Isn't getting a gal home at ungodly hours in a big, bad city the sign of a good guy?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Isabelle rolled her eyes a little huffily as she came into the kitchen and poured her own cup of coffee. "But still, don't you think that maybe it's obvious he's feeling something a little bit more more than friendship if he's been coming all the way out here? Especially since he's been working even harder than usual. Alec says that he's been going into all of the meetings and overseeing everything that his father will let him do without talking to him directly—"
"They're still not talking?" Simon piped up from the couch.
"Would you talk to your dad again so easily if he was banging your girlfriend?" Clary asked pointedly. Simon made a face and fell quiet again.
"My point is, he's gotta be up and out by seven or eight in the morning. So driving you out here at three or four only gives him a couple of hours sleep for just 'a friend'," Isabelle smirked knowingly. "And we already know that you feel something more for him." Clary just stared at her with an expression on her face that clearly said that she wasn't going to talk about this anymore. Isabelle knew that look too well and there wasn't really much point in pushing the subject. "Anyway, you left these laying on the table yesterday before you went to work," she commented as she reached over to pick up some printed off papers with several things highlighted and circled. "What is it? Something with Magnus?"
"Yup," Clary tried to look nonchalant, but Isabelle could see the intent look in her eyes as she looked over at the pages Isabelle was flicking through.
"He's not working you too hard, is he?" Simon looked a little over-protective as he got up and walked over to look at the papers. "I thought you were just meant to be the hostess and helping out around the place," he picked up some of the glossy print outs and flipped through them. "Does he pay you for this extra work?" Clary rolled her eyes at her foster brothers tone and nodded.
"Yes, Si," she hummed out at him. "Magnus pays me just fine. That place is a hundred times better than the strip club, you know that. And he's good to me."
"He is," Isabelle agreed, looking over at Simon. "You know that he is. He always makes sure she has a ride home; if it isn't with Jace then he pays for a town car on top of her wage, not taking it out of it. Everything is working out perfectly." She smiled widely at the pair of them, the girls face completely free of make up and her eyes bright and sparkling. Not needing to work through the night and probably having a steady relationship with Simon all helped with that. Clary was happy for how things had worked out for her friend, and how they seemed to be working out for her.
Even if it meant that she had to walk in on the two of them making out on the couch on a semi-regular basis.
"What are you looking at?" Magnus asked as he twirled around on his seat and looked over to where Clary was laying on her stomach on the couch against the back wall of his office.
"These," Clary shifted her position and leaned across to give him his iPad that she had been using. "I think they're pretty cute." Magnus looked down at the page and a grin spread across hsi face as his finger skimmed over the page.
"Holy shit," he wiggled his perfectly arched eyebrows at her. "These are awesome." They were in Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes, and the second page that she had opened was a cupcake boutique in town—a very exclusive one—that was well known for making infused with alcohol. Lime and margarita cupcakes with lime icing, chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's cream cheese icing or rum and raisin cupcakes. "These could be totally perfect," Magnus scrambled back behind his desk and tapped his fingers across his keyboard, bringing up the website on his computer, and frowned at the screen.
"What you thinking?" Clary asked as she got off the couch, stretching out her neck and rolling her shoulders.
"We could have these on platters around the club," Magnus smiled over the top of the computer screen at her. "You thought about what you're going to wear?"
"Well, it's all on your credit card, pal," Clary winked at him. "I'll go as crazy as you'll let me."
"I'm thinking a Red Queen kind of thing," Magnus smirked as ran his eyes up and down the red heads body in an almost measuring way. "I'm thinking fishnets and a black dress with some sort of adorable top hat." Clary let out a snort and rolled her eyes. "Although this isn't going to happen for a while yet, I'm still getting a handle on this place. Camille hasn't officially handed it over to me yet. Technically she's still the manager."
"Oh, I thought she had let you take over," Clary tilted her head to the side as she walked over to look at the pictures and photos that were on the wall, reaching out to touch the frame of a photo of Magnus with a couple of men. They were all painted and dressed colorfully, it looked as though they were at a Pride parade.
"Not quite. She's not going to let me take over without a 2IC," Magnus was still staring at her over the top of the computer screen. Clary ran her fingers through her hair, which was a messy mane of red curls down her back, before turning back to face Magnus, her eyes widening when she saw that he was still watching him.
"What?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. "Why are you staring at me?"
"She's not going to let me take over without a 2IC," Magnus repeated, giving her a pointed look and resting his chin on his palm, his elbow resting on the desk. "And I know who I want to be my 2IC." Clary blinked as she realized what he was insinuating.
"Me?" She gaped in surprise. "Why the fuck would you want me?"
"Why not?!" Magnus grinned widely, his cat-like eyes dancing.
"Because a second-in-charge is some sort of manager position, right? Need to be trained in running a business and all that shit? That's not me!"
"Why not?!" Magnus was practically vibrating with excitement in his seat. "I want it to be you, so I'm telling you what I want!"
"But I'm just—me being a hostess is already a fucking step up from dancing in my underwear around a pole! And now you're offering me some sort of manager position! This just doesn't feel..." she frowned at him, still looking confused. "It doesn't feel right?" She scrunched up her nose.
"What do you mean—doesn't feel right?" Magnus hesitated for the first time. "Do you not want the job?"
"Magnus..." Clary made an exasperated noise at the back of her throat and scratched her fingers through her hair, turning around to look back at one of the paintings on the wall. She heard movement behind her and she knew that Magnus was walking over to where she was standing. She twisted her mouth as she stared at one of the painting and felt Magnus put his hand on her shoulder.
"Sweetie," he began in a soft voice. "Just because you feel as though you don't deserve this, doesn't mean you're right."
"That's not really it," Clary began.
"It's definitely part of it," Magnus shot back at her, bumping one of his hips against hers playfully. "You and I both know it." Clary rolled her eyes at him, feeling her cheeks redden slightly and getting called out—something that didn't happen to often with people other than Isabelle and Simon. "Look, I already told you—a while ago—that Alec tells me things. And he's told me that you're smart."
"Yeah, which is why you've put me in charge of your money and get me to help out with all this stuff," she waved her hand around the office.
"You realize all this office work isn't part of being a hostess?" Magnus raised an eyebrow at her. "Mandy, the last hostess, she would come in for her hours, and then leave as soon as the club closed, just like the waitresses and dancers. Sometimes she would stand in as a waitress, but she never helped behind the bar, or with the close up, or with all of this—and the planning for special events. That's not something a hostess does."
"Eh, so maybe Simon was right," Clary jabbed her elbow into his side lightly. "You have been taking advantage of me."
"Yeah, well, I've been paying you for it, so it's okay," Magnus grinned at her. Clary scratched the side of her face and turned to face him properly. "Besides, you don't seem to mind. And you're definitely the kind of chick to tell me if you've got an issue with something I'm doing." Clary shrugged one shoulder, but there was a smile playing on her face. "Okay, look," Magnus rested his hands on her shoulders and ducked his head slightly so that he was meeting her green eyes full force. "I think you should consider doing a course in management."
This time Clary laughed blatantly.
"Me? Back in school?" Her shoulders shook and her eyes dance. "I'm pretty sure you and I are both aware that sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day isn't something that sits well with me."
"It wouldn't be like that," Magnus protested, pulling away from her and going over to his desk, rustling around in the top drawer. Clary still wasn't taking his offer seriously and just shook her head as he pulled out something. "You don't need to get some big fancy degree. It's just a certificate. Camille is happy for me to be making decisions like this, and I've talked to her about you—she's happy with the support you're giving me and she knows that I want you to be promoted. But this club is her baby, and she's not going to have a 2IC but in place who doesn't have some kind of training or course work behind them." He shoved the booklets and a couple of loose forms over at Clary.
"What's this?" Clary took them from her, and her eyebrows shot up near her hairline when she saw it was a registration form and a booklet for NYU. "I can't believe you're serious about this," she muttered as she flicked through the glossy pages.
"I'm fucking dead serious," Magnus crossed his arms as he watched her. "Go home, think about it." Clary's lips were pursed and she breathed in deeply as her eyes settled over the price of the course, even though it was just a six month, part time course. "I know that the money is going to be an issue, as well as the time away from work. But I can persuade Camille to subsidize the course, and it's only part time—three half days a week." Clary still hadn't answered, tapping her fingers against the side of the booklet. "We would make it work!" He continued quickly. "You can always crash at mine or Alec's or Jace's through the week so that you don't need to travel! You're a quick study, I can help you and I know Simon would as well! It would be really good, biscuit, I promise you that this is—"
"Okay, okay!" Clary finally burst out, holding up her hand to stop his tirade. Magnus blinked at her owlishly. She took in a deep breath and pressed her lips together in a thin line. "I'll think about it." A grin spread across Magnus' face and Clary quickly held up a finger. "I said I'll think about it!" She repeated warningly, but his smiling was infectious and she knew that she was smiling back. "Hey, and don't think I missed that comment about me staying at Jace's place."
"You weren't meant to miss it," Magnus wiggled his eyebrows at her. Clary licked her lips and rolled her eyes and walked over to the couch to look through the booklet at the pages that Magnus had marked. They were quiet for almost fifteen minutes, the only sounds coming from Hayley Kiyoko playing through the iPod speakers.
"Do you really think he likes me?" She suddenly asked, looking over at him. "I mean, not what's in my pants, but me?" Magnus looked surprised at her question, and instead of shooting back a lewd joke or making a suggestive comment, he just tilted his head to the side and gave her a small smile.
"Yes," he nodded. "I do."
He didn't miss the way the her cheeks prettily turned pink before she dropped her head and looked back at the papers in her hands, her hair falling around her face.
As I was going through and editing these chapters, I was watching Princess Bride with my hubby. Omg. Absolutely love that movie. Don't think I'll ever get sick of it. It's just so fucking amazing! Will always be in my top five movies :) I pretty much quote every line as the movie plays. Whoops. Hahahaha. My song rec's for this time are On Your Side by The Veronicas and Time After Time the cover by Jessica Mauboy.
Leave a review, let me know what you guys think :)