Hello my lovelies. I know I pretty much killed most of you with the suspense last chapter, but for those of you who are still alive, here's the next one! I hope you enjoy it. And wish me luck for surviving the last two months of my junior year, it's been a real pain. But summertime means quicker updates and new stories ;) so I hope you guys stick around.

And thanks to my lovely beta, HeronFrayWood, this chapter has been edited for your wonderful eyes.

P.S. I wanted to thank all of you for the support. This story wouldn't be where it is without you guys. Is it too soon to say I love you? Maybe, but I don't care. I wish I could hug you all, but I guess a virtual hug will have to do. Btw, if any of you are feeling like times are getting tough, don't be afraid to message me. I want you all to feel like you have someone to talk to, because I know what it's like not to. We can talk about whatever you want, doesn't matter to me :)

Disclaimer: All TMI characters belong to Cassandra Clare :)

Chapter Songs:

**Drop the Game by Flume & Chet Faker (Scene 1)

**Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots (Scene 2)

**Always by Andrew James (Scene 3)

Clary knew that once she showed Jace what she found that it would cause a bad reaction, but she hadn't expected him to break into hysterics. She sat on the edge of his bed, watching anxiously as he paced back and forth. She wanted to reach out and grab him, slap some sense into him, but this was his way of processing it all. But if he didn't stop in the next minute, she surely would. They needed to talk about this. Now that they'd confirmed their suspicions, there was no way they could ignore what was happening. This wasn't like anything else they'd experienced. These guys weren't common hitmen, or assassins, not even gangsters. They were—

"They're fucking terrorists," Jace said out loud, cutting into her thoughts. "Who in the hell hires terrorists to kill one guy?" He raked a hand through his hair and started talking faster than she could keep up. "We have to do something. We need to get them out of the school and away from our friends. Christ, they could blow up the school at any time."

Before he totally lost it, Clary shot off of the bed and caught his arm, stopping him from pacing. He stopped, but he didn't look at her. Raising one of her hands, she held the side of his face turning it toward hers. "Jace," she whispered, trying to calm him. "Look at me. Please."

The last word seemed to pull him out of it and his eyes snapped to hers. They were filled with so much anger that she could only see a ring of gold behind his dilated pupils. He looked about ready to punch a whole in the wall, which meant that she had to approach this carefully. Letting go of his arm, she lifted her other hand until both were cupping his jaw. His fists were balled at his sides, his chest rising and falling with each shallow breath.

She sighed. "You need to calm down."

His eyes widened. "Calm down? Did you see the same thing I did? He hired terrorists, Clary."

She held his face tighter. "I know what he did, but we can't stand here and lose our minds over it. That's not helping anyone."

"But—"

Clary pressed a finger to his lips and pointed over to the bed. "Sit."

His jaw clenched, but he followed orders. Stepping out of her grasp, he trailed over to the bed and took a seat. Clary silently prayed to whatever god was listening that he did what she asked. The room fell silent as she walked over to him. She tentatively fit herself between his legs and lifted his clenched fists, prying them open and setting them on her waist. He held on tight and buried his face into her stomach. Clary leaned down and pressed soft, barely there kisses along his head as she ran her fingers through his hair. She kept it up until his breathing slowed and his body relaxed.

A few moments later, he raised his head and met her gaze. She let out a sigh of relief, seeing that his eyes had returned to the soft gold that she was accustomed to. He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Clary leaned into his touch. "Don't worry about it." Her hands slid down to his shoulders. "Are you okay now?"

"No," he dropped his hand, placing it back on her waist. "But I don't feel like flipping a table anymore."

"Good," she bit her lip. "Because we really need to talk about this." She turned, taking a seat on his lap.

Jace sighed, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "What in the hell are we going to do about those two?"

Clary shrugged. "I've never dealt with something this extreme before. Terrorists are sneaky sons of bitches. You'll never know what their plans are until it's too late. They strike when you least expect it." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "We're going to have to be smart about this, but we're also going to have to be quick. You were right about getting them away from our friends. This could be bigger than just us."

"I know." He pushed out a breath and raked a hand though his hair. "We need a plan."

"Well, we do have one advantage," she said. He raised a brow and she continued. "They don't know that I'm here. Rufus was the only person that knew about me, but the Agency took him away, so he couldn't have gotten into contact with Hodge. And the douchebags gave away their real names. They must have figured that no one had the technology to find out who they really were."

"So, what's the plan?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "We play dumb."

He furrowed his brows. "Play dumb?"

"Yeah, as far as we know, they're just a couple of new students from New Jersey. We have to make them think that they have the upper hand. They're most likely going to try to get in with our friends in order to get to you, and we have to let them. Because if we start acting suspicious of them, they might hurt someone close to us."

"So you want us to become friends with the terrorists? That's insane."

"We'll just be putting on a show. If they think that we don't know anything, they might not be as careful. They'll let things slip." She bit her lip. "I know it's risky, but that's what I signed up for when I accepted this mission. If you're not up for it, I can definitely track them down myself."

"Hell, no. You'll get yourself killed." He clenched his jaw and let out a slow breath. "If it takes me pretending to be friends with the bastards then that's what I'll do. But you're not going after them alone. Like you said, you've never dealt with anything this extreme. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know." She lifted her hand to his cheek. "I don't want to see you hurt either. That's why we have to work together. Because the sooner we get through this, the sooner this might all be over. We're getting close," she said. "I can feel it."

"I can feel it too." He reached up to grab her hand, lacing it with his. "But you know I'm just worried. I don't know what the hell I'd do if something happened to our friends—or you for that matter."

"I know you're worried—I'm worried, but we can't let that stop us from seeing the bigger picture. We're in danger, Jace. Everyone close to us is. Starkweather wants you dead, but do you really think he'll spare anyone that gets in his way? That's why we have to act fast, but also stay focused." She shrugged. "Think of it as a mission."

"I think I could do that." Jace grinned. "As long as I get to kick someone's ass eventually."

"You will, but not until we draw them in. So until then, we just stick to the plan," she said.

His brows furrowed. "What do we do once we draw them in? We need a plan for that too."

Sighing, Clary stood, trailed over to his dresser and picked up her balisong. It was strange how playing around with weapons made her think better. After flipping the latch, she began twirling it around her hand, opening and closing it over and over. Jace's eyes were intent on her, most likely trying to gauge what she was thinking. The only sound in the room was her soft footsteps trailing back and forth across the hardwood floor. But after a few more moments of pacing, she was able to come up with a solid plan. It was risky as hell, and she didn't like the idea at all, but it was their only choice. The smartest choice.

Pausing in her stride, she turned to Jace, a nervous glint in her eyes.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do . . ."

.o.O.o.

At the end of the week, Jace sat at their lunch table, twirling a pencil around his finger to keep his mind busy, and off of other things. Truth be told, he hadn't kissed Clary in almost two weeks, hadn't held her for even longer. He swore, each day, each hour, each second that ticked by drove him mad.

They'd agreed to put their relationship on hold until they dealt with Starkweather's new round of goons, but even though they were only pretending that they were taking a break from each other, he felt an emptiness that only being away from her could create. And the most frustrating part was, he didn't know how long this would have to go on for. But Clary said that they would only distract each other. That they needed to stay completely focused or everything would go to shit. So they kept their distance, even at home.

That was exactly why she hadn't shown up to school today. She'd taken up an emergency meeting with Luke at the Agency in order to clue him in on what they found. There were a few Agents around, watching him and making sure that he was safe. He couldn't see them, but he knew that they were there. Luckily, the goons weren't showing any signs of wanting to commit acts of terrorism—that would most likely come later. They'd already made it into their small group of friends, pretending to have a lot in common with everyone. It was probably just stuff they found online, and as idiotic as it sounded, Jace had to act as if he were falling for it. Which meant being his usual, sarcastic self in order to hide his suspicion.

"You know what I've been thinking?" Isabelle asked.

Most of them turned their attention to her. "What?"

"We haven't all hung out as a group in a really long time."

"Yeah," Jordan agreed. "Since we've all got babes for days, we've lost sight of what's important." He put his arm around Maia and Jace couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. "This is our senior year, we need to get in some time together before we all graduate and go our separate ways."

Alec furrowed his brows. "But we're all going to the same college. NYU, remember? We got our acceptance letters weeks ago."

Maia turned to her boyfriend. "Did you forget?"

"I was just trying to be sentimental," he said. "Our graduation is right around the corner, guys. We need to spend time together before that happens or our college years will tear us apart."

"Jesus Christ," Jace put his pencil down. "We've all been friends since middle school, college isn't going to change anything."

Isabelle flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, even if it doesn't, we still need to hang out. I miss you guys."

Jace glanced over his shoulder, seeing one of the new guys, Julian, grab a tray from the lunch line and trail over to their table. Raphael was right behind him, both of their shoulders squared in confidence, causing Jace to feel a little smug. The bastards thought they had nothing to worry about, that everything was going to plan, but in reality they were falling right into his and Clary's hands.

Once they sat down, Julian, being the energetic person that he was, greeted everyone like he'd been a part of the group for years and not two weeks. "What's up, mates!"

Isabelle snorted. "Someone's excited today."

Julian grinned over at her. "It's a good day to be alive, Izzy."

Jace wanted to pummel his face in for even talking to Isabelle, to any of his friends, but he had to keep his cool or he'd blow this whole thing. While Julian chatted with everyone else, Raphael silently ate his food. It was obvious that he was the one who called the shots. Everything he did screamed that he was the leader. If Jace didn't know what he did about him, he would've just passed it off as shyness.

"Dude," Julian turned to Jordan. "Are you watching the Knicks game on Friday?"

"I would, but my satellite's out. No TV for me until next week."

An idea sparked in Jace's head. "Why don't you guys come over to my house? I've got a sixty inch right in the living room."

"Sounds good," Julian said, a little too quickly. His blue-green eyes shot to Raphael for the briefest moment and an almost non-discernible grin tugged at his lips.

Then Raphael turned his attention to Jace, speaking in a thick Spanish accent. "We will be there."

"You guys can hitch a ride with me," Jordan suggested.

"Hey," Isabelle called out. "Why don't we all go out to Taki's and then the four of you could go to Jace's afterward?"

"Yeah," Jordan picked up a fry and nibbled on it. "Kill two rats with one snake."

Simon pushed his glasses back up his nose. "It's 'kill two birds with one stone,'" he corrected.

The other boy shrugged. "Tomato, tomato."

"So, it's settled then." Julian rubbed his hands together. "Taki's then the game."

Magnus looked down at his nails. "Or maybe we should mix it up a bit. There's this new French restaurant that serves the best Soupe à L'oignon you'll ever have."

"Like any of us know what that is," Jace scoffed, crossing his arms.

"He's right Mags," Isabelle said. "Your taste is way too exquisite for the rest of us. Besides, at Taki's, you'll get a plate with enough food to feed an actual human being, not a small dog."

He looked like he wanted to retort, but Alec grabbed his hand and laced it with his, calming him instantly. It looked like they didn't need Clary after all. They'd made it work all on their own. Jace was both proud and envious of him, of everyone really. Everyone else could be with who they wanted, any way they wanted. There were no major obstacles or hurdles that they had to get past before they could truly be happy. They already were. And knowing that the reason why he couldn't be with Clary was right in front of him, he couldn't help but be a little pissed. He wanted to kick their asses right here, right now, just to get it over with, but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. They had a solid plan. His anger couldn't be the reason why it got screwed up. A lot was at stake. This wasn't the time to make irrational decisions.

"Oh yeah," Jordan pointed over to Jace. "Can your mom make those cucumber sandwiches again?"

His nose crinkled. He hated cucumber, but he'd make an exception. "Sure. I'll ask her to make them tonight."

Jordan punched the air. "Sweet."

Julian reached over and high-fived him. "Cucumber overload."

Jace furrowed his brows.

What the fuck did that even mean?

At this rate, he'd probably kill himself before this whole thing was over. Yeah, he felt a little bitter, but if he had to listen to another one of Julian's jokes, he'd lose it. Half of them didn't make sense, the others were just lame pick up lines. Either he was a really good actor, or he really was an idiot. But Jace had to admit, they were pulling off the whole introvert, extrovert thing really well. It was almost as if Julian was the distraction while Raphael performed the 'tricks'. They must have spent weeks working on their personas, making Jace think that they wouldn't leave until the job was done. He had a pretty good feeling that terrorists didn't enjoy wasting their time.

He couldn't wait to get home and tell Clary everything, to let her know that everything was going according to plan. And even thought he promised no touching, kissing, or flirting, he still wanted to see her. He couldn't tell if it's been hard for her too, because she'd tried her best to stay away from him for the past two weeks. She was always gone by the time he woke up and would spend most of the night checking the cameras and coasting the perimeter. And when they had information to tell each other, they either texted or called, but Jace was getting sick of it. He wanted to see her. Even if it was just for a few minutes. He would control himself if it meant that he could talk to her face to face.

"So," Isabelle clapped her hands together, changing the subject. "Are you guys ready for prom?"

"When is that again?" Jace asked.

The girls and Magnus scoffed. Isabelle crossed her arms. "It's in less than a month. God, how does Clary put up with you?"

"Prom isn't really my scene," he said. "I prefer the after party." He hated every word he said, but he had to act this way. Like the complete asshole he used to be.

Julian chuckled. "Don't we all."

"Prom isn't all about sex," Maia cut in. She turned to Jordan and the rest of the guys. "So don't expect us girls to give you guys anything that night except a dance."

"How about a dance with no pants?" Julian waggled his brows.

Raphael hit him on the back of the head, shutting him up. "Do not mind him. He can be a real pendejo sometimes."

Jace furrowed his brows and cocked his head slightly as if he didn't understand. They both seemed to take note of that. This whole playing dumb thing might actually work. If they thought speaking Spanish would be a safeguard, they had another thing coming. But hey, all the more better for him if they didn't know.

"Asshole," Raphael translated.

"Don't worry," Isabelle nodded over to Jace. "We've been dealing with this asshole since middle school. So, this isn't anything new."

Jace scoffed.

She stuck her tongue out. "But like I was saying, prom is coming up and we all need to get ready for it. Because if any of you guys show up in something stupid like a t-shirt and jeans, I will end you."

Simon's eyes widened and he tentatively put his arm around her shoulders, trying to calm her. Jace rolled his eyes. It was almost insulting to see him do that. Rat boy had his girl right next to him and all he could muster up was that amateur move? But for some crazy reason, completely unknown to him, the gesture worked. Isabelle simmered down and leaned her head on his shoulder, causing his arm to drop to her waist.

"Jeez, Izzy." Jordan ate another one of his fries. "You know we're all coming."

"I know you guys are." Her gaze drifted over to Jace. "I was talking about him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Junior prom." She held up her fingers and ticked them off. "You didn't dress up, you made out with other guys' dates, you spiked the punch and got drunk off your ass. Shall I go on?"

He smirked. "I made it cooler."

"Did you even ask Clary yet?" she asked.

He shrugged. "There's plenty of time for that."

"What about you two?" Isabelle asked, addressing Raphael and Julian.

A half grin tugged at Julian's lips. "There's a couple girls on my radar. Actually—there's one of them right now." He lifted his arm, flagging the girl over.

Jace heard the sound of heels and turned to get a look at the unlucky girl and froze. The blonde hair, the icy blue eyes, the tan skin, it was all way too familiar.

Kaelie.

There were a collection of groans and he immediately turned back around before he could meet her gaze. Kaelie flounced over to Julian and wrapped her arms around his neck, grinning widely. And to his dismay, her gaze fell on him as she gauged his reaction, but once she saw that he didn't have one, her grin faltered slightly. Jace would've felt bad for how he ended things if she wasn't such a brat. He made the right choice, because what he had with Clary was a once in a lifetime kind of feeling. He could find a girl like Kaelie anywhere in this school.

Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she looked at everyone at the table with slight distaste. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Prom," Julian explained.

She squealed. "That's next month right? I'm so excited."

"I bet you are," Isabelle muttered.

She narrowed her eyes at the raven-haired girl. "Is there a problem, Izzy?"

Jace cleared his throat. "I'm going to go use the bathroom," he said, rising to his feet. Before anyone could say anything, he turned on his heel and tucked his hands into his pockets, trailing out of the cafeteria.

Once he got far enough away, he stood in a spot where he could still see his table, without them being able to see him. Letting out a breath, he pulled out his phone and typed out a message, sending it to Clary.

411 ~J

A couple seconds later, his phone started to ring. He grinned when he saw that it was her and answered immediately.

"Hello?"

"Is it safe?" she asked.

His gaze drifted to his lunch table, spotting Julian and Raphael in the same spot. "Yeah."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "What's up?"

"The plan worked. They're coming over tomorrow night," he said. "Jordan's coming too, but we can work around that. We'll talk later, but I just wanted you to know."

"I've got some stuff too, but I definitely can't say it over the phone," she said.

Jace ran a hand through his hair. "How do you want to do this?"

There was a pause. "Meet me on the roof after school."

"Okay." He sighed, glancing back at his table again. "I don't think I can wait another twenty-four hours. This whole playing dumb thing is really tiring."

"It shouldn't be," she said. "Being an idiot is what you excel at."

He cracked a grin. "Are you teasing me, Tiger?"

She laughed, a sound that he hadn't heard in a long time. A sound that he really missed. "Maybe . . ." she responded innocently.

Jace still couldn't get over the laugh. He couldn't believe he'd gone two weeks without it. Without her smile, without her calling him an ass. Turning, he leaned his head against the wall next to him and released a sigh. "God, I miss you," he breathed.

"Jace . . ." her voice held a warning tone.

"I know," he said, clearing his throat. "I just wanted you to know—just in case it wasn't obvious."

"Did you really think I didn't notice? I know you, Jace. I know how frustrating this is for you. It's frustrating for me too."

"Well you hide it pretty well," he said.

"That's because I have to. If I didn't, I'd be putting us both in danger by distracting you. You need to focus—we need to focus." She paused. "And when this is all over, we can go back to the way things were. Trust me, this is killing me just as much as it is you. Not a day goes by that I don't think about your arms, your kisses, your . . . everything. I miss it all, Jace."

He felt relieved now that knew how she felt about all this. "Thank you," he said. "I needed that."

"I know." He could practically see her smiling on the other end. "Now, go back to being an idiot. Use your frustration as fuel."

He rolled his eyes. "Got it."

"Bye, asshole."

Now that was his girl. Lulling his head back to the side, he let out another breath before responding.

"Bye, baby."

After they hung up, Jace glanced back at his table, seeing that neither of them moved, which was good. Tucking his phone back into his pocket, he turned the corner and trailed down the hall to get back to the cafeteria. But as soon as he turned the corner, hands grabbed at his shirt, shoving him back. The grip wasn't strong enough to be a threat, but he was still a little surprised by the action. Looking down, he was met with an angry, icy blue stare.

"Kaelie?" He furrowed his brows. "What the hell?"

"Why are we doing this?" she asked.

"Doing what?"

Kaelie took a few steps toward him, twirling some of her hair around her finger. "The playing around, making each other jealous. Why don't we just stop with the games? I want to be us again."

Jace laughed without humor. "This isn't some game. I've moved on, Kaelie. Whatever we had before is over and it's never happening again."

"What makes that redhead so special?" she huffed. "She can't really be doing it for you. She looks like Strawberry Shortcake for Christ sake." Her arms crossed over her chest. "What does she have that I don't?"

He held his arms out and dropped them at his sides. "For one, she doesn't treat me like I'm just an object used for show and tell. She doesn't always talk about herself when we're hanging out. Our relationship isn't solely based on sex. She makes me laugh. I feel like myself when I'm around her. It doesn't get any better than that."

Her mouth opened and closed before she finally spit it out. "So what we had meant nothing to you?"

"We had fun, but it wasn't really going anywhere. You have to at least know that."

"It wasn't that way for me," she said. "I loved you. I still do."

"You've got to be kidding me," Jace muttered. He raked a hand through his hair. "We went out for, what, three weeks? And during that time, we never talked about me. You don't know me enough to love me. What you feel is infatuation, just like every other girl before you did. Us hooking up a few times doesn't make us in love."

"So that's it, huh? You're just going to toss me away like I'm nothing." She diverted her gaze. "That's classic, Jace."

"Look, I'm sorry for treating you like crap, but I'm not that guy anymore. That player died a long time ago. You didn't deserve to have someone walk all over you like I did and I'm sorry for how things turned out, but nothing you say or do is going to change things. I'm happy right now, happier than I've ever been." Sighing, he raised his hand to her shoulder and gave her a sincere look. "Trust me, you're going to find a guy that puts up with your shoe talk and shopping obsession, but that guy isn't me. It never will be."

"You don't know that."

Jace shook his head. "I do."

"Do you . . . love her?" she asked.

He didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Her head swung side to side in denial. "I won't accept that," she said. "You'll get tired of her. I know you will. And when you're ready, I'll be there to show you what you've been missing out on." She leaned in closer, lifting her finger to his hand on her shoulder, causing him to retract it immediately. "Remember all of the mind-blowing sex we used to have? We can have that again, just say the words. I'll make you forget all about her."

That probably would've turned him on six months ago, but now . . . he felt nothing. He was as flaccid as ever. Even his body knew that he didn't want anyone but Clary. Turning his gaze skyward, he took a breath before looking back down at her, but that did nothing to calm him.

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" he asked her. "What will it take for you to understand that I don't want you anymore? What we had was just physical, nothing more. We're at different places. You want great sex, I want a relationship with someone who sees me for more than just my looks, and I have that. I have what I want already, Kaelie. So just—stop begging, please."

"I know you want me," she said, probably trying to convince herself. "All guys want me. I don't get rejected."

He shrugged. "Well you are right now. I'm done, Kaelie. Go find someone else to toy with."

Kaelie threw her arms out in a wild gesture, her face scrunching up with anger. "Fine," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I hope she's worth losing me."

Jace smirked. "She is."

With a frustrated squeal, she whipped around, almost smacking him with her hair, and stormed off.

Shrugging, Jace trailed back into the cafeteria before anyone noticed that he was gone for too long. He spotted everyone still at the table when he got there, but now, they were all staring at him.

"Let me guess," he said. "You guys saw."

"What did she want?" Isabelle asked.

Jace took a seat. "What do you think? She wanted to hookup again."

"And you turned that down?" Julian laughed. "You're a madman."

He played it off. "It would only make things more complicated. She can get clingy when she wants to, and I hate clingy." God, he sounded like such a douchebag. But this was what they wanted. Nothing could look suspicious.

He smirked, popping a grape into his mouth. "I know what you mean, mate. Girls can be right crazy when they want to be."

Isabelle attempted to stand when Jordan clamped a hand down on her shoulder, keeping her there.

Julian held his hands up in surrender. "Relax. I meant some girls."

Raphael started muttering in Spanish and Jace had to hold back a grin at what he was saying. That guy had a filthy mouth on him.

But before anyone could argue anymore, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Jace let out a breath and stood first.

"Right, well, I've had enough girl drama today, so I'd better get to class before Mrs. Anderson has my ass," he said, playing it off when all he really wanted was to get the hell away from them.

Picking up his pencil, Jace gave them a small salute before turning on his heel, tucking the pencil behind his ear as he did. When he put enough distance between himself and the cafeteria, he allowed himself to tense. They were right there, and knowing that he couldn't do a damn thing about it was making him lose his mind. He knew that everything would play out tomorrow, but the suspense was getting the best of him. He wanted to do something now, get it over with, but he couldn't. Not unless he wanted all of it to go to hell. He and Clary worked way too hard to get tomorrow to happen. They were close, so close.

All he had to do now was wait.

.o.O.o.

As soon as Jace got home from school, he was in the house, upstairs, out of Clary's window, and on the roof in less than a minute. When he finally spotted Clary, he slowed down in his stride, her presence hitting him like a freight train.

She was dressed in all black, most likely from the meeting she had with the Agency earlier. There was a gun in a holster at her side and her wavy, red locks were blowing in the wind. Her back was turned to him, and he wanted nothing more than to just walk up to her and wrap his arms around her waist. To just kiss the top of her head and whisper how much he missed her these past couple of weeks. But this was all about strategizing, not them. He could do all of those things tomorrow when all of this was over. Until then, he had to behave. Even though it killed him to do so.

Tucking his hands into his pockets, he trailed over to her. She turned once she saw him, her gaze filled with the same loathing that probably matched his own.

"Hey," he said first.

She smiled. "Hey."

He cleared his throat. "So, you talked to Luke?"

"Yeah, he agreed with helping us out. I told him that everything is happening tomorrow night." She pulled out a piece of paper and spread it out along the ledge. "And we came up with a pretty solid plan."

Jace looked down at the paper, seeing that it was a blueprint of the neighborhood. "Nice."

She looked up at him and grinned before turning her attention back to the paper. "So, as of now, Julian and Raphael think they're in control of the situation. And you said over the phone that they agreed to come over, right?"

He nodded. "To watch the Knicks game."

"Great. So while you guys are watching the game, I'll be hanging around the house, waiting until they make a move. Meanwhile, they'll be Agents set up here and here." She pointed to two places on the map. "We don't know if they'll be bringing company, so these Agents are just our backup plan. But if there are more, with the extra help, we'll be able to get out and get to safety without too many problems."

"What about Jordan?" Jace asked.

She let out a breath. "Well, we can't have anything happen to him, even if that means blowing our cover. We get the terrorists dealt with first, then explain later. At least he'll be alive."

"You don't think they'll hurt him do you?" He ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, this is about me, right?"

"I wouldn't put it past them. They've been trying to get to you for weeks and tomorrow is their only chance. They'll probably go after Jordan first to rule out any witnesses and that's when I'll step in," she said. "I'll fight them off while you get Jordan out of there."

Jace turned to her. "No way."

She sighed. "Jace . . ."

"We talked about this, Clary. I'm not leaving you with them. I know you're worried about me getting hurt, but we're stronger together than we are apart."

"But this could end in death," she said. "I don't want you to have to carry the weight of ending someone's life if it comes to that."

"I'm not afraid." He stared down at her. "If it means protecting the people that I care about, I'll do whatever it takes. Fight, hurt, kill." He took a small step towards her. "It's either us or them and if they get away, there's no telling who else they'll hurt."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I need you to be sure."

He responded without hesitation. "I'm sure. Trust me, after two weeks of pretending to be friends with those bastards, there's no way I'm not getting in on some of the action tomorrow."

Clary bit back a grin. "Okay." She turned. "Let's get back to the plan."

Jace nodded, looking back down at the map.

She pointed to a spot just outside of the neighborhood. "There's going to be a car loaded with everything we need, because if we keep the same one, we risk getting tracked. You already told Celine to stay away from the house, right?"

"Yeah, she's staying with a friend for the weekend."

"Good." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "And I'll talk to Luke about getting an Agent to check up on Jordan to make sure that he got home safely. But I don't think that he'll be in too much danger. You're who these people want."

He scratched his jaw. "Where are we going to be staying?"

"The penthouse," she said. "I've already contacted the hotel owner, Jeremiah. He knew my mother pretty well, so he's happy to help us out. Room service is stocking the fridge and cleaning the rooms right this moment so it'll be ready for us."

"You've really got this all planned out, don't you?"

She turned to him and smirked. "We went over this already. I'm the brains of this operation. Now, as long as everything goes according to plan, we should be back here by the end of the weekend."

Jace sighed. "What if it doesn't?"

"Then we improvise," she said simply. "We keep fighting and we watch each other's backs. Sometimes things don't go according to plan. That's why we have to be prepared for anything."

"We will be." He tentatively reached out and tucked a flyaway hair behind her ear, careful not to let it go any further than that. "They might think that they're badass, but we're more badass." He reached down, removing the gun from her holster. Cocking it, he aimed it at a nearby tree, knowing that if he took the shot he wouldn't miss his mark. "Just give me a couple of these babies and I'll be set."

Turning the safety back on, Clary took the gun back and rolled her eyes. "Even when we're up against terrorists, you still feel the need to be cocky. It's amazing."

"I'm always cocky." He tucked his hands back into his pockets. "You know this, Tiger."

She grinned, stepping closer. "I know, and I like it when you're cocky. As annoying as it is," she said, "it's kind of a turn on."

"Damn it, Clary." He pushed out a breath, taking a step back. "You can't say things like that."

She sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just been way too long. I never knew two weeks could go by so slow."

"Me either."

Clary looked like she was about to say something when Jace's phone buzzed in his pocket. Furrowing his brows, he dug into his jeans to take a look at the message. When he saw who it was, he cursed under his breath and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He didn't have to look at what it said to know that it was something provocative.

Clary raised a brow. "Who was that?"

Jace held his hands out. "Okay, I know that we're not talking about relationship stuff right now, but there's something I need to tell you. I'd rather get this over with now, before it gets in the way of what we have to do tomorrow."

She crossed her arms, which he found extremely intimidating. "Alright."

He braced himself. "I talked to Kaelie today."

"Alright," she repeated.

"It's not what it sounds like," he said. "She cornered me in the hall after I talked to you."

"And?"

"She wanted to hookup, but I told her that I didn't want anything to do with that anymore. You're all I want, Clary. Nothing she says or does will convince me otherwise."

She giggled and pushed his shoulder. "I know that, asshole. I was just messing with you."

Jace narrowed his eyes at her. "That's not nice, Tiger."

"So," she said. "What did the message say?"

"I'd rather not show you."

She smirked and before he could tell what was happening, she'd wrestled him to the ground. Her face was right in front of his, her legs on either side of his hips. Jace bit down on his bottom lip to refrain himself from kissing her as she dug into his pocket, dangerously close to a part of him that was begging for her attention. Once she got the phone, she stood, running a hand through her soft curls. Jace stayed on the ground for a moment, trying to calm down before pushing himself up, adjusting his jeans as he did.

"Let's see. Oh, it's a message from the bimbo herself." She cleared her throat, making her voice a pitch higher and nasally. "'I know I sounded pissed earlier, but I'm just passionate about us. What we had was electric. It's simple geography, Jace. We belong together.'"

Jace stared at her. "I didn't think it was possible for me to get this turned off."

Clary laughed. "If only she knew the difference between physics and geography, that could've been convincing."

"She's freaking insane. I can't get her off my back no matter what I say. I tried nice, I tried being an ass. Nothing's worked."

"I'll handle it."

He raised a brow. "How?"

Removing a dagger from her pants, she twirled it around her finger, her eyes turning a darkened shade of green. "You know, I'm getting sick and tired of her pining after you. If she wants to play this game, I'll play it with her. She's safe for the rest of the week, but on Monday, it's on." Without looking, she hurled the knife to the side, impaling one of the gargoyles on top of his neighbor's house. "You've staked your claim," she said. "Maybe it's about time that I staked mine."

Jace watched as she folded the map back up and stuck it into her pocket. She then climbed onto the edge of the roof, standing with both feet spread apart. She wasn't doing it on purpose, but she was turning him on like crazy. And he still hadn't kissed her, barely even touched her. He swore, after tomorrow, all of those things would be done in full.

Turning back to him, Clary smirked and tied her hair up into a knot. "Make sure you're on your A-game. Follow the plan and be ready for anything. Because tomorrow," she faced forward again. "We're kicking ass, Herondale."

Then she jumped, disappearing off of the roof without a sound. Jace watched as she did, knowing that she even though she was smirking, she was one-hundred percent serious. Tomorrow was it. They couldn't treat this like a game. Lives could be lost, secrets would come out. It was going to be wild. So he had to stay focused, had to be prepared. This was about more than just him and Clary. This was about everyone that they were close to. If Starkweather wanted to take it up a notch, they had to also. He wasn't just standing by this time. All of the intense training that he endured had been leading up to something like this. He didn't know if everything would go according to plan, but Clary was right about one thing.

Tomorrow, they were kicking ass.

What did you think?

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A/N: Did I just make the suspense worse? I know, I'm a bad person, but I just can't help it! Are you guys nervous about the next chapter? Hopefully everything will go as planned, but you never know . . . You'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, while you think about that, here's the chapter question,

Question: What's a fun/weird fact about you? I have a lot of weird facts, but here are some:

1. I can read an entire book in a little over a day.

2. My dad was on the TV show Homicide: Life on the Street.

3. I'm pretty good with a balisong/butterfly knife.