People were already drunk when they got to the party.

There were motorbikes and cars outside and there were two older men, probably in their late forties, who were standing beside the motorbikes, with beers in one hand and joints in the other. Lights were on inside the old looking building and there was a lot of noise.

Clary had never been nervous before going into a party before.

But she was now.

When Jace got off his bike, he gripped her hand firmly in his, giving her a look that she couldn't quite decipher as his eyes trailed up and down, before he gave her a quick smirk and tugged on her hand, pulling her up the stairs, across the deck and into the building. The first thing that hit Clary was the heat, from the amount of people who were crammed into the room, and then there was the intense smell of weed and alcohol. She blinked as she tried to take it all in, but there was just so much movement and so much happening that she couldn't even begin to process what she was looking at.

So she kept her eyes down and let Jace pull her through the crowd.

They moved easily, and even though she didn't look up, she knew that people must be moving for them, because there was no way in a place this crowded that they were moving this smoothly if there weren't people parting.

"Clary!" Came a call and she looked up, blinking as she tried to pinpoint the voice. It wasn't hard, it was Magnus, but she was trying to find him in the crowd.

"Over here," Jace said to her, looking over his shoulder and back at her, and then he was suddenly stopping and tugging her forward, pushing her away from him. Clary's eyes widened in surprise, but then she saw Magnus and Maia sitting on bar stools, and she felt relief wash over her. "I'll find you soon, okay?" Jace said, but before waiting for a reply, he was already walking away. Clary watched him for a moment, and then he disappeared and there were a couple of girls who shifted into the space they had cleared for him, and they were looking at her with narrow, curious eyes. Clary just narrowed her eyes back at them and then quickly made her way over to Magnus and Maia.

"Hey, girl," Maia grinned and hooked her ankle around the bar stool next to her, giving it a jerk so that it was pulled out from the bar. "Take a seat, you kinda gotta find your space up in here, or else you'll get swept away." She was obviously comfortable, and Clary didn't think for a minute that she would get 'swept away' but she was grateful someone was looking out for her.

"This place is crazy," she breathed out as she hopped up on the bar stool and finally looked around, slowly, taking it in person by person. There were a crowd of guys at the pool table, all loud and boisterous, beers in their hands, a couple of them groping girls who didn't seem to mind at all. Magnus and Maia started talking, and there was some guy who looked a bit younger than most of the same who brought them over drinks. Clary was hesitant as she took it, one of the biggest things that she had learnt from her past few years at parties was to not take open drinks from someone you didn't know. But Magnus told her that no one would dare put anything in her drink, and she would be safe, and Clary trusted him, even though she barely knew him, and so she drank from it.

Maia and Magnus looked completely normal, but what was going on around them was not.

About half an hour after they had been there, Alec came in with a pretty girl who had similar features to him, and so she assumed that was his sister, Isabelle Lightwood, that Jace had mentioned. They greeted a few people before coming over, and Clary was trying to psyche herself up to say 'hi' when Isabelle fixed her with a withering glare.

As in, her glare could put Clary's to shame.

Maybe even Lydia's.

That fleeting thought of Lydia that came to her mind made her inwardly cringe, and she shoved it down as Alec leaned in to kiss Magnus on the mouth.

He nodded at Maia and then at Clary, although the tightening at the corner of his lips when he looked at Clary was obvious, and she felt herself stiffen on the bar stool Isabelle didn't even look at her, just hugged Magnus and then Maia, whispering something in Maia's ear that Clary had no chance of hearing over the noise in the clubhouse. Maia's eyes flicked toward Clary before giving Isabelle a light push away. Clary's shoulders were tensed and her fingers tightened around the bottle she was holding. She was gripping it so tight that her knuckles were white, and if she was thinking about what she was doing, then she would be worried about breaking the bottle. Isabelle spoke with Maia and Magnus for a few minutes, Alec already walking off, but she was pointedly ignoring Clary.

"Izzy," Jace's voice was sharp as he suddenly materialized at Clary's side. The warmth of his arm against hers made her feel a bit better and she tried to let out a couple of indiscernible breaths. Isabelle pursed her lips together, scrunching up her nose before flouncing off.

"The fucks up her ass?" Clary muttered as she drank from the bottle in her hand. Jace didn't say anything, just gave her a quick smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. She looked up at him for a moment, taking in the piercing in his eyebrow and the purse of his pink mouth, his lips looking a little wet from whatever it was that he had been drinking.

"'Hey!" Came a cheerful voice and Clary's attention was drawn away. The girl had long brown hair and a kind face, which looked a little out of place with the tiny yellow and pink dress that she was wearing, showing off her cleavage and long, slim legs. "Jace—who's your girl?"

"This is Clary," Jace told her and there was a strange expression that flickered over the girls face. It disappeared just as fast as it had happened.

"Oh—hey! I'm Tessa," she grinned and leaned forward, wrapping an arm around Clary. Clary blinked in surprise, especially given the cold reception that she had gotten from the last people who had come over. "Hold this thought—" she flashed another grin at Clary before looking at Jace. "Will and Jem are looking for you, they were saying something about starting a fire out the back." Jace rolled his eyes but there was an amused smile on his face and so he nodded before disappearing again. Tessa turned her attention back Clary. "Sorry about that. The boys can get a little unruly when left alone."

"Right," Clary gave her a small, uncertain smile, because it looked to her like everyone here got unruly.

"Jace is Will's cousin, but he's more like a big brother or second father to him. And then there's Jem," there was a fond smile on her face and Clary wondered for a moment what the relationship between Tessa and the boys were, because of that smile, but then Tessa and Maia started talking about Raphael and some girl that he was fooling around with that none of them liked. Gossip was definitely something that Clary was familiar with, so that was something that she could sit there and listen to.

The further along the evening went, the crazier the place got.

Maia and Magnus were probably the most sober ones there, because Clary definitely wasn't, throwing back every drink that was brought over by the young guy, who she had found out was named Duncan Armstrong. He talked to her for a little bit, and she was surprised to find out he was actually a year younger than her. Apparently he was a prospect, which meant that he did all the boring jobs, like bringing drinks around and cleaning up. He was actually quite cute, with floppy hair and a wide smile, and if Clary wasn't here with Jace, he would definitely be catching her eye.

Tessa had looked so sweet and innocent, despite her revealing dress, but sometime after midnight, two guys stumbled inside, laughing and shoving at each other. One of them actually looked quite similar to Jace, even though he had dark coloured hair and deep blue eyes, there was just something about the way he held himself and those high cheekbones that looked familiar. The two were both drunk, clearly, and they were having a good time, and then they found Tessa with their eyes and it was like it switched up.

Clary almost fell off her seat in surprise as the three of them starting kissing and rubbing up against each other, Will Herondale in front of Tessa and cupping her face with his hands and not at all ashamed as he pushed his tongue into her mouth. Jem Carstairs was behind her, his hands travelling up and down her body, tugging at the hem of her skirt, laughing as Magnus shouted at them to get a room and unabashedly herding the other two down the hallway at the back of the room.

Given everything that she had been drinking, she finally mentioned to Maia that she needed to go to the bathroom. Maia told her that she wasn't going to let her go to the bathroom alone, which Clary was grateful for, and they began walking toward the back of the clubhouse. Maia shoved a few people out of the way, including some bigger men with scary faces and leather jackets, but they didn't really react to her, some of them just mumbling and rolling their eyes. Clary was trying to keep her eyes locked on the back of Maia's head, not wanting to look around too much, although she felt that she might be safe once they went down a hallway and it didn't seem as though there was anyone around.

Except for when Maia pushed open the door for the bathroom and Clary's eyes flew open as she saw Duncan leaning against the stained sink in the corner, his jeans down around his knees and a girl in front of him, obviously giving him head even if that was kind of hidden by her face and hair.

"Oh god," Maia didn't look surprised, sort of just bored. "Come on, take it somewhere else," she said and Duncan rolled his eyes at her before straightening up and shoving himself back into his jeans, not bothering to do them up and shoving past the two of them. He didn't even try to help the blonde girl up, and she didn't even seem upset about it, which Clary would have been pissed about. Her top was unbuttoned and her bra was pulled down so that one of her breasts were out, and she gave Maia and Clary a dirty look before pushing past them. "Alright, go to the bathroom, I'll wait here."

Clary laid toilet paper on the seat of the toilet before she sat down, having no clue what had happened in this stall, and she spent a few minutes just staring at the massive poster of a completely naked girl stretched out over a motorbike opposite her.

Her head was spinning a little.

Her vision was a little blurry.

Clary took longer than she usually would to adjust her dress, making sure that it was properly smoothed out before she stumbled out of the stall to wash her hands. When she and Maia walked back into the main room, they had to step around Alec and Magnus who were making out and very clearly on their way to doing something more, judging by Magnus' hand shoved down the front of Alec's pants. It was kind of hot actually, and Maia had to tug on her arm with an amused look after a moment of her watching the two of them together. Jace came over to them as soon as they came back into the well lit room.

"We need to get out of here," he told her, wrapping his fingers around her wrist.

"Why?" Clary frowned, eyes blinking blearily.

"Because I need to get your out of this dress and onto my cock," Jace replied and Maia let out a snort, obviously hearing the words, wiggling her fingers at the pair before walking off. Clary didn't really process it, though, because she was staring at Jace, shocked by his words.

If Jordan said that to her, she would have slapped him.

When Jace said it, she just nodded her head silently and let him drag her out of the building.

Hey, guys. Hope you enjoyed the update. Be kind and well.