The banging was what woke Clary up.

She lay on her side facing the end of the bed, her hands clutching Jace's arms that were holding her comfortingly, her legs intertwined with his. His warm breath blew onto her neck and she had to force herself to open her eyes from the little heaven she had been in since the night before.

There was more banging, and then a voice. "Jace Wayland, get your ass out of bed this moment or I'm coming in!" Isabelle screamed demandingly.

Clary felt a gust of wind on her neck as Jace let out a sigh and pulled his body away from hers. "Hold on, Iz," he called as he moved off the bed and pulled on a sweater, gathering Clary's shoes and stuffing them under the bed as he ushered her into his en suit. "Don't say a thing," he warned her in a quiet tone.

Clary stood on the cool tiled flaw in shock and confusing, even after Jace had closed the bathroom door and she heard his footsteps moving away from her. What the hell had happened last night? She knew they hadn't done anything apart from sleep and cuddle, but she could still feel the pressure of his lips on her forehead. She could also remember the feeling of Sebastian's hands on her, but she couldn't think about that now. Not at eight o'clock in the morning. Not before a coffee.

She pushed her face against the crack in the door as she heard Isabelle enter Jace's bedroom.

"What the hell did you do?" Isabelle screeched as she pushed Jace backwards, although he didn't even lose his balance.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific, Iz, I do a lot of stuff," Jace said in an amused tone.

Isabelle scoffed. "Yeah, you've got that right. But I'm not here to tell you off for the number of women you've slept with, Jace. I'm talking about Sebastian."

Even through the small sliver of vision that Clary had, she could practically sense Jace stiffen and tense. "What about him?"

"I just saw him getting on our plane back to his parents' holiday house in France for the weekend. He gave me some half-assed, completely bullshit excuse about wanting to spend time with his family. But you know Sebastian, and you know that can't be the truth."

"So you just automatically assume I did something to set him off running? Or flying, technically."

"Considering that he had cuts and bruises all over his face and couldn't move one of his arms… Yeah, I do in fact. It's not like Dad to go around bashing up our guests. You, on the other hand… I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised," Isabelle snapped, folding her arms over her chest.

"Thanks for having so much faith in me. It's really heart warming," Jace retorted sarcastically. "Listen, I have no idea what happened to Sebastian. I saw him go out late last night; he probably went to meet his Hamptons dealer and ran into some trouble. You know how he is with that sort of crap." He seemed so relax and at ease that Clary almost believed him herself.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at her brother. "You don't seem very concerned, especially seeing as he is your guest and your friend."

Jace shrugged. "It's happened so many times before that I know he'll be fine. I'll give him a call after my shower just to check on him though, if that makes you any happier."

"Mhmmm," the dark haired girl pursed her lips and glared at Jace in disbelief, looking unimpressed, before her face lit up as her mind thought of something else. "Oh! You haven't seen Clary, have you? She's not in her room and none of the staff have seen her."

"Uh, yeah. I saw her leave about a half hour ago; it looked like she was going for a run. She'll probably be back soon," Jace lied smoothly.

"Okay, well, I'll see you at breakfast. And don't forget about the Bershire's Gala this afternoon," Isabelle called over her shoulder as she flounced out, slamming the door behind her.

For a few moments, Clary continued to watch Jace as he stood staring at the door, hands in his pockets. When he moved and she lost vision of him, she tried to turn her head more but was suddenly knocked back with force as the door opened, slamming into her forehead and causing her to fall onto her butt.

"Ow! Jesus!" Clary exclaimed as she clutched a hand to just above her eyebrow.

"Were you spying on me?" Jace raised an eyebrow as he stood towering above her from her position on the bathroom floor.

Clary flushed a deep pink. "No. I just… I, uh…"

"Well I guess there's no point in me replaying that whole conversation seeing as you've already heard it." A small smile was forcing itself across the boy's lips. He held out a hand, helping Clary up. After she'd gotten to her feet, for a few moments after Jace held onto her hand before realizing that he should probably let go. He let out an awkward cough. "Don't worry about Sebastian. He won't tell anyone anything. I made sure of that."

"I'm not worried," Clary lied. Not as smoothly as Jace, though.

"I can tell when you're lying, Clary," Jace grinned. He lifted up a hand and rested his thumb gently on her bottom lip. "You do this cute little lip bite. As a matter of fact, I think you should lie more. It's adorable," he paused for a moment. "Do you think I'm attractive?"

"No," Clary said automatically.

The boy's grin grew even wider as he pulled her lip out from under her teeth. "You should really work on that. Otherwise you'll never be able to play poker. It's a complete giveaway."

Clary felt herself groan inwardly as his hand came away from her face. Her fingers shook as she cleared her throat. "Um, Jace. About last night…"

"Which part?"

"When we were in bed… And I…"

Something flashed in Jace's eyes before all the previous emotions that he had been showing in them – adoration, happiness, amusement – was gone. "Oh God, please tell me you're not one of those girls who automatically thinks we're dating just because we shared a bed and spooned." Clary couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about his voice that was almost robotical. Devoid of all earlier feelings. It was like he was purposely shutting her out. "You were upset and I comforted you. That's all there is to it."

It was like he'd just slapped her hard across the face. She hoped that her features didn't show what was happening to her on the inside. It was like he was pulling, pulling, pulling her in and the snapping the rope and letting her fall backwards. She stumbled for words. "No. I mean yeah, of course. Totally," she stammered, pushing past him and making a direct exit through his bedroom door.

I'm sorry this is so short, I just felt so bad that I hadn't updated in like a week so I thought I'd write a little something. I'll post more tomorrow night.