A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! This chapter was a lot easier to write!
"S-Simon?" Clary shook. The kiss was unpredicted, and done without authority.
"No!" Clary shrieked. She pushed Simon's shoulders back. "How could you Simon? HOW could you?"
"Clary, I -" Simon said.
"Not you, Simon!" She yelled. "I trusted you!" She pushed him back again, until he fell against the door. "You know I care about Jace! YOU KNOW!"
"GET OUT!" She screamed, her hair disheveled. "GO! I never want to see you again!"
Simon slid out, just in time for one of Clary's blades to stick to the door.
Clary slid onto the bed with her face in her hands. She had overreacted, she knew that. But Simon... Why? He had been Clary's closest friend. Forever. She trusted him to care about her as a friend. A sister, even.
And then, Clary's already fragile heart broke again. For a friend that had shattered any form of trust she held in him.
She remembered what Jace has said.
"Leave, go! I don't want you here!"
He just wanted to protect her, but he needed to learn to have faith in Clary. He couldn't protect her forever. She wasn't his property.
Clary packed up her suitcase and shoved it under the bed. She checked her watch. 8:00 pm. Shadow Hunters would be enforcing a curfew by now, along with mundane police. She quietly hid in the bathroom, and waited.
In a few minutes, she heard the door to the room opened.
"Clary?"
It was Lila. Clary had fed her the lie that she would leave, for she knew Lila would pass it on to Jace.
"Holy shit, there's a knife in the door!"
"She must've been pretty angry at you."
"It looks like she's left." Izzy, now. Probably checking to see if she was still there.
"Jace, you asshole!" Lila yelled. Clary didn't dare to breathe.
"I didn't want her to be here." Jace. Clary's heart told her to run out of the bathroom, and to smack him. Then to take his hand, but she couldn't.
"One of these days," Izzy snarled, "You're going to do something to Clary that will send her over the edge. She's not a child."
Jace gave a loud sigh. "But she's safe."
"And she hates you." Lila said, incredulously.
"C'mon Lila, Jace, Simon. Let's go."
Simon? So, he hadn't told anyone she was staying. And he most defiantly hadn't told Izzy about the kiss. Good. Clary didn't want to deal with that right now.
She slowly opened the door, and walked in the room. Her foot kicked a pillow that had probably been thrown at Jace.
They hadn't pulled the knife out, so Clary yanked it free, and slid it into the holster. She pulled her red curls into a pony tail, keeping it out of her face.
She looked in the mirror on the wall. The same mirror she looked in moments before the muggers attacked her. Moments before Jace saved her.
She would be alone in this one. But Lila had been alone for so long, why couldn't Clary?
She stepped outside the room.
She was about to leave the hotel, when she saw Jace's back down the hall. She dove under the secretary's desk, which was thankfully empty.
"Listen, Herondale, I need to talk to you." Simon said loudly, vying for attention. Clary hunched under the desk, intently listening.
"Not now Lewis, ok?" Jace said. He was tired; Clary could hear it in his voice.
"No, now! I need you to hear it from me." Simon said impatiently. "But… Wait 'till I finish, ok?"
Clary could practically hear Jace roll his eyes. "What is of such dire importance, vampire?"
"I kissed Clary."
An eerie and deadly silence followed.
"You what?" Jace yelled. "You son of a bitch!" Clary heard a thump, and assumed Jace had punched Simon.
"You BASTARD. And Izzy loves you! And Clary cared about you! WHAT THE HELL?"
"You didn't let me explain!"
"I don't care you jackass!"
"It got her out of town!"
There was a dawning of realization. "I'm listening." Jace said, finally.
"She wasn't planning on leaving. She told Lila she was leaving so Lila would tell you."
They walked up to the desk. Clary froze, her heart almost stopping. Jace's fist pounded on the desk.
"Damn it!"
"You didn't let me finish again, Wayland."
"Herondale."
"Whatever!" Simon yelled, frustrated. "I figured if, I, you know, kissed her, she would hate me enough to leave!"
They didn't say anything for a few minutes. "I don't like your methods, Lewis. But… thanks."
And as they were walking out the door, Jace added, "And if you ever lay a finger on Clary again, I will personally beat the living shit out of you."
Clary couldn't help but smile.
She peeked around the corner of the desk to make sure they had gone. She brushed her off her gear, straightened, and opened the door.
Clary's eyes widened, for she witnessed all hell breaking loose on Los Angeles.
A/N: Yes, this was a short chapter, but it was one of my favorites. I love Clary's emotional outburst.
Keep reviewing please! Please please!