Clary had been sitting in Java Jones for well over an hour. Where the hell was Jace? Things had been so hectic lately that they'd barely spent any time together and it wasn't like him to leave her alone in the city. What if Valentine had taken him again? She had left two voicemails and her three texts had received no response. Anxious now, Clary glugged down the rest of her second coffee and hurriedly left.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining but the midsummer had not brought its usual heat yet. Clary crossed the road and turned down the main street towards the institute. As she did so she was assaulted by the memory of Jace kissing her there. She stopped and allowed the memory to wash over her. That's all there ever could be - memories. She and Jace were siblings now and that's the relationship she wanted to build, until he'd blown her off, that is.
She entered the institute and nearly tripped over Church, who took one look at her, sensed her mood and scuttled away.
'Hey, Clary!' Isabel was walking towards her from the direction of Jace's room.
'Is he in?' Clary asked, somewhat curtly
'Jace? I thought he was with you. Is everything ok?'
'That's what I'm trying to find out.'
Clary left Isabel and proceeded down the hall to Jace's room, flinging the door open without bothering to knock. 'Jace! Where the hell were…'
She never finished the sentence because the whole world seemed to stop. Clary's mouth hung open at the sight before her. There was not one, but two naked girls in Jace's bed. When they saw Clary they began grabbing at items of their clothing that were scattered around the room. Jace came in from the bathroom. 'Going already ladies? Round two too much for you?'
That was when he saw her. 'Clary, I…'
She felt sick. Clary closed the door and stood for a moment with her back to it while she gathered herself. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel about this. Was she supposed not to mind? To forget about it? She needed to leave, to be anywhere but where she was. She hadn't got far before Jace grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him.
'Clary, I'm sorry.'
'For what? For book club?' she hated him right then, 'We had a…'
'What? A date?' He put his hand on her arm and lowered his voice so that no one else would hear, 'You know that's not possible for us.'
'An arrangement!' She couldn't keep the betrayal out of her voice, 'So instead you thought you'd throw me over for the 'gogo' twins in there?'
Jace folded his arms and took a step back, 'So because I can't have the person I want, I should stay single. Is that it?'
Clary wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him or slap the sneer off his face. Instead, with more calm than she felt, she simply replied, 'Do you see me with anybody else?' With that she turned and walked away.
