Lots of people have questions about Simon, don't worry. All shall be answered. Part of it comes in here, although not too much is sorted out...Now this story and Safe Haven are both not to far away from being finish. But I've got two more stories that I will be adding around Christmas, one is the motorbike fic that I have told you guys about, which is called Hearts Gone Wrong, and the second is Fire and Gold, an idea that I came up with a few weeks ago and have just started playing around with. So that's something to look forward to :) Anyway, on with the chapter...

Kaelie was still there at the end of the week.

It wasn't as if Clary had any power over who came and who stayed in the house, so she tried to keep her mouth shut, but she couldn't help the way her body prickled when the blonde was near. Alec acted exactly the same as usual—kind of distant and uninterested—but Isabelle was clearly happy to have her cousin around. They had weird little...Things that they did with each other. Like laughing and saying 'that's what she said' and pointing at each other when someone said something even vaguely dirty. They also had the same tic when they were bored—bouncing their leg up and down almost furiously.

It annoyed the hell out of Clary.

And Jace just seemed oblivious.

To the fact that Clary was grinding her teeth in frustration or that Kaelie was flirting with him every opportunity she got. Clary guessed that she should be happy that Jace didn't look at all interested in Kaelie, but she still wished he would tell her to piss off when she giggled and batted her fake eyelashes.

"Yo, Izzy!" Aline called from behind the cashier register and Clary looked up from where she was making a cappuccino for her customer. Isabelle waved at them as she came in the front door, holding it open her companion, who Clary instantly recognized as Kaelie. Clary ducked back behind the coffee maker to hide her frown as the two approached the counter. "You not working today, girl?" Aline raised an eyebrow at Isabelle as she came up to the counter.

"It's pretty quiet, so I've left the boys in charge," Isabelle grinned.

"Well, that's risky," Aline laughed.

"Hell, yeah," Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Anyway, can I please have an iced coffee?" Kaelie approached where Clary was finishing off the coffee and studied her for a moment. There was a sickly sweet smile plastered on the blondes face and Clary felt her stomach turn over as she glanced up.

"If you want a drink, you just need to order with Aline," she told her, attempting to keep her voice helpful rather than harsh.

"Oh, I just thought that you and I could have a talk," Kaelie suggested.

"I'm working at the moment," Clary replied, wiping down the spilt milk around her customers mug. "And I don't think that there's anything that you and me need to talk about." With that, she picked up the coffee mug and walked out into the seating area to find her customer. Her back was stiff and her neck tense as she walked away, able to feel Kaelie's eyes on her. When she came back, she offered to sort out the rubbish and recycling—a job that her and Aline usually flipped a coin of. Once she had finished and come back into the café, Isabelle and Kaelie had left and Aline was studying her, shaking her head.

"What?" Clary asked as she tied her apron back around her waist.

"You don't run from a girl like Kaelie," Aline commented, looking at her knowingly.

"What? I'm not running," Clary protested weakly, but pressed her lips shut when Aline raised an eyebrow. She sighed and turned to start refilling the sugar container. "I don't like her."

"Because she had a thing with Jace?"

"No," Clary quickly answered. "Not because she had a thing with Jace—because she still has a thing for him," she huffed and took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "She just..." Clary gave a one shouldered shrug. "She just flirts with him all the time and looks at him and—" she threw the empty bag of sugar down, annoyed at how she sounded. "I sound like such a pathetic girlfriend right now!" Aline surprised her by laughing in response.

"So what?" She grinned. "You're jealous."

"But that's not a good thing!"

"Eh," Aline shrugged. "It's not necessarily a bad thing. It means you care about him, and you don't want someone stealing him." Aline saw how distressed the red head looked and came over to her. "Jace loves you. That much is clear. I haven't known him as long as you or Isabelle or Alec have, but I remember him talking about you a couple of years ago." Clary's ears prickled slightly at that. "And the second anyone see's you two together, you can see that he's smitten. Kaelie's a flirt. You just need to ignore it."

"I guess," Clary snapped, feeling slightly better. She picked up another bag of sugar, to finish topping up the machine. "Are you coming over tonight?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Of course," Aline replied, turning back to face several customers who had just walked in. "I never miss a Friday."

Jace's fingers dug into her ass he kept her balanced on his lap. Clary's fingers were curled into his blonde strands, tugging on them lightly as they made out. The kiss was full of tongue and saliva, but neither of them cared that they were out in public, intoxicated by alcohol, marijuana and each other. Jace's tongue traced the warm cavern of her mouth, sucking on her tongue and inviting her into his own mouth. Clary moaned as he tightened his grip on her ass and rolled forward—against his very obvious erection.

"Get a room!" Came a shout from behind them, and they turned to see Jordan and Maia grinning at them. Jace pulled the fingers at them jokingly before going back to the red head. Clary giggled and ducked her head, so that it was resting on her shoulder.

"We could go inside," Jace suggested, nudging her and wiggling his eyebrows.

"At ten o'clock? I think that would be just a little obvious," Clary rolled her eyes.

"And?" Jace persisted, matching her grin. "It's not as though everyone here doesn't know that I get to tap that fine ass." To emphasize his point, he gave her ass another squeeze. Clary laughed and shook her head.

"Maybe later," she told him, before sliding off his lap and looking around the backyard. Maia was straddling Jordan, the pair of them sharing a cigarette extremely intimately. Aline had brought a girl around—a girl that she had always tried to play off as just a booty call but it was clear they cared about each other—and they were talking to Alec, all looking well on their way to being drunk. Isabelle and Magnus were laughing and by the back door, sitting on the concrete steps, passing the bong between themselves.

Kaelie was nowhere in sight.

"Our Red want a hit?" Isabelle called out, holding out the bong.

"No, I'm fine," Clary replied with a smile. Magnus stood up, taking the bong from Isabelle and walking over to them.

"You're going to need a hit, babe," he told her, giving her a look as though he knew something she didn't. Clary didn't think much of it, and just shrugged and took the bong and lighter. She rested it on the table and lit it up, inhaling the tainted smoke. Just as she was handing it back, Kaelie came out the back door, her eyes wide—a little too wide.

"Hey, guys!" Kaelie announced, giving Isabelle a kiss on the cheek before going over to the iPod that was plugged into the speakers. She scrolled through until selecting a bouncy, bubble gum pop sounding song. Jace laughed as she started dancing, Isabelle and Aline happy to join in with her.

"She's buzzing on something," Magnus muttered, rolling his eyes.

"She's always on something," Jace replied, still grinning. "That's just typical Kaelie." Clary had something else that she wanted to mutter was 'typical Kaelie' but she kept her lips pressed together. The blonde rolled her hips, grinding with Aline and then sending sultry looks over at Jace. Magnus shot Clary a worried look as she clenched her small hands into fists. Alec was walking over to them, ducking around the three girls and giving Magnus a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down on the other side of Jace. The two boys started talking, and Clary calmed down slightly as it became obvious that Jace wasn't interested in watching Kaelie. But that didn't sto the girl from shooting him looks very few seconds out of the corner of her eye. Clary's shoulders were tensing in annoyance and she finally leaned over to Jace.

"I'm just gonna go inside for a sec," she murmured to him. He turned back to her, a worried expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she assured him and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth before heading back inside. She walked into the tiny kitchen in Jace's—practically their—flat. She poured herself a glass of water and took a moment to breathe. Her phone was plugged into the charger just above the microwave, and her eyes widened in surprise as she checked in and saw a text from Simon, sent about an hour and a half ago.

Can I ring?

Clary quickly sent off a reply, forgetting about the blonde outside as she hoped that her best friend still had his phone on his. After two minutes of silence, she sent off another text, and then pulled herself up so that she was sitting on the bench, phone in one hand and glass of water in the other. She heard the door open in the lounge, and glanced over, hoping that it was Jace coming inside.

It wasn't.

"Little Red," Kaelie cooed.

"It's Clarissa," Clary corrected, her eyes narrowing slightly as the girl joined her in the kitchen. She didn't appear perturbed by Clary's blunt tone as she leaned against the fridge.

"So, Clarissa," she drawled out her name in a way that made Clary want to smash her glass against the girls pretty head. "How's it going?"

"Fine," Clary bit out, her fingers tightening around her glass of water, her knuckles whitening.

"I think that you and I might of got off on the wrong foot," Kaelie continued. Clary didn't say anything, praying that her phone would ring and save her from this uncomfortable situation. "I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything, it's just I know you and Jace aren't going to last. I don't see the point in getting all worked up about it." Clary let out a laugh of disbelief.

"Not trying to be a bitch," she muttered and shook her head. "Seriously, do you have absolutely no respect for boundaries? When you were first here you were bragging about your fling with some married guy and now me and Jace?! Where the fuck is your fucking sense of morality?!" Clary hadn't noticed her voice rising as she had slid down, off the bench, and she was practically shouting. Kaelie looked unfazed, in fact, there was a small smirk pulling at her lips.

"Darling," Kaelie began, almost purring. "You were a game. I'm sure you and Jace are friends, but do you really think that you can hold his interest as anything more than that?" She was stepping closer and closer to Clary, and the petite red head was cursing her lack of height for umpteenth time. Kaelie's smirk was gone, and her expression was made of stony disdain, while Clary knew that her cheeks were turning scarlet with anger. "You were fun because you were challenge—something to chase over the years. But now that you've given it up and let him into your golden cunt, you're gonna get old and boring. And then he's gonna come back to the one who sucked his cock best—"

Kaelie was broken off as Clary's hand came up and smacked her hand right across the blondes face. Kaelie gasped and looked as though she was going to launch at her, but suddenly Magnus was between them, holding his hands up.

"That's enough!" He announced, his voice loud and authorative, completely unlike the Magnus Clary was used to. "You," he glared at Kaelie. "Sort your fucking shit out and stop being a fucking hoe—leave Jace and Clary alone! And you," he switched his angry look to Clary. "I know she's a whore—everyone knows she's a whore. But you need to respect the fact that she's Izzy and Alec's cousin, and we're in their home!" The two girls continued to stare at each other, fire spitting out of their eyes. Finally, Kaelie let out a huff and turned on her heel, storming out. Magnus turned to Clary and looked as though he was going to say something else, but she cut him off by stalking out the side door and into the bedroom that she shared with Jace. She slammed the door shut, banging her head back against the wood in frustration. Tears clouded her vision, and there was a horrible knot at the pit of her stomach, that made her want to throw up.

She was furious.

At herself for letting her anger at getting the better of her and also out of embarrassment for Magnus needing to step in. But most of it was directed at Kaelie, and everything the girl had said to her, presuming that she knew where the relationship was going.

Suddenly her phone started ringing and Clary blinked blearily down at the screen. Simons name flashed up at her and Clary sighed, releasing a shaky breath and swiping at her nose before answering.

"Hey," she said, trying to cover up the crackle in her voice. There was no reply for a moment and she strained to hear, laughing and music in the background. "Hello?"

"Clary, hey," Simon's voice suddenly filtered through the phone and for a second, Clary felt better. The sound of her best friends voice calmed her and she tilted her head forward, letting her chin drop near her chest and breathing in through her nose. "Sorry, I'll try go somewhere quieter." There was some shuffling and then what sounded like a door slamming shut, and then Simon was back. "Clary?"

"Still here,"she replied.

"I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you," he began. "It's just—"

"What happened, Si?" She asked, hoping that she didn't sound outloud as snappy as she sounded in her head. "You didn't say goodbye and then you don't reply to any of my texts?"

"Look, I get that you have a thing with Jace," he rushed on. "It's just—it doesn't feel like you! You hardly ever used to drink and now you're smoking and—and you were practically having sex with him in the middle of the club—"

"So pretty much you just didn't like how I was acting, so you ditched and then ignored me for ages," Clary surmised dully. Simon was quiet for a moment.

"It's just not...You," he finally said. "And I mean, do you really think that Jace is gonna stick around? I don't want you changing yourself into someone that you don't recognize for some guy that doesn't deserve you!" Simon continued to babble on, but it all faded out to Clary, like white noise. The knot in her stomach tightened until it felt like she couldn't breathe. Her fingers clenched around her phone before she ripped it away from her ear, throwing it against the wall with such force that the screen shattered.

I just want to say thank you heaps for your support and reviews. There's still heaps of you following there in the background; come out, come out and let me know what you think! I'm nice, I promise.

Anyway, if you want a preview, let me know in your review. And if you wanted to talk about anything else, send me a PM! I can be damn lovely :) xx