MERRRYYYYY CHRISTTTTMASSS!3

It's the most wonderful time of the year~

Clary's eyes were rimmed with red and a bit puffy as she walked to work in the morning. No Jace, no car. She'd done her best to erase those eyebags. There was no way she'd give him the satisfaction of knowing that his words had kept her awake half the night.

The door to her office was unusually locked, and, suspiciously, she withdrew her key and opened the door.

To find Kaelie and Jace wrapped around each other like ivy, unable to keep their hands off of each other. Kaelie's legs were tightly fixed around Jace's waist. They were in his chair, sucking the breath out of each other. His hands were knotted in her hair, just like how they used to be in Clary's own hair.

Clary's throat closed up.

I will not cry. I will not cry.

She forced herself to make her way to her chair as if nothing was unusual or disgusting about them and sat down, logging into her computer and checking her email. She began rapidly typing, hoping to drown out their sexual noises and panting breaths.

It drove her nuts. Jace wasn't even doing his work! He was only letting Kaelie do this because he was rubbing it in her face. And when Jace groaned, it snapped her patience in half. She grabbed the phone, meeting the loud monotonous drone.

"Hello? Yes, Jocelyn? Oh, of course. I have the file all ready to go. Would you like me to send it down? No? Oh, you're already coming up. Alright, then I'll see you in a few seconds."

She slammed the phone down, pleased to hear Kaelie scramble off Jace's lap, button her shirt, and hurry disheveled to the door. Jace pulled his chair to the desk, clicking with his mouse as if he'd been working for hours.

Minutes passed. Ten minutes.

Finally, he broke the silence. "Where's Jocelyn?"
Clary surprised herself by spinning around to face him. He turned, and she smiled thinly at him, very icy, cold, and coworker-like. She wouldn't let him see how much his actions had affected her. Somehow, she didn't think he'd be the type to bend over. "What about her?"

"Isn't she coming up to get whatever file?"

Clary tipped her head back, laughing, before turning her back to him. "Oh, no. Not anymore."

…

"Thank you!" Kaelie squealed into the phone.

The voice on the other end was the same as always. "And my payment?"
"It will arrive soon." She hung up, smiling. Although she had been really surprised to see her alive this morning, it was obvious that she and Jace had broken up. Now Clary was truly out of the picture.

…

It was infuriating to see her unaffected. She was infuriating. After all he'd done for her, this was how she'd decided to thank him. She hadn't even shown any signs of breaking down in the morning. Only the short pause of her footsteps when she entered the door showed surprise, but that was to be expected. No other reaction.

God only knew how long he'd spent staring at the ceiling last night, replaying the day's events. From Mikaela, to the alley, to their last conversation in the car. How scared he had been when he saw the man with Clary trapped beneath him, with his hands on her in places only meant for him. How scared and angry he still felt every time he thought about it. And how mad and hurt he was by their argument afterwards.

Jace bunched his fists in anger. Beside him, Kaelie pressed a kiss to his neck, her breath smoky and hot against his skin. She ran her nails over his tensed muscles. "Calm down," she purred. "Stop thinking about that skank."

He turned to her with a bored stare. She was sprawled across his couch next to him, her long legs draping over the side, the short skirt barely covering her thong. Maybe girls were into that, but he sure wasn't. He'd only brought her home for lunch because she'd insisted.

"And who should I think about instead? You?" He made it sound like it was the worst idea ever.

Kaelie huffed, and returned to sucking his neck.

Jace's thoughts once more drifted to Clary, even though he knew Kaelie was right in a way. He needed to stop thinking about her. But all he could do was see and hear all the harsh words she'd thrown at him before she'd slammed the door.

We can't be over if there wasn't anything to begin with.

And she had insulted his ego.

He knew he wasn't bad at sex. He knew he'd driven her to mind-blowing orgasms. She'd given him the best orgasms he'd ever had before too, though. But still. The insult hurt.

Kaelie ran a hand down his chest. "Oh, c'mon Jace. Quit thinking about her. She'd probably still reeling from the shock anyway. Jesus," she giggled. "SQ is a genius. It's time to think about us."

And Jace did.

…

Lunch. Clary grabbed her sandwich and made her way down to the cafeteria. Who knew where Jace went – no, who cared.

She spotted Magnus and Jordan sitting together at the last table, and made her way to them. Last thing she heard, Magnus and Alec had been hooked together since the Christmas party. Jordan was slurping some soup in front of him, listening to Magnus's talk.

He was quite goodlooking, actually, with the dark shock of brown hair and the strong nose. Whereas Jace was angelicy smooth, Jordan had more of a rough, wild allure. And there was only one word to describe Magnus: Sparkly.

Magnus paused from whatever he was saying and smiled up at Clary.

"Hey guys," she unwrapped her Subway sandwich.

Jordan eyed it. "Did you know that the soup here tastes like medicine? Never buy it."

Clary chuckled. "Better than the soup my grandma used to make."

He raised his eyebrows. "Did she make good cookies."

"Yeah."

"Then she was a good grandma."

Magnus laughed, his chains of necklaces clinking as his chest rose and fell. "Oh, Jordan," he said.

Jordan waved off Magnus dismissively. "So where's Jace?"

She stiffened. "We had a fight over a client." It was kinda true…

The boys gave her sympathetic looks. "It's okay," Magnus said. "You guys will patch up in no time."

Somehow, she didn't think so. "Thanks, but I doubt it."

Jordan opened his mouth to say something, but then his vision focused on something to the right of her shoulder. He frowned. She turned and saw Jace and Kaelie together; he was buying her a cookie.

"That bad, huh?" Jordan asked.

"What?"
"I thought you two were a thing," he said. Magnus nodded.

"A thing?" Clary felt herself flush.

Magnus smiled. "Yeah, it was pretty obvious."

Suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore.

"Hey, if you're going to throw that away," Jordan said, noticing her advancement towards the trashcan, "can I have it?"

She tossed it to him.

He bit down and sighed. "Ahhh, good old Subway. But seriously. If he goes after Kaelie just like that, well, he's more of a dick than I thought. When'd you guys break up?"

"Yesterday."

Jordan whistled. "Damn."

"I need to talk to Alec about his choice of friends," muttered Magnus.

"Oh, lay off him," Clary said. "They've been friends since high school. Maybe Jace was different then."

Both girls looked at her skeptically.

…

Jace sat at Alec's table, eating salad. Alec and Magnus were curled together on the sofa, cuddling. He walked over to them, plopping down on the other couch. Magnus glared at him from over the top of Alec's head.

Jace frowned. Jesus, what was his problem? Did he think that he was going to steal Alec away or something?

Alec smiled benignly at Jace. "Why'd you decide to come over tonight. Not that I mind, of course, but you almost never come anymore."

He shrugged. "I missed talking to you, I guess."

Alec patted Magnus's hand. "How's Clary? A few weeks ago she was over, and then she ran off after a phone call from you."

Clary. Great. Why was everyone mentioning her? At every turn, just as he'd buried it, someone would bring her name up, and the thoughts he'd tried to hide just came back up again.

"Good," he lied, catching Magnus's stare. And then he realized – shit, Magnus knew. Knew of him and Clary.

He thought back to earlier, and in his mind, saw Clary sitting with Magnus and Jordan at lunch. Oh, right.

"Well," Jace said, standing up. "Duty calls. I have extra work. Gotta go." He avoided Magnus's eyes while going out the door.

…

He found himself not at work, but at the strip club on Eighty-fourth street. He had a glass of something heavy in his hand, and his gaze was fixed on a stripper, clad in only lacy tights, black underwear, a reveal black tanktop, and sexy knee-high boots. She was dancing against another guy in such a way that made his throat dry. Jace lifted the glass to his parched lips.

The woman kept on dancing, and he kept on watching her. Running his eyes over her. He drank more of the hard liquor, feeling it burn down his throat and to his stomach. It was at least his third cup.

Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet his, and broke off with the other man, dancing closer to him, and he downed the last bit of his glass, his mind buzzing and fuzzy. He tossed it aside, standing up and walking over into the stripper's personal space.

She danced right above him, so close that the space between them was imperceptible, but just above where he wanted her. She smelled of enticing perfume.

Somewhere in the dim aware part of his mind, Jace knew it was wrong, knew this wasn't him, wasn't who he wanted to be, wanted to do. But he needed it, needed the distraction. It was a first that a girl had driven him to such lengths.

He began to grind with the woman.

Oh, Jace.

I'm thinking about writing another story. It'll be about Jace and Clary again, in high school, and surrounding English class. I'm too busy right now to start it, but hopefully I can start it soon(like next year…in 2012 lol)

Review!