A/N - I just wanted to comment on one of my reviews. This story is rated M. When I first posted it, it was briefly posted at a T rating. I opted to change the rating to M early on and it has been rated M for some time now. It is rated M predominately for Strong Language and Sexual Content. I did change the rating in the system several chapters prior to the rating needing to be changed due to content, but I apologize if I should have made a clear note when the rating was changed.
Jace's POV
I walked into the living room and Alec was lying across the couch reading a book. I pretty much slept since I had gotten back from the café and I was feeling much more on my game. I wasn't going to let Clary get me all bent out of shape. I had to regain the upper hand.
"Seen Clary?" Alec looked up from his book with a disapproving look.
"She's not here Jace." I rolled my eyes. Dammit.
"I can't believe her. Off gallivanting God knows where." Alec chuckled at me.
"Would I be God in this scenario? She text me about 5 minutes ago to say she was on her way back from that coffee shop and she was stopping by to change before she went to play tennis. Should be here in about 15 minutes." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"She's been at Panera Bread all day?" Alec shrugged.
"I guess. I didn't ask."
"Where's she playing?"
"Didn't ask."
"Who's she playing tennis with?" He rolled his eyes.
"Again, I didn't ask." I smirked.
"Want to go play tennis?" He was shaking his head.
"Oh no. Absolutely not. Don't get me involved in this. I don't want to have to worry about her, but Magnus doesn't want me to smoother her either. Right now I'm just happy with her keeping me informed on her whereabouts." He wasn't being very helpful. I sighed.
"Well who else plays tennis?" Alec smiled.
"I hear Sebastian plays." I glared at Alec for a second before a thought dawned on me. I broke out in a mischievous smile. Alec furrowed his eyebrows.
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Maybe it's time I got to know Sebastian better." Alec laughed and shook his head as I walked towards the hallway.
"SEBASTIAN!"
Convincing Sebastian I wanted to play tennis took some work. First I had to swallow my pride and force a fake apology for hitting him at the club. That was horrible. Then I had to make up a story about how Clary thought we should get to know each other, which was semi-true, but I embellished a bit. Really though, the only real reason he agreed was that Aline happen to be in his room and really wanted to play. Unfortunately it turned into a group of four, me, Sebastian, Aline, and Kaelie, though I made a point I wanted to be paired with Aline and Sebastian said that would be fine. I was really wrapping up my conversation when I heard voices in the living room.
"This is Will. Will this is Alec. Best friend ever." Alec chuckled.
"Hey. So you're Will I've heard a lot about you."
"Why Clary I'm flattered, you must have spent the entire car ride back on the phone with him." Clary giggled. I really hated that she was laughing at something he said. It wasn't even funny. It was Alec that spoke next.
"Actually. I'm dating Magnus. I've heard a lot of stories about you from him." Will laughed.
"So does that mean she's not allowed to see me again?" A whole living room of laughter. Ha ha ha. Kill me now. Alright. Time to break up the party. I walked out into the living room. I'd seen Will briefly at the coffee shop, so I already knew who he was.
"Hey. It's Josh right?" I couldn't help but glare.
"Will!" Clary elbowed Will in the ribs. He laughed as he grabbed his ribcage. It looked too playful, too comfortable. I didn't like it.
"No man. Just kidding. I know you're Jace. Good to see you again." I'm not too happy to see you again. Nope could go my whole life without ever seeing you again and that, that would be good.
"Yeah." I walked over to Will and offered him my hand to shake. He looked at it and back at my face raising an eyebrow.
"You know. I'll pass. That's my tennis hand and it still hurts from earlier." I dropped my hand and couldn't help but smirk. Alec furrowed his eyebrows.
"What can I say? I have a firm handshake." Alec shook his head, Clary rolled her eyes, and Will just seemed to nod. He looked kind of like an idiot. He looked down at his watch.
"Hey Clary. It's already 4:40, I hate to rush you, but we got like 10 minutes tops, that's not counting if you want to stop at the pharmacy." Will winked. Clary scowled.
"You're such a jerk." Will chuckled. I was really hating this guy. You only go to a pharmacy for so many things and we had a deal.
"What do you need from the pharmacy?" I asked in a measured tone.
"Nothing!" Clary snapped shaking her head as she turned on her heel and stalked out of the living room. I watched her leave and turned my gaze back to Will. Will looked over at Alec.
"She's so fun to get fired up." Alec just chuckled. Yeah I hated Will more every time he opened his mouth.
"Um Hum." I crossed my arms. Will looked back over at me. We just kind of stared at each other without saying anything for several minutes. Alec cleared his throat and we both looked in his direction.
"Why don't you just have a pissing contest and get it over with?" He and Will laughed. I just glared. Great. At least Alec hated Sebastian as much as I did. This guy was good friends with Magnus, that wasn't going to help my cause.
"Ready!" Clary shouted as she came hurriedly back into the living room with tan fleece short shorts and a navy blue spaghetti strap fitted tank top. She still had her hair thrown up in a messy knot. She looked really cute. I couldn't help but stare at her as she walked through the room. She shouldn't be walking out of here with another guy. I had been so focused on glaring at Will since I walked into the living room I really hadn't acknowledged Clary at all. I grabbed her hand as she walked by me and immediately she returned the pressure, warmth radiated through my whole body from the touch of her hand in mine. It was like being in the ocean and having a life raft thrown to me, I felt immediately more secure. She stopped and looked up at me. Our eyes locked. Her beautiful green eyes just seemed to pop. She had on this glittery green eyeliner, it suited her, and made her eyes sparkle. I couldn't help but smile. She was smiling at me and just looking at me in a very warm way and hey, she was holding my hand in front of this Will guy. I was probably mesmerized by her eyes a little too long, she started to look sassy and she was definitely smirking more than smiling now. I composed myself enough to talk.
"You going to be around later?" I asked softly, I wasn't sure if I was loud enough for Will or Alec to hear. I was still holding her hand in mine. She had an amused look on her face as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Her voice was also low when she responded.
"Keeping tabs on me?" She raised her eyebrows and smirked. I ran my free hand through my hair and shook my head slightly. She smiled.
"Not until much later. I'll be back in a couple hours from tennis, but then Izzy made dinner plans for me, I'm heading out at 7:30. I'll probably be back around ten or so." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Dinner plans?" Clary rolled her eyes.
"Don't ask. It's just to get Izzy off my back." I nodded. Will was looking at his watch again.
"Hate to interrupt, but we got to go." Clary looked back over at him quickly before looking back at me.
"I'll see you later Jace." She smiled and squeezed my hand before letting it go. My hand still felt warm where she had held onto it, the warmth radiated through my body like hope. She was right, I was acting off earlier, I was acting defeated. This was far from over. I had to pull myself together. I stood with Alec and watched her and Will leave. Sebastian was horrible, and I had confidence she'd realize that, this guy though. Will was something else. I didn't like how at ease she was with him. I had to figure out a plan to keep her from walking out of my life permanently. My mind was racing with ideas.
"Calm down Jace." I took a deep breath and looked over at Alec. He was shaking his head at me.
"What?" He rolled his eyes.
"She's not into him." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"What do you mean?" He chuckled.
"I mean she's not interest in him. You couldn't tell?" I shook my head slightly. Alec laughed and started to walk out of the living room.
"Wait. Where are you going? How do you know she's not?" He didn't say anything. Just shook his head as he left.
I went back to my room and quickly changed into silver gym shorts and a dark blue Yankees t-shirt. It was rather ironic when I walked out of my room and into the living room to see Sebastian waiting for me in a white gym shorts and a red Red Sox t-shirt. We both looked at each other with a raised eyebrow. This definitely was not going to help anything.
Clary's POV
I let Will drive to the tennis courts. It was only about ten minutes away. We talked in the car, predominately Will making jokes about how jealous Jace was acting, but he was being good natured, not malicious. We showed up at the courts before Jem, he needed to pick up the fourth player and he was running a little late, which was fine, because we didn't get there exactly on time either. Luckily they had booked the courts for a two hour slot, so we had plenty of time. We sat in the air conditioned car and waited for Jem.
"Clary come on, he just stared at you in awe like you were some bride on her wedding day and he was the groom." I could feel my cheeks burning. I didn't even want to have thoughts of marriage. It was bad enough that he asked me to marry him yesterday, though that wasn't really a proposal, but still. The thought would have never crossed my mind, or it would have been a long ass time in the future when it did, but now he planted that little seed. Of course the new thing was that Will loved to tease me by referring to Jace as my husband randomly. It was Will's new nickname for Jace. It was funny and not funny all at the same time. When Jace would do something protective or questionably overbearing, Will would refer to Jace as my husband.
"It was like he completely forgot how to talk. You could have been Medusa he was just frozen staring right into your eyes. That long silence was awk-ward." I couldn't help but laugh.
"Seriously? Did you just call me ugly? Medusa's the one the with snake hair right?" I asked playfully, but reached up to touch my hair protectively. Will laughed.
"Actually I think the myth suits you." I gave him a skeptical sideways look.
"Oh pray tell." He chuckled.
"Well Medusa started out all beautiful with all the guys wanting her. Totally you right?" He looked over and winked at me. I rolled my eyes.
"Then she's all supposed to get married. For arguments sake we'll give your husband, Jace, the role of your betrothed." I felt my face burning up. Will laughed.
"Then Poseidon, god of the sea, comes along and ravishes her. We'll say that actor hasn't been cast yet." I grimaced. Yeah, I knew who Poseidon was in this story.
"Then next thing you know she's punished by Athena, goddess of war, for their rendezvous and turned into the Medusa you're thinking of. Snakes for hair, turns people into stone if they look directly at her. There's more to the story, but that's the long and short of it." I glared at him. I didn't like the story, maybe it did hit too close to home.
"Nice story Will. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy." He chuckled. We we're sitting in the parked car, when next thing I know my door is being opened, I turned to see Jem with a huge smile. He was wearing navy blue gym shorts and a white t-shirt. His gray eyes looked almost silver the way the sun reflected off of them. He was just as tall as Will, but very slight build. He was handsome, not as flashy as Will or Jace, more subtle, more elegant. He was only in gym clothes, but it was noticeable in the way he moved, and in his mannerisms. He had cut his hair since I'd seen him last and his toe blonde pin straight hair was parted on the side falling down to just above his ears and tapered in the back. He looked so fair. I would have expected him to tan or burn with all of this sun.
"Here's the lovely mademoiselle of the hour. I can't believe Will was trying to keep you all to himself. He can't even get your door for you. He has no etiquette at all if you ask me." Jem gave me a warm smile, offered his hand and helped me out of the car. He pulled me towards him still holding my hand, put his other hand on my shoulder and kissed both my cheeks before dropping his hand from my shoulder and releasing my hand. Well, I guess more correctly he pressed his cheek to mine and kissed into the air. I smiled somewhat amused. Whatever Jem lacked in his appearance, which wasn't much, he made up for in the way he presented himself, he was a gentleman and that is always very becoming. I heard Will chuckle as he came up to my side.
"Careful there Jem." Jem smiled.
"What? I was raised in Paris." Will laughed.
"Yeah, but you'd never do that to a girl you barely knew in Paris would you?" Jem chuckled.
"Well you know, you've told me so much about her I feel like we're old friends already." Will rolled his eyes.
"When did you have time to tell Jem all about me?" I asked with a mock suspicious expression. Will winked.
"We had a long talk during the car ride to your cottage from Panera Bread. Don't worry. I told him only the good things." Only a guy would think twenty minutes for a phone call was a long talk. Will bounced his gaze between Jem and me with a calculating look. At this point Jem was standing very close to me. I was nearly in the crack between the open door and the car, with my back more to the car, Jem pretty much had his back to the open door. Will was facing us. I'd really need Jem or Will to move to comfortably step away.
"Don't get too friendly Jem, you haven't met her husband yet." Jem furrowed his eyebrows, but before he could say anything, just behind me I could hear a snicker, it wasn't much, but I could still recognize the voice that it belonged to, I spun around. I must have the worst luck today, or the fates really do want to keep bringing us together, or maybe somebody keeps telling Jace where I am. There were literally over a dozen different places to play tennis around here. What are the odds he randomly shows up at the same one we were at? I glared at Jace, he was just smirking back at me. Will and Jem followed my gaze. Will was suppressing a chuckle and Jem took a half step forward, I could feel him right behind me, slightly off to the side, but Will was directly on the side of me, arm's length away. I whacked Will on the arm and I definitely noticed the fleeting look of irritation in Jace's face before he smirked again.
"Somebody looking for me?" Jace was leaning his back casually against his car two spots over, definitely within earshot range. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked so cocky with that big smirk on his face. Will rolled his eyes, but still looked very amused.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Will said playfully. Jace didn't seem to find it humorous and shot Will a glare before returning to a slightly hostile smirk. He lazily detached himself from his car and walked over to us. We all seemed to reposition ourselves slowly. I ended up with Will and Jem flanking my sides. I hadn't really noticed I was glaring so intensely at Jace until he was just a couple feet away and his eyes met mine for a lingering moment. He just smirked that much more.
"You look pissed Clary. Are these guys bothering you?" Jace turned his gaze between Jem and Will. I rolled my eyes. Will was shaking his head. Jem just looked a little tense, like he didn't know if he needed to prepare for a fight. He seemed to almost take a half of a step in front of me.
"Not at all…Jem this is Jace. Jace this is Jem." Jem smiled uncertainly and took a step forward reaching his hand out to Jace as Jace held out his hand to Jem. Will didn't hesitate as he swatted Jem's hand out of the way, while shaking his head. Jem scowled at him.
"I wouldn't recommend it." Will said amused as he held up his right hand and started opening and closing is theatrically. I wondered if it did still hurt at all. Jem furrowed his eyebrows.
"I'm told I have a firm handshake." Jace said very sarcastically. Jem was looking from my glare to Jace's hostile smirk to Will's humorous smirk and back again. He seemed to be absorbing everything.
"You never said Jace was her husband?" Jem sounded so confused in his questioning tone. Jace and Will burst out laughing and I just glowered at them.
"I'm not married!" I snapped. I saw Jace's eyes refocus behind us and his face changed to a more hostile one. I turned around to see Sebastian, Aline, and Kaelie all walking in our direction. They actually parked at the lot on the other side of the courts, so they were still quite a distance away.
"You've got to be kidding me." I mumbled. Jace laughed.
"Nope. They're playing tennis with me." I shot him somewhere between a confused look and a glare over my shoulder, he just smirked. At this point Jem had shut the car door and we were standing facing the newcomers. Jace was standing about two feet behind me, Will and Jem still at my sides. Shit. How much more testosterone can be in one place. Don't even get me started on Kaelie. I was watching them approach. Aline and Kaelie were dressed in actual little tennis outfits, skort and all. Aline had on a pink outfit and Kaelie was wearing red. You couldn't hear them talking until they laughed, it seemed unnecessarily loud. I found it very obnoxious. Jem and Will seemed to be openly checking out the scenery.
"Single?" Jem asked and gave me a sideways look.
"Depending on the night of the week. Your call. I hear they are both sluts." Jace chuckled behind me. They weren't that close, but it was pretty clear Kaelie was shooting Jace repeated winks and posed her face in several positions, I think she was trying to look enticing, but she looked more like she was working out a neck cramp. I can just guess where she got that from. Slut. Aline was clearly sizing up Will and Jem. Kaelie seemed to be directing all her attention behind me. I felt the strong pang of jealousy towards Kaelie and a sudden dislike towards Aline. Not that I really had a problem with Aline before, but apparently I couldn't help but resent her by association. What's that saying, your enemy's friend is your enemy or something like that. They were getting closer, but still not within hearing distance. Will spoke quietly.
"Let me guess, you've told me about everybody, so, the one eye fucking your husband is Kaelie." Jace and Jem both stifled their laughs as I jammed my elbow into Will's side.
"OUCH!"
"Not helping." I hissed. Will snickered.
"That would make blonde number two Aline?" I nodded.
"And tall, dark, and not quite as handsome as me, would be…Jordan?" Jace sputtered, while I stifled a laugh.
"No, and I don't remember describing Jordan that way." I joked.
"Well, I know what Magnus and Alec look like, and that sure as hell isn't how you described Simon either." Jace and I both stifled laughs.
"Touché. He probably just didn't come up." Will gave me a skeptical look with one eyebrow raised. I had spent so much time sizing up Aline and Kaelie I hadn't even really looked at Sebastian. As soon as I met his eyes it was like his whole expression changed to a very predatory look, a very uncomfortable look. I leaned back slightly, unconsciously, and felt a hard body against my back. I didn't have to see Will and Jem on my sides to know Jace was behind me. My body knew what his felt like and I felt safe and at ease with him so close. When I had glanced over my shoulder a moment ago he was still a couple feet away, I knew I didn't lean back that far. I didn't move away, he gave me a reassurance I needed right now. Sebastian was giving me a very particular look and I didn't like it. Though Jace didn't wrap his arms around me, I could tell by the tension in his body that it was killing him not to. He just stood right behind me with our bodies pressed together. Jem and Will both seemed to move a little closer and slightly in front of me, though neither were touching me. I noticed both of them glance at me in their peripheral vision. Jem's eyes shifted above my head, towards Jace I'd imagine, and Jem smirked.
"Ah. I see." Jem whispered and Will chuckled. I could only assume he was referring to the suddenly extremely close body pressed up behind me. My husband. Sebastian and the girls were getting close. Very obviously Sebastian was still just looking at me. Will whispered.
"Yeah. I'm sure you just forgot to mention him." I huffed in exasperation. Will was slightly shaking his head with a smirk. They were just about fifteen feet out. Jem bowed his head slightly towards me.
"Why don't I try my luck at distracting that one eyeing your husband?" Will and Jace laughed.
"Not you too." I growled.
"I think she only has eyes for Jace." Will whispered sarcastically. I felt Jace tense further and Jem stifled a laugh.
"I can help you with that. Give me your hand Jem." I whispered mockingly. Will and Jem both gave me a sideways look with one eyebrow raised.
"Jacey!" Kaelie cooed as she broke into a jog towards us. I felt myself leaning way back into Jace. He didn't weaver. I felt a warm familiar hand in mine, and I held on for dear life, our hands were hidden behind Will's back. I tried to quickly pull myself together.
"Seriously, it's now or never Jem." I hissed very quietly. Jem reached out and grabbed my hand pulling me closer to him. I felt Jace drop my other hand immediately. Kaelie's eyes redirected to Jem instantly like a cat that had just spotted closer prey. She took in our stance, our fingers intertwined. She openly scanned Jem up and down. She smiled a mischievous smile and walked right up to Jem.
"Well hello handsome. My name is Kaelie. What's yours?" Kaelie spoke in a very seductive voice. She was staring directly at Jem with a smirk on her face and standing just a couple feet away.
"James, but you can call me Jem, darling." He reached out with his free hand and took her hand kissing her knuckles. She glanced up at me and winked before returning her gaze to Jem. He appeared to try to drop her hand, but she held it firm.
"Well Jem Darling-" Kaelie smiled.
"I'm having a bonfire at me cottage Thursday night. You should come." Kaelie was looking at Jem like he was something to eat. I cleared my throat. I had to play this just right.
"You know Kae-lie-" I batted my eyelashes at her excessively as I accentuated the two symbols in her name hard.
"-as nice of an invitation as that is, I think we have plans." She redirected her gaze to me with a smirk. At this point Sebastian and Aline had come up behind her, but I was paying no attention to them.
"You know I wasn't even inviting you, but I'm feeling generous. You should come, bring all the cute guys, I'm sure I can find them some decent company." I dropped Jem's hand without thinking and took a half step forward with a glare. Kaelie was still holding on to his hand and smirked back with an amused look on her face.
"You're such a very generous girl. Do you know a lot of decent people?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm at the double meaning of her being such a slut. Her face shifted quickly from a glare to a smirk again.
"You know you could learn a thing or two from me. Most guys don't like a girl that has to stop and ask for directions, I'm guessing that's more your style though. Just remember, some guys may like a lady on their arm, but they all like a whore in the bedroom." I glared deeper. I was losing my cool, but I was trying so hard to stay focused.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" She smirked further.
"You're not fooling anybody. You don't belong with the popular crowd, your inexperience is your tell every time Clay." I took a step back. She had caught me off guard with that. It sounded too familiar. We stared at each other for a second. Jace broke the silence.
"It's Clary, Kaelie. Her name is Clary." Kaelie redirected her gaze to Jace and had a quizzical look on her face.
"What did I say?"
"You called her Clay." Kaelie looked like she was about to smile and quickly smirked.
"My mistake." Like hell it was.
"You should go. I'm going." Sebastian said with a half shrug. This wasn't the angle I was looking for, but it would do.
"Sure. Why not, but I'm coming with a whole entourage." Kaelie's eyes twinkled.
"Oh, I wouldn't expect it any other way." Kaelie pulled Jem over closer to her and as he hesitated I gently pushed his back. He looked over his shoulder at me somewhat amused, and I winked.
"See you later sweetheart." Jem shouted over his shoulder as Kaelie and Aline walked away with him; leaving Sebastian and Jace behind having a staring contest. I found myself leaning hard into Will's side glancing back and forth between Jace and Sebastian. This was only somewhat counterproductive.
"Now we need a forth, so Sebastian does that mean we get you?" The look Jace and Sebastian were giving each other was rather disturbing. Without a word Will had his arm looped with mine and was nearly dragging me towards the court. I was led quickly passed Sebastian he just jerked his chin with a little wink at me, but he never said anything to me. As we got a little further away I could hear Jace cursing up a storm behind me.
There were nine courts at the facility. It was set-up three courts by three courts. We picked the court in the far corner closest to the end where we were parked. Right after we started stretching. Kaelie and crew were already all the way at the other end, directly behind us, closest to the parking lot that Sebastian parked at. There was one court between us, but it was still pretty far away and there were two sets of fencing to get from our court to theirs. While Will and I warmed up on our serves a beautiful young women showed up. She was striking in a very different way than Izzy or Kaelie. She had toe blonde hair similar to Jem's, but with a little more gold, she was ridiculously skinny, tall, but not nearly as tall as Izzy either. She had soft brown eyes and a creamy complexion. She wore a great deal of jewelry, which seemed rather odd for playing tennis. She had on tennis attire, right down to that damn skort. Everything she was wearing was pastel blue. She looked dainty. She reminded me a bit of Jem in the way she carried herself and the way she moved, very graceful and elegant.
"Hey Jessie this is Clary." The girl, Jessie, approached me.
"So pleased to make your acquaintance." She slightly bowed her head, though her expression looked as though she was bored. I smiled.
"Nice to meet you." She rolled her eyes.
"Jessie." Will said in a warning tone.
"Where is Jem?" Jessie spat. Will smirked.
"We've traded him away." Jessie's eyes got big.
"Whatever do you mean?" She snapped. Will chuckled. Sebastian sauntered over to our court. I could still hear Jace cursing as he walked over to the far court. When Sebastian saw Jessie I could tell he was temporarily stunned. She was breathtaking.
"Long story. You can play with him." Will jerked his chin towards Sebastian.
Sebastian agreed to pair with Jessie without the least bit of protest. Not very shocking. Will called her Jessie, but she introduced herself to Sebastian as Jessamine. Apparently she had been in Jem's car talking to her friend. Though she didn't say boyfriend, I had a strong feeling that's who she was on the phone with. I found out that Jessie is actually Jem's adoptive sister, hence the similarities in elegance and manors. They were both raised by his aunt in Paris, which turned into a big conversational hit since Sebastian apparently was raised in Paris for years until his aunt died and his uncle brought him to New York to live. I was surprised Sebastian barely acknowledged me, except occasionally. It was a rather normal group setting. There was nothing creepy at all about Sebastian, at least not once Jace was a few courts over and out of earshot anyway.
I sucked, I really didn't play tennis that well, and Jessie definitely knew what she was doing. The game passed by quickly. After Sebastian and Jessie won the first two sets Will gave up and decided he was done for the day. After Sebastian and Jessie rubbed in their victory a bit, Sebastian offered to take Jessie for ice-cream and then home, since she hadn't driven. She seemed more than happy to leave with him. I wasn't in a rush to get back to the cottage, Jace in crew were still playing and I kind of wanted to stay. Will was fine hanging out since Jem was still stuck with the wolves. He also wanted some better answers as to who Sebastian was. We visited and I filled him in a bit more on Sebastian. He went over serves with me and some basic volleys. I'd hear shouting and cussing every once and a while, a high pitch shrill of laughter here and there, but otherwise I didn't really hear anything from Jace's court, they were too far away. We couldn't talk too much while we were playing, Will and Sebastian were too competitive and they were really into the game. After practicing for another half hour or so I was getting rather tired. I was surprised I had lasted this long on almost no sleep the night before. The caffeine was pretty much all that was keeping me awake, but at this point it was making me shaky. The small cup of chowder and the scone I had at the coffee shop were all I had eaten all day, and it was about 6:30, so that really wasn't enough. Though I had been drinking water, I hadn't been drinking that much water, and I knew it. I wasn't use to this heat. I wasn't use to running around sweating like this. I sweat when I go for a run, but that is for just 30 minutes. This was for an hour and a half.
"Still trying to spy on your husband?" I was craning my head as a ball went whizzing by. I rolled my eyes as I jogged over to the ball. Will was laughing
"I'm making sure I didn't cause too much trouble for Jem. Ok? I hated to set him up like that. He's just a decoy.'"
"Afraid your husband is going to get pissed and use Jem as a punching bag?" Will snickered.
"Enough with the husband jokes already! It's just a little complicated ok. Kaelie is…Well -" Not only was I shaking, I was suddenly starting to feel really dizzy. Even for this time of day it was well into the eighties. It was hot and humid. Too hot. I stopped, ball in one hand, racket in the other, and rested my hands to my knees.
"I feel light headed." Will came jogging over to my side of the court and put his arm around my shoulders as he started to lead me off of the court.
"Let's get you out of this sun. I'll come back for the stuff. Have you ever felt like this before?" Will sounded so concerned, but I could already see my vision start to tunnel.
"Yeah. I've passed out before." I mumbled as I felt my whole body get heavier and my vision get darker. I stopped walking, closed my eyes and leaned my head forward.
"Clary, are you ok?" Will's voice was distant and urgent. My hands had already begun to go numb as I heard the racket and ball fall to the ground.
"Jace." I whispered as I sunk down, no longer able to keep myself standing, as the darkness consumed me.
