Once we'd gotten the drinks, I walked back over to the rest of the group in a daze. My heart was thrashing around in my chest, that whole encounter taking me for six. Jace seemed to be keeping his distance from me which was good for me, because every time he came close, my heart and mind would go into overdrive.

"I'm just going to nip to the toilet." I said, as the game was finishing up. "I'll be back for the next one." I quickly went to the toilet, fixing my hair whilst I was in there. I was heading back across the alley when I heard a voice call out behind me.

"Clary? Is that you?" I span on the spot, trying to have a look at where it was coming from. Just as I was about to count it down to me hallucinating, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I had to plaster a fake smile to my face. Sebastian and Jordan were stood in front of me, dressed in the same attire from earlier. Jordan was smiling at me widely, while Sebastian was stood behind him, his hand on his chin looking me up and down.

"Hi." I breathed, putting my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket. "I've got to get back to my lane." I smiled, trying to turn back around. Sebastian reached out, grabbing my arm and turning me. I would have slapped him off if Jordan wasn't standing there.

"Why the rush? We'll walk with you and play the lane next to you guys. Isabelle invited us earlier." Sebastian smiled, finally releasing his grip on my arm. I shrugged, before walking slightly ahead of them. I felt sick to my stomach, how was Jace going to react when I walked over with these two. My questions were soon answered. Jace's face fell a mile when I reached our lane, Sebastian and Jordan taking the lane next to us. He raised an eyebrow at me, but I shook my head lightly before casting my eyes down.

"If it isn't Jon Morgenstern!" Jordan laughed as he reached our lane walking over to Jon and clapping him on the back. Jon broke into a wide smile, returning the clasp.

"I'd say I was surprised to see you, but Clary said you were in her art class." Jon smiled, resetting the bowling machine.

"Oh – I didn't realise. Are you and Clary, involved?" Jordan asked, raising his eyebrows. Jon laughed.

"No man! She's my sister." Jordan span around to look at me, before back to Jon.

"I was going to say! She's way out of your league." Jordan joked as Jon scowled. I turned my attention to Sebastian who had now claimed Isabelle's attention. Simon was sat looking aggravated, Jace even more so. I tried to catch Sebastian's attention over the top of Isabelle's head, pointing over to the foyer. It wasn't hard to do and once I walked myself over to the foyer, he followed me over.

"How has your twisted little mind convinced you that this is a good idea?" I spat at him under my breath. His face was overtaken by a smug grin and it was filling me with anger.

"Clary, you're going to have to get used to me being around. I'm hoping to get to know your brother a little bit tonight. Also, those clothes of yours leave very little to the imagination, you've got my mind running wild." He shrugged, the grin still firm on his face as he tried craning over my head to look back at the group.

"If you cared about me at all, you would leave me alone Sebastian. It's what's best for the both of us."

"What's best for me, is you. And I'm sure I can be what's best for you."

"It's not going to happen, not after everything that has happened." I shook my head, talking as quietly as I could manage, my back to the group.

"You're getting confused Clary, it must be stress, you can't think properly."

"I am not confused Sebastian. I know what happened."

"Nothing did! You've just convinced yourself –"

"You tried to rape me Sebastian!" I growled under my breath.

"He what?" A voice spoke next to me. I looked down, I couldn't bear to look up, the judgement too much for me.

"You're confused Clary, honestly. I can explain all of this." Sebastian moved forward, reaching out to touch my arm but Jace intercepted.

"Touch her again and it won't just be your fingers you have to worry about." He said through gritted teeth. Sebastian looked like he was going to say something back, before thinking better of it.

"See you in class, Clary." He smiled before heading back to the group.

"I've got to go home Jace, I can't stay here. Will you tell Jon I've went home because I'm not feeling well?" I babbled, feeling the tears prickling in the back of my eyes. Why was it whenever I had something good going, I immediately got knocked right back down to the ground. Jace beckoned Jon over and I had no idea what he was planning on doing, I was just praying he wouldn't repeat what he had just heard. How much of it had he heard?

"Jon, Clary isn't feeling very good. Do you want me to take her home, I mean with you not having the car and all?" Jace said, making it seem like he was doing Jon a favour.

"Would you mind mate? I suppose that Sebastian and Jordan can jump in and fill your spots. You sure you don't want to stay Clary?" I shook my head, just about holding myself together.

"I don't mind, I know you'd do the same for me." Jace smiled as Jon clapped him on the shoulder.

"Get well soon ok, Clary?" He said and I nodded, before getting myself out of there and into the fresh air. The idea of Jon bowling with Sebastian, acting friendly, made me feel even worse. But I couldn't say anything. Jace placed his hand on the base of my back, leading me over to the car as though I was actually ill. When we reached the car, he opened my door for me, helping me in before shutting it behind me. Pulling the car out of the car park, we drove for five minutes before he pulled into another car park a little further down the road.

"You need to tell me what's going on Clary. What I heard, wasn't good."

"What did you hear?" I asked, rubbing the sleeve of my jacket against my bottom lip, nervously.

"I heard it all Clary. I heard what you said." I pulled my head into my hands, my knees up to my chin. This was the one thing that I had never wanted to talk about, the one thing that I needed to keep to myself. "Please, talk to me." I shook my head, the tears threatening to fall at any moment.

"I can't talk about it Jace. Please don't make me." I gulped. Jace sighed unbuckling himself.

"I'm not going to make you do anything Clary, come into the back – I think you could do with a hug." He said, before hopping out of his door and opening mine up. I climbed down and into the back seats. Jace climbed in next to me, wrapping a steady arm around my shoulders and bringing me in close to him. "I just think that you should probably talk to someone, it can't be good having such a massive weight on your shoulders. Just let it out." With that, I burst into tears. Jace holding my body as I shook uncontrollably. He had a point. I'd told him all of my problems before and he hadn't told a soul. Maybe it was time to confess my worst memory.

"I'll try, but I don't know if I can." I muttered, resting against his chest, not looking him in the eye.

**FLASHBACK**

Sebastian was sketching in the corner, something or other for his interview. Whatever it was, it was stressing him out. Bits of paper were flying left right and centre, pencils getting cracked in half every ten minutes or so.

"Do you not want to call it a night and work on it tomorrow?" I asked, reclining on his bed, patting the space next to me. He turned to me, his eyes full of fire.

"Clary. If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it. So just keep it schtum okay." He grunted, before turning back to his work. I shrugged, resting my head back down. Closing my eyes, I relaxed into the bed. This day had been too long and I was exhausted. Surely Sebastian wouldn't mind if I had a nap.

I didn't know how long I'd been out but when I started to wake up, it was dark and something was against my face making it difficult to breathe. I tried to push myself up from the bed, but I couldn't get up. Why couldn't I get up? Opening my eyes, I saw Sebastian's face pressed against mine, his lips on my own. I tried to pull away, but I couldn't. I struggled underneath him, what was he doing? Finally his lips broke from mine, and I could see the room a bit better. He was sat on top of me, his hips straddling my own.

"Sebastian, what are you doing?" I muttered, trying to move out from underneath him.

"Shh, Clary. It's alright." He soothed, his voice husky. He started to lift my tshirt with one of his hands, his mouth leaving butterfly kisses along my stomach and up to my ribcage. I didn't feel comfortable with this. I tried swatting him with my hands, trying to move but he pinned both of my hands above my head with just the one of his. The tears were stinging hard in my eyes. What was he doing? Why was he doing this?

"Sebastian, please don't." I cried as he reached up, cupping my chest before his hand started grappling with the button on my jeans.

"Calm down, Clary. You'll enjoy it." He muttered, letting go of my hands to help him undo the button. As soon as my hands were free, I pulled myself up, hitting him in the chest and trying to get free. But he was too strong. He pushed me back down onto the bed, his hand against my throat as his other hand started sliding my jeans down my thighs. I cried, resigning myself to the fact that I was completely helpless.

"Sebastian? Are you home?" A voice called from downstairs as the front door opened. His mum was home. Sebastian quickly went to answer his mum's question, hopping off of me saying 'I'll be back in a minute'. I wasn't going to give him a second, let alone a minute. Readjusting my clothes, I grabbed my bag and ran from his house, never looking back.

I recited the story to Jace best I knew how. The tears streaming down my face the further through the story I got, until I was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Hey, hey." Jace soothed, holding either side of my face. "Do you trust me?" He asked. I nodded, trying to breathe. "Look at me, you're fine, you're completely fine. I'm here and you're fine." He promised me, stroking my hair with his fingertips. I nodded, breathing deeper, until I had it under control. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that Clary. All I can promise you, is that he will never touch you again." As much as I wanted to believe what Jace was saying, it was difficult – Sebastian proving a lot more of a threat over the recent weeks. All I wanted to do was change the subject, to forget about him for at least a few minutes of my life, to move on once and for all. I couldn't spend my entire future thinking about Sebastian and the damage he had done. I needed to think about good futures and I full well believed Jace to be part of that, at least right now.

"I guess the talking about 'this' will be scheduled for another day." I commented, Jace looked at me warily.

"I don't really think now is the time Clary. You have to deal with this first."

"I've dealt with it. I'm dealing with it. I want to talk about before." I started to blush, my eyes glued onto Jace's. "Please." I added, softly.

"The temptation with you is too much Clary." Jace muttered, I never took my eyes from him. "I don't mean to kiss you, but that's the second time it's happened now…" He trailed off as though he was thinking. "It's a difficult situation."

"Then make it less difficult." I said, biting my lip lightly. Jace looked at me, his face tilted slightly. "Surely if it's something you really want then where's the downside?"

"It's like asking me to choose between you and my best friend." He said, running his hands through his hair.

"I'm not giving you an ultimatum Jace. I'm asking you to tell me how you feel, what you want." I pleaded, I had to know where I stood.

"You haven't exactly told me what you want, Red." He said. Chicken. A smile crept onto my face at the mention of that nickname.

"I don't think I can tell you. It'd probably be better if I showed you." I said, nodding my head. Jace looked confused.

"Show me?" Was all he got out before I grabbed a handful of his t-shirt, dragging his face towards mine, our lips coming together once more. I could feel the shock on his mouth briefly, before it was replaced with desire. He pulled himself closer to me, my back fully pressed against the inside of the car door. One of his hands snaked into my hair, the other caressing my cheek gently as his tongue explored my mouth. I could feel his heart beating against my chest, creating a rhythm with my own. I kept my hand wrapped up in his tshirt, pulling him as close to me as I could muster. His mouth broke free of my own, kissing along my jawline and down my throat before kissing me back on the lips once more. My spine was tingling, my skin on fire as he pulled back, brushing his hair out of his face. I was falling for him. Hard.

"What on earth are you doing to me, Red?"

Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews, you really make writing this a whole load of fun! All of my love, until the next time. ~Sapph