19

Clary's POV

It's been a week and a half since my interaction with my brother, and I haven't seen his face since. I can tell the toll it's been taking on my mom, especially now that all of my friends have gone back to live in their own homes, and it is just the two of us. Luckily, I have been able to start escaping back to the gym, now that my concussion has healed and my ribs no longer pinch whenever I take deep breaths. And tonight, for the first time in a long while, I have allowed myself to enjoy a night out as a teenager with her friends.

"You sure that they're going to let us in here? You're the only one who is 18." I whisper to Alec as we stand in line outside of a busy nightclub that matches its name- "Pandemonium", "Magnus works here, it's fine. I know this may be hard for you, but don't say anything stupid." Just as a nasty retort is about to escape my lips, Jace catches me by the arm with a chuckle, and pulls me into him, caging me so I am positioned in front of him. I probably would have fought harder to get away if he didn't smell so good.

Alec was right, we got into the club, no questions asked and before I knew it, everyone was off in different directions, Isabelle dragging Simon in a bee-line to the bar, Alec on a mission to go find his boyfriend, and Maia and Jordan off to the dance floor. I can't help myself as my eyes scan around the foggy, dimly-lit nightclub, looking for any signs of danger - i.e. My father. Jace's hand remains firmly in my own as he encourages me forward, "Dance with me." Jace smiles at me, the blacklights making his white teeth stand out, "I don't dance." I reply honestly, which just causes Jace to laugh, giving me another tug, "I don't care."

The loud music takes over our conversation, Jace's hands find the curve of my hips, pulling me flush against him as he moves to the music, making me move as well, "I thought you said you didn't dance?" Jace speaks into my ear, the slamming bass making it difficult to hear, "You seem to be doing it right now." I laugh at his stupid joke, tossing my head back, "Fine, I'm not good at it." I still feel out of rhythm as Jace's hands move me along, "Sure you are, everyone is good at dancing." Jace puts some space between us, his head tilted back, enjoying the music as his eyes shut.

I take in his angular facial structure, the lines on his sharp jaw, his well-fitting nose, the way his hair swings in different directions as he moves freely, seeming not to have a care. I can't help but smile. He always seems to find his way into my mind whenever I pull out my sketchbook, and now I see why. He seems like he was sculpted in marble, put together by an artist, one that damn well knew what they were doing. I never really have the time to look at him- I mean really look at him. Between worrying about my dad, or my brother, or my health, or the thirty other things running through my mind. It's nice to see someone truly happy, it's been a while.

"I need you to stop staring at me Red," Jace yells, hands coming back to my waist, sending an electric jolt up my body, "and dance." And at this moment, I don't think I could tell this teenage boy before me 'no' even if I wanted to.

We dance for a while, until I am whisked away by Isabelle and Maia to join them in some rounds of shots. I begrudgingly leave Jace, allowing my friends to take me to the bar, "So, Clary, I have to know." Isabelle says as we wait for our drinks, "Have you and my best friend slept together yet?" I know immediately that she is referring to Jace, and I am hoping that the flashing lights in the club make it impossible to see the coloring change on my face, "Isabelle, she has had broken bones for the past two weeks, I'm sure sex was the last thing on her mind." Maia answers for me, yet Isabelle still stares expectantly at me. I am saved by the bartender, as he brings us a tray of six clear shots. Without a second of hesitation, I throw my two back- that is the only way I am going to get through this conversation alive.

"No, we haven't had sex. I could barely even walk without wanting to die." I respond, before Isabelle calls for another round of shots, "Well, I guess I'll need to ask you again in a couple of weeks now that you're healed." Isabelle responds with a smile as more alcohol gets brought to us. I wonder how much trouble the bartender would get in for serving a bunch of underage girls their weight in drinks, "If you even tell us, since you decided not to tell me that you and Jace were dating in the first place, which by the way, was not cool." Maia adds, as the three of us toss a few more shots back. I wouldn't really consider myself a heavy drinker, but I do know the fun effects of booze.

"Speak of the devil," Isabelle winks at me, looking past my shoulder. I sense Jace's presence before his arm finds its way around my hips. He has this way of making the hair on my neck stand when he gets close to me. He reaches his free hand around, plucking the full glass of clear liquid out of my hand, "Drinking your weight in tequila I see." I can't help but laugh as Jace decides to drink the shot, scrunching his nose. "Cheap tequila too. Isabelle, I expected better from you." He teases his black-haired gal-pal, "Dad isn't paying tonight, which means we got to work with what we have, plus, we've only had like five shots or so." Isabelle replies.

"And Clary is four feet tall, so five shots is a lot." This earns my blonde boyfriend a rough elbow under the ribs, "I also had her on the dance floor for, like, a whole five minutes." I lean back into Jace, zoning out of the conversation.

I don't get brought back to it until Isabelle squeals, "This is my favorite song!" She grabs Maia, who grabs me, so naturally, I grab Jace as the chain of us gets dragged onto the dance floor. This time, my stress has been dissipated due to a little bit of liquid courage. I guess if someone tries to kidnap me, I would be able to take them, at least now that I am healed.

"Have you had enough to drink yet?" Jace teases me, a hand finding my side, I laugh in response. The alcohol hasn't hit in full effect yet, but I'm sure when it does, Jace will know. Rather than talk more, I allow my head to tilt back, hands linking around Jace's neck as I allow for the atmosphere to take over. Jace's hand explores my body, finding more inappropriate places to leave them as our bodies rub against each other, "Are you doing alright?" Jace asks against my ear, "Is now really the time to be talking about this? I'm having a hard time concentrating." I respond truthfully; between his hands, the buzz, the music, talking about my feelings is the last thing I think we should do right now.

"Yes, now is the perfect time." I fight the urge to groan at his response, his lips brushing against my neck, making me feel hot, "Jonathan is gone, I haven't heard from Valentine, my mother is back to being absent, and my body is healed, life seems fine." I reply honestly, "Yeah, I guess it is." Jace chuckles, his lips pressing softly to the skin behind my ear.

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I woke up the next morning twisted in sheets next to Isabelle. After the night out at the club, we took the party back to Isabelle's, and ended up crashing there. A mild headache is making its way around my skull, but it is nothing compared to the concussion pain I have been dealing with recently, so I think I will survive. When I roll to my right and see that Isabelle is nowhere to be found, I step out of her bed onto her hardwood floors with a wince, and tip-toe downstairs towards the kitchen.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Isabelle teases me as I come into view, shoving a cup of coffee towards me, which I gratefully accept, "Rough night?" She winks as I hear footsteps from behind me, "You could say that." I stand a bit taller at the sound of Jace's voice; Jace and Alec join us in the kitchen, "You better sober up, we have to be at the gym in less than an hour." Alec tells me and I can't help the small smile that creeps onto my face. Since the nose bleed, Luke basically banned me from the gym, and Alec and Jace helped him enforce that. Now that I have been cleared by my doctor, today is my first official practice back. I've been anxiously awaiting another conversation with Luke, not to mention it would be nice to get back to making some money. I'm lucky that none of my sponsors dropped me during my hiatus, but if I'm not fighting, they're not paying, which means I'm broke.

Jace comes to stand beside me, his arm loosely wraps around my lower waist, as I continue to sip my coffee. It's odd that I've begun to find comfort in Jace's touch. An arm around my waist, kissing, whatever it may be, I've found myself enjoying it. It seems that Jace doesn't even realize what he's doing to me. He's not even focused on me right now, talking to Alec about the football game that they won last week, but I feel like Jace's arm is lighting my hips on fire.

"You doing alright over there, Clary?" Isabelle asks me, "You're being uncharacteristically quiet." I just hum at her, sipping down the rest of my coffee.

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"Did you forget how to fight on three weeks off? What the hell are you doing?" Luke comes up behind me as I spar lightly with Alec, "I guess so." I grumble back, and Luke's brows shoot up, "Well you better remember how, because I have people breathing down my neck about when you're getting back in the ring, and that better be soon. So, get your head in the game and do it right." He tells me, his eyes jumping to Alec, "And stop taking it easy on her Alec, just because she's having a bad day doesn't mean she couldn't kick your ass on a good one." Alec nods quietly before squaring his shoulders, ready to get back in the fight.

It took Alec knocking a little bit of sense into me to get me back into the swing of things, but eventually, by the end of today's session, I felt a bit more like myself. Within the next couple weeks, I better be back to being my best self, because I am coming for Seelie, and I am sure as hell coming after Jonathan. I just want to find my father, and deal with this, once and a for all.

I lean over the sink in the women's locker room, watching sweat drip off of my face. Today was hard, but it was the perfect type of hard. It has been so long since I have felt like myself, and these last couple of days have been surprisingly great for me.

"Clary, did you pass out on the floor again?" I hear Jace call into the locker room, and I feel my lips turn upwards, "I'm all good." I call back, heading back towards my locker so I can change. I do so quickly- I promised Jace we would go back to mine for a little. I change into sweatpants and a tank top, throw my dirty boxing clothes into my duffle bag and exit the room to see Jace leaning against the wall waiting for me, "What's up, Rocky?" He teases me, referring to the old school boxing film. I just roll my eyes in return, ignoring him and walking briskly towards the door, bidding goodbye to Simon on the way out. Alec is currently cornered by Sebastian, so I choose to ignore them.

"Come on Red," Jace's long steps quickly match mine, "don't be like that. I know you had a rough day today." He catches my hand in his as we exit the gym, my eyes scanning the parking lot for his motorcycle. He drove me to the club, so now in turn he gets to be my chauffeur for the rest of the weekend, "I lost to Alec." I grumble, while keeping my eyes straight ahead, "Hey now, Alec is a good fighter." Jace steered me left towards his bike, "Yeah, well he isn't better than me." I reply as we approach our ride.

I can't help as my eyes catch a flash of white-blonde in the strip mall parking lot from across the street. I feel my hand slip out of Jace's, "I'll, uh, be right back." I pull away from Jace, quickening my pace, "Clary, where the hell are you going?" Jace calls to me, but I don't respond, breaking into a jog as I make my way across the street. I swear I just caught sight of my slimy brother. I dodge the oncoming traffic, getting honked at in the process.

The moment I get there and make eye contact with my black-eyed older brother, and the teenage girl I immediately recognize, they break off in a run, down the strip mall, and away from me.

"Jonathan, get your ass back here!" I scream after him, heading off to chase him down.