Impulse

Another lie.

She said Valentine was supposed to check in last night, but failed. Is that why she looked at her phone nervously at the bar? She had also said Simon drove her to her dad's house, which completely disintegrated her excuse that she called an Uber without seeing him again after her attack. Not to mention her father would absolutely notice the bruising.

Did she hide the markings? How could she? They would have been entirely too noticeable in the low cut shirt she was wearing.

The web of lies was growing as well as my frustration with her, but I couldn't let her run off while there was a killer on the loose.

I looked at the gaggle of forensic techs swarming around the body with flashing cameras. "Send all those photos to my email," I ordered before pulling off my gloves and making my way after Clary.

"You're just going to leave?" the Captain asked incredulously.

"Would you rather I let your daughter walk around Salem with a throat slitter on the loose? I got all I need here. I'm going to go collect her before she gets run over." I tried to keep my tone even, but something told me he had just as many secrets as his daughter.

Goddamn, I hate not knowing things. The feeling makes me bristle.

He muttered a curse and waved me on. I stared at Clary's quickly retreating form with waves of anger rolling from my skin. Every step I took was two of hers, giving me the advantage as I rapidly caught up to her. She crossed the street to the dense treeline on the other side and tried to disappear among the trees, but I was hot on her tail.

She yelped when I grabbed her around the waist and spun her until her back pressed against a tree. My front leaned against hers so she couldn't slip away.

"Let me go," she demanded through her teeth.

"No," I barked, she tensed and stopped wiggling. "You need to start making sense."

"I don't have to do anything—"

"Bullshit," I interrupted. Fire was coursing through my veins but the adrenaline that pumped through me—and her closeness—made my jeans tighten. I ignored the sensation. "The lying and the excuses are driving me insane. If we are going to be stuck together, you need to stop hiding things."

She wiggled again, but inhaled sharply when I pushed my hips harder against hers. I fought back my own reaction.

"You don't have to know everything about my life just because we work together," her voice shook and she leaned her head back against the tree to look up at me.

"Maybe not, but you've set me on a warpath—a little puzzle of my own and I won't be satisfied until it's solved." I instinctively shifted a knee between hers and her body almost leaned into it. She was making me crazy.

"Fine, you want to know the truth? He was boring. The only excitement I got last night was when I felt you watching, when you told me to find you," she breathed and my zipper started to painfully dig into me with every stroke she gave to my ego.

"You're telling me things I already know, princess. Now tell me exactly what happened last night and don't spare any details, I know more than you think."

She leaned her face close to mine until I felt her shallow breathing against my lips. I nearly disintegrated. "No," she whispered defiantly before leaning back against the tree again. She knew how I reacted to her, and she was toying with me.

"Clary," I growled.

"What are you going to do, detective? Give me the silent treatment? That's worked out so well the last week."

"Maybe I'll throw you over my shoulder and smack your ass a few times until you listen." My boldness surprised me, but my self control was waning with each graze of her challenging green eyes and fidget of her hips.

Her chest staggered but her face appeared calm as she scanned my face through her lashes. "You call that a punishment?"

I swallowed down a desperate groan at this newly discovered side of my partner and I took a deep inhale to stop myself from outright fulfilling my threat. "You're dancing on thin fucking ice, princess." My hands worked on their own, exploring slowly up her hips until my fingertips brushed the exposed skin above the waistband of her black jeans.

A shudder bristled her flesh under my fingers.

"Just for your insolence, I hope you remember exactly how my touch feels right here." Thumbs met slender hip bones. "And here." I shifted to just below her navel with slow circles.

Her breath hitched in her throat and she tried to appear unfazed, but I noticed how her hips ground slightly against my knee and her eyes fluttered. "Bold of you to assume I'd remember something so trivial," she swallowed.

"Mmm, trivial," I repeated. "If it's so trivial maybe I'll keep going. I wonder if you'll still feel me…here." I ghosted over her jaw.

"Okay, wait," she blurted suddenly. I begrudgingly stopped my hands from sliding further. "What if you don't like the truth?"

"If you think I won't like it, then I believe it's something I definitely need to know."

"And if I only tell you the need-to-know?"

"I'm sure I can fill in the blanks."

She hesitated but made no move to push me away, if anything, she relaxed under my body. "When dad didn't check in, Simon drove me to my old house—"

"Did he kiss you?"

"Is that need-to-know?" Red brows furrowed.

"It is for me." I don't know where this aggression was coming from. I almost felt…possessive, and that was dangerous.

Her cheeks flushed. "Yeah, he did." My stomach sank but I kept listening. "But he pretty much didn't live up to first date standards, so go ahead and gloat."

"Again, you're telling me things I already know. Keep going," I ordered and flexed my fingers around her waist, invoking a sharp inhale from her lips.

She spoke quickly. "I checked on my dad, it turns out he had just fallen asleep early, then I called an Uber home. It's really nothing crazy, Jace."

"You're dodging the most important part," I sneered, my frustration was maxing out and my actions were only making it worse but I couldn't let go. If I kept this up, I was going to bend her against a tree and fuck the truth out of her. "Getting jumped was a lie, wasn't it?"

She bit her lips closed in refusal to answer. I ground my knee against her and a whimper fell from her tongue. "I'm not ready to tell you that yet."

Afraid I would progress further and do something she may regret, I pushed myself far away from her. My fingers raked through my hair. "So this is how it's going to be? Mistrust and hiding things?"

She scoffed resentfully. "You're standing here, using my body's reactions against me to get what you want. Trying to pry information out of me that I made clear I'm not ready to share, and yet I barely know the first thing about you."

"That's rich. Weren't you the one using my own reactions against me the first day we met? Moving my things around to get what you wanted?" She looked away guiltily as I continued. "I'm not using your body against you, I'm trying to prevent mine from taking exactly what it wants. And I have always been an open book, princess, you just have to ask the right questions."

Green eyes narrowed and bellowed fire. "Here's a question: You were at my apartment last night, weren't you?"

I froze. "Why do you say that?"

She scoffed as if my dodging confirmed it. "The Uber missed a turn and had to pull in through the street you were parked on. You want to tell me what the fuck you were doing? Were you watching me?" She stepped forward and pushed my shoulders with as much power as she could muster, I didn't resist.

"I was just making sure you got home safe. I don't trust him, and for good reason," I snapped.

"You don't trust him because he's not 'gentleman' enough or because he's not you?" An angry tear spilled from her eye as she shoved me again, my back thumped against another tree. I caught her hips in my hands as she stepped impossibly closer with her flaming eyes.

"I'm just confident he wouldn't know how to protect you if he tried," I breathed.

"You're acting like he's a stranger. I've known him my whole life. I've only known you for a week," she bit and pushed her hips against mine, making a groan rumble in my chest. She shoved against my shoulders again but fisted her fingers into my shirt.

Whatever was happening, didn't feel like an anger response between either of us.

I leaned down until my lips nearly met hers just centimeters away. "Are you saying that out loud for yourself to hear because of the way your body reacts to me and not him?"

She sucked in a breath. "I don't react to you."

"I'm a detective, princess. I've seen the way you squirm under my gaze—the way you touch the skin just below your skirts when you think of me. I'm confident that you'll do the same after today, but I hope it's everywhere." I pulled her harder against me until our lips finally met in a whirlwind of electricity.

A whimper left her throat as she tangled her fingers into my hair. Our mouths were urgent, as if we had been resisting the urge to do so for days—I know I have. Her hands slipped under my shirt and smoothed her palms up my stomach. I let mine mirror the movements against her skin.

I spun us around and easily lifted her until her legs were wrapped around my middle and pressed her into the tree. My groin was positioned against the apex of her thighs, and a stifled guttural moan left my mouth straight into hers when she rocked against it. I couldn't stop myself from grinding harder into her, the movement making her shudder beneath my hands.

A sharp ring broke through the silence of the forest and through our moment of passion. Our lips tore away from each other while shocked gazes clashed together. I quickly set her down and took a few paces backward. She nervously smoothed her hands over her jeans and dug through her back pocket for her cellphone. Green eyes flicked to my gold ones for a moment, we looked away at the same time before she answered her phone.

I wiped my hand across my mouth, still feeling the buzzing sensation and frustration that it was interrupted.

"Yeah?" She answered breathlessly.

A beat of silence took over as the other person replied.

She chuckled sarcastically. "Perfect. No, don't put me through." She ended the call and shoved the phone back in her pocket.

I cleared my throat. "Who was it?"

"Uhm," she struggled, tucking her hands awkwardly into her back pockets while avoiding my eyes. "I'm gonna go talk to my dad. Maybe I'll see you at the precinct?"

She attempted to walk past me but I hooked a hand around her elbow. "I'm coming with you."

"No," she said quickly, my stomach sank. "No, it's personal. I'll see you later." The arm in my grasp slid free, leaving me standing in a puddle of need and guilt.