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"Yeah man, what's up?" Austin answers, leaning himself onto his elbows, looking at Jace intrigued

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"Yeah man, what's up?" Austin answers, leaning himself onto his elbows, looking at Jace intrigued.

Jace sighs. "I've told you about what happened at the park with Mila, but yesterday Derek showed up in front of the dorm room of Bree and her" he says, mimicking Austin.

"Fuck, for real?" Austin says with an angry look on his face. "He didn't touch you, did he?" he asks concerned, now directed at me.

I shake my head. "No. You know Derek?" I ask him softly.

"I know of him, heard all about the shitty things he did" he starts, but quickly interrupts himself.

So, even Austin knows, but Jace won't tell me anything.  There must be more to the story of Derek and Jace, but I let it go. For now. It's not exactly dinner talk.

"What did he want?" Austin asks once again.

"He tried to get his way, intimated her. Who the fuck knows what he really wanted. Just make sure you don't leave Bree alone in there from now on. I'm not too worried about it, I just didn't want to scare her and talk to you about it first" Jace continues.

"Scare me with what?" Bree says in her perky voice, when she returns to the dinner table. 

Jace looks at Austin, looking for permission to say something. They're both quiet.

"Bree knows about Derek. I've told her about what happened in the park" I inform the two of them.

"Yeah. Did something else happen?" she asks, now looking slightly concerned. 

Austin gives Jace a slight nod. "He showed up at your dorm room yesterday, wanting to talk to Mila. Nothing happened, I just told Austin that you shouldn't be alone there anymore" Jace explains, placing his hand on my thigh casually.

"Oh" Bree brings out. "I'm not scared of that idiot. I'll kick him in the balls if he comes for me" she adds, and I have to chuckle a little bit.

Jace's face doesn't twitch. "You shouldn't underestimate him" he says with a low voice.

"Why? How do you guys know him anyway?" she asks once again.

An awkward silence fills the table. Bree knows about Jace's drug dealing, but Jace doesn't know that she does. 

"Alright, there's clearly an elephant in the room and I'm going to address it" Jace starts, once again looking at Austin for permission. He nods his head quickly.

"I know" Bree admits, staring him in the eyes, before Jace has to say something.

Jace nods back at her "Alright then. He's a client of mine and involved in some things. It's best you don't know exactly what it is" he explains.

Bree nods her head back at Jace.

"Okay, I'll make sure not go alone" she says with empathy.

I'm so grateful that she's not judgmental towards Jace and his drug dealing. I love her for it and I give her a quick grateful smile.

"Be right back" he says giving my thigh one last stroke. I nod my head back at him as he leaves the table.

"I hope it's okay that I told him?" Bree says genuinely worried.

"Of course. I would've told him eventually that you know" I calm her.

"If you wouldn't have found out through Mila, you would have through me" Austin reassures her too.

"Okay" Bree sighs in relief. "And how are you holding up, Mila? I'm sure it's still a big topic between you too" she says. "Jace's drug dealing" she adds in a quiet tone.

"Yeah, what does an idiot like Jace do to deserve you?" Austin jokes around to brighten the mood again.

I quickly laugh at him. "He accepts me the way I am, so I'm going to do the same with him. Of course it makes me uncomfortable, but... I wouldn't want to be without him anymore" I admit, my cheeks turning slightly red.

Bree beams at me. "You guys are the cutest" she says, making me chuckle.

"Yeah, you're good for him, I can tell" Austin remarks as well. 

My heart flutters, as I'm happy that Jace's best friend approves of me.

"Thank you" I say, smiling at the two of them. "Honestly, I was happy to hear that Jace has an actual, genuine friend like you, that isn't involved with drugs."

"I was glad about that fact too" Bree remarks right away, softly stroking Austin's arm.

"Believe me, I've tried multiple times to get him out of that scene, but Jace doesn't let anybody tell him what to do" he answers. "Because he's a stubborn dumbass" Austin adds loudly, seeing that Jace has returned to the table.

He leans onto the back of my chair. "I thought this was dinner, not my personal roast" he says, grinning at Austin. "Ready to go, Mila?"

"I'll get the bill" Austin says, turning around to look for a waiter.

"Already taken care of" Jace says, grabbing my jacket from the chair for me. 

Realisation hits me. He didn't go to the bathroom, he paid the check for all of us.

"Nah man, can't let you do that" Austin insists.

"You're going to have to, dumbass" Jace answer, mimicking him from just seconds ago.

"Alright, next time's on me" he says, grabbing the jacket for Bree too.

"Thank you Jace, you didn't have to do that" she says in her sweet voice.

"Pleasure" he answers with another genuine smile on his face. We say our goodbyes, and make our way over to Jace's car. 

"Did you have a good time?" he asks me, once we both close our car doors.

"Yeah, it was very nice" I smile at him. "Are you mad at me? That I told Bree about you?"

"No. She would've found out eventually, through Austin" he says, placing his hand on my thigh after starting the engine.

"Okay, good. You know, it was great to see you with a genuine friend. You were a completely different person tonight. So... happy and bright" I try to explain.

"Bright?" Jace laughs at me.

"You know what I mean" I chuckle back.

"Austin's like a brother to me. He's the most important person in my life after my dad and... you know. You" he admits. My heart turns warm immediately, so I lay my hand over his right away. I don't know what to say back, so I softly stroke it with my hand. "Are you coming back to my place?" Jace wants to know.

"I'd like that" I answer back, as we drive through the beautiful city of Seattle. 

As we're about to arrive at Jace's apartment, his phone is vibrating in his pocket.

"Can you read that for me?" he asks me, handing it to me.

He has no idea who the text is from and he wants me to read it? In my eyes, that's such a big sign of trust.

"I like her, you better not fuck up a second time man"  I read the text out loud, chuckling at Austin's comment slightly. "You told him about... what happened?" I ask Jace quietly.

"Of course. I told you, he's like a brother to me" he answer back, squeezing my thigh gently.

I half-smile at Jace. "Do you want me to answer?" I ask him.

"I'll do it later" Jace says, as he stops the engine of his car. 

We make our way inside to have a quiet night after this long day.

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