I just really love writing and the chapters are mostly short anyway.
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"Mace would kill me if she knew I tell you about this...," the boy mumbled, walking up and down in his living room, whilst Ashton was sitting on his sofa, looking at his friend questioning.

"I don't know what this is about, Michael. You shouldn't tell me anything that she doesn't want you to tell me... but you sounded very serious and concerned on the phone, you also still are extremely nervous, so this might be serious."

Michael sat down next to his friend and laid his head in his hands. "I have no idea if I'm overreacting or if it really is serious."

Ashton locked eyes with the boy when he looked up again, telling him silently that he should go on when he is ready.

Michael stood up again, walking around nervously yet another time.

"Okay, so I think I should have told you about this sooner, or I should have done something sooner. But I just don't want to tell you something she wouldn't want me to tell others and I also really want to believe her, simply because I don't think she would ever lie to me... but I think Macey is lying to me... to us... whatever," the boy rambled in one breath.

"Is this about Jack?"

Michael's eyes widened as he looked to the boy who was peacefully sitting on the couch as if he knew exactly what Michael was talking about.

"How do you know?"

"Luke told me about what happened the other day."

"We should do something, right? I mean, we need to do something. But Macey wouldn't want us to and I j-"

"Slow down, Mike" Ashton cut his friend off. "I'm totally on your side with this. This isn't okay and he shouldn't do it. But if Macey forgave him and it only happened once... it's her relationship after all. And I know Jack...“ the boy trailed off.

"No, Ashton, you don't get it. It didn't happen just once, he hit her again, just three days ago."

The boy frowned. "How do you know that"?

"She came here. I got in a fight with Jackass, long story short, she wanted to make sure if I was okay, and there was blood dripping down her shoulder, and she had bruises everywhere, and her eyes were red from crying, and she looked horrible."

Ashton tensed, he didn't want to even just think about Macey looking like that.

Normally Ashton would have said something about the nickname Michael gave his best friend's boyfriend. Ashton knew that Macey wouldn't be happy if she knew that Michael called him that whenever she wasn't around. But he thought that this might not be the right moment.

But Ashton knew Jack, he knew Jack the longest of them all. And even though he wasn't friends with him anymore, with good reasons, he didn't want to believe his childhood friend could do something like that.

"She told me that he got mad 'cause Mace was defending me and he was drunk and then he hit her. But she also told me he was sorry and that he usually doesn't do that. And she looked me deadass in the eyes and said that Jack isn't abusive... and I mean, I know Macey, she wouldn't just lie to me. You know Mace, she hates lies, she is the one who makes us always tell the truth."

"I don't know," Ashton sighed. "You are right, Mace never lies, so maybe she is telling the truth?"

Michael shook his head. "I want to believe that as well, but if I think about it rational I'm pretty sure she isn't. Have you ever seen her with a short-sleeved T-Shirt? No! Because she never wears those, but I saw her arms and her back and all those marks... some of them were older, and there were tons of them. How could I believe this is all just 'cause she's clumsy?"

Ashton needed some time to take all this in. Jack being abusive? Ashton would blame himself, for introducing the two to one another, for never telling Macey the whole story of why they stopped talking. But, of course, it wasn't Ashton's fault. How could he have known? And why would Macey stay with him if he hit her anyway?

It didn't make sense.

“Come on, Ashton. I decided to tell you because you know Jackass the best out of all of us. And I know you two were friends, alright? But you know what he is capable of. I know you don't like to talk about this but you had your reasons to end the friendship.“

"We can try to talk to her, maybe she'll tell us the truth," the boy took a deep breath, "If this is actually what you think it is we definitely need to do something, but we shouldn't judge too soon."

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Ashton and Jack have a past together... I first wrote this chapter with Ashton believing everything Michael said but I changed it today so that he is a bit more sceptical.