<span style="font-size: 15px"><span style="font-family:Open Sans">Jaxon frowned, the extent of the damage sinking in. It was hardly the sort of thing one expected with a friend, much less.. whatever it was Slater and Gabriel appeared to be to one another. He looked up from the table, brows drawing together momentarily in confusion at Gabriel's wording.<br/>
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“I'm sorry, this time..? Another accident, or has this happened before?” Gabriel made it sound like it had, and by his reaction to the whole thing, he hadn't exactly seemed surprised by the whole turn of events. Rather, he'd tried to warn Jaxon.<br/>
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“Ahh, probably better than being home.” He nodded, thinking too maybe Gabriel was worried about staying home, with Slater more than likely posting bail.<br/>
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“Yeah, that seems a sensible solution, though the food smells good enough that I don't think I'd mind dropping in again.” He was being friendly, not meaning anything by it, but with Jaxon's charming smile it was easy to draw conclusions. It simply didn't ping on Jaxon's radar that any of this could be misconstrued.<br/>
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“And that way you'll have my number too. If he shows up, snooping around your place, give me a call and I'll sort it out. Even if it's late. A coward like that probably won't show his face in daylight.” Jaxon removed his phone, adding in the contact info, and calling the number. He let it ring a few times before hanging up so that Gabriel would have a way of reaching him as well.<br/>
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“Oh, that. I didn't really know what else to do. I'm better at handling problems than I am at calming people down.” He smiled, a bit embarrassed to recall the situation. His face changed to something more serious when Gabriel informed him that he would be following through, and had even gone as far as a restraining order.<br/>
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“Hopefully he listens, and keeps his distance.” Gabriel was ready to move onto other, more pleasant conversations.<br/>
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“Yeah, I have a deep freezer stocked from my father's cattle ranch. It's what I'm used to.” He seemed to consider a moment. “You should come by my place this Sunday. I'm doing a barbecue with some buddies of mine. I'm not much of a cook, not like this-” he indicated to the restaurant, “but I can fire up a grill.” Miguel came over, to mention even more food, and Jaxon nodded.<br/>
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“Sure, may as well get the whole experience.” They went on with their orders, and Gabriel didn't press about Jaxon paying for his own meal. He said nothing about a 'next time', wondering if it was a cultural thing he missing. He decided Gabriel was just trying to thank him, and didn't think too much more about it. Then Gabriel mentioned that he'd been worried for him, and Kiv.<br/>
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Jaxon shook his head, leaning down to give his dog a pat.<br/>
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“We've been in much worse situations. The most dangerous thing would have been to do nothing. If that whole mess with my neighbors hadn't have happened, you wouldn't have gotten held up with the authorities. That night wouldn't have gone that way,” Jaxon spoke, shrugging. “Better that it happened with someone around though, right? Now you know the sort of man he is.” Jaxon obviously didn't have an ounce of respect left for him.<br/>
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“You two were..?” Jaxon warred with how to word the question and instead didn't finish it, giving Gabriel a searching look instead. It was clear he didn't understand, but Jaxon wasn't as close-minded as some of his peers. While he didn't think that lifestyle was for him, he didn't judge his friends for their choices.</span></span>