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Zack sat down in a chair opposite, leaning over the table so that Jay had to meet his gaze.
“I’m sick and tired of everyone acting like I’m the problem. It looks like my own friends were keeping secrets from me—”
“We did it for your own good,” Jay broke in, shaking his head over and over. “We did it because you said that you needed to stay out of the bar in case your old man found out. You already had enough issues with him, and you didn’t need any more. Besides, everyone was scared of Joel Winslow. He could have shut it all down.”
Being scared of Zack’s dad sounded more plausible than that they were all worried about him. He’d had copious amounts of problems with his dad in his teenager years, and his friends were certainly more than aware of them, but he doubted that had been the main reason.
They’d kept him in the dark because they didn’t want “something” shut down. What was it?
“What happened in that bar?” Zack asked, keeping his tone even but firm. “And don’t try and bullshit me. Something was going on there. Sarah was into something right before she died.”
Jay’s jaw was set, and it looked like he wasn’t going to say anything. The sliding glass door opened, and his wife stuck her head in.
“Um, hello. Jay, will you be out soon? The kids are asking for you. Hi, I’m Ella. You must be Zack. I’ve seen your pictures in Jay’s yearbook.”
“I am Zack, and it’s nice to meet you, Ella. I promise I won’t keep your husband much longer.”
“That’s fine. Take your time.”
The door slid closed again, and Zack levered up from his chair and walked over to it, looking out at the three children jumping through the sprinklers.
“You have a daughter.”
“I do. Blair. She’s an angel. I’m proud of my boys, Nathan and Evan, too. They’re great kids.”
Zack turned back to his friend, whose face had turned bright red.
“I know what you’re saying. I’m a dad now, and I wouldn’t want my little girl getting into the shit that Sarah was into.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can’t be suggesting that because I don’t know what Sarah was into. You haven’t told me. And it sounds like there was some sort of conspiracy to make sure I never found out.”
Jay leaned forward, cradling his head in hands, groaning out loud.
“Fine,” he said, looking back up at Zack. “Farrow liked them young, if you know what I mean. He liked to be surrounded by young teenage girls, so he let them in to the bar, along with some guys, too. You know…the football team mostly. He told us that if we brought in our female friends, he’d comp our drinks. Help us out. You know…with…things.”
For once, Zack was grateful that his mother hadn’t let him play football. She’d said it was too dangerous. He’d argued until he was blue in the face, but she’d never relented. Now he was glad if this was what they were up to.
“No, I don’t know. How did he help you?”
Rubbing his forehead, Jay sighed again out loud.
“You know…steroids. So we could get big and compete. If your dad had found out…shit…we didn’t want that to happen.”
Because my dad’s been such a bastion of morality. Fuck, Joel Winslow probably wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass. But people in this town have such a skewed idea of who he truly is.
If Zack had known, his father wouldn’t have been the person he would have told. He would have talked to his mother.
“Steroids? You brought girls to the bar in exchange for performance enhancing drugs? Is that how Sarah got there?”
“Yes,” Jay growled. “Ethan would take her. She liked to go because it got her out of the house. After a while, she’d go without him or anyone else.”
“Did she sleep with Farrow? Is that what he was doing with those girls?”
Just asking the question made Zack sick to his stomach.
“I don’t know. I don’t know if any of them did.”
“You didn’t want to know.”
