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“Do you think he’d come?”
Lucy had known exactly who Zack had been referring to without him having to say the name out loud.
“I think he’d do it just to piss me off.”
“Maybe he’s got the message. When was the last time he called?”
“A couple of days ago. No, he won’t give up because he doesn’t think he’s wrong. He’s just regrouping. He’ll try another tactic at some point. It’s only a matter of time.”
Lucy reached out to cup his jaw with her hand, her skin soft and warm.
“I’m sorry that you didn’t find out more about your mother’s disappearance. I know you were hoping that Sarah’s case might give some clues.”
They still had an investigator looking into it, but it didn’t appear that Sarah’s death had anything to do with his mother. There hadn’t been any connections at all. He wasn’t shocked or surprised; they’d disappeared eight years apart after all - but he’d…hoped.
But he was still optimistic because if Winslow Heights had secrets like the ones they’d uncovered, what else might they be hiding?
Ed Farrow had been arrested on multiple charges and had quickly made a complete confession, throwing Deputy Blake under the bus in hopes of a lesser sentence. Blake had been on Farrow’s payroll, supplying him - and a few other of his perverted friends - with sex videos with pretty young girls.
To keep that going, Blake had recruited the boys at the high school to get video of their girlfriends having sex. At the time, Blake had been helping out the football coach as an assistant, and it hadn’t been hard to get some of them convinced.
Blake had supplied “roofies” for the guys if the girls seemed unwilling. In exchange, the boys were given drugs and booze, and assured that no one was getting hurt. Farrow would watch the videos himself or sometimes sell them to his friends. It was creepy as fuck.
Joel Winslow swore to Zack that he wasn’t one of them, and that teenage girls weren’t his thing. It didn’t matter, however. Zack couldn’t forgive his father for how he’d treated Lily and Sarah.
Sarah had realized what Ethan was doing, and she’d told him she was going to tell. According to Ethan’s own statement after he’d regained consciousness, he’d told her that it wouldn’t do any good. The cops knew about it, and it wasn’t a big deal. She was blowing it out of proportion.
Ethan had told Blake that Sarah was threatening to reveal it all and that had sealed her fate. Blake had picked up Sarah one day as she was walking home. He’d killed her and buried her body, thinking that everyone would assume that she’d left town and her chaotic family.
Ethan and Blake were going to survive their gunshot wounds, although Blake was going to have a bad hip from now on. Angel, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. She had died on the way to the hospital, bleeding out from her abdomen. Her sister in Des Moines had come to take the children back with her for a while.
Blake had shot Ethan that day because he’d been wavering, the guilt eating away until he couldn’t take it much longer. He’d been okay until the discovery of Sarah’s body. He couldn’t pretend any more that she’d simply run away from home. He had to face what he’d been a part of.
There had been a lot of arrests of Zack’s friends, and a few marriages had broken up over it, including Ethan and Jenny. She’d left and taken the kids to go live with her parents in Florida and had already filed for divorce. Jay’s wife Ella had already filed as well. Some of the women who had been victims of the porn ring were threatening to sue for civil damages as well. Ethan and several of the guys were looking at lengthy prison sentences if they were convicted.
Ethan’s mother hadn’t been seen out of her house since the news broke, and there was a for-sale sign in the front yard that had appeared a few days ago. There was gossip that the couple was planning to move closer to her brother in Iowa.
Zack pulled Lucy into his arms, luxuriating in the feel of her body against his. He could get used to this quite easily. In fact, that was the plan. He wanted her in his life every single day.
“What do you say we blow this popsicle stand?” he asked, brushing her soft lips with his own. “I’ll buy you dinner at the tavern.”
“I’ll take that deal. But I warn you, I’m starving.”
“I think I can handle that.” He kissed her again, this time more hungrily until they were both breathless when he lifted his head. “I love you, Lucy. You make everything better.”
She made it all…right. Like he’d simply been waiting for her to walk into his life, and now she was here it was like his past life was a dim memory. He hadn’t realized how much he’d needed someone like her beside him. They were more than a couple. They were partners.
“I love you, too, Zack Winslow. Now are you going to feed me?”
Laughing, he pressed a kiss to her temple before stepping back and starting to gather up his tools.
A quiet night with Lucy - some dinner and then maybe some television was better than any fancy cocktail party in the city.
He didn’t need to look back anymore. His future was right here.
* * *
“If you tell anyone about us, I’ll pour honey in your underwear drawer and cut up all of your shoelaces.”
