“Most of them do. In a way, it’s been good. People leave me alone.”
“But you have friends, right?”
“The guys on my team. They know me well enough to know I didn’t do it. Some of them think Braden did it. The guy’s got a temper like I’ve never seen. He doesn’t just get mad. He fucking loses it.”
“Was he like that when you guys were friends?”
Jackson lets out a humorless laugh. “She told you that too, huh? That Braden and I used to be friends? Fucking Peyton just can’t keep her mouth shut. How’d you even start talking about me?”
“We were talking about the game. She said you used to be their best player.”
“People said that, but personally, I thought Jason was better than me. You know about Jason?”
I nod. “Yeah. His parents donated money to have one of the rooms at school named after him.”
His brows rise. “Is that what they told you?”
“Yeah. Why?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing.” He glances at the house. “We should get out of here. If we replace too much of the camerafootage it’ll be obvious it was tampered with.” He takes my hand. “Let’s go.”
I follow him down the steps to the beach. “Wait, do I need to bring anything?”
“Depends on how long you’re staying.”
“How long will you let me?”
“You can stay as long as you want. Is Brock coming back tomorrow?”
“I don’t know but he’s at least gone for tonight.”
We walk hand in hand down the dark beach, the only light coming from the moon and the few houses that have lights on inside.
“Were you friends with Jason?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Jackson says in a quiet voice.
“Better friends than you were with Braden?”
“No.” He glances at me. “I don’t want to talk about this. It’s the past, and not something I want to remember.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you used to be friends with Braden?”
“I thought it would affect what you thought of me. I didn’t want you thinking I was like him just because we were friends.”
“I wouldn’t think that. You’re nothing like him, except for you both being good at football.”
“That’s why we were friends. We started on the team together freshman year. We’d both come from private schools where sports weren’t that important. When we got to Twisted Pine, they were starting to take sports seriously, especially football. They were hiring the best trainers, best coaches. They were treating it more like a college sport than high school. Braden and I were determined to rise to the top. To be the best players the school had ever had.”
“But you were better than him.”
“Because I’d been training for longer. I’ve had to spend time in the gym since I was a kid, so I’d look good on camera. OnceI quit acting, I hired a trainer who worked with college football players. I asked him to train me like one. Let me do the drills. I even went to some team practices with him. Braden didn’t have any of that. He worked out in the gym, but he didn’t have the football training that I did.”
“What about Jason?”
“Jason was recruited.”
“What do you mean?
