Heart Of Marley (35 page)

“Marley,” I said, my chin quivering at what all those marks could be from. They were certainly not all self-inflicted. “Why are you still in your dress?”

“Because it never stops, Cam!” Her chest heaved from her heartbreaking sobs, her expression manic. “No matter what! I can make a stand all I want, but will it end?
No
! Nothing I say or do will ever make it stop. There are thousands of sick, twisted men just like
him
everywhere.” She gestured with the gun toward where Buck stood, shaking in fear of the weapon pointed at him by a seemingly irrational woman.

“I’ll never be free of my past. It will always cling on to me and not let me go.”

I swallowed hard, her inferences making it clear what happened to her in the last few hours.

“Who, Marley?”

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before returning her defeated gaze to me. “You already know the answer, Cam, but you’ve been too blind to see what’s been right in front of you all along. And so have I.”

I was completely baffled. Nothing made sense.

“Please, Marley. I need to know.”

She shook her head and I could see her body shivering from the memory of what she had endured today and all those years ago.

“It needs to be stopped! And I’m starting with him!” Vengeance in her eyes, she took a step closer to Buck, clinging to the gun as if it were a life vest…her last hope of survival.

“Marley! No! You don’t want to do this. He’s turned his life around. He’s sorry for what he’s done, aren’t you?” I met Buck’s tear-stained eyes.

He nodded quickly. “Yes. I am. I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I know it doesn’t mean anything, and that I hurt you and betrayed your trust, but you have to believe that I’m reformed. I would never harm another person or touch another girl in that way again. Please,” he begged, sweat falling from his brow.

“He’s trying to move on with his life, just like you’re trying to move on with yours, Marley.” My voice was soothing as I attempted to talk some sense into her.

She closed the distance between herself and Buck, her eyes crazed. “He’s going to get married, Cam! He convinced her to marry him! And they’re having a baby! She’s pregnant, due to deliver the baby any day now!” She grabbed a picture of an ultrasound and shoved it at me. “It’s a girl! What if he’s lying, Cam? What if he hasn’t turned over a new leaf? What if he’s planning on doing the same thing to his daughter that he did to me? I can’t live with myself if I don’t do something to stop him. To stop all of it!
It needs to end
!”

“Please, Marley,” Buck said, taking a bold step toward her. “I will not touch my daughter that way. I love her. Please. Let me know my daughter.”

The atmosphere in the room intensified as Marley stared into Buck’s apologetic eyes, the distaste that covered his being all those years ago absent.

“Please, Marley. Let me move on. You have such a bright future ahead of you, despite all the pain and suffering I put you through. Don’t take that away from yourself.”

A protracted moment passed before she shook her head in resignation and I could tell that Buck’s words forced some sort of revelation in her. Her rigid body visibly relaxing, she gradually lowered the gun. Both Buck and I let out a long breath.

Then a smile crossed Marley’s face. “I just can’t take that risk, Buck.” She raised the weapon and shot him in the chest.

He fell back, toppling over the coffee table as it shattered beneath his weight.

“Buck!” his fiancée shouted, rushing to him.

“No! Marley!” I ran to Buck, trying to stop the flow of blood as best I could with the little first aid training I had received. His fiancée cried and held his hand.

“Doesn’t make you feel any better, does it?” I asked, glancing back at her before returning my attention to Buck, praying that he wasn’t dead.

“You were right, Cam. I don’t feel any better. Killing him won’t stop it.” Her voice was stoic and void of emotion as a look of tranquility crossed her face. It was the most at peace I had seen Marley since our eighth birthday.

I began to give Buck CPR, not knowing if that would help in the case of a gunshot.

“I get it now. I know what will finally stop my pain,” Marley’s sweet voice said as I continued my compressions regardless of the fact that I knew it was useless. He was dead.

“From the stars to the ocean.”

A gunshot sounded and I jumped, turning to see that Marley was slumped over on the ground, blood streaming from her head. “
Marley
!
No
!” I screamed, the pain of that sight torturing my soul. I could feel my heart crumbling in my chest as I rushed to her.

“Marley,” I sobbed, cradling her lifeless body against mine. “Please, Mar.” I hugged her tight, hoping that my arms would bring her back to me. “You need to wake up now, Marley Jane. Stop playing. It’s not funny anymore. You made your point.” I held her for as long as I could, warming her body when it grew cold over the hours that I sat in a strange house in a complete daze, flashing lights illuminating the night sky outside.

“Cameron, baby,” a soothing voice said, waking me as I kept Marley clutched in my embrace. “You need to let her go.”

I looked up to see my mama standing there next to my aunt and uncle. Brianna and Doug stood in the corner, holding on to each other, tears in their eyes as they watched me. I wondered when everyone had arrived. The last thing I remembered was hearing the gunshot that changed my life.

“Let Marley go,” Mama said.

I stared at them, emotion overwhelming me at the thought of ever letting Marley go. “I don’t know how,” I sobbed out. It was the absolute truth. I had no idea how to let go of my sister. We had been together since before birth. There was no such thing as life without Marley. I couldn’t even imagine a day where there was no Marley.

“You find a way to honor her memory,” my uncle said, always the level-headed one. “That’s what she would have wanted.” My aunt nodded and let out a loud sob as she ran from the room.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. I wanted to cry. Mostly, I wanted my sister back. My other half. My heart. But she was gone. Never to return again. Never to punch me when I was being an ass. Never to kick me underneath the dining room table when I stretched my legs into her space. Never to tease me about my relationship with her friend.

Looking down at her, I planted a kiss on her cheek. “To the moon and back, Marley Jane.”

My heart shattered when she couldn’t respond how she usually did.

And that was the moment the realization washed over me like a tidal wave. She was gone…

I
WAS
IN
A
complete daze that night and into the early hours of the morning as I sat answering question after question, while the police tried to put all the pieces together about what happened. I wish I could give them the answer they wanted to hear, but I couldn’t. All I could say was that my sister snapped because she didn’t get the help she needed when she needed it, and now she was gone.

Marley was gone.

My sister was dead.

My best friend killed herself.

No matter how many times I said it, I still couldn’t come to terms with the cruel reality of it all.

“Now, I want to go back to one thing and then you’ll be free to leave, Cam,” Mr. Benson, Grady’s father and the police chief, said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Yes?”

“You mentioned that Marley had said something to the effect that someone had hurt her.”

“Everyone hurt her,” I replied, my voice low and empty. “Maybe not directly, but everything in this town put another nail in her coffin until she couldn’t take it anymore. That’s why she’s…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say it out loud because then it would be true. Steadying myself, I stared into Mr. Benson’s benevolent eyes. “All I know is that something happened to her yesterday after the pageant. I don’t know what, but
something
happened that pushed her over the edge. That’s all I can really tell you right now.”

“Okay. Thanks, Cam. I’m sure you’d like to be with your family so I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. If you think of anything, anything at all, please call me.”

Getting up, I started to leave the room. I reached the door and glanced at him. “It won’t bring Marley back so I don’t know why it even matters.”

“Cam, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through,” he soothed. “I’m not even going to pretend that I can sympathize with you because I most certainly cannot. But what I can tell you is that if we find out that something
did
happen to Marley, we’ll catch whoever’s responsible and bring them to justice. Isn’t that what Marley would have wanted?”

Shaking my head dejectedly, I said, “What Marley would have wanted was to finally be at peace. I guess now she is.”

I left the police station and hopped in my Wrangler. Everything about the short drive home seemed inherently wrong as I watched the sun rise in the east. There was an emptiness and desolation in the streets of Myrtle Beach, the vibrancy of our beautiful beach community replaced by bleakness. I could no longer feel Marley’s spirit around me, and I had no idea how I could possibly be expected to survive without her. I had hoped, with everything in me, that last night was one giant nightmare…that I would wake up and Marley would come bounding into my bedroom at any second. But as I pulled in front of my house, I knew that I wouldn’t get my wish.

Killing the engine, I couldn’t muster the strength I needed to step out of the Jeep and into the house. As I sat there staring at the roof that reminded me of everything I had lost, a thousand emotions rushed over me…sadness, rage, hate, anger, resentment, desperation, and love. The love I had amplified those emotions a thousand times.

I punched the steering wheel and screamed, wishing it would make it hurt less. But it didn’t. I didn’t think anything would ever be able to take away the pain and guilt I was experiencing. For the first time in nearly seven years, I let it all wash over me. I stopped pretending that everything was okay when it was anything but.

Taking several deep breaths after letting out my emotions, I pulled myself together the best I could, unsure of what scene would greet me when I walked through the front door. As I climbed the steps to our porch, everything seemed grim and somber. I entered the house, surprised to see Brianna sitting on the floor of our living room, playing with Meg and Julianne.

“Hey,” I said quietly.

Her head shot up quickly and an empathetic look crossed her face. Turning back to my sisters, she said, “Can you two color by yourselves for a few minutes while I go talk to your brother?”

Meg looked toward the hallway where I stood and I could tell that she had been crying. “Okay. We’ll stay here and color.” Her voice was subdued and lacked the innocence that she normally exuded when she spoke.

Brianna walked up to me and grabbed my hand, leading me up the stairs and into my room. Once we were alone, she wrapped her arms around me and I felt her body begin to shake against mine.

“I’m so sorry, Cam,” she sobbed. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Closing my eyes, I let the tears fall, not caring that I was crying in front of my girlfriend. She felt my pain, too. She had a bond with Marley almost as strong as I did.

“Why are you here?” I asked softly.

“I wanted you to feel some sort of love when you got home from the police station. And the girls’ grandmother couldn’t watch them this morning so I agreed to while your aunt, uncle, and mama…” She trailed off.

I nodded. She didn’t need to tell me. I knew they were at the funeral home, making preparations.

“They came home a few hours ago to let the girls know what happened…” She brought her bottom lip between her teeth, trying to hide her quivering chin from me.

I pulled her into me once more in a feeble attempt to be the strong one.

“It’s all my fault,” Brianna lamented into my chest.

“No, it’s not. It’s everyone’s fault. Everyone in this town is to blame here.”

She shook her head. “No. I knew exactly what happened to Marley and I stood aside and let it happen again. I should have known.”

I reeled back. “What do you mean? What do you know?”

Her eyes grew wide, a look of horror on her face. “I can’t, Cam,” she whispered.

“Why not?!” I shouted, my expression fierce. “My sister is fucking dead! She shot herself, Bri! If you really care about her like you say you do, tell me! What is it that she kept from me?! What is it that
you’re
keeping from me?!”

“It’s not something I can share with you! I want to. I just… I can’t!”

I gripped her shoulders tightly, my face flaming with anger. “Goddammit, Bri! Just fucking tell me!” I shook her, my passion overtaking my rationale.

She fought against me and freed herself. “Don’t you
ever
fucking touch me again, Cam!” she screamed, bolting from my room. As she was about to run down the stairs, she turned around. “I thought you were one of the good ones.” She rubbed her arms and I could see a red imprint from where my hands were. I scrunched my eyebrows, noticing a faint bruise with a pattern similar to the ones on Marley’s body. “You’re just like everyone else.” She spun around and flew down the stairs.