Norma Jean

chapter 16



5 weeks later



Norma



“I love you, smalls.” Chance whispers in my ear before kissing me on the lips softly but deeply. I sigh and roll over watching him walk out the door. What can I say? I hate to see him leave but I love to watch him walk away.

He wanted to stay here with me but he can’t afford to miss any more classes. At least that’s something I don’t have to worry about. I have never really liked school and college is killer. Though to save myself from more time with Creed, I threw myself into my studies. I don’t look forward to going back.

I doze off after Chance leaves and I dream of twisted red sheets and warm hands sliding over my body. Chance’s face appears over my mine and I smile in my dream. Even asleep I can’t get enough of him. I wonder if I ever will. God I hope not.

I hear the door slam and finally get out of bed. No need to stay in bed all day just because I have nothing else to do. There is a DVR downstairs with my name on it. I think I shall spend the day with Toby Cavanagh. My other love.

I slip on some comfortable pants and one of Chance’s shirts. It is of course way to big and falls down to my knees but I can’t bring myself to care. It smells like him and that is all that matters.

I pop some pop-tarts into the toaster and pull out a small plate to place them on. After they are done I make my way into the living room picking the remote up off the coffee table. I switch the TV on and scroll through the list of recorded shows finding Pretty Little Liars. I’m just getting into it when all hell breaks loose.

“Hello Norma Jean.” comes Creed’s rough voice. I scream like a little girl, my plate flying through the air.

I feel all the color drain out of my face. I stand up from the couch on shaky legs. I take in his blond hair which is styled like every other time I have seen him. His brown eyes are dull and lifeless like usual as well. The Creed I met at the beginning of college is no longer around. Oh how I wish he would come back and leave this sociopath behind. “How did you find me?” I whisper.

He chuckles coming around the couch to stand too close to me. “Chance thinks he is so smart.” He trails a finger down my cheek and I flinch. I’m used to being scared around Creed but this is different. I swear my life is flashing before my eyes. “Do you really not know me at all? I would find out where the ex-boyfriend of the girl I loved lived. I would know everything about him, Norma. I always knew one day you would run from me and end up here. It surprises me how little you and Chance know about me.” He goes on.

I shake my head backing away from him. This can’t be happening right now. This isn’t real. I’m upstairs in Chance’s bed. Asleep, dreaming. That is where I have to be. “Why are you doing this?” I scream finding my panic and natural instincts. If I just distract him long enough someone will come home. “Why did you kill my Grammy?” I ask with venom.

He chuckles again taking another step towards me. “I didn’t kill her, Norma. The only people I want dead are you and Chance. She was dead long before I got there. I just set the fire so it wouldn’t be days before someone found her.” A lock my hair twists around his index finger making me cringe. “I did that for you.”

I smack his hand away from my hair backing up even more. “I don’t believe you. You killed her to get back at me for sleeping with Chance, in your bed.” I sneer at him. “Which in all honestly I didn’t even realize was your bed because I was so turned on by Chance I didn’t even notice.”

His hand flies out slapping me in the face. “Shut up you whore!” smack, smack, kick to my ribs. “Don’t talk about that! You are mine and I have no desire to hear about another man!” Punch to my head before he grabs my wrists pulling my head up to see his face. “I’m going to take you away from here. We are going somewhere special and before long Chance will join us. Then you can both die together. I shouldn’t ever have believed you could be faithful to me.”

My right eye is swollen and I think he cracked a rib but I look up at him with defiance. “You’re the one who f*cked another girl. Chance and I have been nothing but faithful to whoever we have been with.” I spit blood out of my mouth down at his feet. If I’m going to die I might as well make it worth his while.

“Is that how you truly think, Norma Jean?” he smooth’s matted hair out of my face before going on. “You two could only ever think about each other. Even when you were with me, you couldn’t forget him. You wouldn’t let yourself love me, because you refused to let your love for him go. The same goes for him. So no Norma, you have been unfaithful the entire time we were together.”

“I loved you Creed. In the very beginning I loved you. Then you started hitting me and making me sell drugs, how could I love a man like that?” Something heavy hits me in the temple and I become unconscious.



*****



I become aware very slowly. My right eye won’t open at all and the left one is blurry. My head is pounding, and I feel so confused. Shouldn’t I be at Chance’s curled up on the couch watching TV?

Then it hits me. Creed. Why does all the bad shit in my life end with Creed? Sometimes I wonder if I did something truly horrible to him in a past life and this is all some twisted revenge. Karma is a bitch after all. I hear she even comes after you long after the bad has happened. It seems I have no idea what the hell I did to deserve this.

“Good you’re awake. I want to have a chat before I call your lover out here.” He smirks, before pacing in front of me.

I take in my surroundings and nearly faint. I’m lying beside a cliff. A very deep cliff. I am seriously terrified of heights. I start to sit up and scoot away from said cliff but Creed places a booted foot on my shoulder. “Please.” I beg wanting far away from the damn bottom of that cliff.

“I forgot you are scared of heights. That is good then! Dying by something you truly fear, since you don’t truly fear me.” He walks back and forth waving his hands around like he is having a conversation. With himself. I guess he is really coo coo for cocoa puffs.

I also realize he has a gun in his left hand. I have no idea what kind or model or any of that shit. I just know that thing will blow a hole in me and hurt like hell. Maybe even kill me.

No thank you.

Creed hasn’t tied me up or anything which seems really dumb. Or maybe not. The only way I can truly go is down and we have already discussed why that is not happening. “Creed please don’t do this. We can work it out. Please just let’s leave and go home!” I can’t even believe that I’m begging him for something. But it’s all fight or flight. Or in my case begging.

“Do you really think I would fall for that?” he looks at me with shock written all over his face. “I’ve come to the conclusion you will never love me. Never be with me willingly. A shame really, I think we had a wonderful relationship. If only you had loved me instead of that prick.”

Now it’s my turn to look shocked. He just said that didn’t he? “Creed. I don’t know what twisted f*cked up place you live, but we didn’t have a wonderful relationship. I’m f*cking terrified of you and you hit me every day. Made me sell drugs for you! Made me have sex with you in public!” my fear has been replaced by anger. Which probably isn’t a good idea.

“Those were things to keep you in check! You were wild, always off dancing with that stupid friend of yours! You would have left me so I made you sell drugs to keep you close! I f*cked you in front of my friends so they would know you are mine!” He pulls me up to my feet shoving the gun to my good temple. “You were ungrateful for everything I ever did for you!”

“What did you do that was so f*cking good?” I scream my face right in his. “You broke up Chance and me. We were the ones who had a wonderful relationship. You then chose to let me live in fear! You ruined my f*cking life Creed! You could never have made it better!” My hands are clinched in his shirt and I think I might be getting through to him but then I take it too far. “I f*cking hate you! I will always hate you after everything you have done to me!”

Boom.

It’s the only sound out here in the wilderness. At first I think it’s a hunter or something shooting a deer but the pain shooting through my leg is a clear sign of what really happened. I look down at my leg and cringe. There’s a perfect hole in my thigh and blood pools out in waves. I think he hit an artery or something. There’s an important artery in the thigh right? I’m not just crazy? “You actually f*cking shot me.” I say surprising us both. I don’t even remember him lowering the gun!

“Shit.” He gasps. Creed lets me go and I fall to the ground suddenly empty of energy. He also drops the gun.

I pick it up faster than he can blink firing off a round in his chest. He drops down beside me puffing for air. It doesn’t take him long to die. Only a few seconds and I feel like complete and total shit. I never thought I would be the kind of person to kill someone. I wasn’t even aiming for his chest. I just wanted to wound him so he would be defenseless.

Silent tears fall down my cheeks. I may have actually hated Creed but I didn’t want him to die. I know in some deep twisted way he loved me. No one should be killed by the person they love. I’m going to hell and I deserve it.

I tip my head to look down my leg and all the blood. He definitely hit something important. There is so much blood. God I’m going to die. I don’t want to die. I start freaking out wondering if Heaven and Hell are real or not. The tears fall faster.

Chance appears in my head and I calm a little. Black appears around my vision and I shut my eyes picturing Chance’s handsome face. I want to see him when I go. Feel his hands and the way they make me crazy. His smile lights up my whole entire life. He won’t smile for a while now.

I feel my life slowly slipping away. I’m barely breathing and I can’t seem to focus on anything, I know there are people I should be thinking of but my brain won’t work.

Then it’s too late because I’m gone.



Chance



My professor drones on and on. I honestly don’t even care what he is saying. Calculus is like second nature to me, I don’t need him explaining anything to me because I already understand. All I can think of is Norma Jean. I love the way she was naked and sleeping when I left her this morning. I want her like that for the rest of my life.

It’s funny how things have completely changed for me. Norma walks back into my life and I find a reason to start over. Be someone I want to be. I truly don’t think I was anyone until she was mine. I didn’t have a purpose in life or a way even. She shows up and it’s like it all clicks together. It’s more than a relief.

After class is dismissed, I call Norma’s cell phone. I want her to get ready so I can take her out for lunch in between my classes. When she doesn’t answer I panic a little. What could keep her from answering the phone?

Luckily I run into Teagan on the way off campus. “Was Norma home when you left this morning?”

Her full lips tip up in a smirk and her emerald eyes light up. “She was still in bed. I only left like thirty minutes ago, so she is probably still asleep. No need to panic.” she tells me reading the panic in my voice. “I think someone is wore out.” She winks before walking around me.

I chuckle, liking the idea. “Like you have any room to be talking about wearing someone out.” I wink back at her noting her pinked cheeks. That girl is horny…and loud. Something I wish I didn’t know about her.

“Shut up!” she exclaims walking quickly away from me. This has me full out laughing. Declan and Teagan stumped me when I first got to know them. Teagan is this little thing who is mostly immature and wild. Declan is all serious and brooding. You wouldn’t think they would work but it’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Besides Norma Jean.

I text Norma throughout the day but I never get a response. After one o’clock I know she can’t be in bed still. Even if I did wear her out, she would have gotten up by now for food. I tell myself I’m not going to panic but I feel it coming on. My foot taps the floor the entire time I’m in my accounting class. This is my favorite class but right now I can’t wait to get out of here.

I watch the clock tick and move centimeter by centimeter. When it seems the whole day has passed since I walked into the room we are dismissed. My feet barely hit the ground as I run to my truck. I throw my bag into the cab and start the ignition. I race out of the parking lot and through traffic on my way to the house.

Declan and Marcus are tossing the football around in the front yard. Declan misses his catch the second he realizes I’m alone. You can just tell he already knows what’s going on. The look on his face tells me she isn’t here.

“Call Teagan and Caden and make sure she didn’t go somewhere with them.” I yell out heading straight for the house. I have to make sure all her stuff is still here. If her stuff is gone I can breathe easier. I guess when it comes down to it, I don’t believe she wouldn’t just up and leave me. I wish it were different but I’m still hurting over that.

When I walk into my room and see her clothes from yesterday on the floor I drop to my knees. Please be with Caden or Teagan. Please. Don’t let that f*cker have come into my house and taken her. I’ll never know what happened to her. He could get rid of the body where no one could find it. I believe he is that good and that crazy.

I stand up and clinch my shaking fists when I hear someone coming up the stairs towards my room. Declan appears in the doorway looking down right freaked out. “Caden said he hasn’t been home all day so she isn’t with him.” He pauses looking unsure. “Teagan was the last one to leave. She said she forgot to lock the door before she left. She is really upset about it. Though it was locked when I left.” He looks around seeing Norma’s stuff still here.

“Creed would have locked the door. Just to throw you off. It’s not Teagan’s fault. It just made it easier for him to get to her. He would have broken in regardless.” I squeeze my eyes shut trying to block out all the images running through my head. I don’t know where she is. I don’t know what Creed is doing to her. “She would have heard it coming that way. She would have had a chance to get away.”

Declan looks a little angry at me before he visibly relaxes. “Teagan didn’t mean to leave the door unlocked. I’ll let it slip what you’re trying to do. I know you’re freaked out and panicking. But don’t go down there laying the fault at Teagan’s feet.”

I know he is right but I still want to rant and scream. I want to punch something and kick down a door. Anything to get rid of this panic and not knowing what’s going on. “Creed will call me. He will want to gloat about getting her. I just have to wait for that call.”

I look into Declan’s brown eyes and I see what he isn’t saying. “If she has been with him most of the day, then it’s probably already too late.”

It can’t be too late. How the hell would I go on without her?



*****



“What do you mean you can’t find her?” Elizabeth screams in my ear over the phone. I pull it away from my face while she continues to scream. Not all of it nice. “You were supposed to protect her! How the hell did he get to her?”

“I don’t know! Okay! I don’t know!” I yell back at her. I’m freaking out enough as it is without her making it worse. “We have to wait 24 hours to report her missing. The cops won’t do much until then.”

“Don’t you yell at me boy! I will call your mother!” her piercing voice even makes Caden and Declan cringe and they are on the other side of the room.

Before I can reply Teagan grabs the phone out of my hand. “Look Ms. Elizabeth, we are all worried about her, but you yelling at Chance is not going to find her any sooner.”

Teagan places the phone back in my hand and walks over to Declan and snuggles into his arms. My arms feel a pang for the little body they are missing. “She’s right Chance. I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault. I knew that Creed was a freak since he was a little kid. His daddy was as bad as they come.”

I stare off into space not replying. I don’t honestly think it has anything to do with who his daddy is. I’m a perfect example. My dad tried to make me exactly like him and I was when I was a child, but I grew up and became a decent man. Creed didn’t. He took what he learned from his father and made it the way he lived. Never seeing it wasn’t a good thing.

“I’m going to call Norma’s father. After that I’m heading up there and talking to the police. I will be damned if they aren’t going to do anything before 24 hours.” We say goodbye and she hangs up.

“Well I guess we know where Norma gets her feistiness from.” Caden jokes. I glare at him and start pacing the living room floor again.

“Caden just be quiet. You have no idea when to be quiet.” Teagan scolds him.

There’s a knock on the door then and we all look towards the door. I realize that we all live here, but most of the time I still let Declan answer the door. So does everyone else. As he gets up, I start fidgeting with my hands hoping it’s the police or something saying they have Norma and she is fine.

“Grace?” Declan says confused.

“Umm can I speak to Caden?” she asks walking into the room after Declan pulls the door open enough for her to enter.

Caden looks angry, which is the normal expression for him whenever the tall leggy blond enters the same room as him. “Not now Grace, Chance’s girlfriend is missing.” He waves her off and Grace looks upset.

“This is really important. I swear.” she pleads to the back of his head.

Caden sighs and gets up off the couch. He passes her without a glance and heads up the stairs. Grace slowly follows never once looking back at us.

“I don’t even want to know.” Teagan says pretending that didn’t just happen.

I roll it off my shoulders and start pacing again. The waiting game is something I never want to do again. It is literally killing me that I don’t know where she is or if she is okay. She has to be okay, I won’t believe anything else. My phone starts ringing and I nearly jump out of my skin. “Hello?” I nearly yell without looking at the screen to see who it is.

“Chance. I guess while I’ve been staying at my moms, Creed stole my truck. I’m sorry I didn’t find out sooner. I’m coming up with Aunt Elizabeth so get out looking for my car. He couldn’t have taken her far.” I hear wind blowing around him like he’s in a vehicle with the window down.

“How do you know he stole it?” I question scratching the back of my neck.

“He left me a f*cking note. The crazy bastard is so dead when I get my hands on him!” he bellows out frustrated.

“What did it say?” I ask impatient.

“Hey Marley. I’m off to kill your cousin and I need your truck. I know where Chance lives and you should find me before I find them.” I can’t tell if that’s really what it said or if he is just being sarcastic.

“He wrote that?” I sit down on the coffee table and push my fingers into my hair.

“Yeah. Exactly that. I always knew that bastard was crazy.” I quickly get off the phone with him after. I pull my truck keys out of my jean pocket and head for the door.

“Wait!” Declan exclaims making me stop in my tracks. “What did he say?” I turn back to look at him feeling more impatient than ever before.

“Creed stole his truck and came this way. I know what it looks like. I’m going to drive around and see if I can find them.” I turn back around taking another step towards the door.

“What kind of truck and we will look too.” I glare at him but it doesn’t seem to faze him. “You could use the help and I don’t really want to sit here waiting for something to happen.”

Damn he’s right. I rattle off the make and model of the truck. Before I leave I hear Declan say something about getting Caden and Grace to help look too. I don’t really care at this point. I just want to get out and find Norma Jean.

I climb into my truck feeling completely lost. I don’t even know where to start. They could be anywhere, hell he has had all day to get her somewhere and hurt her.

I won’t think like that though. I have to keep strong and clear headed for smalls.