Destined to Succeed by Lisa M. Harley Page A

ya’ll should at least stop by. We gotta say goodbye to high school, right?”
    I couldn’t help it. When he didn’t take his hands off of her, all I could think was - Get your damn hands off of her you mother-fucker.
    “I definitely think we should go the party, babe. I can’t imagine anything better than kissin’ you under the moonlight by a bonfire,” Branch said as he stepped in front of Suzy Q and placed a kiss on her cheek. That asshole was makin’ me sick.
    “Cade! Cuz!” I heard Cord yellin’ while he ran down the stairs to get to me. Clay was taggin’ along behind him.
    “Congrats, Cade,” Clay said. He threw his scrawny little arms around me and squeezed me hard. He was a sweet little bastard. He was gonna be nothin’ but trouble though. He just had one of those faces that told you he was a mess waitin’ to happen.
    “Thanks, Clay.” I patted his head and he ran across the gym to see my parents. “We gonna get drunk tonight or what?” I asked Cord.
    “You bet your ass. I ain’t been to a high school party in a couple of years. This is gonna be epic, cuz.”
    “What the hell happened to you in college? Epic? Who the fuck talks like that?”
    “You’re fuckin’ awesome older, cooler cousin. That’s who.” Cord grabbed me in a headlock. He knocked my damn hat off.
    “Asshole let me go. I need my hat.” When he let go of me, I spun around on my heel and ran right into Suzy Q. She was holdin’ my hat out to me.
    “Think you dropped something, cowboy.” She smiled when she handed it back to me.
    “Thanks,” I mumbled when she started to walk away. Sheepishly, I said, “Suzy Q, please come to the party tonight. It’ll be our last high school hurrah. I don’t want to do it without ya.”
    She bit her lip and I could tell she was thinkin’ about it. “I’ll try, okay? I make no promises, but I’ll try.”
    That was all I could ask for. I just wanted her to try.
     
    Suzanna~
    Branch’s family had a huge, fancy graduation party at his house. Not only was his entire family there, but I think most of the town was too. Everyone knew and loved Chief Johnson, therefore, they felt the need to kiss his son’s ass.
    Branch had asked me to be his date and since we were a couple, I felt like I didn’t have a choice in the matter.
    We were a couple, but we hadn’t had sex. I wouldn’t do that with him. I had sex with Cade and that almost ruined everything, so I made the decision to not do it again until my wedding night. Branch didn’t really love the idea, but he survived.
    I’d heard rumors all year about him sleeping with other girls, but as horrible as this sounds, I didn’t really care. I didn’t consider us a real couple anyway. I didn’t plan on ever marrying him. But by everyone thinking we were a couple I didn’t have to worry about all the guys hitting on me or Callie giving me shit about Cade.
    That girl freaking loved Cade. She couldn’t understand why we weren’t together and happy and planning our future. Well, we weren’t doing any of that because of Cade. I couldn’t make her understand, but when I was with Branch, she didn’t harp on me as much about it.
    Everyone in town loved Branch and they thought we made the perfect couple. He was from a prominent family and my parents absolutely loved that. Especially, my mother. She thought Branch was perfect son-in-law material. She didn’t care that I didn’t love him. All that mattered was his background and what it would mean to her to have him as her son-in-law.
    We stayed at the party at Branch’s house for a few hours. He was sneaking booze in the kitchen and was pretty buzzed by the time we were ready to leave for the bonfire party. I had brought jeans to change into after the party. Since the party was a little more formal, I had worn my pretty yellow dress that I wore under my graduation gown and matching heels. I went upstairs into the bathroom at Branch’s and pulled the dress up over my head. Apparently I