“Where are they, Cord?” I asked as he walked up behind me.
Cord looked confused as shit. “They were here when I came by before I went to pick you up. Isabella!” Cord yelled as he started to walk upstairs.
“Suzy Q!” I yelled walking toward the back porch. What I saw there took my breath away.
“What the fuck are you doin’?” I screamed.
Suzanna~
The house just wasn’t the same without Cade here. I knew he hadn’t killed Branch. He wouldn’t really do it. Well, I was almost positive he wouldn’t really do it. I heard a knock at the door.
“Cord, so good to see you. Any news?” I asked. Cord walked into the house and took a seat at the kitchen table. I poured him a cup of coffee and sat down across from him.
“Actually yeah, great news. I’m just waiting for a call from the County Clerk’s office. I should be able to go pick Cade up here shortly.”
I jumped out of my seat and threw my arms around Cord’s neck. “I knew you’d take care of it. Thank you so much, Cord.” I couldn’t stop squeezing his neck.
“You don’t have to choke me, Suzanna.” I let go and took my seat across from him again. “He’s my cousin and I know, well I don’t think, he’s capable of killin’ someone. The police need to find the real murderer, so I can send him a thank you card.” Cord’s face showed no remorse. I completely understood how he felt.
“I’m sorry that I pulled your family into my personal hell. I can’t help but feel like this is my fault. I should’ve stayed with Branch. None of this would’ve happened if I’d stayed with him.”
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me right now? He might not have killed Clay, but he would’ve eventually killed you or Isabella. None of us could’ve lived with that either, Suzanna. We all love you. Not as much as Cade does, but you know that’s a different story,” he snickered.
“I love ya’ll too. Always have. You’re like the brothers I never knew I wanted.”
“You do understand that Cade loves you, right? Don’t let him screw this up like he did when ya’ll were sixteen. I don’t know what he did then, but don’t let him do it again. Ya’ll need each other.”
“I think we both realize that now. It just took us a while to figure it out.”
“I know he totally fucked up when ya’ll were sixteen. But I always wondered. What did he do? Enlighten me.”
I hesitated. I’d never talked about this before and now it all seemed so silly. “Well, I’ve never really told anyone about this. Not even Cade. But the day after we, well, were ‘together’, I heard him talking about me at school. I’m not sure who he was talking to, but he told them that kissing me was like kissing his sister and that it was all a big mistake. He even asked them to help keep me away from him that day so he didn’t have to see my face. That’s when I realized how he really felt. He hadn’t really wanted me. It was just sex.”
Cord looked shocked. All of the color drained out of his face. “Are you shittin’ me? That’s why you wouldn’t have anything to do with him? Oh my God, Suzanna. He wasn’t even talking about you.”
“Of course he was talking about me, Cord. I was the one he was kissing.”
“Think about it, Suz. You weren’t the only one he kissed that night.”
Oh no…what was he saying? He hadn’t been talking about me that day? I misunderstood the whole thing? “I don’t understand. He wasn’t talking about me?”
“Nope. He was talking about Anna. He wanted me to help him stay away from her. She was just as crazy then as she is now.”
My heart sunk in my chest. “Damn, I really screwed up then, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you both did. He loved you so much and he let you push him away. I tried to talk sense into him, but he is a stubborn asshole most of the time. He was sure you didn’t want him, so he was intent on staying the hell away from you.”
I had never felt so damn stupid. This was all my fault. I had never even given Cade a chance to explain. If I would’ve talked to him then…everything would’ve been different. “I didn’t help the situation. I pushed him away and went straight to Branch. This was all my fault.”
Cord walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. “Stop saying that. This wasn’t your fault. Yeah, you and Cade should’ve talked about it, but you were just stupid kids. And Branch wasn’t your fault either. You didn’t know he was insane when you got together. You couldn’t have stopped this.” He was holding me and rubbing my back. I always felt safe with the Walker boys.
Cord’s phone started ringing in his pocket. He pulled away and answered, “Hello. Yes, I’ll be right there.” He hung up the call and slid the phone back into his pocket. “The paperwork is all done. I guess I better go save Cade from that nasty ass cell.”
“I wanna go with you,” I said.
“It’s early. Isabella is still asleep. You stay here, and I’ll be back with him soon.” Cord smiled that Walker smile and I agreed.
“I’ll be right here. Now go get our boy.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Cord smiled as he walked out of the kitchen and went to get Cade and bring him home to me and Isabella.
I was still sitting at the kitchen table sipping on my coffee when I heard the front door slam shut. Cord hadn’t been gone long, so I knew it wasn’t him.
“Who’s there?” I shouted.
That’s when I heard a loud noise and then everything went black.
Cade~
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Suzy Q was lyin’ on the back porch with blood all over her chest and her eyes closed. Anna was standin’ over her holdin’ Izzy B. She had a gun in her hand and when she saw me she pointed it at Izzy B’s head.
“What the fuck are you doin’, Anna?” My blood was boilin’. I ran through the back door and yelled, “Put her down.”
“Why? Why Cade? Why do you love that whore Suzanna so much? Why? I don’t fuckin’ understand,” Anna hissed, as she pressed the gun into Izzy B’s temple. “I’ve always fuckin’ loved you and all you ever wanted was
her
!”
I wasn’t sure where Cord had gone to, but he must’ve heard me and seen what was goin’ on because he didn’t follow me out. I could only hope that he was formulatin’ a plan, because I didn’t know what the fuck to do.
“Anna, hon, let her go. That baby girl didn’t do nothin’ to you, please let her go.” I was beggin’ and gettin’ closer to her. The sound of Izzy B cryin’ was breakin’ my heart. Then I looked over at Suzy Q layin’ there unconscious. I prayed to God to let her be okay, but I knew that my priority right then, had to be Izzy B. I had to get her away from this crazy bitch.
“Uncky Cade, pwease save me,” she cried.
“I told you to shut up,” Anna sneered as she hit Izzy B in the head with the gun. She screamed and then Anna dropped her to the ground. I tried to run to Izzy B, but Anna pointed the gun at me to stop me.
Rage was coursin’ through my veins. “God damn it, Anna. What the hell’s wrong with you? She’s a kid. She’s got nothin’ to do with this.”
“Really? When her and her momma are dead, then you’ll be all mine. Finally, I won’t have to fight them for you.” This bitch was insane. I’d never been hers and never fuckin’ would be, but if that’s what she needed to believe, then by God I’d make her believe it.
“You don’t have to kill them for that, hon.” I started walkin’ toward her. “I can be all yours right now, just tell me what you want. I’m here, hon. All yours.” I put my arms around her and pulled her into me. “All yours,” I repeated.
Anna melted into my arms. She nuzzled her head into my chest. She still had the gun gripped in her hand. I could feel it pressing against my back where she held on to me. “I’m sorry you went to jail, baby. You’ve gotta know I didn’t mean for that to go down that way,” she cried.
“I know, baby. I know you didn’t want me to go to jail.” I didn’t know. I didn’t know how my goin’ to jail was her fault. I was holdin’ on to her as I tried to figure out how to get the gun outta her hand.
“I put the gun under
her
desk. They were supposed to arrest
her
, not you.”
That’s when everything hit me like a ton of bricks. Anna had killed Branch and tried to frame Suzy Q.
“Never you. You weren’t supposed to get blamed for it. They were supposed to arrest
her
.” She pointed at Suzy Q bleedin’ on the porch. “I worked so hard, baby. I helped Branch with the fire. I helped him take the kid. I did all of this for you…for us. I did it all so we could be together. So you would want me.”
Holy fuck - Branch set the barn on fire? Everything was becomin’ crystal clear to me. “How’d you help with takin’ Izzy B? What did you do, Anna?”
“With us bein’ together now I hate to tell you, baby.”
“I need to know, hon. What did you do?”
“Well, Branch asked me to go over and visit with Clay so he could grab the kid. He knew ya’ll would go to Callie’s weddin’, so he watched and waited for you to leave. When he saw you left Clay there he called me to go
distract
him.”
“How’d you do that?”
“Clay was such a horn-dog. He was so good in bed, Cade, but I’m sure you’re better. I’ve dreamed about how good you’d be. I can’t wait for you to be inside me. I’ve waited so long.” She started kissin’ my neck and she ran her hands up through my hair. She was fuckin’ makin’ me sick, but I had to know everything.
“So you slept with him? With Izzy B there?” I asked.
“She was in bed, but no I didn’t screw him that night. I swear Cade. I didn’t.” She was lookin’ up at me with those crazy ass eyes, tryin’ to look all sweet and innocent.
“How’d you distract him if you didn’t use sex?”
“Oh, that was super easy. I just slipped some pills into his beer. He was out like a light in no time. When he passed out I took some beer bottles and emptied them down the sink. I put them by the bed so it would look like he’d got drunk. I did so good, didn’t I, baby?”
Was she fuckin’ serious?
Izzy B was snuggled up beside Suzy Q, cryin’ and beggin’ her to wake up. I couldn’t pretend another second. I tackled Anna to the ground just as Cord came runnin’ up the steps behind us. I tried to get the gun outta her hands, but she was holdin’ on to me for all it was worth. She had an arm around my neck, holdin’ on to my hair. Cord was tryin’ to get the gun out of her hand, too. The look in her eyes was that of a wild animal ready to attack. She raised up her hand with the gun in it and I tried to grab her wrist. Cord tried too, but she hit him in the head with the gun and he fell to the ground beside Suzy Q.
You know what they say about adrenaline? It was coursin’ through this bitch’s veins like wildfire. I don’t know if she was on somethin’ or just fuckin’ crazy, but I couldn’t get her down. I’m a strong ass man and it took everything in me to wrestle her to the ground. I finally got my arm pressed across her throat. “Give me the fuckin’ gun.” She shook her head and the next thing I knew the gun was goin’ off.
In my years workin’ on the ranch I’d seen lots of animals die. I’d watched their eyes as all of the life drained from them. When I looked into Anna’s eyes, I could see the life driftin’ away and that’s when I realized she’d pointed the gun to her chest and shot herself.
When Cord got his whit’s about him and wiped the blood off his face that was streamin’ from the wound on his temple, he swooped Izzy B up in his arms and took her into the house. She was screamin’ and cryin’ for her momma. I leaned over Suzy Q and pressed my lips to her forehead. Thank God she was still breathin’. Her chest was covered in her own blood and I was covered in Anna’s. I could see where the bullet had gone in directly below her right shoulder. Takin’ her hand in mine, I sent a prayer to God to save my best friend and the love of my life. I needed this woman and the thought of her leavin’ me like this was enough to put me in the ground.
“We need an ambulance at Walker Ranch immediately,” I heard Cord say as he walked outside to me on his cell phone. “Just send someone now! I’m sorry. Please hurry.”
I put my mouth down to her ear and whispered, “Please Suzy Q, you can’t leave me now. It just got good. We just got good. You can’t leave us. My heart picked you, remember? We need you.” Her eyes fluttered open and she lightly squeezed my hand.
~Chapter 25~
Three Months Later
Cade ~
Holy shit!
I was sweatin’ like a whore in church. I’d never been this damn nervous before. I just knew that I was somehow gonna screw this up. It’d been three months since Suzy Q was shot. She was in the hospital for weeks. It had been scary as hell. We thought we were gonna lose her there for a bit.
When she woke up in the hospital I blurted out, “Will you marry me?” She shook her head no. “What? Why not?”
“You can’t ask me that question while I’m in the hospital half dead. What the hell is wrong with you, Cade Walker?”
So the next day, I walked into her room with a dozen roses. I dropped down to my knee in front of the bed and before I could say anything she shook her head and said, “Um, no.”
The next day, I brought Izzy B with me. She couldn’t turn me down with her there, right? Wrong. She once again told me no.
I knew she wanted to marry me, so I couldn’t figure out why she was sayin’ no every time I asked.
This went on the entire time she was in the hospital. Every day I would go in with some new take on askin’ her to be my wife, and every day she would tell me no. I told her she was gonna give me a complex if she didn’t stop sayin’ no. Her response, “Just keep askin’. You might wear me down eventually.”
So I did. I asked every day. On the day she was supposed to come home from the hospital, I decided this was it. Today she was gonna say yes. I had her mom, Callie, Lisbeth, Izzy B, and the Walker boys all involved in this one. It had to work.
I picked her up from the hospital and didn’t ask her. She seemed kinda surprised. “Don’t you have something to ask me today?”
“Nope…can’t think of anything,” I said.
“Oh, okay.” She smiled and we started for home.
When we pulled up to the drive, I slowed down to a snail’s pace. I wanted to give her time to take in what she was about to see. Over the driveway was a big white metal arch. It’d been there forever and the sign had always read “Walker Ranch” then below that a smaller sign hung that read, “Cody, Candy, and Cade.”