Deliverance (The Maverick Defense #1) by L.A. Cotton, Jenny Siegel

Because when the high faded, the world crashed down around you leaving you wrecked.
    My fingers smoothed over the baggie. I wanted to forget: the pain, the bruise, the flash of regret in Dawson’s eyes when I moved to Donnie’s side. I wanted to forget it all. Just for a little while. That was all I ever wanted.
    To forget.

    Six months.
    I’d grieved for six whole months. First Dawson, then Grams. Dreams of a brighter future—college, my only ticket out of Chancing—all ripped from under me with one single letter, the letter that informed me I hadn’t received a full scholarship. In six months, my life had done a complete one-eighty, and now, here I was—stuck in Chancing sleeping on couches with no hope of ever getting out.
    “Mornin’ darl.” Sherri breezed into the room like everything was sunshine and roses.
    “Morning.” I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and forced myself to sit up. “Sorry, I must’ve fallen asleep.”
    I hadn’t planned to stay here again, but it wasn’t as if I had anywhere else to go. There was Mikey’s and Donnie’s, but I was around Mikey’s far too often, and Donnie, well, Don had changed lately, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it yet.
    “I already told you, the couch is yours as long as you need it.” Sherri looked like she wanted to say something else but obviously thought better of it, smiling and walking into the kitchen. “Coffee?”
    “Coffee would be great.” I joined her in the kitchen and sat at one of the stools. “Thanks, Sherri. I appreciate it. I’ll be out of your hair soon. I promise.”
    Sherri set down the mug in her hand and turned to me. “You’ve been through a rough few months. I know that and I meant what I said. The couch is yours, but maybe it’s time to come up with a plan. You have your whole life ahead of you, darlin’.”
    I couldn’t help the bitter laugh that tumbled out. Sherri’s brow arched up, but I ignored her questioning look as my cell started vibrating from my pocket. Retrieving it, I glanced at the screen and frowned.
    “Donnie again?”
    “Yeah,” I replied. “He wants me to go to a party tonight.”
    He’d been asking me for weeks to go out with him. Getting out would do me good, he’d said.
    “I know he’s been a good friend, but be careful with that one, Joy.”
    I didn’t have to ask what she meant. I knew. Better than anyone, I knew that Donnie DeLuca was transforming in front of my eyes. The quiet, goofy guy who followed Dawson and me around in high school was gone. He’d bulked up, was hanging around with a new crowd, and no longer seemed ashamed of his family’s connections. In fact, he seemed to be proud of his name all of a sudden, and it unnerved me.
    “He’s been there for me.”
    He had. After everything with Dawson and Grams, Donnie had stepped up and been there. I didn’t have many friends in Chancing, not after spending most of junior and senior year with Dawson and Donnie, and the few friends I did have had all left for college.
    Sherri rounded the counter and laid her hand on top of mine. “Just be careful, girl.” With that, she said good-bye and told me again I was welcome to stay as long as I needed. But something she’d said earlier lingered with me. I did need a plan. After six months of moving from couch to couch, day to day, I needed to start living again. Somehow, some way, I needed to find my way back to myself.

    “Joy, you came.” Donnie’s face lit up as I dug my hands into my jean pockets and bounced nervously on the balls of my feet.
    “Yeah. Although now that I’m here, I’m not sure I can go in there.” I nodded over at the house. Cars lined the curb. Music spilled out of the open door, people drinking out of Solo cups and smoking joints huddled together laughing and joking.
    Yeah, I definitely didn’t belong here.
    Donnie came up to me and nudged me with a smile. “Come on, it’ll do you good. Relax. Try and remember what it’s like to be