Deliverance (The Maverick Defense #1) (36 page)

“Ari …” I called to her in a soft voice because she was transfixed, staring at my brother. I ignored the way my gut clenched and held a hand out to her. She stared at my hand for a long minute before she moved closer and placed her palm on mine, looking up at me, uncertain.

“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?” Her eyes jerked back to look at my brother standing in the doorway.

“It’s my house too. Of course, it is,” I assured her as I laid a protective arm around her shoulder and guided her to the front door.

“Little brother,” Aidan greeted and wrapped me in a tight hug before letting me go. Ari hung back, her arms wrapped around her middle, holding herself together.

“This is Arianna. And this is my brother, Aidan.” I introduced the two of them, and Arianna shifted under his intense gaze.

“Ari,” she corrected in a small voice and her arms dropped so she could shake Aidan’s outstretched one. “Thanks for letting me stay.” She managed a faint smile, which vanished as quickly as it came. Damn Aidan. He was being a dick, deliberately making her feel awkward and unwanted. Maybe it hadn’t been the plan to bring her along, but Dawson was right when he said that none of our plans were worth shit since we arrived in Chancing. Wait until I got Aidan on his own.

“Lex, Aidan,” Dawson shouted through from the kitchen, “What the fuck are you doing?” Aidan smiled and shouted back.

“Just coming.” And strolled through to the kitchen leaving Ari and me standing in the hallway. I made to follow him, but she remained there.

“You okay?”

“I don’t think your brother likes me,” she mumbled, a wobble in her voice, and I wanted to kick my brother in the nuts.

“Ignore him. Aidan can be a dick sometimes. I’ll deal with it.” I tried to reassure her, but if anything, she looked more worried. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head violently.

“No, don’t say anything. I don’t want to cause any more problems.”

Was that what she thought? Her words tugged fiercely inside me, and I turned to face her, resting my hands on her shoulders and staring down at her. “You’re not causing problems. I- I mean, we couldn’t leave you there, not after what went down. You’re safe here. Don’t listen to Aidan. Promise.”

She chewed her lip, still uncertain, but eventually, she nodded and I relaxed. “Let’s see what Dawson’s so excited about.” I pulled her along behind me to the kitchen where Dawson, Joy, and Aidan sat around the island drinking coffee.

I declined the cup Joy offered me; I wanted to fall into bed and get some sleep, right after I’d had words with Aidan.

“What went down then?” Aidan asked once we were all settled. I assumed this was the debrief. Normally, we’d go to the office, but the girls knew exactly what had gone down, so there was no reason not to talk out in the open. Besides, this way I could get it over and done with and crawl into bed.

Dawson started and I was quite content to let him tell the story; it was funny to hear how excited he got and more often than not, he threw in some actions and treated us to a dramatization.

“So after your call, we stormed the club and made a diversion.” He added the sound effect of an explosion, and I bit the inside of my mouth to stop from laughing. “And the Mexicans and Donnie’s men were running around like headless chickens trying to find us. Someone had tipped Los Diablos off that Donnie was in bed with the DEA.” Dawson’s brow creased, and I watched for Aidan’s reaction.

“Really?” His face remained blank, but I saw a twitch at the side of his mouth before he spoke again. “And then what happened?”

“Troy helped us escape then went back to make sure Lex got out okay. As soon as we were clear, we got the hell out of there, stopped at the house to grab our gear, and left.”

“And Mikey didn’t want to leave?”

Dawson’s animated face fell. “Yeah, he didn’t want to leave Chancing or the garage. Said it was his home.” It was the only black cloud hanging over us; we’d all assumed that Mikey would come too, but really, he was right. He had his garage there—his livelihood—and he only knew Chancing. Everyone was quiet, the events of the last few days weighing heavy. It was hard to believe that it was finally all over. Although a few unanswered questions remained.

I turned to Aidan. ”What made Los Diablos think Donnie was working with the DEA?” I asked, pinning Aidan with a look that said don’t-bullshit-me big brother. As he met my gaze, something in his eyes flickered but vanished, and a smug smile spread across his face.

“Because I told my guy on the inside, who fed it to the cartel.” Calmly, he picked up his coffee mug and took a large swallow. I looked at Dawson who looked surprised but shrugged. I wasn’t so easily placated. I reached out and grabbed his wrist, pressing it down in the black granite of the island.

“You fucking prick. Do you know the danger you put us in? If we hadn’t managed to get away, the Mexicans would have crucified us,” I seethed, seeing red, which was unusual for me. Normally, that was Dawson’s job. I was cool, calm, and collected; maybe his temper was rubbing off on me or maybe when it came to my brother, sibling rivalry never went away.

Aidan laughed, testing my grip on his hand. “What’s the problem, little brother? I knew you two could handle it.” He smirked and I really wanted to knock him out then and there.

I glared at him, hard, unable to formulate a response because he had pushed my buttons and I was a hard guy to get riled up.
Rein it in, Lex,
I said to myself; much the same thing I’d said to Dawson on more than one occasion. Ari looked at me nervously, and even Joy shifted uneasily in her seat.

“Did you see what happened with Eduardo and Donnie?” Aidan directed this question at me, as I’d been the last one to see them alive.

“Eduardo wasn’t happy when Donnie was unable to hand us over. Shit hit the fan. They were cursing in Spanish as I made it out the fire escape. But you know all this already, don’t you?” I glared at Aidan, not understanding why he was questioning me when he knew the answers.

Aidan neither confirmed nor denied my accusation. “You know exactly how it all played out, don’t you?” His infuriatingly calm exterior was starting to get to me.

From the other side of the table, Joy spoke up and fear flickered in her eyes. “Donnie … did … did he make it out?” She was worried about retribution, about whether she was finally free from him.

Aidan shook his head in a savage motion, and her body sagged against Dawson. He curled her into his chest and murmured quietly into her ear. The rest could wait for the official debrief.

My head pounded; I was too tired for this shit. I pushed up from my chair and said, “I need sleep.”

They all nodded, except Ari, who kept her head bowed, staring into her mug. Fuck it, I wasn’t leaving her here for Aidan to interrogate, not until I’d had a word with him. “Ari, I’ll show you where you can sleep if you want?” She didn’t meet my eyes but nodded and stood up.

Reaching out, she took Joy’s hand and smiled. “Thank you.” Her voice was so quiet I strained to hear it. “For at the hospital and bringing me with you.”

She turned to Aidan and nodded, also thanking him. He gave her a tight-lipped smile but returned her nod. Yeah, I needed to have a chat with my brother, but first, I had to get it straight what I was going to tell him about Ari.

Being around her confused the hell out of me. The predominant feeling was of needing to protect her, but there was more there—something I didn’t want to dwell on. She was so young, ten years younger than I was, at least. I couldn’t want her in that way. But she reminded me so much of someone else, someone I couldn’t save. Maybe this was my second chance to right some wrongs.

If I could save Ari, then perhaps, I could finally find peace.

This Town
– Clare Bowen and Charles Esten

Broken
– Jake Bugg

The Most Beautiful Girl
- Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio and Chaley Rose

Dance with the Devil
– Breaking Benjamin

The Hills
– The Weeknd

What Kind of Man
– Florence and the Machine

Bloodstream
– Ed Sheeran and Rudimental

Fix Me
– 10 years

Numb/Encore
– Jay Z/Linkin Park

You Don’t Own Me
– Grace

You’re The One That I Want
– Lo-Fang

Absolution
– Pretty Reckless

In the Night
– The Weeknd

Bird Set Free
– SIA

Sneak Peek from
Loyalty and Lies
(Chastity Falls #1)

by L A Cotton

* CURRENTLY FREE ON ALL PLATFORMS *

C
HAPTER
1

The place I would call home for the next four years was quaint, but it didn’t have the air of a small college. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It just felt different. Nothing like the Ivy League schools that I had visited before
everything
changed. As my eyes swept over the red brick buildings, scattered amongst dense woods, my imagination was working overtime. Chastity Falls Academy looked like the kind of place that housed secrets—the kind of place perfect for a girl running from her own.

A crowd of students huddled together on the steps outside of Carver Hall, waiting for freshmen orientation to commence. I took a deep breath, shook off my reservations, and hitched my bag further up my shoulder as I headed toward them.
Better get this over with.

“Freshmen, over here,” shouted a wiry guy with hair so white it shimmered in the damp air, his hands cupped around his mouth. “Dorm assignments in the Schroeder building, class registration in Pauling Hall, and student activities sign up is out on the field behind the Kingman Gymnasium. But most importantly, the orientation party tonight at Chastity Fallen House.”

A chorus of cheers erupted, reverberating off the buildings, making the few hundred crowd seem bigger. Apparently, I was the only person not excited by the prospect of the first college party, and who had no idea what Chastity Fallen House was.

“Name?” the brunette seated behind the desk scowled as I moved up to the front of the queue.

“Ana Parry, I mean, Savanah, Savanah Parry.”

She flicked through the pile of manila envelopes and pulled one out. “Savanah Parry, three B, McGinley Hall. Key card is in the pack; campus map, freshmen orientation schedule, and tokens for the cafeteria are all inside, too.”
Smile, it won’t kill you,
I thought to myself while I plastered on my best I-refuse-to-let-your-mood-piss-me-off smile. “Thanks.”

I followed the campus map to my dorm. The air was damp and a fine mist clung to my jacket like incandescent spiderwebs. Moving three thousand miles across the country had been like arriving on another planet. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, now I was about to meet my roommate; the person I would be forced to at least tolerate for the next year. Anything more would be a bonus, but I wasn’t holding my breath. Social wasn’t exactly a word people used to describe me anymore. It’s why I had marked a preference for a single room, but the welcome pack that arrived at Aunt Betsy’s back in May informed me that I had been assigned a double. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do.

Stopping at the bottom step of the entrance to McGinley Hall, I rolled my eyes. Of course, it just had to be the last dorm block, sitting nestled on the edge of a vast forest, with the football stadium just visible off in the distance. Huge Douglas firs cloaked the small two story, l-shaped building. I inhaled a deep breath in an attempt to calm my racing pulse.
Welcome home.
The thought made my heart ache, but I forced down the feelings, locking them away tightly in their compartment. Now wasn’t the time or the place for a trip down memory lane.

The dorm was crazy; girls dragging boxes and suitcases, teary-eyed parents offering warnings, and gushing well wishes. I kept my head low, avoiding the questioning looks at my one person-one bag arrangement, and a sigh of relief escaped my lips when I finally reached the door marked 3b.
Home
.

I stepped inside the half-opened door, my eyes scanning the room, taking in every detail. The beige walls, white varnished door and window frames, pale roller blind, and light matching furniture weren’t exactly cozy, but it was clean and tidy, and we had our own bathroom.

“Hi, roomie,” a voice called from behind me, and I turned to observe a girl, similar to my five-foot-six height, enter the room balancing boxes in her slim arms. “Could you grab one of these?” she asked.

I dropped my bag onto the empty bed—the one she obviously designated as mine—and went to help her. As I peered into the box full of clothes and shoes, I realized just how light I was traveling. Another wave of sadness crashed over me, but I pushed it down.
Lock it away, Ana.

“
I’m Elena, Elena Marks. You’re Savanah Parry, right?” the girl asked over the box.

I forced my lips into a thin smile. “Ana, I like to be called Ana. Nice to meet you, Elena Marks.”

“Likewise. I just waved my parents off, thank God. They were driving me loco.” She dropped the box onto her bed, next to the other boxes, and turned back to me, zeroing in on my one bag. “So, where’s all your stuff?”