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I didn\u2019t want this life.<\/p>\n
But sometimes you\u2019re forced to make the best of the crappy hand you\u2019ve been dealt. I wanted to teach my daughter that. No matter what happens you face your problems head-on.<\/p>\n
Never cower. Never give up.<\/p>\n
Then someone took her and I had to put my faith in a system that had failed me, and my hope in a man I didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Serve. Honor. Protect, are the only things I\u2019ve ever cared about until her case was dropped on my desk. As we searched for her missing daughter, the last woman I thought I\u2019d fall in love with became my reason for living.<\/p>\n
Then the world came crashing down around us.<\/p>\n
One secret would change everything, but I had one more hand to be dealt. And if I played my cards right, maybe, just maybe we\u2019d get our piece of heaven.<\/p>\n
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Hell and Back (#1)<\/strong> Pieces of Heaven (#2)<\/strong> <\/p>\n Marissa<\/p>\n \nThe bells over the door ring every single time someone walks in. I\u2019ve been on edge ever since I got in this morning. Lucky for me it\u2019s been non-stop people coming in, so my mind hasn\u2019t been able to wander to Lori.<\/p>\n Now that it has been quiet and I\u2019m filling the salt and pepper shakers, my mind wanders. It wanders to my baby girl, who is somewhere out there begging to come home. The sound of her voice plays in my head on repeat. My hands start to shake, so I close my eyes and sit down on a chair before my knees buckle.<\/p>\n I blink away the tears threatening to fall over, my heart starting to beat so fast I hear the echoes in my ears. A plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and gravy is shoved in front of me. Phyllis\u2019s eyes greet me when I look up.<\/p>\n \u201cEat that and then go home. You are done for the day. You\u2019ve been here for fourteen hours.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m just going to finish filling the shakers then I\u2019ll take off.\u201d I know she\u2019s about to argue with me when the bell over the door rings again, making us both look up.<\/p>\n His eyes find me right away. My heart that was starting to calm down is now speeding up. I focus on my meal, cutting a piece of meatloaf and dipping it in the gravy before popping it into my mouth. I try to ignore the heat of his stare, try to think of anything but him and that naked woman from last night. His girlfriend. I was so stupid to think that he would actually want me. I\u2019m a used up stripper whose daughter ran away from home. I\u2019m the opposite of what he wants or needs.<\/p>\n The chair in front of me is filled with his big frame. The scent of his aftershave, of cologne lingers around us. Musky, rich, and woodsy. It\u2019s the smell that has seeped its way into my memory along with the way his lips felt on mine. The way that I just fit, like I was made for him. I blink away the memory, looking up at him<\/p>\n \u201cAll the seats in this place are open and you sit in front of me?\u201d I ask him before scooping up more food. I didn\u2019t notice how hungry I was till I started eating.<\/p>\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t text me back.\u201d His voice is hard, his muscles tight, his jaw ticking.<\/p>\n I take out my phone. \u201cOh, I put the do not disturb on under your name. Maybe that\u2019s why.\u201d<\/p>\n My phone is snapped out of my hand in a blink of an eye. \u201cWhat the fuck?\u201d I see him touching the screen angrily and turning it off.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know you\u2019re doing that for nothing since I can turn it on again?\u201d I finish off my whole plate, making my stomach hurt since it\u2019s the first thing I\u2019ve eaten since last night.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if I had information on Lori?\u201d Bulls-eye, hit straight through my heart. He must see the color drain from my face as I realize that I fucked up. I\u2019m not going to admit it to him, though.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have Jackson\u2019s number blocked, and he would have called me.\u201d I shrug my shoulders, picking up my plate to bring it to the gray bussing bin.<\/p>\n Walking over, I wipe down the table right when Phyllis comes out from the kitchen. His eyes never leave mine. \u201cNo, that\u2019s okay. Thanks, Phyllis.\u201d<\/p>\n I grab my phone from him, putting it in the front pocket of my waitress pouch. \u201cI\u2019m taking off. My feet are killing me. See you tomorrow, Phyllis.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t wait for her to say anything to me before I walk out the door to my car. Turning it on, I drive home, determined not to give Mick another minute of my thoughts. Just one problem with that plan, though. No one mentioned to my head that I wasn\u2019t thinking about him because his eyes flash in my mind, the hard lines around them. The sorrow that is buried there, the sadness that he thinks no one sees but is there, if you look long enough<\/p>\n I make my way into my apartment, taking my shoes off my throbbing feet at the door.<\/p>\n Walking into the kitchen, I take out the tips from my pocket and count them out. Three hundred and seventeen dollars. Two hundred of that is going to that damn debt that I\u2019m still paying off. I can\u2019t fucking wait till it\u2019s over. I walk over to Lori\u2019s room like I do every single night, turning on the light to see if maybe something has been misplaced or moved.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve put scotch tape on the drawers to alert me if they\u2019ve been opened, but it\u2019s still intact. I\u2019ve labeled her clothes hanging in the closet by number, and I count them, seeing that none have been taken either.<\/p>\n The bed is exactly how she left it. I crawl into her bed and grab her pillow, breathing in her scent. Tears run down my face, seeping into the pillow. This has become my nightly routine. I sleep here so I\u2019m closer to her. I lie in this bed, talking to her. Telling her about my day, praying that she calls me again. I tell her stories about when she was small, about the day they placed her in my arms. The tears never stop. It\u2019s like an endless river.<\/p>\n The soft knock at the door has me raising my head. Walking slowly to the door, I look through the peephole and see that Mick is in the hallway. His hands are braced against the doorframe, his head hanging down.<\/p>\n I place my forehead on the door, take a deep breath in, and open the door. His eyes land right on mine. The tears continue to roll down my cheeks, right off my chin on their way to the floor. He brings his thumb up to my chin, catching them. He picks me up and carries me inside. Sitting on the couch with me curled into a ball in his lap, my tears soak his shirt. I\u2019m so exhausted from the fear, stress, and worry. I\u2019m just too tired to move.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a good mom,\u201d I whisper to him. \u201cI was tough on her only because I wanted better for her. Wanted her out of this life. Wanted her to be something.\u201d My hand lies on his chest, the beat of his heart pounding against my palm.<\/p>\n \u201cI know, baby, I know.\u201d I don\u2019t move from this position all night. I wake the next morning with the same heart beating against my hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…<\/p>\n Goodreads<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 <\/b>Twitter<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Facebook<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Instagram<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 <\/b>Amazon<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Readers Group <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n \n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pieces of Heaven by Natasha Madison is now live! Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 iBooks\u00a0 |\u00a0 Nook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo Synopsis I didn\u2019t want this life. But sometimes you\u2019re forced to make the best of the crappy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[301,581,344,587],"class_list":["post-17461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-news","tag-excerpt","tag-natasha-madison","tag-new-release","tag-pieces-of-heaven"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Pieces-of-Heaven.jpg?fit=150%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-4xD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nExcerpt<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nI look over at the clock hanging behind the counter that reads 8 p.m., realizing she\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThere you are! I have your order ready. It\u2019s being boxed up. Did you want dessert with that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cMarissa,\u201d he whispers, and it\u2019s all I can do before I collapse into his arms, sobbing. Begging. Pleading with him to bring her back to me.<\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t say anything more. I just continue to soak up the feeling of his heart beating as it calms me. My eyes droop, and the exhaustion drags me under.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Pieces-of-Heaven-Teaser-2.jpg?resize=606%2C606&ssl=1\")
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\nAbout the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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