“So what’s the story?” he asks me, not even bothering to take the bait on my greeting.
“No story, nothing.” I lean back in my chair, folding my hands over my chest.
“Where is she now?” he asks me, knowing I know exactly who he’s talking about.
“Got a job waitressing at the diner across the street. Phyllis owed me a favor. I cashed it in.”
“You cashed in a favor for someone you don’t even like?”
“It was your fault she got fired, so technically I cashed in a favor so your ass wouldn’t feel guilty.” I point at him. “You’re welcome.”
“It’s my fault that you punched her boss?” He turns the subject around.
I just shrug my shoulders, not ready to get into it with him.
“Lori called again?”
“She did, almost same MO as before, except this time she said she was chained. Crying, asking for help, begging to come back. Lasted maybe a minute. Then nothing.” I sit back up, placing my hands on the desk. “I don’t like this shit. I think there is more than meets the eye here. Something else is going on. I just can’t pinpoint it,” I say, and he doesn’t have to say anything for me to know that he agrees with me. This isn’t just another case of a teen running away to be with friends, there’s more to it. We just can’t see what it is yet.
“Where was she when she got the call this time?” he asks me, and I can see him trying to see if maybe there is some other similarity to the last call, hoping to find a dot to connect.
“My house, having dinner.”
His eyebrow shoots up. “Your house having dinner? Do I have to say thank you for that one also?”
“Don’t make it out to be more than it is. She came by to thank me for getting her the job and putting in a good word with Phyllis.” I break eye contact and start pulling papers out of a pile as I pretend to be looking for something.
“Okay, so she came over to thank you. Did you fuck her?”
My head snaps up. I glare at him angrily.
“Watch it! I didn’t fuck her. She brought me food, we sat down, and she got the call. She obviously freaked out and wore a hole in my rug trying to get Lori to talk to her. The call ended, she calmed down, and then she left.”
“Just like that, she left? I saw her the last time Lori called. She couldn’t stop shaking. How long did it take her this time?” He is fishing for something.
“Sandie showed up. Ten minutes after the call.” I finally let out the breath I’ve been holding. Shaking my head, I continue, “Raincoat, naked. Marissa saw and bolted, okay? There, now you got the story. She hasn’t talked to me since.”
“You know we need to go see her, right? You know we need to follow up?” He doesn’t need to tell me this shit, but he does anyway.
“I know,” I whisper. “I didn’t touch her. We just ate dinner. That’s it.”
“You don’t have to convince me of anything. I don’t think you would cross the line.”
“There was another girl who went missing two nights ago.” I thrust the paper at him. “Name is Jessica, seventeen. Divorced parents. One week with the mother, one week with the father. Started hanging with a new guy on the scene. No one knows him. Just his name. Robbie. Met in secret every time. Not even her best friend knows him or what he looks like. Mother found a bag of weed, punished her for the week. She left to go to her father’s, but she never showed up there. He didn’t notice until she didn’t answer her mother two days later. Mother called the father. He said she texted him saying she was staying at her mom’s for a couple extra days. Phone goes straight to voicemail, and it appears the SIM card has been taken out since she had the ‘find my phone’ app open and now no one can trace her.”
“What about school? Any leads there? Did she start hanging with a different crowd?” he asks while he checks all her details. Five foot seven, one hundred seven pounds.
“Nada, best friend said she met this new guy at the mall when she went shopping. Was smitten, started texting like crazy. From that moment on, all her time was spent with him. All Jessica told her was that he was older, drove a car, and ‘was hot as fuck,’ which, by the way, was a direct quote in case you’re wondering.”
“Any connection with Lori?” he asks.
“Just the fact they both met a mystery guy no one else has met. I’m going to take off and go check the gang unit. See if they have any leads there. Something might be there. At this point we need anything,” I tell him while walking out of the room.
I spend the rest of the day going through the database, running different parameters, searching different names to see if maybe someone else is also working on the case. I call up the gang unit again to see if maybe this is gang related. I come up empty.
After sitting and staring at the computer for more than seven hours, Jackson looks over at me. “Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe they didn’t run away at all. What if they were taken?”
I shrug. “At this point, it could be anything. We have nothing, not even a fucking description of what the guy—or guys—looks like. It’s like we’re chasing a fucking ghost.”
“What about the cameras from the mall? I know it’s a long shot, but maybe we can catch a glimpse of him so we have a visual of who we’re looking for.”
“Good idea. I’ll contact the security office in the morning. I know the exact date they met because she sent a text to her best friend going apeshit over him.”
“Sounds like a plan. Any leads on Adam?” he asks me, knowing he isn’t supposed to.
I look around, making sure no one is in earshot before I speak quietly. “Nothing. He’s gone. I doubt he’s going to come back.”
“I still want to know where he’s living.”
“I know.”
He gets up, not saying anything else before shutting down his computer. “Don’t stay here too long, yeah?”
“Yeah, I’m going to take off soon,” I say while typing in some notes in the system in case a lead comes in during the night.
Once I finish, I close off my own stuff and head downstairs for my car, my stomach rumbling while I walk outside.
I know I should give her space, that I shouldn’t throw myself at her. You know what they say, you get knocked down, you dust that shit off and get back up. She knocked me on my ass yesterday, but I’m coming for her again, this time not ready to dust myself off.
Chapter Eleven
Marissa
The bells over the door ring every single time someone walks in. I’ve been on edge ever since I got in this morning. Lucky for me it’s been non-stop people coming in, so my mind hasn’t been able to wander to Lori.
Now that it has been quiet and I’m 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.
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’s eyes greet me when I look up.
“Eat that and then go home. You are done for the day. You’ve been here for fourteen hours.”
I look over at the clock hanging behind the counter that reads 8 p.m., realizing she’s right.
“I’m just going to finish filling the shakers then I’ll take off.” I know she’s about to argue with me when the bell over the door rings again, making us both look up.
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’m a used up stripper whose daugh
ter ran away from home. I’m the opposite of what he wants or needs.
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’s 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.
“All the seats in this place are open and you sit in front of me?” I ask him before scooping up more food. I didn’t notice how hungry I was till I started eating.
“You didn’t text me back.” His voice is hard, his muscles tight, his jaw ticking.
I take out my phone. “Oh, I put the do not disturb on under your name. Maybe that’s why.”
My phone is snapped out of my hand in a blink of an eye. “What the fuck?” I see him touching the screen angrily and turning it off.
“You know you’re doing that for nothing since I can turn it on again?” I finish off my whole plate, making my stomach hurt since it’s the first thing I’ve eaten since last night.
“What if I had information on Lori?” Bulls-eye, hit straight through my heart. He must see the color drain from my face as I realize that I fucked up. I’m not going to admit it to him, though.
“I don’t have Jackson’s number blocked, and he would have called me.” I shrug my shoulders, picking up my plate to bring it to the gray bussing bin.
Walking over, I wipe down the table right when Phyllis comes out from the kitchen.
“There you are! I have your order ready. It’s being boxed up. Did you want dessert with that?”
His eyes never leave mine. “No, that’s okay. Thanks, Phyllis.”
I grab my phone from him, putting it in the front pocket of my waitress pouch. “I’m taking off. My feet are killing me. See you tomorrow, Phyllis.”
I don’t 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’t 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.
I make my way into my apartment, taking my shoes off my throbbing feet at the door.
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’m still paying off. I can’t fucking wait till it’s over. I walk over to Lori’s room like I do every single night, turning on the light to see if maybe something has been misplaced or moved.
I’ve put scotch tape on the drawers to alert me if they’ve been opened, but it’s still intact. I’ve labeled her clothes hanging in the closet by number, and I count them, seeing that none have been taken either.
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’m 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’s like an endless river.
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.
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.
“Marissa,” he whispers, and it’s all I can do before I collapse into his arms, sobbing. Begging. Pleading with him to bring her back to me.
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’m so exhausted from the fear, stress, and worry. I’m just too tired to move.
“I’m a good mom,” I whisper to him. “I was tough on her only because I wanted better for her. Wanted her out of this life. Wanted her to be something.” My hand lies on his chest, the beat of his heart pounding against my palm.
“I know, baby, I know.”
I don’t 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.
I don’t move from this position all night. I wake the next morning with the same heart beating against my hand.
Chapter Twelve
Mick
I know the exact moment she wakes up because her body goes stiff. I feel her eyes blink open, her lashes making my shirt move. Just a touch.
“Morning.” My hands circle her waist while I bring her closer to me.
She stills for a moment before she wiggles free from my embrace, mumbling that she has to pee. I let her go and take a moment to will my cock into calming down. If she squirmed against me any more, I might have gone off in my pants.
I pick up my phone to look at the time. Four thirty-nine. I hear a flush from the bathroom, and I get up to make some coffee for us. I open the cupboard, and I notice it’s pretty bare. Four cups, four plates. Everything seems to be in fours.
I open a few more cupboards as I look for the coffee, and I find that they’re almost empty as well. The bathroom door slowly opens, and I hear her pad into the kitchen. Her eyes take me in as I continue opening the cupboards.
“Lori and I usually do all the shopping together.” A tear escapes one eye, which she quickly wipes away before it can land on her cheek. “It was our thing. She even uses coupons, which drives me nuts.” Her voice starts to drift off.
“What time do you start work?” I ask her, leaning back on the counter, crossing my hands over my chest.
“I’m going to go in for six a.m. so I can help her set up.”
“Okay. Go get dressed, and I’ll drive you over. We can eat there before you start.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m not doing this, Mick. I’m not doing this with you, not now. Actually, not ever. You have a girlfriend. A girlfriend who is comfortable enough that she doesn’t even think twice about showing up at your place naked.” She places her hands on her hips but doesn’t stop her rant. “You need to leave now. There is no need for you to contact me unless it has to do with Lori. This”—she indicates with her finger moving between us—“is never going to happen again.”
I stare at her for a second, taking her in. She’s tiny, so tiny, yet she thinks she’s a beast. Her eyes are tired but proud, and her makeup free face is showing the pain that she is carrying from all of this. I take it all in and decide that those eyes will shine again. No more dread will darken them as I vow to work until they’re shining with happiness. I’ll do anything, fucking anything, for her. She’ll never want or need for anything if I can help it. I take in her face and decide that I’ll be the one who makes sure that she smiles for the rest of her life.
“We need to get some things cleared up. I don’t have a girlfriend. I never did.” I look at her, waiting for my words to sink into her head. It obviously doesn’t since she huffs out and rolls her eyes. I rein in my desire to pull her into my arms, because this is important. I have to make sure she gets it. “We had a thing, but we don’t anymore. I’m not going to go into Sandie now. You don’t need that shit in your life. Fuck, I don’t need that shit in my life. But if you want, one day, when this is all over, I’ll tell you all of it. With that said, this thing”—I point between me and her—“it’s fucking happening. I’m not fighting it anymore, and you aren’t going to fight it either. We both deserve to be fucking happy.” I break down at that point and take her face in my hands. “Let me make you happy. Fuck, let me be happy, too.” My thumbs gently stroke her cheeks. “Please,” I whisper my plea, hoping like hell sh
e gives in to the inevitability of us.
Her hands move to my wrists while I hold my breath, hoping she doesn’t rip my hands from her face. I move in closer to her, watching her eyes gazing up at me. “I’ve never depended on anyone for my happiness. I’ve just created my own. I don’t know what it is, but something is pulling me to you.”
The minute she says those words, I don’t hold back. My hands fall from her face, landing on her ass as I pick her up, her legs automatically wrapping around my waist. Her arms curl around my neck, and our eyes meet at my eye level.
“If we do this and I find out that this chick shows up naked again…two things may happen. One, I end up in prison, and I would hate that because I don’t care what they say, orange is not the new black. Or two”—she leans in and whispers in my ear—“I will give Lorena Bobbitt a run for her money. We clear?” she asks, a little smile playing across her lips.
“Clear. And just so you know, my dick is trying to crawl back into my body at the mention of knives and him.”
She throws her head back and lets out the sound that is music to my ears and a bolt of electricity to my body: her laugh. The minute she stops, I take her mouth and claim her like I’ve never claimed anyone else.
I slip my tongue into her mouth, and my heart slowly calms down, my body recognizing this woman as mine. The way our tongues tangle has me unleashing the growl that I was holding back. I turn my head, taking the kiss deeper, and she brings one hand up to hold my face while she clings tighter to me. My hands grip her ass, bringing her in closer. I’m almost ready to throw her down on the floor and shove myself into her in one strong thrust, when the alarm on her phone sounds, echoing loudly in the room.
“I need to get ready.” She kisses my lips softly, then my cheek, the underside of my chin, and finally my neck. My poor cock is ready to bust through the zipper of my jeans.
“If you don’t stop that, no one is going to work today,” I tell her while her legs tighten around my waist.
“Then let me go, so I can get dressed and we can eat something before I start my shift.”
Pieces Of Heaven: Pieces Of Heaven (Heaven & Hell Book 2) Page 6