{Story Excerpt} PIECES by Michelle Davidson Argyle

On Tour with Xpresso Book Tours
Check out the end of the post for more tour stops!
There are giveaways, author interviews, book reviews, and more!!!

Michelle Davidson Argyle has previously stopped by A Backwards Story 
for a guest post on BONDED, 
which compiles three of her fairy tale retellings.  
She's also shared a guest post on her version of Cinderella, CINDERS.  
Don't forget to check out my review of both CINDERS and BONDED!

Check out today's review of THE BREAKAWAY,
which is a companion novel preceding PIECES!

~*~

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  PIECES

Author: Michelle Davidson Argyle

Release Date: Feb. 14, 2013
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing

SUMMARY:

Two years after watching her kidnappers go to prison, Naomi Jensen is still in love with one of them. Jesse will be released in a few years, and Naomi knows college is the perfect distraction while she waits. But when her new friend Finn makes her question what is right and what is wrong, she begins to wonder if Jesse is the one for her … until she discovers he's out on parole. Naomi must sort through her confusion to figure out where love and freedom truly lie—in Finn, who has no connections to her past, or Jesse, who has just asked her to run away with him. 

PIECES is a companion to THE BREAKAWAY and can be read independently, if desired.

~*~

Michelle lives and writes in Utah, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. She loves the seasons, but late summer and early fall are her favorites. She adores chocolate, sushi, and lots of ethnic food, and loves to read and write books in whatever time she can grab between her sword-wielding husband and energetic daughter. She believes a simple life is the best life.

Visit Michelle on her website, Facebook, and Twitter!

An Excerpt from

PIECES
by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Excerpt from PIECES by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Copyright 2012 by Michelle Davidson Argyle

PIECES is published by Rhemalda Publishing (February 14, 2013)

Excerpt may not be used outside of the PIECES blog tour organized by Xpresso Book Tours

EXCERPT 003/005

The calls and texts from her mother kept coming. Naomi, please call me. Please. Did you go stay with that man you were talking about? Hasn’t the semester started again already?

And then Finn sent another text. Please let me know you’re okay. I went to see Becca, but she hasn’t heard from you, either. She said you moved back home? What happened with Jesse? Oh, and I have something great to tell you about my mom.

That night, a few hours after she read Finn’s text, Naomi buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t keep lying to Jesse. It felt so wrong. Everything was stacking up around her, forcing her emotions into a space so small she knew she would burst any moment.

“I got a phone,” she said into her hands during dinner.

Jesse was quite for a moment. “You … what?”

She lifted her head from her hands and stood from her chair. Walking into the living room, she found her phone in her purse and returned to the table.

“It’s a global phone,” she said, her voice trembling as she watched confusion sweep across Jesse’s face. “I got it before we came here because I was afraid of feeling cut off … or something. I was afraid you would see it in airport security, but you didn’t seem to notice with all my other crap I had to put through the scanners.”

Jesse’s confused expression melted into disappointment. Naomi could see he was trying to control his emotions. He swept away the negative expression and looked up at her with a calm, sweet smile.

“I’m so sorry for making you feel like you might be cut off,” he said, reaching for the phone. “You don’t have to apologize.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, she sat in her chair and leaned back. “I need to tell my parents what’s going on. Everyone’s going to think I’ve been kidnapped again, and I can’t deal with that. I have to tell them.”

Jesse nodded, his face still calm. “I think we should block certain numbers,” he said. “Namely, your mother’s … until you’re ready to deal with this. She’ll be alright until then.”

Naomi watched him take the phone and then navigate through some screens. A crease formed between his eyes. “Finn is texting you?” he asked, lowering the phone.

“Y-yes.” She didn’t like the way he looked at her all of a sudden—that steely glaze over his eyes. He wouldn’t make her block Finn. He wouldn’t. Shakily, she said, “He’s concerned, that’s all.”

He softened his expression, gazing at her with what almost looked like pity. “I think you might be able to handle things easier if you don’t talk to him for awhile.”

She reached for the phone. “I’m not talking to him. I haven’t even texted him back. I haven’t talked to anyone.”

“Naomi,” Jesse said firmly, “don’t lie, please. There’s a text here to your mother. I asked you not to talk to her.”

Folding her arms, she grunted. “Telling her I’m fine is hardly talking to her. And that’s all I’ve texted.” She glared at Jesse as he stood and walked into the living room. He was doing something to her phone—punching buttons, scrolling through screens. “What are you doing?” she demanded, standing up from her chair. She put her hands on her hips.

“I’m making things easier for you.” His back was to her, and suddenly she hated the way he hunched his shoulders forward, the way his muscles in his forearms slid under his skin as he moved his fingers wildly across the phone. She wasn’t sure what to do or say. He had never acted so rashly before—at least not toward her—not since that night he rushed her out of the house to help her escape. She hadn’t wanted to leave, she remembered. There had been a gaping hole in her chest as she had walked away, but Jesse had kept pulling on her, and then when he drove her to the police station and ordered her out of the car, she had thought her shattered heart would never heal. And it hadn’t. Not yet. 

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February 18

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February 19
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February 20
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