No Stopping by Nolon King & David W Wright

Author:Nolon King & David W Wright [King, Nolon & Wright, David W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone
Published: 2020-07-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20 - Mallory Black

Mal was feeling good, despite still craving the pills after flushing her stash. Helping Maggie get her life back on track steered her mind from the addiction.

As she sat in Oasis waiting for Mike, who’d called earlier wanting to “talk about something,” she wrote tips for Maggie in a notebook she planned on giving her. A cross between inspirational quotes and supplemental information she might need while escaping her husband’s hold.

There was information about the women’s shelter in Creek County, the local NA meeting places in case Tommy went looking at her old home group, and the names of a few divorce lawyers who specialized in difficult separations.

Maggie and Emma could stay at her house as long as they needed. She’d stick around for a bit, just in case Tommy somehow found her. She’d also help Maggie get on her feet, find another job cashiering or pursuing other ambitions. The big thing was breaking the addiction.

Helping Maggie felt an awful lot like helping herself.

Hitching her rehab to someone else’s wasn’t ideal. Relying on others always led to disappointment and stripped the onus to get better for herself. Besides, she shouldn’t tie herself to a self-destructive anchor.

But maybe Maggie was ready to change.

And just maybe Mal needed someone to need her. She never considered herself the co-dependent type — quite the opposite — but right now she needed something bigger than herself to get better for. She couldn’t give in to her worst tendencies if she was improving for Maggie and her kid.

“What the hell happened to your face?” Mike said.

“Nice to see you, too.”

“Seriously, what happened? Did you get in another bar fight?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I ran into a tree?”

He stared at her for a moment before his smile finally cracked. “No.”

“I was jogging and moved out of the way for this woman and her child on a bike and SMACK, right into a tree.”

“Damn,” Mike said, seeming to believe her.

He asked Mal if they could eat in her room. They ordered for delivery then went upstairs and took adjacent seats on the L-shaped couch.

Mike set Manila folders filled with documents on the coffee table.

“What’s going on?” Mal asked.

“That’s everything I’ve got on Calum and Brianna. No matter how I spin it, I see no evidence that points at anything other than your buddy, Jasper Parish. I need to bring him in for a talk.”

She shook her head. As much as she hated doing that to her partner, Mal had to hold the lie.

“He died in Mexico.”

“Yeah, Gloria told me. And, sorry, I don’t believe you.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what his hold over you is, but he’s not a good person, Mallory.”

“He risked his life — not once, but twice — to save me and Jessi Price. Or do you still think he was involved with the kidnapping?”

Mike sighed. “And you’re still going with the ‘psychic’ angle? Your guy killed Richardson and probably that lawyer. At worst, he’s involved with these scumbags and cleaning up his own mess.

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