Dark Stars by Danielle Rollins (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

good as it used to be. While walking past a table, she carefully slid a butter knife up her sleeve, glancing back over her shoulder to see whether the bartender had noticed.

He had not. He appeared to have had his eyes glued to the back of her head and, when she turned to look at him, he startled and nearly dropped his gun.

Oh dear, Dorothy thought, turning back around. This was going to be laughably easy. She almost felt bad about it.

The metal was cool against her arm. A butter knife wasn’t much of a weapon, but she figured she might be able to jam it into the little bartender’s leg, perhaps make her getaway as he howled for his mommy. . . .

He led her through the crowded bar and down a narrow hall. Dorothy, frowning, felt a prickle of familiarity. Hadn’t she been down this way before?

She held her breath as the bartender stopped in front of a closed door and turned to her.

“Look,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “I got a business to run so . . . well it’d be great if we could keep this on the quiet side.”

Dorothy let the knife fall into her palm and wrapped her fingers around the cool metal. “That won’t be a problem,” she said.

The bartender gave a short nod and pushed the door open.

Dorothy’s eyes flickered over the space. For a moment she was too shocked to act. This was the same room she’d woken up in a year ago, when she’d first landed in 2077. Same bed and dresser, same broken mirror. She felt something like nostalgia and, for a fraction of a moment, she could almost pretend that none of the last year had even happened, that it was her first day in the future, and she still had everything ahead of her.

Oh, how many choices she would have made differently! It was almost too much to think about.

And then the moment passed. Dorothy pulled her eyes away from the room and, instead, eyed the bartender’s leg for a good spot to stab. She didn’t want to hit an artery. The plan was to distract him, not kill him. No matter what the rumors said, she’d never actually killed anyone before.

She lifted her knife—

A man stepped out of the shadows. He seemed to appear out of the air itself, the darkness moving away from his face like oil from water, leaving only his smooth, pale skin and heavy brow.

Dorothy froze, her heart stuttering. “Willis?”

“It was stupid of you to come here,” Willis muttered. His expression was dark, but he didn’t look as angry with her as he had the night before, at the library. He moved past her, eyes flicking down the hall to make sure no one had followed them. And then he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the small room, closing the door behind them both.

Only then did he seem to notice the knife she was clutching. He lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well, I didn’t realize he was a friend of yours,” Dorothy muttered, placing the knife on the dresser. “He was a bit cryptic.”

“I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing us.” The bartender perched on the edge of the twin bed. Other than the dresser, it was the only piece of furniture inside the small room, but Dorothy happened to know that the mattress was lumpy, so she was perfectly happy to stay standing.

“You can call me Levi,” the bartender told her. “I’m a friend of Willis and the others. I don’t think you remember me, but I was around when Ash first brought you in a few weeks ago. I was the one who said it was okay for you to rest back here. You were, uh, different then. Not so much with the hair and the . . .”

Levi motioned to his face, then turned red, and let his hand drop back onto his lap.

“Levi’s a good guy,” Willis explained, in that low, smooth voice of his. “You can trust him.”

“I can’t trust anyone,” Dorothy said, frowning at Willis. “Or didn’t you hear the broadcast just now? Mac Murphy has turned the whole city against me. I’m on the run.”

Levi cleared his throat. “That’s actually why we thought you might want to stay back here,” he said quickly. “It won’t be safe for you out on the docks.”

Dorothy looked from him to Willis. “You’re helping me, now? Zora gave me the impression that you all were done with me.”

“Ah, so this part doesn’t actually concern me,” Levi said, looking a little embarrassed as he stood. “And I should get back to the bar. Willis? You’ll be okay?”

Willis nodded, his eyes never leaving Dorothy. “I think I can take her, if it comes to that.”

“Or, you know, the two of you could try to solve this without fighting. You might break something.” Levi stood up on his tiptoes and planted a kiss on Willis’s cheek. Turning back to Dorothy, he added, “You need anything? Another drink, maybe?”

“I’m good,” Dorothy quickly answered. And then, blushing, she added, “And thank you.”

“Of course. Any friend of Willis, and all that.” He handed her the dagger. “Try not to stab anyone, will you?”

“I can’t make any promises,” Dorothy said, stowing the dagger away.

“Well, I tried.” And, with that, Levi stepped into the hall, pulling the door closed behind him.

For the first time, Dorothy noticed that Willis looked a little uncomfortable. He cast his eyes to the floor, like he couldn’t quite bring himself to look Dorothy in the eye.

“I’d . . . er . . . . appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to Chandra about me and Levi,” he said, running a finger over his lower lip. “She’s had a thing for Levi for a while now. I’m still hoping she’ll move on.”

Dorothy raised her eyebrows. “My lips are sealed,” she said. “Does Chandra know that you’re helping me hide?”

“She told me you stopped by the library earlier. She seemed to think you had a plan for finding out what happened to Ash.” Willis scratched his chin. “Is