Stars (Penmore #1) by Malorie Verdant Read Free Book Online Page A

after I slept with them and didn’t call. I don’t get why they couldn’t keep serving drinks at Lucky’s after sleeping with me. I don’t go there often, so we weren’t likely to run into each other. Unfortunately, Maris still got pissy, so we made a deal: If I knew they worked for her, I gave them space.
    Maris starts chuckling. “Go right ahead,” she says between coughs of laughter. “No way the mouse would sleep with you. I dropped by to check how she was doing during her last few shifts, and her reaction to hot guys hitting on her is priceless,” she tells me while giggling, forgetting the popcorn right along with the movie. “She freezes, blushes then avoids them like the plague. Thankfully, all the guys who hit on her seem to find it endearing and don’t get pissed that she then doesn’t serve them drinks all night. They still leave huge tips at the bar and walk out smiling,” she rattles on, as if this was the best news she heard all week.
    I can’t help but swiftly feel a little annoyance at Marissa’s reaction.
    I’m picturing this timid, mousy girl hiding from dicks, probably like Leyton and the boys from the team, trying to work while avoiding slaps to the ass. After Dad left, Mom had to start waitressing in addition to her hairdressing job just so that she could pay off the debt he left us with. She always said it was worth getting hounded by plastered patrons, if it meant she could afford my addiction to superhero costumes and notepads. But sometimes, I used to have to play and write in the back rooms when she couldn’t find a sitter. Watching how she used to be treated made me hate nightclubs and drunken assholes. “Shouldn’t your bartenders be making sure she feels safe?” I growl at Maris, feeling my muscles pull with tension. This was part of the reason I rarely went to Lucky’s. I was happy for everything Maris was doing to the place. I just didn’t need to see any of this drama firsthand.
    “Gray, it’s all good. All the boys who work for me think she’s a sweetheart, so they take extra good care of her,” she explains. “I even have one of my bartenders requesting to be on all her shifts to make sure she’s okay. I think he has a little crush on her. I overheard him asking her to dinner. Seems to me like the only guys she isn’t afraid of talking to, are my bartenders.”
    “Yeah, that’s good,” I say, still trying to shake the feeling of concern and frustration for the new girl. Deciding I need a distraction, I wonder what trouble the boys are getting into tonight. “Hey, I might bail. Probably about time I check up on D to make sure he hasn’t gotten arrested for doing something stupid this evening.” I grab my wallet and keys.
    “All good. You okay with me still watching the movie without you?”
    “Yeah, sure. Text me if I should bother watching the end,” I reply as I make my way toward the door. I’m still trying to shake my feelings of unease and worry over the mouse as I head back to my apartment and roommate.
    PARKER
    “Okay, so explain to me again why we’re doing this and why am I not at home where I could be laying down and resting my swollen feet?” I ask as we take a seat at a small table in the back of Francesca’s Ristorante .
    “Because this is the best Italian place in town. You never go out, and I’m pretty sure I heard you complaining last shift about having new fancy clothes but working so much you never get to wear them anywhere,” Nate replies as he passes me the menu.
    It’s almost annoying how much he listens to the things I say.
    Okay, so maybe I had been complaining that I had gotten a job so I could buy new clothes. But, now that I have a job, when I’m not working I’m so tired I spend most of my free time wearing my pajamas and taking naps. On the upside, I flipping love naps and my new turquoise onesie. It was covered with skulls and love hearts. Move over kitten clothes; I now work at a shady nightclub and can rock fluffy