Free Ribbons by J R Evans

pushed past him into the foyer before she could finish the story. As she did, she said, “You must be the new guy.” Now she was doing it, too—pointing out the obvious.
    It took him a second to reply. “I’m not . . . a pimp.”
    She ignored him and looked around. The place seemed the same, but then why should anything be different?
    Dwayne got in the guy’s face and gave him the stare . “Christy here?”
    “What do you mean by ‘here’?” asked the guy.
    Dwayne’s stare narrowed into a scowl. That was never a good sign, and the guy must have picked up on it, because he took a step back.
    “Don’t you need a warrant or something? Because I can explain.” The guy seemed confident for about one second, then he caved. “No, I can’t.”
    Luckily for him, Christy came out into the foyer from the parlor. She was dressed for work. She looked nice—elegant, seductive, and confident. She pulled that off in an evening gown, while the other girls who worked here usually went straight for the skimpy lingerie. She made them all look cheap by comparison. Well, except for one.
    “Dwayne. What do you want?” Christy didn’t sound like she was going to waste any of that charm on the sergeant.
    Dwayne ignored the new guy now. “We need to talk. Where’s Adam?”
    “Kitchen. Doing his homework.”
    “Can we go upstairs?”
    Christy looked at the new guy, then back at the parlor, then at Dwayne again. “Fine,” she said and led the way up the stairs.
    The new guy started to follow them, but Dani put herself in front of him.
    Her mouth said, “Private conversation.” Her tone said, Fuck off .
    He seemed confused. “Should I be bribing you or something?”
    “What’s your name?” she asked.
    “Matt.”
    “Matt, you got something I want?”
    “He doesn’t.” This time it was Erica coming to the rescue.
    She was dressed for work, too. Erica called that particular outfit Madam Lovefist. She had a couple dozen work getups, each with its own name. So far, Dani had been introduced to about ten of them. Normally Madam Lovefist’s boobs were on display, but she must have zipped up the half jacket to come out to the foyer. Maybe she was on a break.
    “Who is he?” Dani asked.
    “New owner. He’s a bit of a douche,” Erica explained.
    Matt turned to look at Erica. “Which means, technically, I’m your boss.”
    Erica stared him down. “I’m not gonna change my answer.”
    Matt seemed to take it personally. He deflated a bit and turned back to Dani. She guessed it was his first day. She had heard that ownership of the GD had changed hands, but she wasn’t expecting this . Especially after dealing with Quent. She’d never really gotten attached to Quent. He’d tolerated cops, but he hadn’t like them. At least he had seemed to know what he was doing and had generally been respected by the girls who worked here.
    This new guy had a long way to go before he was going to be respected. Erica wasn’t helping any. She pretty much treated everybody like that. Sometimes it was hard to know when she was being serious or just toying with somebody. Matt was obviously a toy, though. At least for now. Until she got bored.
    She and Dani had started out the same way. To Erica, Dani must have seemed like the sergeant’s faithful sidekick when they’d first met, complete with wide-eyed wonder and “Golly-gee” questions. Which was how she’d felt when she’d started working as the sergeant’s partner. It had taken a few months for the newbie stink to wear off. And a couple more before Erica had kissed her.
    Dani pointed a finger at Erica and used her cop voice, even but stern. “Ma’am, I’m gonna need you to answer a few questions. Is there someplace we can talk?”
    Erica responded by bowing her head slightly and biting her lower lip. She normally reserved that move for when she was wearing Miss Priss. It looked out of place on Madam Lovefist.
    Erica started walking down the hallway, Dani close behind, and