“I’ll bet they did…” she replied, firming her lips.
“I didn’t pay them, thought you could do that,” Sam explained. “And remember, once you come out of there, you are a gentleman.”
She nodded. “I only hope I can pull this off, Sam.”
“You’ll do just fine. Since your cousin is a man, it won’t be as hard as you might think. And it sure helps that you got a voice that is low.”
“Do I? I never noticed,” Riley reflected. “Well, I guess since you arranged everything, I’m ready…”
***
Riley hadn’t expected the lavish furnishings of golds and reds, nor the huge dark drapes that hung like stage curtains with their gold tassels. Half-clad women met her as she entered the brothel. However, she’d made her mind up to put occupations aside and accept these women for who and what they were without question. After all, they were doing her a service and being quiet about it too.
Miss Tilda came forward when she was met with a hoard of girls in skimpy clothes. “Well now, you must be Riley.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Riley gulped. Never in all her life had she seen women dressed or not dressed in this fashion and it embarrassed her despite her better intentions.
One girl brushed up against her, her breast grazing Riley’s arm. “Are you a girl or a man?”
“I’m a girl, right now, but I need to leave here a man. Or looking like one.”
“Ooh,” one of them purred at her.
Miss Tilda cleared her throat.
The girls giggled about her. “Want us to make you something for your pants?” One of them giggled.
Miss Tilda scolded them. “Don’t pay them no mind. This is serious business, girls. This young lady has a real problem. Some nasty old men are trying to take her land from her. We won’t let that happen. No sir, we won’t. Get me the scissors, Helen…”
“Yes ‘um.” The girl nodded and ran to the other room.
It was late and there were no customers except a few upstairs, so the girls were very relaxed and happy to help her. They lounged in the red and gold tufted chairs, draping their peek-a-boo gowns about them. Everything in this place must have cost a fortune, Riley thought. She’d never seen such beautiful furniture, and so many flowers.
“You just relax, we’ll get you fixed up.” Miss Tilda smiled.
While Miss Tilda waited for the scissors, Riley looked about. There was a man cuddled up to a young whore, sucking on her breast like a baby. The whore was smiling and pulling his shaft from his pants.
“Why are you with a black man?” the little Asian girl asked.
Miss Tilda slanted the girl called Nannette a thunderous frown. “That’s none of our business.”
Riley shrugged. “We both needed help and we were there for each other.”
“He’s a stud,” the girl cooed. “If you don’t want him, I do…”
“Girls!” Miss Tilda scolded. “We must do everything we can to help Riley, as she owns a sizeable ranch and her foreman is trying to steal it out from under her. We must remember not to speak of this to anyone.”
The whore in the chair with the man pulled on his shaft. “You hear that, Henry? You don’t repeat anything you hear tonight.”
“Yes honey, I hear.”
“You’re a rancher?” one of them quipped.
“Yes ma’am, I am.” Riley nodded. “And I’ve got to look like my cousin from the east in order to get my money and ranch back. Sam agreed to help me, and that’s why he’s involved.”
“It’s a sorry time when a man will take advantage of a poor helpless woman,” Miss Tilda affirmed.
Riley began to relax and look about the place. There were lounging chairs all about, a big piano, and the girls draped themselves over the furniture as she looked about. Surprised by their lack of modesty, she suddenly realized these girls meant no harm and were not judging her, so she quickly determined not to judge them. But it was hard not to stare at the couple making love in plain sight. The girl wrapped herself around the man and what her mouth was doing to him made him squirm and moan like a baby.