Cal just sat there, wide-eyed and red-cheeked, drowning in a grandma’s sweater.

“Hey, Trey, maybe we should touch base as a group before we present anything,” I said, loudly enough for everyone to hear but quietly enough to make them think they shouldn’t have.

“You snooze, you lose, Pey. Shouldn’t have gone home early.”

“Pey didn’t—” Cal started. She gulped audibly before pressing on. “Pey didn’t go home early, Trey.” Then she whispered like I had. “I think we should check in, just to make sure your memory is on track.”

“What are you talking about?” Trey asked, not tempering his voice a bit.

“Let’s just talk after the meeting, and then we’ll present. Is that all right, KQ?” I asked. She eyed me.

“No,” she said. “Talk now.”

“Swoosh!” Trey yelled. “Anyway, it was fucking awesome. She had the finest honeys the Honey Pot has to offer lined up for body shots before Pey even got back from the bar! Top twenty nights at the Honey Pot, hands down.” He slapped the table. “I think I really have a knack for this training thing, boss.”

Cal and I looked at each other like we had rehearsed it.

“Trey, I think you might be misremembering things. You did have a few drinks,” I said.

“What are you two implying?” KQ asked, picking up on our heavy hands.

“Ma’am—I mean, I’m sorry, I mean KQ—I don’t want to speak out of turn, but—”

“Oh, for Darkness’ sake. Just talk, you little rodent.”

“Trey spent most of the night passed out in the booth,” I interrupted. “Cal and I had to put him in a taxi before we could even try to sell anything.” I shrugged. “I’m sorry, Trey, I just can’t lie for you. Not this time.”

Trey opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

“Pey actually made the sales, and got five of the strip—five of the ladies—to give up names of folks on Earth who might want to make a deal,” Cal said. “It was actually . . . It was really impressive. I’m grateful I got to see him work.” She smiled at me in that sweet way she had smiled the day we first met, and I was relieved by the comfort of feeling nothing.

“It was no big deal.”

“That’s bullshit,” Trey said, shaking his head. “That’s not at all what happened. I was there. This dipshit went home early, and Cal and I tore the place up all night! I watched her fingerbang two strippers, y’all. It was the bomb.”

KQ looked at Cal and then back at Trey. I could see the wheels in her brain turning as she tried to imagine this little church mouse knuckles-deep.