Strip
A story by daphnebeauty
Chapter One:
"I just don't understand why I can't be in there with you."
"Because it's not my op, Castle. You know that."
"But I'm your partner."
She laid her hand flat on his chest and stroked down the lapel of his jacket. They were somewhat hidden behind the navy blue surveillance van parked across the street from Warehouse X. The pinks and blues of the neon lights flickered in various stages of defeat in the store windows of the street. They painted his skin and threw his face into a sharp and craggy relief.
"I know. But tonight I'm with James."
He looked off to the side, a true pout pushing his chin forward. She leaned in to quickly kiss the rough skin of his jaw, where the stubble always grew faster. He drew in a long breath and rested his hands on her hips before turning in to peck her lips with a short kiss of acceptance.
"Fine, fine. I'll just wait in the van."
She smiled, glad he was attempting to throw off his funk at being left behind. "You know, Castle, James will have a cam and mic on the whole time so you won't miss a thing."
"All right. I guess that will be kind of cool. Will you have an earpiece?"
"No, but he will. They might search me, but he's already in good with the place. They trust him."
"Then why exactly does he need you, again?"'
She stepped away from his hands and gave him a firm look, his reluctance finally wearing on her nerves. "Because I've got the legs to work a pole and the experience to not blow James' cover."
He opened his mouth to respond, but Detective David James rounded the corner of the van and approached them.
"Get dressed, Beckett. We've gotta roll in twenty."
He handed her a bag of clothes but she pushed it back towards him.
"No thanks. I've got my own stuff."
"Your choice, but don't look too nice. You're supposed to look desperate enough to actually be with me." He winked.
She rolled her eyes. "No amount of clothing's gonna help you there, James."
"Ah, these gorgeous women and their smart mouths, am I right?" He nudged Castle who grunted, nodded his head, and attempted a smile, looking pained. "Well, anyway. I'll see you in twenty. Hopefully this will be a fast gig. We just need for him to make the offer, take us to the back, and tell you what your new job requirements are. Bring the bastard down, simple."
"Sounds good."
James turned and left with another wink.
"He winks too much." Castle stared after the man's back as he walked away.
"Castle."
"No, really. Is there something in his eye? Maybe a chronic muscle spasm?"
"Castle."
"I don't like him."
"He's fine. You're just jealous because he gets to be undercover and you don't."
"That's not why I'm jealous, Beckett."
Her eyebrows rose and her speech was stunned for just a moment. They'd been together for four months now and some random detective with a strong jaw was setting him off? Really? "Castle, don't. It's just a job and he's not even undercover as my boyfriend. More like a pimp, if anything."
"That really makes me feel better. Doesn't even have to act like he respects you, then."
"Castle, seriously. Stop."
He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and squeezed until the skin turned white. She waited him out as he took a deep breath and then finally looked back at her.
"Right. You're right. It's nothing. Go get dressed, Kate. I'm going to go set up in the van. This will probably be gold for some Nikki inspiration."
She smiled at him and cupped his cheek. Leaning forward, she placed a slow kiss to the dimple in his chin and then to his throat as it bobbed.
"I'll be done soon. James will have my back; Esposito says he's good."
He squeezed her hand before releasing and then winking exaggeratedly as he walked away. "Get him quick, Kate. I've got plans for you tonight." Yanking open the back door of the van, he climbed inside.
The music in Warehouse X was overwhelming and heady. Kate pulled up on the lace-lined cups of her bustier, shifting her breasts into a more prominent and less comfortable position. She and James stood in the entry of the club as he searched the establishment for his mark.
James leaned in close and spoke into her ear over the music, "I don't see our guy right now. He must be in the back. Let's sit."
She nodded with her game face on, slipping quickly into character. They sat a few tables away from the stage where three women posed in various stages of sexual contortion on poles. A waiter grabbed James a scotch and cola and her a vodka on ice that she swirled idly in her hand. She took a small sip and refused to let the burn of the alcohol on her tongue and throat show on her disinterested face.
Setting the drink down on the table between them, she watched as a woman bent over for the growing crowd. People were clustered in front of the stage and between the first rows of tables, they danced hedonistically to rhythms that pumped endlessly through the speakers. She crossed her legs, feeling her thigh high fishnets stretch and pull marginally down her leg. She ran a finger under one and snapped it back up.
"You don't have to start seducing yet, Kate," James spoke into her ear, nodding at her thighs. "He's not even in the room yet. Damn you're good undercover. I'd heard, but had no idea."
"Yeah, well. I don't like to break character once I'm in it. You never know who's watching. Speaking of, is that our guy?"
A man in an all black suit was emerging from a door across the club, looking like he owned the place. If it was indeed Vince Balen, then it was probably because he did.
"Yup, that's our guy." He rose and stood above her. "Get ready to sell it, Beckett."
This guy.
This guy was a piece of work.
If the view of the camera stream they were getting was any reliable yardstick of his nature, Castle thought that maybe the guy had a permanent kink in his neck that forced him to constantly stare at Kate's chest, legs, ass, and mouth. It was hard to tell for sure because the cam was on his button, but Castle knew. He knew where this guy's eyes were.
The view jolted and rocked as James stood and looked down at Kate in her chair, swirling her drink with one hand and looking up through her lashes. With her dark smoky eyes and black corset, she looked like a wet dream gone right, even through the grainy feed of the camera. Castle clenched his teeth when James' view lingered on the tantalizing plunge of darkness between her breasts.
They'd found Balen. The camera swayed as they walked towards the man clad in black and Castle squinted to push away his bourgeoning nausea. James dodged a table in his path and ended up behind Kate, watching her sway in those tight jean shorts.
It wasn't her normal walk. She'd changed her stride to be more "Kate the desperate, beautiful, ambiguously foreign pole dancer" rather than "Kate the confident and unbearably sexy detective". She was so good at her job; Castle couldn't help a smile of pride and respect.
"Vince man, how are ya?" James reached out a hand and shook Balen's.
The man didn't even glance over at Beckett, his face stony and not at all the picture of "trust" they'd been promised. "Fine, fine. Been a couple days since you've been in. Thought you might've found a new joint to frequent. Didn't know how this place would ever survive without your patronage."
"Don't be like that, Vince. I brought you a present. Just like I said I would."
Balen finally looked over Kate briefly. "I see that. Is she the talent you were talking about?"
"The one and only. Look at that face, Vince. She's good meat. And you should see her work a pole. Best butter in town."
Castle fought the urge to vomit, disgusted with how they talked about Kate. He watched as interest marginally flickered over Balen's features. He took his time looking Kate over this time, stepping forward and narrowing his eyes. James turned so that Castle could see both of them in the shot.
Kate had her chin lowered but her eyes were meeting Balen's. Shy, but daring. Her hands fidgeted in front of her before she brought her pinky up and rested it against her lip, flickering a smile at the imposing man before her.
He turned to James.
"She'd be wasted here. Get her to a modeling agency. We've got no room for wholesome in this place."
"Wholesome? No. I'm telling you, she'll blow your mind. If your afraid she'll blow the rest of your talent off the stage, then fine, yeah, I'll take her somewhere else."
"I've got the best in town. We both know that. And she doesn't fit here."
"You're never gonna see one as good as her again. I'm tellin' ya, Vince."
Balen opened his mouth and Castle's heart raced with the anticipation of rejection. But then Kate was in the camera's view again, placing her hand on Balen's arm. Her voice was husky with hints of a non-specific Eastern European accent.
"Let me show you. Let me prove to you how…good I can be."
"I've got no room for new talent on stage, Dave. Nothing." Balen looked down at Beckett, still hanging lightly on his arm. She bit her lip and Castle held his breath. "But I might have something else for you. If she's as good as you say."
Castle looked over at the team next to him in the van. They were nodding and bumping fists with the success.
This was so not good.
She adjusted her bustier again, following Balen and James through the door in the back of Warehouse X. She eyed the muscle framing the threshold and made note that they looked like more than run of the mill bouncers. Balen had pros guarding his back room.
The hall was dark, but significantly quieter than the main room. The walls must have had some serious soundproofing. They walked at a moderate pace, before reaching a room at the end of the hall. Balen opened the door and entered first, James and Beckett following.
It was dark in the room and the steady beat of a bass in the background marked the tempo for the half naked woman dancing for a handful of men seated on various pieces of furniture. None were watching the show, all discussing something over papers and cigars.
"Boys, put the work away. I've got a new prospect for upstairs." He turned to the dancer who was still twisting and bending. "Dana, take a break. We need the pole."
Beckett's stomach plummeted. A try out? She just wanted to get Balen alone and get the admission of the shady upstairs activities out of him. This was more than she'd bargained for tonight. She hid her growing anxiety beneath the façade of her cover, but her eyes darted to James. It was his op so she'd follow his lead. Surely, he'd have a way to get this thing back on a track that didn't involve her sliding awkwardly around a pole.
His face was calm and detached, but his eyes gave him away. He was floundering for a plan as much as she was.
"Vince, man, we don't need to—"
Kate's heart thudded hard in her chest, a rote response to watching a cover get blown. James sounded too desperate. They could still save this thing if he didn't push.
She stepped in close, drawing Balen's eyes away from James' increasingly panicked ones. Slowly making her way towards the man that owned the room, she chose her words carefully and tinged them with the accent she'd adopted.
"So, Mr. Balen. What exactly do you want me to do for your men?"
"Whatever it is that makes you so good."
"Oh, but I'm so very good at so very many things." She twirled a piece of hair between two fingers and watched in her periphery as Balen's men adjusted in their chairs, already hooked. She let her eyes play over the table of men and then shifted her hips.
"I can see you've certainly got subtle seduction down. Something we like to see upstairs." Balen's voice was unaffected.
"What else do you like to see upstairs?"
"We expect a little…more from the girls upstairs. But don't you worry, we take good care of our money-makers. And their…agents." His eyes darted towards James and then back to Kate. "Now if you're done asking questions, then it's time to see if you're as good as Dave says."
He nodded to a man with a moustache and small forehead who proceeded to press a few buttons on a remote. The music stopped abruptly, starting back up again with harder, faster beats. It rolled through Kate's chest, almost deafening her from the inside and pushing pace with her quickening pulse.
"Dance."
Kate moved toward the stage at the command, drowning in the thick rhythm and smoke of the room. She had a small amount of experience with pole dancing from a brief undercover stint in Vice, but nothing elaborate. Looking back at James, she ran a hand slowly down the pole to see if he'd worked out a plan yet. The helpless look on his face said no. Refusing to lose the mission, she shifted a hand through her hair, bit her lip, and looked out at the room through the window of her arm.
tbc...
COVER ART BY MJSOFTER!