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"He's already working tonight?" Emily questioned.
"That was fast," JJ interjected.
"Yeah, you're telling me," Penelope growled.
"It is peak season for young singles to be here. It makes sense that they need as much talent as they can get." Matt added.
"Talent? How do we know he has talent?" Penelope groaned as she typed.
Both sets of agents smirked at one another while holding their respective phones.
"Well, that changes the plan a little bit for us, Simmons and Morgan still go to the bar next door but wait until later. First go to the Ritzy Tiger on the opposite end of the strip, we need to start checking if any of the same managers go in between the two more often. JJ and I will still go to Stone tonight but we're just going to blend into the background, no celebration. We might need to save that for a day where we need to act as some type of distraction." JJ nodded at her, Matt and Derek both agreed verbally over the phone before disconnecting.
Penelope was still on the line. "Do you need me to do anything?"
"Just be on standby as usual. Hopefully there won't be anything exciting going on." Emily told her.
"Yeah, just naked oiled up men." Her sassy tone could not be ignored.
"They don't take off their underwear unless they give private dances so it's not as bad as you think." JJ tried to make it seem less saucy.
"And out of respect, when Luke gets on stage I think we'll both magically need a drink refill. He deserves that much," Emily said sincerely.
"Right, well yeah, of course." Penelope cleared her throat.
The two women on the other side smiled at each other, "Okay, Garcia we'll be by later on to check in." JJ told her before ending the call. She turned to Emily, "Do you think she's just worried or do you think she wants to single handedly fight every woman that will be looking at him tonight."
Emily smiled, "I'd say a bit of both."
….
Luke was getting dressed or maybe undressed, in the backstage locker room. He shook his head at himself. This was ridiculous. Of the many times he had been undercover this was the one that was really testing his aptitude. He'd pretended to be a gang banger, a petty thief, a professor, and yet stripper was the one he had to do twice. The world was a funny place sometimes.
"Hey Jay, good to see you man." Ruiz came up to greet Luke.
"Yeah bro, needed to come back make this money. What better place to work than a place where you're not really working, right?" Luke nudged the guy's arm, he hated having to pretend to like this guy who was definitely a murderer and definitely a drug smuggler, evidence or no.
"Glad to see you back. We're putting you back as our penultimate. We haven't forgotten how much the ladies love you," Ruiz leered.
"I love them back. But damn, you must have more confidence than me. I went over some of the routines yesterday with Roger and Dave, you think I'm prepared enough to hold down one of those anchor spots again?" Luke moved his hips from side to side and then his arms, as he joked with the other man.
"You really think these drunk bitches care if you step in one direction or the other? You're fresh meat to some of them and I'm sure some of our long-term customers remember you too. You're going to do just fine."
"Hey boss, whatever you say. Stacy only gave me my costumes for tonight, don't have the ones for the weekend shows."
"She'll get them to you, had to make sure you got some with some extra room." Ruiz nudged Luke's arm this time.
Luke laughed, "Yeah well, you know." He grabbed his crotch, "Keeps them satisfied and all that."
"I know that's right." Ruiz nodded to a tall husky man coming towards them, "Look what the cat dragged in, Joe."
"Hey my man Jay. Where you been? Heard about your mom, sorry 'bout that bro. Can't imagine my momma being gone."
Luke nodded solemnly, "Thanks Joey. Shit happens man."
"Yo, look, we'll leave you to get your seduction techniques on point but I'll buy you a drink after the show, little welcome back celebration." Ruiz patted Luke's shoulder and left with Joey in tow.
Luke let out a breath and shook himself, he'd been back five minutes and he already felt a little dirty, not from what he was about to do, but from what he'd already done. Stripping for some women out for a fun night, was much less demeaning than having to pretend that some of these guys were his friends. They weren't all bad, but Ruiz definitely was.
"Jay," Dave's voice came from behind him as he was tightening the cargo vest over his abs.
"What's up, Dave?" Luke continued to get ready as he spoke.
"Yo, you're doing private rooms tonight."
"Naw man I told you guys, I need time to get back into this. You think I've been working on my cardio in my free time, dude?" Luke always had trouble with the private rooms, he'd do it, he'd give a private dance but sometimes the ladies wanted more and he always had to find a way to turn them down but still keep them happy. It was exhausting mentally not physically.
"Too bad. Roger's not feeling well. He's still going to do the show, but he needs the break, not you. Besides dude, what is there to get back into? You give the women what they want. You trying to tell me Jay Cash for Cake Rivera, forgot how to please a woman?" He playfully punched at Luke's stomach.
"Yeah, yeah, okay man, I got it. But they always want more and I'm going to be tired from doing two shows. I haven't been practicing my gyrating the past few years, if you can imagine."
"That's the best part, it's like riding a bike. You're going to remember exactly how fast and how far you can go once you mount that seat again." Luke laughed at Dave as he moved his hips up and down while waving his hand in front of him in a spanking motion.
"I see you've gotten more romantic in your old age," Luke said dryly.
"Hey man, I'm insulted. I am Mr. Romance. Ladies love me."
"Girls love you, ladies run away." Luke swatted the man's stomach with the back of his hand. "Hey, how do I look man?" Luke shut his locker, and held his hands out to his sides.
"Like you never left. But you better let Roger know what color banana hammock you've got, he doesn't like the same colors to be next to each other."
Luke rolled his eyes, "I see his OCD has improved."
"Boys, it's showtime." They heard Roger's voice call to them from offstage.
"Ready or not." Luke tipped his head and followed Dave.
….
Penelope was sitting on her bed, her laptop balancing on her crossed legs. She'd sat at the desk for awhile but the chair was not like her comfy one back in her lair. Instead, it was a weird hotel office chair that smelled a little like rum. She was snacking on some chips when her phone rang. "Go ahead."
"Hey Hotness, we're sending some photos to you of a few guys we saw at the first club that also seem to have come to the bar. Try to identify them just in case." Penelope nodded not actually speaking to Derek, "You okay?"
"What? Yeah I'm fine. A little bored I guess. Not out clubbing like the rest of you."
Derek sighed, "Penelope, you can just say that you're worried about Luke."
"I'm worried about all of my super crime fighters, including you," she protested.
He sighed again but left it alone, "Okay. See you later, Beautiful."
She exhaled slowly, stretching her neck trying to make the tension leave her body. Since she wasn't useful at the moment she decided she needed to get out of the room.
She grabbed her change purse and walked down to the bar in the hotel lobby, "Can I have a Shirley Temple please?" She smiled at the busy bartender, grabbing some cash out of her purse.
"Hey Princess, let me get that for you." Raul stood behind the seat next to her.
"Oh hey Ra, thought you were off to a party earlier."
"Ah yeah, we're here for a bachelor/bachelorette party. It's a week long event that leads up to the actual wedding. I'm pacing myself." He smiled at her, "Can I sit?
She was about to say no but instead she glanced down at her phone, they could find her if they needed her and she doubted they would. She gave him a once over, he was attractive and a little older than the rest of the crowd, in his mid forties maybe, but he seemed innocent enough, she gestured to the stool next to her. "So who's getting married?" She sipped the drink that was set in front of her.
Raul took a deep breath, "Little brother. He found a nice girl and here we are." He tipped his beer at her.
"Hmm... so why is your younger brother getting married first?" she teased.
"Actually I was married, my wife died in an accident about eight years ago."
"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. My jokes are rarely ever funny," she winced.
"No worries, it's been a while. I'm alright, and to be honest it does look bad when my brother who's in his late twenties seems more put together than I am."
"So why are you over here talking to me and not with the fun rowdy group over there?" She nodded toward the people she recognized from earlier.
"As you so helpfully pointed out most of them are younger than me which means they are also more energetic than me."
"The young ones are more fun I've heard."
"You might be right but most of them are also my cousins so..."
Penelope put her elbow on the bar and caught her head in hand, "Wow, I am just sticking both my feet in my mouth, huh?"
He laughed at her, "No worries, everything is cool. Why did you pick Miami for a vacation? Take this as a compliment, you don't seem like the type to want to hang out on the strip all day drinking from a yard long beer stick."
"Work, there's a small IT conference. It's quite boring but I thought I'd make the best of the surroundings. Although, while the place is beautiful, you're right, I have very little interest in the social aspect of it."
"Me either. My brother is so different than me. When I was his age, I got married at a courthouse and my bachelor party included my parents. We all went to a huge arcade and spent hours beating each other at skee ball." He smiled at her before glancing at his brother taking shots in the corner.
Penelope giggled at the group that was now making Ra's little brother lick alcohol off of, what she guessed, was his soon to be wife. "Arcades are tremendous fun. I always assumed if I got married it would be at some type of establishment that had many flashing lights."
He grinned at her, "I could see that." He gently touched his fingers to her rainbow colored dangly earrings. "You seem like you take the road less travelled, can't be mad at that." He brought his hand back to his drink and quickly saluted her before taking a sip.
"How are you going to survive the next week? If you're nursing a beer and they're…" Penelope observed the group again, she thought one of them was dry humping the other but she couldn't quite see the lower part of the booth.
Raul gave her an exasperated sigh, "I was planning on sticking to the older people's club. So mostly the latin and jazz places. Let them do the foam pool party things." He took another sip of his drink, "So, will you join me at salsa tomorrow?"
"I think I'll be too busy." Her phone buzzed, "Actually, I have to go right now, my boss just paged me. I have to go see what she needs."
"No problem. The offer is still standing if you think you can make it, you know where I am. Want me to walk you to your door?" He was about to slide off his stool.
"No, no. I have to make some work phone calls. You go have fun. Thanks for the drink." She gave him a small wave with her fingers before walking away.
When she was almost to her door she saw the four familiar faces standing outside leaning against the railing. "What's up, Buttercups?"
"Nothing. We just came back early, not much going on. We don't want to overstay our welcome when we might need to do it all over again tomorrow," JJ answered.
"Hey Elsa!" Penelope heard the voice behind her and turned.
Raul was a few feet away, she walked to him as he spoke, "You left your wallet."
Her face made a surprised oh, "Thank you so much. I would've been lost without it."
He nodded at her again, he quizzically took in the four people behind her before tipping his hat, "Goodnight, Princess." He turned back to the concrete stairs, leaving her with the four questioning faces.
She turned back to them, "What?"
"Princess?" Simmons was smiling.
"My name is Elsa. Whose fault is that?"
"Did you go hang out in the bar?" Emily asked.
"Uh, I didn't mean to. Sorry, I was just thirsty and wanted a cherry flavored drink. I had my phone with me the whole time and there was no alcohol. Raul was just there I didn't meet him on purpose or anything."
"Raul?" JJ was smiling as she asked.
"That's the guy's name. He told me that earlier when I met him."
"You met him earlier?" Derek curiously questioned.
"Yeah when I went to do the thing you asked me to do. He's staying next to that."
"And you just happened to meet up with him again?" Derek clarified.
"Yes, it was not planned. I wanted a drink!" The four people were trying to keep their giggles in check as they teased. "Oh you guys, you're the worst." She stepped towards her room, opening it quickly and shutting the door right as Derek was trying to follow her. About five minutes later she heard a light knock, "I don't want to talk to you." She stated clearly.
"Even me?" JJ gave her the sweetest tone she could muster. Penelope rolled her eyes but opened the door anyway. "Penelope, we were just teasing." JJ smiled innocently.
"Yeah, but everybody's teasing all the time. This is all just so..." Penelope gestured erratically with both hands.
JJ took a seat on the edge of the bed, "We saw Luke tonight."
Penelope shut her eyes and took a deep breath as she ambled towards her desk. She began typing, pretending like she was doing something important. "Yeah, how was that?" She tried to sound as if she was asking casually.
JJ smiled, "When he walked out on stage, Emily and I decided we promptly needed to use the restroom. We didn't see anymore of him than we see at work. Well, maybe a bare arm before the song started," JJ gave her a reassuring nod.
"I'm sure he appreciates that." Penelope said curtly, she glanced to JJ but returned her eyes to the screen in front of her.
"I'm sure he does. It's more of a show than anything else. There's quite a bit of production value, it's not some seedy rundown strip club." JJ waited for her to acknowledge her words.
"That's good. I'm sure it makes it more comfortable for you all."
"Penelope, I think maybe when this is over you should talk to Luke about how you feel." JJ tilted her head, observing Penelope, hoping that her small encouragement would help.
"How I feel? How I feel? I don't feel anything! If I felt things I would know because I feel things all the time and this is not a feeling." She squinted and peered over her glasses as she contemplated what she just said.
"We already went over this." JJ said in a concerned voice.
"No, we didn't. You know that I find him attractive. But don't you?" Penelope let her hands fall from the keyboard.
JJ gave her a genuine smile, "Of course. He's very good looking."
"Okay, Derek and Simmons are also delicious eye candy, and I don't need to tell either of them about any feelings. Just the same way you don't need to tell Luke anything, even though you find him to be pretty." Penelope let that hang there, wanting JJ to tell her she had a point.
"I understand but I suppose I just thought maybe there was something between you two that was worth talking about." JJ shrugged casually.
"Well that's great and all, but I don't, so it doesn't matter. As a friend are you encouraging me to get emotionally involved when it's a one sided journey?" she questioned JJ genuinely.
"I don't think it's as simple as all that." JJ scolded her lightly.
"That's where you're wrong, it is," Penelope snapped at her.
"Okay." JJ opened the door, "Goodnight Garcia."
She nodded, "Night, JJ." She knew she had been curt so she had tried to turn her voice back to cheery but as soon as the door shut she threw her head back in her chair, "What is with everybody?"
Also, once again, with no where else to announce this, the next part of Fog is chugging along. Thanks for the overwhelming PM's about it.