Reignite

Chapter Three

•Chase•

"See, I don't think I am though." She puts her hand on my thigh and squeezes, batting her lashes to look at me. "I won't tell anyone. But please don't take me for a fucking fool because that, I am not," she spits out as she squeezed my thigh harder and releases, causing me to let out a breath. I look at Cole and he just picks up the beer and takes a drink, trying to hide his laughter. Dick.

"Look, we're just trying to enjoy a night out," I say, trying to redirect the situation. "Yeah? Let me help then." She suddenly gets on top of my lap and starts to slowly lift herself up and down. Wide eyed I look to Cole who spits the beer from his mouth back into the cup and chokes. I feel her hands on me and it feels strange. I try to remain as still as I can because if Emily could see this she'd have an aneurysm. Suddenly she lifts her hand, and holds my wedding band in front of my face. "I think you forgot to put something back on, Officer," she teases as she smiles at me. I try to turn my head and look down at my pocket in shock at how she even grabbed that without me feeling it. This girl is very dangerous. "Oh please, you think it's hard for a woman to reach into a man's pocket when he's distracted by your tits in his face?" she laughs. "How did you..." I start but she interrupts me. "I saw it in your back pocket when you walked in. A little too obvious." I nod my head in defeat and take it back from her and place it in my wallet. "So what is a married police officer doing at a strip club? Are you married too?" She looks at Cole and he shakes his head so hard I thought that he'd fly.

"Look, like I said we're just here to watch, we just enjoy coming to strip clubs once in a while." She looks up and puts a devious smile on her face. "Awesome. Then watch, officer." She straddles me as she turns around and starts to rub herself all over me, I can feel my heart racing. She stands up and gets on her knees in front of me and lays her head on my thigh, looking up at me, "You know, it's actually customary that you tip in strip clubs," I jumpy lightly at her comment, realizing she's right, and I pull a $20 bill from my wallet and try to hand it to her. She scoffs and grabs it as she stands up. "If you're going to be here you can actually pretend you know what the fuck you're doing in a strip club. Do you know how you look coming in here acting like a nervous little cop? You stick out like a sore thumb." I look at Cole and he shrugs one of his shoulders, agreeing.

I guess we never really thought this through. Both of us have been in relationships so long and so busy with work we've never even actually been to a strip club on purpose and sat down and experienced it. Sorry, Sarg. She rolls her eyes and sits back down next to me. "Look, I know you're here because of Georgia," she says and my eyes jump to hers. "I don't know anything so don't fucking ask. But I knew Georgia. She brought me here and she was like a big sister to a lot of us here and a lot of girls would be willing to help you find out what happened to her." Cole nudged me and I nodded. "So what advice can you give me?" I ask. "Hmm, You haven't tipped me enough for that yet, officer, plus just sitting here talking in the open is suspicious," she puts her hand on my chest and rubs it slowly, I watch as I see large breaths escaping my chest. "Come with me," she suddenly crumples my shirt at my chest and holds it tightly, and leads me away. I look back at Cole and he's waving at me smiling with his thumbs up. I'm sorry, Em...

She closes a door and curtain behind her and motions for me to sit. I hesitantly sit down and she gets on my lap. "You know, no one is watching here, so..." I say as I look her up and down. "Exactly." she smiles. I get nervous and blurt out, "Look, you obviously know I'm a cop and I'm here to find your friend. Is there really nothing you can tell me?" She puts her hand to her chin and pretends to think by tapping it. "I might be able to tell you things. But first I want to know what you're going to do here. Because do understand that you or any cop being here impedes our job being done properly and taking money home in the same manner we like." She stares me down and I crack. I mean she seems to be genuinely worried about Georgia so she may be helpful.

"How much do you know about your bosses?" I ask. "A lot." she doesn't say anything further and I roll my eyes. "Your bosses are into some shady things and are in deep with the police. I'm sure that isn't something I need to tell you. But after a workers body was found, and now girls going missing, the police are here to investigate if you girls are safe here and what's really going on."

"What do you mean, a workers body was found?" Shit. I don't open my mouth and she grabs my shoulders, "Tell me what the fuck you're talking about now before I make someone kick you the fuck out of here!" I sigh. "A woman's body was found on a highway in Alabama a couple months ago. Police never officially released identity because the investigation is open," I look at her and there are tears forming in her eyes, "Her name is... was Sarah, did you know her?" I can see the pain in her eyes hearing the name. You can tell the moment it registered in her brain. She wiped her eyes and looked down. "Of course I knew her. But I didn't know she was dead. What was she doing in Alabama?" She looked at me but I had no answers.

"God the police are so fucking useless. A woman is murdered and you all have no idea but god forbid you hear someone is selling pot on a street corner the whole fucking town is on a search for them," she says as she wipes her nose. "Look, we are trying to find out what happened to Sarah, and Georgia. We think they are connected to your bosses. That's why we're here. And I'm going to be here again." She sits for a moment and thinks. "I won't tell anyone you're here because I would never stop justice happening for people that I care about. If that wasn't the case you wouldn't be here right now. I don't fuck with the police. And if you want my help you better make it worth my while." I put my hand on her shoulder and she jumps at the touch, "I'm going to do everything in my power to find out what's going on and find your friend. I'm going to lock up whoever did this to them. You have my word."

She and I just look at each other in silence when she decides to stand up. "You owe me $100 for this session. You guys should stay another 30 minutes and leave. I'm here most nights but I'm never here Wednesday's or Thursdays. You clearly don't know anything about being undercover but you're young and I guess they don't teach that huh?" She pauses to laugh at me and put her hand out. I reluctantly hand her $100. "Good boy. Please understand this is how I support myself and you will fucking pay me for my time. If you don't want my help then don't speak to me again but if you speak to me it's being charged as you're taking time from my clients. Understand officer?" I nod my head and gulp.

I've never been talked to this way by anyone before, it's a very weird power play. "Perfect! I look forward to doing business with you. You can call me Gabrielle. No, I don't like the name Gabby so don't even try, and yes, this is my real name. I don't have anything to hide. If you're actually going to find Georgia and help the rest of us here then I'll help you do what you need to do here. Without me though, you're not going to get far." I stand up and fix my pants. "Well, if I come again, can you have information for me? Anything about Georgia you can find out. Name, family, close friends, past addresses, past schools, past employment history, relationship history," She puts her hand to my face to silence me. "Too much talking not enough money, I don't need you to explain I know what you need to know." She lets me out of the room and she's all over me as we exit, holding the money I gave her. She smiles as she walks to the backstage area, and I make my way back to Cole.

"God I thought she was gonna eat you alive, I never thought I would see you again!" Cole jokes as I sit down and I take a long sip of my beer. "She wants to help us. She wants to find information and help us blend in. She's gonna drain my wallet though so I need the sarg to approve me getting some cash or something to bring here because this shit is ridiculous." Cole laughs and we both finish our beer and leave the club when she told us to. We have to head back to report to Mando and the rest of the higher ups. They're anxiously waiting for us to see if we've made any huge leads. "Do you think we should tell them about her?" Cole asks me. "Why wouldn't we?" He shrugs, "I don't know. I can't imagine a stripper wanting to have to speak to police officers or betray anyone. You know how sarg gets. If she's involved they're going to require a ton of shit from her. She's going to back out." He's right. "But still, I don't think I can leave this out. It's crucial. Plus, I'm trying to move up and lying isn't going to help me. Maybe I can tell them to let me handle it." Cole shakes his head and keeps driving.

By the time we make it back to the station it's about 11:45pm. The streetlights illuminate the dim parking lot as we make our way. "Ah shit, let me see your phone, mine just died," Cole asks and I reach in my pocket and hand it over. After a few seconds of silence he utters, "Shit..." I turn back to him and he holds the phone up to me, and I see 10 missed calls and texts from Emily. "Fu-"

"Burrows, Matthews," I'm stopped in the middle of my words and abruptly turn to face Mando. We both nod to him and I hear Cole laughing as he hands my phone back. I am so fucked.