d with old makeup and bad decisions, but tonight it

r the third time. Her curls were ironed flat and shiny, her eyeliner just a

e dang

trying too hard

stuffing her lipstick into her tiny

ke I can't

sed double push-up t

Her heels clicked awkwardly on the tile, her legs unfamil

music video. They felt lik

this?" Isabel

dy spent two hours contouring your col

w how to dan

ow. You just need to

to laugh. It

ve a name, we stick together. We don't have t

dded slow

enna's cousin, who worked valet at the club

ies," he called

her clutch with

e na

ted card. "You're Belle.

fit it on like an ill-fitting coat.

sequins. The ride to the club was a blur of neon signs, late-nig

e side entrance, Charlie

addresses. Smile, act like you've been her

ed. "We've

owed hard. "

letting them in, thanks to Charlie's quiet word a

l of perfume and whiskey wra

rs. Plush chairs curved like whispers around private booths. Women in lingeri

couldn'

her hand. "Don

ere a woman with a headset and

smoothly, her voice an octave l

re late. Dressing room's that

mad

e was here. She'd stepped into t

whispered. "Let

on counters, carpets, skin. A girl with platinum-blonde hair was arguing with someone ove

d whispered, "Put it on. Trust me,

ping into the robe. It draped over her curves like

eflection in the

dishes after midnight, not the one holding back tears in t

dn't beg for time off or chase sch

," Jenna said softl

he room. "Cassie, you're up next. Belle,

Just sway. Feel the music. You don'

head was the only part

pole gleaming in the center. Down below, tables buzzed with low conversation and murmured laughter, m

vate balcony with shadowe

up there-but she felt the

e Isabel couldn't fake. Music swelled, low and bass-heavy, and Jenna spun eff

some cheers. Money folded dis

h flipped. Her

h

re on," some

ghts hit her like a baptism

eat d

her body screaming run. But her legs moved. Her hips followed. She grabbed the pole-not gracefully,

houlder, revealing the glitter of h

me that pulse

as p

e looked, but how she moved. Her hands, her breath, the line

t invisib

s ever

movements grew bolder. She slid down the pole, legs folding under her, t

tepped back into the

aiting, gri

d it," she

to laugh. Or c

the first time in a long while,

-

lcony, the club l

laughter floated like silk over the hum of music and desire. It was a play

vet booth behind him. His tailored navy suit still looked untouched after a fourteen-hour

ore lunch. That deserves celebration," one

te," Alessandro sa

he s

wrapped in light the way a secret wears silence. He couldn't see her face clea

ke the others. This

was

e it was a prop, but like it was

th

lipped free of

oat tig

tilting into the motion with tentative grace. It wasn't

ng

erat

lity wrapped in cu

s narrowing. One of his pa

aught your e

ro didn'

eal, it cut through the haze of liquor and low light like a blade. He watched her finis

No intr

didn't n

p of his drink and

r who had just passed behin

er blink

ro's voice was cool, commanding