Zee.
When the music changed, I stepped forward like the pole had been waiting for me.
The first beat dropped—heavy, sultry bass that vibrated in my bones.
And I moved.
Slow at first. Deliberate. Like I was seducing the night itself. My fingers curled around the pole as I swung, lifted, spun. My body remembered things all the moves and techniques Purple had taught me.
My back arched, hips rolled, thighs locked around the cold metal as I climbed.
And when I flipped upside down, holding my whole weight with nothing but my inner thighs?
The crowd screamed.
Not out of shock.
But awe.
Everything Purple ever taught me, every hour in that back room learning control and power, came rushing back like instinct. I didn’t dance like I was trying to prove anything to Blake—or even impress any
