…Joel wore dark trousers and a button-down oxford shirt with a tie. His dark hair had been slicked back beneath a ball cap. He looked like a Catholic schoolboy, utterly forbidden, which made it all the more delicious. He swaggered around the room greeting the women, while his cohorts contorted themselves on and off the pole.

The music ebbed and flowed, inviting hips to wiggle and pelvises to thrust. The boys in the middle of the stage traded out with the two who’d been working the room. Joel, perhaps because he’d arrived late, didn’t go to the center and start taking off his clothes, but Audrey knew it would only be a matter of minutes before he took his turn. She had to get out of here before then. How embarrassing! Joel was her classmate, a friend, her study buddy…

And he was standing right in front of her. She looked up, with what she knew had to be an idiotic smile pasted on her face. Joel was grinning, too. He didn’t look embarrassed, but then he probably dealt with shell-shocked women on a regular basis.

The song changed from a harsh rap song to a smoother, sexier dance tune. A fucksong, they’d called it in college. Slow, sensual, with lyrics to match. Audrey leaned against the back of the loveseat. Joel, body moving slightly to the beat, looked at her again, and she thought for sure he was going to move away. She hoped he would. She hoped he wouldn’t.