Page 17 of Campus Daddies

Oh, this is going to be so bad.

One thing I learn about myself—I don’t have the strength to hold my weight with my arms. I slide down that pole again and again and again until Monroe shows me beginners’ alternatives. Most of it involves keeping one foot on the ground as support while I spin.

Wrapping a leg around the pole also helps. I can manage a single spin off the floor when I use it.

I fall so, so many times.

Jordan laughs with me every time my ass plants on the floor. By the end of it, my abs are as sore as my arms are from it. I plop back on the hardwood, which is blissfully cool, and heave air into my lungs for a long minute.

“You making it down there?” Jordan grins and plops down beside me.

“Yes. That was fun, but I am absolutely awful at it.”

She gives me a gentle shrug. “Like you said, you’re challenging yourself. You’ve already made it further than most people simply by showing up. Plus, you should have seen how many times I cracked my butt bone during my first lesson.”

I laugh. “Glad I’m not the only one.”

“I hope you keep at it. It only took a few lessons before I started to feel sexy again.”

“You know what would make me feel really sexy right now?” I offer, giving her my best mischievous grin. “A slice of cake. Want to come?”

“Psh. Yes. Let’s go.” Jordan offers me her hand, and we both groan as I get to my feet.

It takes me an extra few minutes to take down my cameras and thank Monroe for the opportunity. “I promise not to make my failures look like yours.”

“Oh, honey. We are all works in progress. Don’t you worry about it.” She gently guides me out of the studio with a hand on my shoulder and gives Jordan a squeeze on hers before we’re let back out into the wilderness.

“So. Are you going to tell me about this ex of yours? I feel like I’ve earned some friend points after an hour of being the comic relief.” Not that I mind. I don’t take myselfthatseriously. At least, not about this.

Jordan sighs. “Oh, sure. Well, you see, Maddox and I were high school sweethearts. Well, middle school sweethearts, too, if you want to get technical about it.”

“I do. I do want to get technical. If you have a manual, I’ll refer to it and everything.”

That cracks another round of laughter between us.

“Okay, so we were together for six years. Only in the last few were we anything really serious. You know how it is at that age. And Maddox, he was my first, well, everything.”

I nod, understanding that all too completely, even if most of my firsts happened in a whirlwind romance during my freshman year of college. The same one that produced Noah.

“Our first year at college, we… well, you know, the usual thing happened. We went to different universities. We made different friends. We grew apart. That’s all fine and well, but when I went to visit him…” Jordan sighs, and I want to hug her for something that’s long in the past. “He had a new girlfriend on campus. When I caught them together, he made it seem like I was this crazy girl from back home that he pity fucked because no one else would. That I’d gotten this whole romance wrapped up in my mind, and I wasn’t even a good lay. You know, we’d talked about getting married. I wasn’t even the one to bring it up!”

Jordan takes a few deep breaths and visibly calms herself.

Not me, though. My hands clench with the want to smash that dude’s face in. “How dare he.”

“I know, right? I fled in tears, burned everything he’d ever given me, and he had the gall to call me up and ask me for the necklace he gave me. It was his mother’s. I refused. Even though I didn’t burn that.”

“No?” I might have. But my vindictive streak runs cold.

“No. I packed it up and sent it back to his mom—because I liked her—and included a note about what her son had done to me. In excruciating detail. And once I’d dropped that off at thepost office, I signed up for the pole dancing lessons. The rest is, as we say, history.” Jordan brushes herself off like a physical reminder that the past could no longer hold onto her.

“You’re much nicer than I would have been.”

“Oh, really? Lots of juicy breakup stories from you?” She gives me that wild eye that saysspill.

“No. No breakup stories. A lot of not really started stories. I might be a little bit picky.” I hold up my fingers to indicate how little. Really, I haven’t slept with anyone in a few years. It’s hard when you have a kid. “But I have sugared the gas tank of a friend’s ex back in high school.”

I see a mild respect glow in her eyes, so I lean in to give her the nail in the coffin.

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