The club was everything I’d forgotten I missed.

Lights sliced through the darkness in slow, lazy colors. Music thumped through the floor, through my bones, loosening parts of me that had been stiff for months. The air smelled like perfume, alcohol, and something electric—freedom, maybe.

Julian stood close beside me, one hand hovering at my waist like he wasn’t sure how much space he was allowed to take. It made me smile. I liked that he didn’t assume. I liked that he ...