Author's Note:

Here is the epic chapter I promised. I loved writing this one - hope you enjoy it, too!

BPOV

So, I decided to go to the club – Violet, to be exact. And well, Esme decided that we were going and to be completely honest, I wasn't going to defy her as much as much as I had expected that I would. Mike would be out that night, anyway, so a girls night out would probably be something that I needed after the stressful past few days.

Except that the main source of my stress, other than my tardiness, was because of my conflicting feelings for Edward Cullen – the guy who maddened me yet entranced me. You know when you hear someone talking about a "love-hate relationship"? Well, that sort of got ours, at least on my part, down to a tee.

However, we were now going to Violet and that was that. Yes, it was a strip club consisting of Edward's whores only, but hey – it was different and that was sort of what I needed. Besides, Esme was so intent on seeing Edward again and trying to get us to pursue a relationship that there was no way that I was getting out of it.

Esme came to my apartment beforehand since the club was nearer my place than to hers, which was sort of a mistake. Immediately she raided my closet and all of my drawers trying to find something delectable for me to wear. She had already made me put on my "sexy" underwear that I had worn in front of Edward claiming that it would apparently 'bring back good memories' and added that "you can never be too prepared'.I just felt embarrassed.

As per usual, she looked absolutely stunning in a tight purple body-con dress with white patent heels that showed of her tall, slim figure. Her reddish-brown hair was straightened and hung sexily and loosely over her shoulders. She looked like a complete goddess. I just felt like a pauper compared to her.

"You look really nice, Esme," I whispered.

"Thanks, girl! I gotta look nice for Violet – I'm sure Edward has some pretty good looking friends. Not to mention riche!" she laughed.

I smiled back at her and then she stopped rifling through my clothes. For some really strange reason, she looked absolutely startled.

"What is it?" I asked.

She turned to look at me. "Isabella Marie Swan."

"What?" I hated it when she used my full name; it was what I used to do to the kids back at the school when they were in trouble. But in actual fact, it had the complete same effect on me.

Esme turned back to the draw, then to me, holding out something that I hoped she wouldn't find. "Oh," I exclaimed as soon as I had seen it. Crap.

"Honey, you have got to wear this. This has 'Edward Cullen bait' written all over it." She was grinning at me wickedly now, and I couldn't help but smile back. Her smile was broad and infectious; just like somebody's that I knew…

I coughed and slipped back into reality. "Esme! You are so bad – you know I'm still with Mike!"

"Yes I know that, but I still don't know why," she sighed.

I rolled my eyes at her; she'd never been happy about Mike and I, but after my parents, I had learned to get used to it. "I love him, Esme, and that's why."

"Again, I don't know why," she said as she began rummaging through my make-up draw. "What's he doing tonight then anyway? Still doing business with that sour-face whore, Tanya?"

"Yes," I retorted, reluctantly. I had low taste for that woman. It wasn't even jealousy; she just belittled me all the time. "And then he said he might hit a bar with the boys afterwards - which is absolutely fine by me. I'd kinda rather he didn't know about tonight – he might get a little bit funny about it."

"So really, while he's allowed to do whatever with his 'business' and then go out with the guys after, you would rather he didn't know about you going out with one of your best friends? Sometimes I think you need to have a head check, Bella. Plus, I reckon you should be thinking about fishing for a bit of Edward Cullen tonight – regardless – don't you?" Esme threw the dress at me and I nervously laughed.

"I know that he can be a bit…distant. But I'm not going to cheat on him…regardless."

"Who said anything about cheating on Mike, Bella?" Esme asked. "You can still give Edward an eye feast – someone needs to tame that bad boy – even though it looks like you're already doing a damn good job." She winked at me.

"Shut up," I said, but I couldn't help smiling. "But you have to tell me if this dress looks ridiculous, okay?"

"Always do," Esme said playfully, and then winked at me again.

I laughed and then put the dress on. It felt slightly tighter than the last time I had worn it; probably because that was about four years ago. Now that I filled it even more, the dress hugged me in the way that…amplified some of my features. I wasn't sure about how it would look, but I felt a little uncomfortable.

I turned to Esme and expected her to say something about how slutty I looked, but instead she was speechless for a moment. Suddenly, she said, "Turn around and look in the mirror. Right now."

I did as I was told and turned to the full length mirror standing next to my closet. As I did so, I gawked.

I stared into the mirror in awe – it just didn't look like me. I wasn't even sure why I looked so different – it was just a typical little black dress. But this time when I wore it, the lace panels below my bust caressed my ivory skin, the silk material over my breasts and the bottom of my dress held in my curves and showed off my figure in a way that was almost innovative. For once, in my mind, I actually looked kind of…sexy.

"You look so fantastic, Bella," Esme said as she stepped by my side. When she stood next to me, I felt her aesthetic equal. Maybe as good as the Violet girls.

"I think we look alright," I told her.

"Yes!" she screeched in delight. "We look more than alright, you silly girl! We'll just give you some big hair and some smoky eyes – and you'll be perfect." She then paused and gave me a wicked grin. "He will love it."

"I hope you mean Mike," I giggled hesitantly.

Esme raised her eyebrows at me and I instantly looked away and back into the mirror, breathed in and smiled. "Ready to go soon, then?"

"Hey, what happened to our tequila shots?," Esme screamed. I laughed and rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh yeah, okay. I'll just get the lemons and the salt," I retorted.

Before I moved, Esme implored me. "What?" I asked her, confused.

She put her hand on mine. "Listen, Bells. It's okay to have fun, you know. You don't need to look so guilty about it all the time!"

I shrugged her hand off. "I am having fun and I'm fine," I insisted. "I just need to have a bit to drink first and then our girls night will be underway, okay?"

"Yeah, you want to be drunk and in time for Edward to see you looking fiiiiine," Esme explained, pinching me on the forearm.

I mimicked hitting her back and then she batted me away. "Where's my tequila then, Ms Swan?"

2 hours later...

As our taxi pulled up to the front of the club, my eyes fuzzed with delight. Okay, so we'd had a little too much tequila and maybe it was the all the spirit talking, but Violet looked absolutely fantastic – and that was just from the outside.

"Woah," I said as Esme looked at me and laughed. Although she seemed as if she was just as much in awe as I was – her eyes were as big as Bambi's.

The taxi man kindly pulled the door open for us (probably because we drunkenly couldn't do it ourselves) and we stumbled out with glee. We staggered along the street and up to the queue in our stupidly high shoes and then laughed when I noticed that the vast majority of the people queuing up were male.

We queued for about an hour before we finally got to the end of the queue and to the bouncers at the door. Luckily, there were a couple of guys behind us, Alec and Caius who were very interested in why us – girls! – were at this club. We kept them entertained with multiple stories about how we were actually secret dancers imported from England who, despite our American accent, were meant to look like guests but then dance later. I wasn't sure if they realised how pissed we were.

As soon as we got to the bouncer, I have him our tickets and flashed him a huge smile.

The bouncer looked up at me and then at Esme and called the other guy towards him and whispered in his ear. I looked at Esme in confusion, but then back to the two bouncers who were now smiling widely at us. "James you were right – Cullen did get her to come," first man said.

"I told you, Emmett," the other smiled. "Nice to meet you, Ms Swan."

"And you," I replied. I didn't know why they knew my name, but at that moment I didn't care. "This is my friend Esme." I indicated to Esme who did a small curtsey.

"I'm Emmett, and this is James, as I'm sure you would have picked up. Now, someone should show you in and there you will find your seats. If you need anything, just ask one of us two. Mr. Cullen told us to get anything you need – which includes free drinks, food…a dance, if you feel so inclined."

Esme squealed and squeezed my arm in excitement. "Thank you," I replied with a smile. "We will let you know."

"In you go then, ladies." Emmett smiled and then indicated for us to go inside.

Inside was even more spectacular than I had imagined. Compared to the outside, it was even what some would call magnificent. I stood still for a moment to take the whole club in. Esme tugged at my arm. "Bella, we need to get to our seats!"

"One second," I whispered, scanning the room for someone I may or may not have been looking forward to seeing. I didn't know why and it didn't exactly help my unhealthy obsession that I had with him, but the alcohol made me even more eager to see Edward.

"Okay, I'll find them and then you look out for me," Esme said and then staggered off to find our seats.

I gazed upon the obvious Moulin Rouge theme. Maybe the club had some burlesque essence to it? I wasn't really sure but after seeing the girls at the audition I had guessed it wasn't really a classy sort of club. But then again, it had a good reputation so… maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. Actually, it seemed pretty cool.

The large stage in the centre of the club was certainly extravagant. There were five poles around the stage and then one straight in the middle – obviously for the main dancer. I wondered whether Edward had found another girl to dance as I had declined him many times. A slight pang of jealousy hit me when I realized he could have been having the same sort of conversations with other girls at the same time as me. Maybe he had given them all free tickets, too.

Just the alcohol, Bella, I told myself as I was becoming paranoid too.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of eyes on me and my instinct told me to look up. As I did so, I caught sight of something that startled me. Obviously, it was the person that I had been shamefully looking for – Edward. And he looked so damn beautiful that even when I saw him, I kept on being startled. It was like I was properly noticing him for the first time. It was really, really weird.

He looked like a king up there in his booth, and we, all his people down here, were certainly worshipping him. Well, I certainly wanted to. I felt a bit helpless at the bottom, when all I really wanted to do at that moment, despite how perplexing it was, was to go up to that booth and wrap my arms around him.

I stared at him, still, just imploring his eyes a little while he stared back. We stared for a long time; as if we were studying each other's reactions to one another. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him to let him know that I was here for him, and I hoped that he was happy.

He shrugged back and then laughed at me; he was definitely happy, and so was I. I laughed back at him again and so desperately wished that I could go and sit with him in his booth, but then Esme interrupted and tugged at my arm, indicating that she had found our seats. I looked at Edward before Esme could pull my arm off and my stomach lurched with excitement. I broke the gaze as my friend sadly pulled me away.

"I found our seats ages ago, what are you doing? Quick, the show's about to start," Esme jokingly scolded me and then found the seats that were three rows back from the front. We quietly crept as the room went dark and ultraviolet lights lit up the stage. I suddenly felt extremely dizzy as the flashing lights and the loud music felt a lot more intense with the alcohol rushing through my blood stream.

The first dance started with two dancers I recognised from the painful auditions a week ago. They looked absolutely amazing, as always and I watched as they carefully grinded the poles in a sexy yet tasteful way. And they weren't even naked or anything – just dancing skilfully. It was actually…enjoyable.

Then three other dancers joined them. The first was pale with extraordinary fiery red curly hair. She took another one of the back poles and accompanied the others. The next two came out together. One was exceptionally tall with dark-ish skin and long brown glossy hair. The other was a honey blonde, short and curvy and a brilliant smile. They joined the other two back poles and all five of the dancers grinded to a steady rhythm. It was fascinating.

Men were whistling and shouting; the atmosphere was very exciting and passionate. As soon as the girls began to remove part of their clothing, it got even more thrilling. There was a guy about three rows in front who was whistling a little overenthusiastically, and his girlfriend was obviously not happy about it. Esme and I laughed as we watched. If we were sober, perhaps I would have been a little bit more judgemental. But as even more complementary champagne was being handed around, my conscience seemed to be disappearing and I just went with it all. It was like a dream.

After the first couple of songs, we waited for another dancer to come to the centre pole, but it never happened. After a while, I did notice that the show looked sort of…incomplete. I wasn't an expert on pole dancing – but even I could see that it was a little random just having an empty pole in the middle of the stage. Edward obviously hadn't found another dancer. I was secretly relieved.

As the last dance to "Birthday Sex" by Jeremiah finally ended, the lights came back on and the girls went backstage. Who knew that strip shows had intervals?

"Wanna drink?" Esme asked me.

"Sure, but the tequila and all that champagne hasn't really worn off yet," I retorted as I stood up and nearly fell over with what felt like vertigo. I was definitely at a rather high level of drunkenness.

"Bella you are such a lightweight," Esme laughed, but then tripped over a seat on her way to the bar. She turned around on the floor and looked at me – we both cried out in laughter. She was hilarious, sometimes.

"Go and get a drink then – maybe a light one since it obviously hasn't even worn off on you yet, Es!" I laughed. "I'll wait here."

I sat down at a seat at the end of the row and waited for my friend to come back out with the drinks. I watched the stage and thought of Edward and the missing girl. I remembered him saying about the reviewer coming from London to see the show and that he would be screwed if he couldn't find another dancer. I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach as I thought if I had just danced for one show – it may have saved his ass. But I wasn't going to waste my dignity for someone like Edward – I knew the one thing that was on his mind. Even though sometimes the same thing happened to cross mine.

I looked up to the booth to see if I could catch a glimpse of him again. Sure enough I did, but this time another man had joined him. He was tall, blonde and very handsome. But he seemed to be angry at Edward and Edward seemed to be hanging his head in shame. That must be Carlisle Masen, I thought. I wanted to go over and hug Edward and tell him I was sorry, but I was so drunk I didn't want to risk getting up and falling over just like Esme had done.

After Carlisle had left Edward, he gazed down and saw me staring at him. We continued to stare at each other for a while and finally, Edward forced out a smile. I smiled back and gave him a little wave. He waved back at me and then took a swig of what seemed like whisky. He pointed to the bottle and seemed to be asking if I wanted to share. I shook my head and laughed thinking about the damage that whisky would do to me, but I decided to walk up to his booth anyway. Under the influence of all this tequila and champagne, I had lost a lot of inhibition and saw no harm in visiting him. After all, he looked so damn good and I just wanted to hear his voice.

Suddenly I was interrupted by Esme with our drinks. "Malibu and coke, baby!" she shouted.

"Thanks," I exclaimed, trying to take my drink off Esme, but she held onto it. "What took you so long?"

I tugged at the drink, but she still wouldn't let go. "Esme, give me my drink," I laughed.

But she continued to hold onto it. I stopped tugging at the drink in her hand and then looked at her face. I stopped laughing when I realized she had frozen and the look on her face had shock written all over it. What could possibly cause her to look like that? "Esme?" I shook my head in confusion and turned around to follow her gaze.

Regrettably, the scene was more shocking than Esme's face read. In fact, it was fucking horrifying. There was the lout from the last dance that was whistling…canoodling with his "girlfriend".

But it wasn't his girlfriend. I was his girlfriend.

It was Mike.

For a moment, I was still and silent. I wasn't saying anything, but I could feel tears uncontrollably streaming down my face as I couldn't look away from what was happening right in front of my eyes. They weren't just kissing – they were properly making out. Their hands were all over each other as if they couldn't get enough; as if they knew the ins and outs of each others' bodies. I wanted to vomit. It was as if I had just been punched in the stomach and my guts were about to fall out of my butt. How could he?

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Esme whispered.

I ignored her and continued to look at the happy couple. He had his hands on her breasts now and she was laughing. Then, another blow went to my stomach as I recognised the slut that he was with: Tanya – the woman I had been happy to let Mike do "business" with for over a year. My hands clenched into fists as I watched my fiancé and the one person I loathed more than Edward Cullen kissing like they were in love. My body was so tense I wasn't sure if I could move. The only evidence of my mobility was in the significant shudder as I realised what their real business was. Another punch hit me at full throttle while I tried not to pass out.

After a moment or two, I regained what was left of my composure.

"Keep hold of my drink, Esme," I spat as I clenched my fists even harder.

"Okay," she whispered, not knowing quite what to say for once.

I walked over to the happy couple and stood just next to them. They continued to laugh and my heart continued to break. It took everything in me not to just scream out. But instead, I coughed to let them know I was there. Oh God, what was I doing?

Mike turned around, screamed and fell back into his seat. "Bella!" He nervously jittered. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same, actually" I bluntly stated.

"I got given tickets by Edward Cullen himself," Mike said, feeling suddenly defensive.

"So did I," I whispered and then looked up at the booth to find that Edward was gone. I was sidetracked momentarily – only to distract me from the cruel reality that I was being presented with. I couldn't even feel my tears now as they continued to flow perpetually.

Mike appeared uneven and blameworthy. "Look Bella, I am so sorry… I just…"

"You just what? Cheated on me? You are a fucking asshole!" I exploded.

"I'm so sorry, baby, I didn't know how it happened. And fuck, I was going to end it, I promise! I just couldn't… I don't know, it was a mistake, it's just…"

Mike!" the bitch – Tanya – wailed.

"No!" I screamed. The anger was all spilling out now; I should have worried about coming across as coherent, but I didn't care. "The mistake is completely mine – for ever agreeing to marry a dick like you!"

"No, no, Bella!" Mike was breathless now. "You didn't make a mistake," Mike whispered. "I just… you're…well, I just can't say it!"

I couldn't take it anymore: Mike's lying, Tanya's smug face, and all the champagne that was hitting me hard. It all began to overflow like lava.

"You are a fucking little shit, Mike Newton! People have told me that you were trouble – I even defied my parents for you! We don't speak anymore… because of you! I thought it was for love…but how could I love someone who would do this?" I looked around at the people that were starting to observe our vivid conversation, but I didn't care. Mike deserved to be publically humiliated – after all, what he had done was humiliation to the extreme. "What you have done is absolutely unthinkable!" My breathing was very erratic. "You… are… a BASTARD!"

Mike looked as if he was about to cry. "I do love you Bella, you know I do. It's just…ah, fuck it, I just had to do this."

I didn't care about his stupid fluffy animal-like face or the tears that were spilling out of it. "What the fuck are you talking about? How can you 'have' to do something as callous as cheating on me with fucking Tanya Denali, slut of the town?"

"Excuse me, bitch," Tanya snapped back. I had never been involved in a catfight before – I was far too nice – but I wasn't being the nice girl anymore. My heart couldn't take anymore blows. I had to blow them back.

"I think you're the bitch here, honey, taking my fiancé right in front of me!" I drunkenly slurred. Thankfully Mike was sitting in between us or otherwise in my drunken state I certainly would have throttled her. The fucking bitch.

"I had to do it because…sometimes, I think you're not right for me, Bella," Mike said, his eyes all sad and puppy-dog like. I wanted to fucking shoot that little puppy.

"How am I not right for you?" I sighed deeply. "Jesus, Mike! You don't have a job, all you do is lounge around, drink… and sleep around with trash like Tanya!"

As I shouted, the lights turned off and the stage was lit up again. Shit, I show was about to start, but I wasn't finished yet.

"So go on, tell me, dear Mike, how am I not right for you? I'm dying to know." Everyone was listening in the club now, but I didn't care. I was too fucking mad. I could have been stark naked with a clowns nose, bunny ears and gigantic shoes for all cared.

Mike looked embarrassed as he regarded all of the scowling faces around us. He looked shifty as if looking for an answer, but it seemed as if the truth was the only way out of this one. "Well, I was bored, okay? Bored of us, bored of what we do…"

My mouth was hanging open. Another punch. "Boring? You think I'm boring?

"Not here, Bella," Mike pleaded, looking around again. "Please. We can't talk about it here. Let's go home?"

"Tell me," I demanded. "I want to know."

He paused and his voice sounded incredibly high pitched. I was making him shit his pants. "Well, you hardly ever go out with me. You just work or sleep all the time and I don't know… when I am here, you don't want to do what I want to do, or you're not there. I couldn't live like that anymore, alright?

"So I'm your fucking dog?"

"No, it's not like that Bella it's just – Tanya does all the things that I want to do. We go out, we have fun – we're young, you know. And me and you… we're acting like we're an old married couple – I can't live like that, I just can't."

I was fuming and my chest was pumping heavily. All the rage was consuming me and I thought I was about to detonate. I looked at Mike and he winced as if he thought I was about to hit him hard. But no, I was going to do something a lot more painful than that. After all I had done for him, how hard I had worked so I could support him, how much I thought I loved him – it was all a waste of time. Everything meant nothing. All my rage abolished any love I ever had for him. Now I was just angry, drunk and I wanted revenge.

The music started to play and it was the recognisable "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. The hot intro was playing my mood and I continued to stare into Mike's scared eyes maliciously. I smiled at him wickedly and he flinched. He was going to get it, alright.

"You think I'm boring, Mike?"

Mike didn't answer. I looked up at the booth that Edward had occupied and saw that he had returned. He nodded at me as if he understood my intentions and looked at the centre pole. I looked at it too, and then turned back to Mike, grinning so wickedly now. This was it.

"I'll show you boring, baby."

Author's Note:

Hmm... I wonder what Bella is going to do up on that stage? First prize for the best guesses.

Let's share some love in the form of a review or mingle on twitter - I'm on there under edieswan.

ES X