The response to this fic still astounds me. Thank you all so much!

About the last chapter: I thought it would be nice to add Charlie's point of view of the situation, how he is coping with everything. I felt it was important for the rest of the story.

Here's chapter 5, I hope you will enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Edward Anthony Cullen

I officially hate Emmett McCarty. I swear this is the last time he does this to me. Even Jasper was into it. If they weren't my best friends, I would kill them.

If it had been in a simple club, I wouldn't have said anything; I would just get through the night and try to enjoy it. But a strip club? Come on. Emmett is the one that enjoys that kind of thing, not me.

Why didn't he go for his birthday?

I think I should have a say as to what we do for my birthday. And to top it all off, Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley are coming with us.

Emmett and his big mouth.

I'm just going to have to survive through the night.

I should get drunk. That way, I won't remember tomorrow. Less painful.

I mean come on, who in their right mind celebrates a birthday in a strip club? I must be insane, because even my sister let Jasper go. And god knows she had something planned for our birthday.

Alice is my twin sister, so we share the same birthday. And she's my best friend Jasper's girlfriend, so it was a big deal that she allowed Jasper to go out not only to a strip club, but on her birthday as well!

Alice and I shared genes, but that was pretty much the only thing we share, really. I'm over 6 foot tall, and she's barely 5 foot on a good day. My hair is this weird bronze color that I got from my mom; hers is almost black. I really have no idea where that comes from since our father is blond. Where I'm mostly calm and keep to myself, she's this perky, exuberant and a bit overexcited pixie thing. We couldn't be more opposites. As much as I love her, she can be really annoying sometimes… like right now, because she allowed Jasper to go to a strip club.

Don't get me wrong, she's not a total control freak, but Jasper would do just about anything for her, and if it meant not going to a strip club, he would do it. I mean, I was pretty sure she'd say no, fraternal support or something like that, but no! She had to agree! Is the universe against me or what?

"Hey bro, stop brooding back there! It's gonna be fun, you'll see!" Emmett exclaimed from the front seat of his jeep, in which we were currently driving towards the club.

"Why didn't you go for your own birthday, jackass?" I replied.

"Oh, I did go, you just weren't in Seattle yet," he replied with a cheeky grin.

I groaned.

"Come on, man! Every man has to go to a strip club at least once in his life beside his bachelor's party! Tonight is your night, Eddie! I'll make sure of it! I heard they had the hottest girls on all of the west coast there, that's got to be something!" Emmett's enthusiasm had almost rubbed off on me until he went and called me Eddie.

"How many times did I tell you to not call me Eddie?" I said, annoyed.

"Thousands of times already, but I like to call you Eddie, Eddie." He flashed me a big ass smile in the rear view mirror and flexed his arms, as if to remind me that no attempt I made against him would be successful so why even bother. I moved on to Jasper, I stood a better chance against him anyway. "And you Jasper, how did you manage to get Alice to agree to this? On her birthday as well for crying out loud. Didn't she want to be with you on her birthday?"

Jasper's sweet southern charm I had seen him pour on for the ladies came out, "I didn't do anything, she agreed right away." He said with a slight shrug.

Yeah, right. I remained silent for the rest of the ride. I knew nothing would make them change their mind. When we got to the club, we saw that Newton and Crowley were already there, waiting in line. They waved us over when they saw us, soon it was our turn to go in.

What I saw inside wasn't what I was expecting at all. What was I expecting? I don't know…but definitely not something so richly decorated. My mood lifted up a little. At least it wasn't some seedy hole in the wall. Maybe I would enjoy tonight, after all…

Emmett and Jasper led us to a table. Front and center. This is getting ridiculous. I mean, I did just resign myself that I would be celebrating my birthday in a strip club. But front and center of the stage? They are so going to pay for this. And they will owe me big time if they pay even a dime to get me a dance. I sat down with them, the furthest away from the stage as possible. But of course, Emmett noticed.

"Hey man, what are you doing sitting there?" He began to muscle me out of my chair and towards the seat of honor, again right down front and center of the stage.

"Um…sitting?" I said, allowing my body to go limp. I knew trying to resist him was useless so I decided to just go limp and make it as hard as possible for him to manoeuvre me around.

"You're so funny Edward. Now get your ass on that chair," he said, pointing to the chair closest to the stage.

And the chair just wasn't close, it was pretty much leaning against the stage. Yup, the table was that close. So I did as he said and shut up. A man came out from behind the heavy curtains at the back of the stage with a microphone.

"Good evening gentlemen," he greeted. "I'm Laurent and I will be your host this evening. Welcome to Twilight. For those of you that it is the first time, please be warned. You might get addicted."

The crowd cheered, Emmett and Jasper included.

Am I the only one not enjoying this?

"Let me introduce you to our first dancer tonight, Jessica."

And the show went on like that for a while. There was Jessica, Irina, Tanya…

Tanya with her nurse outfit. I mean…a nurse? Are there still men having that fantasy? Hello originality?

The drinks kept on coming as well, thanks to Jasper, but mostly Emmett. By the end of Tanya's routine, I was more than a bit tipsy. Although, it did help to enjoy the night.

The host… what's his name again? Lawrence or something? Anyway… he came out on the stage again.

"Well, well, gentlemen, everyone seems to have a good time tonight."

The crowd sheered. Me included.

"Good! It's not over. We have kept our two most adored dancers for last. This fine establishment has the reputation to have the most sexy and gorgeous girls on the west coast. Let me tell you, I think it's mostly because of the next two. You will see Lily, but first… here is our most popular, Marie."

Marie. I snorted. What the hell? Another big ass, big boobs, blond haired bimbo? Please. Let me tell you, my jaw literally dropped when this petite brunette appeared from behind the curtain dancing to Madonna's Like a Virgin, wearing what looked like some kind of school uniform… so she was going with the school girl. A bit cliché… but how sexy she looked!

She started her routine with the pole on stage, spinning around it and such, discarding her top first. White underwear? Something so simple had had never been more sexy than at that moment. She got down on her knees, playing with her tie, looking around at the crowd. When she spotted me (hey, I'm front and center, kind of hard to miss), her eyes seemed to widen in surprise, but I quickly forgot about it because she was making her way towards me. On all four. Hot damn!

When she got to me, she made me turn around on my chair so my back was leaning against the stage, then made my head rest on the planks. Then she kissed me. A kiss full of sensuality, but I also noticed some sweetness, as if she was trying to say she's sorry for being rough. Let me tell you, I quickly forgave her. Some bills were slipped in my hand, so while we were still kissing, I slipped them in the front of her bra. A second later, she was gone. I remained there a few more seconds, dazed. Damn, that was one hell of a kiss. I didn't even notice when her part was over, nor did I really pay attention to the next girl. Emmett appeared to be drooling all over the table, commenting on her mob girl dress. All I could think about was Marie, and how she surely knew how to kiss a man into oblivion.

I came out of my daze a bit later, the girls standing on stage in different outfits… if you could call them that. They barely covered anything.

Turns out it was an auction of some sort. Great. I had a feeling my friends would try to get me a private dance. And how right was I. At first, I thought the idea hadn't crossed their mind since they didn't bid on Jessica, Irina, or Tanya. Especially when Emmett bid on the blond supermodel and won. But I didn't realize there was still Marie left. By the enthusiasm of the crowd, I quickly understood she was the favourite. Surely they wouldn't bid on her? It's basically a lost cause! And again, I was wrong, because Jasper just won. I need another drink…

Here we go! Thoughts? :o)