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"Well..." Pete mocked. I was shocked. He'd been acting way too harshly.

"The truth is..."

Pete, Patrick, and I stared at him. He opened his mouth and moved his lips, like he couldn't make a noise at all. Patrick smacked him on the back, not hard, but hard enough to make things come out of his mouth.

William swallowed and said in a jumble of words, "ThisguywhoknowsIhadunderagesexwithaminormademeorhewasgoingtoturnmeintothepoliceasarapist."

Silence. Then Pete spoke.

"What the hell, man?"

Patrick. "Can you say that again?"

Me. "Oh, my, God."

But I hadn't been adding exclamations to Will's...'issue.' I had been saying that at the large number of men streaming through the front door. I peeked my head out and gasped.

"Uh, Will, your bouncer's kind of unconscious."

Will, looking greatful for the distraction, ran towards the entrance as Pete and Patrick stared at me.

"What the hell was that all about?" Patrick wanted to know.

"Oh, his bouncer was knocked out."

"No, not that," Pete interrupted. "Forget that. Did Will say that he had underage sex with a minor and the guy who knows about it was going to turn him in if he didn't have a strip night?"

Patrick and I looked at each other grimly and nodded.

I couldn't believe it. I knew there had to be some issue behind Will's passion for me and Pete being "more than friends," but I never knew it had cut that deep for him, was that serious.

William returned to an awkward silence and he cleared his throat. "He's okay. I just had to dump a pitcher of Budweiser on him and he woke up."

I rolled my eyes. He was sugarcoating it.

"Who is this guy, Will?" Pete asked slowly, like he didn't want to be drenched in alcohol himself.

"I can't tell you," he said in a faint whisper. "And you guys can't tell anybody. Got it?"

"Not even Andy or Joe?" Patrick asked. He hated anyone to be left out. Good guy.

"No. Not even them. And here they come, so shut up." Will speedwalked away, ignoring my pleads of changing back into normal clothes to get these morons away.

Andy and Joe approached and Joe slapped Patrick on the back. "Dude! Come on, you're missing all the fun!" he said, guesturing to a girl who almost had her top completely off.

Patrick looked at me and shrugged, body-language saying "can I please leave?" I nodded and he followed Joe across the place.

I looked at Andy. "Come on, you're gonna tell Pete how rad the urinals are here, and steal him away too so I can defend myself from all these sex-crazed morons."

He laughed. "Not a chance. I've actually got to go," he said, holding up his SK3. "Family emergency. Nothing extremely bad, but I've got to run."

"Your family lives in Miami?"

"They're vacationing too," Andy said with a shrug. He tossed me and Pete high fives and strolled out the back way, whistling some song to himself.

I looked at Pete.

He looked at me.

"If I give you a dollar, will you take your top off?" he asked with a sly grin.

I made no emotion and continued staring down Will, who was coming back. "Shh," I said to him and he followed my gaze, swallowing.

William sighed. "Hang on," he said to the brunette on his heels, and she walked away to be tackled by a middle aged baldie.

"Will, save me," I pleaded, ducking away from a blond who had her skirt off and was running around in a G-string.

"I can't," he said sadly, and he looked as though he wanted to. "All I can say is have Pete hang out with you--no dollar bills for you, buddy--" to which Pete replied with a sigh "--for the rest of the night and I'll relieve him around eleven."

"It's ten thirty, Will," I said.

"Oh. How much time flies when a bra goes by," he rhymed, side-stepping a couple who were falling to the floor in a half naked embrace.

I rolled my eyes. "Just let Pete go, I'll be okay by myself."

Pete looked almost sorry to leave, but ran out the door after thanking me and Will and rushing out to his car.

Which left me in a club full of half-drunk, half-clothed, sex-crazed morons, working at a bar with plenty of alcohol.

Let me just sleep peacefully tonight.