Breaking Bedrock (Book Two) (9 page)

After discussing the situation with William’s security
team and after they’d called in for back up, Addie attempted to keep everything
as normal as possible for the boys, and so she did as they’d discussed and took
them by the new place to check it out.
Who was she kidding, though? Nothing
about any of this was normal.

She shouldn’t have been surprised though that once William caught
word of the incident he’d take it upon himself just to show up at her new place,
which had no doubt caused a huge fight between the two of them.
What was he
thinking just showing up like that as though he were fucking Superman?
Addie wondered as she pulled him out into the garage. “What in the hell are you
doing here, William? Not only are we not supposed to be seen together but my
children are here.”

William threw up his hands. “What do you mean what am I doing
here? Is this all some sort of joke to you, Addison? It’s past time for a
meeting. You, me, and the security team. We need to get a few things straight.
First of all, I need to know what you were thinking this afternoon, not calling
Carl and not letting the guys know what was going on. They were
right
there, and you called the
police
? This is getting serious, and one thing
is blatantly clear. No matter what did or didn’t happen this afternoon, no one
was well prepared.”

Addie leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “Does it look
like I’m joking? I . . . I appreciate what it is you’re trying to do here, but
now
is not the time.”

William stepped forward and took Addison in his arms. “Look. I’m
trying here. And I apologize for not calling first, but I needed to make sure
you were okay, that you’re safe.”

Addie melted into him. “I know. But you can’t do this, William. I
have children to think about. There’s already so much going on. I really
don’t
need you adding to it.”

William let go and stepped back. “What in the hell is that
supposed to mean? You know, Addison, I don’t fucking get you. You say you want
to try, but you won’t let me in. So long as EVERYTHING is on your terms, it’s
all fine. I’m just not sure; well . . . I’m not sure I’m compatible with that.
You need to make a decision. We’re either going to give this a shot or we’re
not. You’re either going to let me in or you’re not, because, quite frankly,
I’m about fucking done.” William fumed.

“You need to go, William.”

William pushed the garage door button and watched as the door
slowly rose. Addie watched him walk towards the waiting SUV. He nodded
something to an oversized man as he the man opened the door for him. William
turned back towards Addie and saluted her, his face impassive as he quickly
ducked in. And just as quickly as William Hartman had come, he was gone.

“What do you mean you’re pregnant? I thought you were
on the pill?” Patrick grilled.

Michele glared at him. “I was.”

Patrick squeezed at his temples. “Well, what are we going to do
about it?”

“So we’re a ‘
we’
now, huh?”

Patrick walked to Michele and put his arms around her. “Come on.
Don’t be like that. We have always been a ‘
we
.’ You know we make a great
team.”

Michele glanced up at him. “Don’t patronize me, Patrick.”

This was pretty much the way the conversation went the rest of
the evening: back and forth exchanges on how they’d gotten into this mess with
no real clear-cut answers. Well, Patrick knew how they’d gotten themselves
here; he just hadn’t a clue how to get himself out of it. What he did know was
that right now wasn’t the time to ask Michele to get an abortion. She was in no
mood for it. Maybe it was the hormones, but she sure did seem on edge. He
hadn’t remembered Addie being this way.

They spent much of the rest of the weekend either in bed or
working. Both of them seemed determined to avoid the topic altogether,
tiptoeing around it, careful not to set the other one off.

On their last day at the cabin, after making love, Patrick
carefully broached the subject. “I think we need to talk about this, Michele.
How far along would you say you are?”

Michele smiled and rolled over, placing her hand on his chest. “I
know exactly how far I am.”

“All right, well, what are you thinking?’ Patrick asked softly.

“I’m thinking I’m going to have a baby.”

“You can’t be serious. You know we’ll both lose our jobs over
this, don’t you?”

“I’m dead serious, Patrick. I never wanted kids, but, now, I
don’t know. It’s as though I’ve been given this opportunity, an opportunity I
didn’t even know I wanted, and, well, I sort of feel like it’s my last shot at
it. I’m not exactly young anymore. And neither are you, for that matter.”

Patrick sat up and adjusted the covers. “But I don’t want any more
children, Michele. Don’t I get a say in any of this?”

Michele stood up quickly and sank back down. “Whoa. I’m dizzy.
You . . . You don’t have to take part in any of this. I’m fine to do it on my
own. Of course, I’d hoped it wouldn’t be that way, but if it is, then so be
it.”

“What about my job, Michele? We’re both going to be out of a job
after all this gets out.”

Michele turned and looked Patrick straight in the eye. “I guess
that depends, you know? If you want to raise this child together, then I have
an idea about how to make it work out for the both of us. But if not, then I
guess you’re on your own.”

Addie thought about how William’s arms had felt around
her. She remembered how he’d felt inside her.
God, she shouldn’t have let
him go.
She could still feel his kiss on her skin, the way it felt when he
touched her. She could still taste him. There was nothing else like it. Being
with him was like a drug, a high that she’d never achieve any other way. He was
her dealer, and she was his addict.
She should have said something, anything,
to make him see things her way, to make him stay.

But Addie had known better. The thing about men as powerful as
William is that you had to set boundaries with them. Without boundaries and
discipline, they were nothing. They’d walk all over you; this much she’d
learned from her time as a Domme. You had to know when to take it and when to
draw the line. As a Domme, you had to gauge what it was they needed: how much
was too much, how little was too little. With Patrick, she’d lost herself.
Patrick wanted to believe that he was the dominant type, but in reality, he
wasn’t. Addie’s biggest mistake was going along with it for so long. She should
have put her foot down sooner, disagreed, and made him fight. But she didn’t.
Instead, Addison hated who she’d become in their marriage. She became desperate
for her husband to see her, to love her, to really
know
who she was. She
tried ten thousand ways to the sun and back to get him to see her, to get what
it was she needed. The more she tried, the less important it seemed she became
to him. After a while, she’d become nothing more than an annoying fly buzzing
in his ear. She was the thing in the room he knew was there but passed without
a second glance. The more she tried to become the perfect wife, the perfect
mother, the more invisible she became. And the more she tried to get him to see
her, the less he saw. In many ways, her marriage reminded her of her childhood,
and perhaps there was some comfort in the familiarity.

Part of it was the stress of caring for infants and young
children; it became easier not to press, not to push him. There was less energy
to go around, and she’d lost the drive to commandeer their relationship in the
way she might’ve once. So she allowed Patrick to make all of the decisions
about his life, doing as he pleased, which in many ways was very separate from
their lives at home. While she focused on their home and raising their children
and grew more unsatisfied and resentful day-by-day, things for him hadn’t
really changed all that much. If anything, he’d grown happier in life while
Addie grew more and more discontent. The problem was she wanted to be happy and
felt incredibly guilty for not enjoying the life that she herself had chosen.
After all, all she’d wanted growing up was a normal, loving family, so why, now
that she had it, couldn’t she be happy?

It took her a long time for her to find the answers she was so
desperately seeking, that simply being together didn’t necessarily equal
happiness. It wasn’t until shortly after William Hartman came into her life
that it all started making sense. Maybe a part of it had to do with going back
to work and hitting her stride again. Maybe a part of it was becoming the
confident, assertive Domme that she needed to be to make the changes she knew
deep down needed to be made. But even still, Addison knew that most of it was
because of how William had fallen for her. It was in the way he looked at her.
It was in his touch. It was the way he made her feel when they were together.
It was how he drove her crazy. But mostly, it was how he saw in her everything
that she should have seen in herself. He called her out on her bullshit. He
fought with her and for her. He made her want to be better.

Addie watched the boys running around their mostly empty new
home, laughing and content, and she realized in that moment that even though
life was far from perfect—it was in fact a complete and utter mess—she knew,
despite it all, this was exactly where she needed to be.

William sat as his mahogany desk, the same desk he’d
once taken Addison on.
God, she had looked so good there.
He could still
smell her on him, could still taste her on his lips. And damn him if he didn’t
wish she were here now so that he could bend her over the edge of that desk,
pin her down, spread her legs while showing her just how much she frustrated
him and yet how much she needed him all at the same time. He despised himself
for feeling this way. William had had it with her trying to call the shots.
Topping
from the bottom, they called it.
Part of the problem was that he and Addie
were so much alike: stubborn and irreverent.