It Started Out With Coffee At Starbucks, chapter 25
As the next year and a half passed, the new world tour began and everyone enjoyed more birthdays. Mike, Billie, and Tre all turned 33 and then 34, Adrienne turned 34 and then 35, Claudia turned 30 and then 31, Rachel turned 28 and then 29, Leilah and Mikey turned 3 and then 4, Sam turned 2 and then 3, Abby turned 8 and then 9, Estelle turned 12 and then 13. Not to mention, Rachel and Mike's 3 anniversary came to pass.
On December 10th., 2009, Mike, Billie, and Tre embarked on another part of tour. One that would take them to play in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan and keep them away for Christmas.
Due to the touring schedule as well as her own, Rachel had decided to stay home for most of the entire tour, to take care of the kids and to work with companies that had her under contract.
Not to mention, that ever since the incident with Adam, her and Mike began to grow distant from each other, fighting over the smallest things and the fights would lead Mike to leave for the night and seek the one person he could talk to and truly be able to sort everything out with. Brittney.
Since Isabella had died, Brittany and Robbie had divorced, and that open opportunity gave Mike the chance to pleasure one of the loves of his life.
It had been an entire year that the affair had been going on and so far, Rachel was still in the dark about it.
On December 24th., it was Christmas Eve. With Adrienne, Joey, Jakob, Jessica, Claudia, Ramona, Frankito and Brianne on tour, Billie and Tre could spend Christmas with their families. But for Mike and Rachel, on their 4th wedding anniversary, all they had was a phone call that was frequently broken up due to Leilah, Mikey, Sam, Estelle, or Abby all wanting to talk to their father, or step-father in Abby's case.
As the last week of December passed, the guys, along with Adrienne, Claudia and the children returned to the States for a month long break before the last leg of tour would kick off.
The day they arrived home, it was January 3rd., and after being only home for an hour Mike found it necessary to go for a 'drive', although he was truly going to see Brittney.
After promising Rachel he'd be home by 5pm, he left their house and drove the half an hour to Brittany's studio apartment.
When he arrived home that night at 5:30, Mike made his way upstairs to have a shower before returning down, into the kitchen, to have dinner with Rachel and their children.
That evening, once the two had successfully gotten Leilah, Mikey, and Sam to bed, Rachel and Mike sat down in their living room together and began to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy.
During a commercial, Rachel turned her head towards Mike and noticed he was playing with his wedding ring.
She sighed and said "Mike, can we talk? And I mean just talk, no fighting over bullshit. No arguing. Just calm, polite talking."
"Yeah, sure. What's on your mind doll?"
"Us. I mean, the fighting we do. All the time. I just want to stop it. And I want to be happy with you."
Mike snapped his head towards Rachel and said "So what? You aren't happy now?"
Rachel pushed away a little from Mike's side and said "I never said I wasn't happy it's just...whenever we fight...I just think I'm not the perfect woman for you. Like I should just let you go and be with someone great who you deserve. I love being with you, but that thing two years ago, it's tearing us apart. I want to grow old with you. Be by your side until we die, through the good and bad times, the rough and easy times. Mike, your my everything and I want us to be happily married, be great parents for our children and maybe even have another baby."
Mike looked down and an immeadiate thought came to his mind. He truly loved Rachel, but he wanted to be with Brittany so badly, he wanted to be near her, to hold her close, to breath in the sweet smell of her perfume.
Mike looked back at Rachel and said "I want to be happy too, I love being with you and you are perfect for me. But right now, I'm not happy and I don't want another baby with you."
Rachel's eyes began to water as Mike stood up, walked into the hallway, picked up his car keys, walked out of their house and pulled his car out of the driveway, driving off into the night.
The next morning, when Rachel woke up at 6, in order to get everyone ready for school and preschool, she noticed Mike's side of the bed was completely untouched, meaning he had either not spent the night at home or had not spent it in their room. And the first guess was the right one.
As Rachel went about her morning, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and exercising, Mike still never came home.
That afternoon, when Estelle and Abby arrived home from school, Abby began working on her homework, but Estelle ventured upstairs to her father's and Rachel's room in search of Rachel.
When Estelle found her stepmother, she was sitting on her's and Mike's bed, holding a photo from their wedding and crying.
Estelle pulled Rachel into a hug and said "Rachel what's wrong?"
Rachel sniffed and said "Me and your dad aren't working out right now. And he left last night and hasn't been back since. I don't know where he is and neither do Billie or Tre."
"Maybe he went to a hotel..."
"No..."
Rachel sniffed and said "I know exactly where he is."
Rachel got up, fixed her make up and said "Stella, I don't know when I'll be back so can you call Adie and ask her to pick up your brothers and sister."
"Yeah sure."
"And then tell her to call me."
"Okay."
Rachel quickly left and drove for the next half an hour and finally arrived in front of Brittney's apartment building, that she had only been at once while Isabella was still alive, but luckily she remember exactly where to go.
As Rachel climbed the stairs to the second floor, she felt the anger building up in her.
When Rachel reached the door of apartment 2B, she pounded her fist on the door and then waited for either Brittney, or Mike, to answer.
As Rachel raised her hand to knock again, she heard the door unlocked and then it opened to reveal Mike, wearing simply just his boxers.
"Rachel...I can explain."
Rachel slapped Mike across the face and said "I don't want to hear it Mike. We're over. No wonder you weren't happy with me, you're sleeping with your whore again. Now, where is she?"
Rachel pushed Mike out of her way and walked into the apartment and found Brittney getting a bottle of water out of the fridge in the kitchen.
Rachel pointed straight at her and said "You! Mike is my husband and you decided to sleep with him again. How dare you. You had no fucking right to ruin my family."
Rachel walked across the room and pushed Brittney then said "What gave you the right?"
Brittney laughed then said "I didn't need the right...Mike came to me. I didn't need to go to him this time around."
Rachel raised her hand to slap Brittney but before she could, Mike grabbed her wrist, forcefully turned her around then said "You're leaving right now. I'm taking you home."
"I don't want to go home with you."
"Well it's my house you live in. The car you drive is the one I bought. And every kid in that house is mine except for Abby. So, unless you want a big divorce and custody battle on your hands, you are going to just let me and Brittney mind our business, and you are not going to care about it. You're going to stay with me and act happy wherever we go. Like none of this is going on."
Rachel started to cry and said "How am I gonna play that while your sneaking around with your whore? Someone will find out. Billie and Tre will for sure."
"Billie already knows. He's been lying for me since this began."
"I hate you."
"I'm sure you do."
Mike let go of Rachel's arm and said "I'm going to go get dressed then we're leaving. Lay one finger on Brittney and you'll have a serious problem on your hands."
Rachel crossed her arms and said "Hurry your ass up then."
When Mike left the room, Rachel walked over to the apartment door with Brittney following her.
As the two walked towards the door, Rachel noticed a picture of Mike and Brittney sitting on a shelf. She stopped in front of it, picked it up, turned to Brittney and said "When was this taken?"
"Christmas Eve in Sydney."
Rachel put the picture down and whispered "Even on my anniversary..."
Just then, Mike came out of the bedroom, grabbed his car keys and said "Alright Rach, let's go. I'll talk to you soon Britt."
Mike kissed Brittney's cheek and then followed Rachel out of the apartment.
When they arrived home, Mike drove Estelle to Anastasia's, because she was staying there for the weekend, and Rachel took Adrienne into the kitchen and told her everything.
Once Rachel was finished her story, Adrienne said "Well you can't leave him...so, what are you gonna do?"
"Let him screw Brittney. What else can I do?"
"How would you be able to stand that? I mean knowing he's with her. I wouldn't be able to if this happened to me and Billie."
"I'm just gonna keep myself busy with the kids and work. Surely, they'll keep my mind off of it. I just don't understand why he would want to stay together and act happy...he could just as easily divorce me, get custody of Leilah and Mikey and Sam, and have a happy life with Brittney."
"Maybe that's just not what he wants...like maybe he wants to be with you and Brittney both."
"Well I don't want that."
Sam came running into the kitchen and said "Mommy...Mikey won't let me play wif da trucks."
"Aww...baby."
Rachel picked Sam up, propped him against her hip, said "We'll talk about this when there are no kids or Mike around" to Adrienne, and brought Sam into the toy room where she dealt with the truck situation.
On December 10th., 2009, Mike, Billie, and Tre embarked on another part of tour. One that would take them to play in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan and keep them away for Christmas.
Due to the touring schedule as well as her own, Rachel had decided to stay home for most of the entire tour, to take care of the kids and to work with companies that had her under contract.
Not to mention, that ever since the incident with Adam, her and Mike began to grow distant from each other, fighting over the smallest things and the fights would lead Mike to leave for the night and seek the one person he could talk to and truly be able to sort everything out with. Brittney.
Since Isabella had died, Brittany and Robbie had divorced, and that open opportunity gave Mike the chance to pleasure one of the loves of his life.
It had been an entire year that the affair had been going on and so far, Rachel was still in the dark about it.
On December 24th., it was Christmas Eve. With Adrienne, Joey, Jakob, Jessica, Claudia, Ramona, Frankito and Brianne on tour, Billie and Tre could spend Christmas with their families. But for Mike and Rachel, on their 4th wedding anniversary, all they had was a phone call that was frequently broken up due to Leilah, Mikey, Sam, Estelle, or Abby all wanting to talk to their father, or step-father in Abby's case.
As the last week of December passed, the guys, along with Adrienne, Claudia and the children returned to the States for a month long break before the last leg of tour would kick off.
The day they arrived home, it was January 3rd., and after being only home for an hour Mike found it necessary to go for a 'drive', although he was truly going to see Brittney.
After promising Rachel he'd be home by 5pm, he left their house and drove the half an hour to Brittany's studio apartment.
When he arrived home that night at 5:30, Mike made his way upstairs to have a shower before returning down, into the kitchen, to have dinner with Rachel and their children.
That evening, once the two had successfully gotten Leilah, Mikey, and Sam to bed, Rachel and Mike sat down in their living room together and began to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy.
During a commercial, Rachel turned her head towards Mike and noticed he was playing with his wedding ring.
She sighed and said "Mike, can we talk? And I mean just talk, no fighting over bullshit. No arguing. Just calm, polite talking."
"Yeah, sure. What's on your mind doll?"
"Us. I mean, the fighting we do. All the time. I just want to stop it. And I want to be happy with you."
Mike snapped his head towards Rachel and said "So what? You aren't happy now?"
Rachel pushed away a little from Mike's side and said "I never said I wasn't happy it's just...whenever we fight...I just think I'm not the perfect woman for you. Like I should just let you go and be with someone great who you deserve. I love being with you, but that thing two years ago, it's tearing us apart. I want to grow old with you. Be by your side until we die, through the good and bad times, the rough and easy times. Mike, your my everything and I want us to be happily married, be great parents for our children and maybe even have another baby."
Mike looked down and an immeadiate thought came to his mind. He truly loved Rachel, but he wanted to be with Brittany so badly, he wanted to be near her, to hold her close, to breath in the sweet smell of her perfume.
Mike looked back at Rachel and said "I want to be happy too, I love being with you and you are perfect for me. But right now, I'm not happy and I don't want another baby with you."
Rachel's eyes began to water as Mike stood up, walked into the hallway, picked up his car keys, walked out of their house and pulled his car out of the driveway, driving off into the night.
The next morning, when Rachel woke up at 6, in order to get everyone ready for school and preschool, she noticed Mike's side of the bed was completely untouched, meaning he had either not spent the night at home or had not spent it in their room. And the first guess was the right one.
As Rachel went about her morning, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and exercising, Mike still never came home.
That afternoon, when Estelle and Abby arrived home from school, Abby began working on her homework, but Estelle ventured upstairs to her father's and Rachel's room in search of Rachel.
When Estelle found her stepmother, she was sitting on her's and Mike's bed, holding a photo from their wedding and crying.
Estelle pulled Rachel into a hug and said "Rachel what's wrong?"
Rachel sniffed and said "Me and your dad aren't working out right now. And he left last night and hasn't been back since. I don't know where he is and neither do Billie or Tre."
"Maybe he went to a hotel..."
"No..."
Rachel sniffed and said "I know exactly where he is."
Rachel got up, fixed her make up and said "Stella, I don't know when I'll be back so can you call Adie and ask her to pick up your brothers and sister."
"Yeah sure."
"And then tell her to call me."
"Okay."
Rachel quickly left and drove for the next half an hour and finally arrived in front of Brittney's apartment building, that she had only been at once while Isabella was still alive, but luckily she remember exactly where to go.
As Rachel climbed the stairs to the second floor, she felt the anger building up in her.
When Rachel reached the door of apartment 2B, she pounded her fist on the door and then waited for either Brittney, or Mike, to answer.
As Rachel raised her hand to knock again, she heard the door unlocked and then it opened to reveal Mike, wearing simply just his boxers.
"Rachel...I can explain."
Rachel slapped Mike across the face and said "I don't want to hear it Mike. We're over. No wonder you weren't happy with me, you're sleeping with your whore again. Now, where is she?"
Rachel pushed Mike out of her way and walked into the apartment and found Brittney getting a bottle of water out of the fridge in the kitchen.
Rachel pointed straight at her and said "You! Mike is my husband and you decided to sleep with him again. How dare you. You had no fucking right to ruin my family."
Rachel walked across the room and pushed Brittney then said "What gave you the right?"
Brittney laughed then said "I didn't need the right...Mike came to me. I didn't need to go to him this time around."
Rachel raised her hand to slap Brittney but before she could, Mike grabbed her wrist, forcefully turned her around then said "You're leaving right now. I'm taking you home."
"I don't want to go home with you."
"Well it's my house you live in. The car you drive is the one I bought. And every kid in that house is mine except for Abby. So, unless you want a big divorce and custody battle on your hands, you are going to just let me and Brittney mind our business, and you are not going to care about it. You're going to stay with me and act happy wherever we go. Like none of this is going on."
Rachel started to cry and said "How am I gonna play that while your sneaking around with your whore? Someone will find out. Billie and Tre will for sure."
"Billie already knows. He's been lying for me since this began."
"I hate you."
"I'm sure you do."
Mike let go of Rachel's arm and said "I'm going to go get dressed then we're leaving. Lay one finger on Brittney and you'll have a serious problem on your hands."
Rachel crossed her arms and said "Hurry your ass up then."
When Mike left the room, Rachel walked over to the apartment door with Brittney following her.
As the two walked towards the door, Rachel noticed a picture of Mike and Brittney sitting on a shelf. She stopped in front of it, picked it up, turned to Brittney and said "When was this taken?"
"Christmas Eve in Sydney."
Rachel put the picture down and whispered "Even on my anniversary..."
Just then, Mike came out of the bedroom, grabbed his car keys and said "Alright Rach, let's go. I'll talk to you soon Britt."
Mike kissed Brittney's cheek and then followed Rachel out of the apartment.
When they arrived home, Mike drove Estelle to Anastasia's, because she was staying there for the weekend, and Rachel took Adrienne into the kitchen and told her everything.
Once Rachel was finished her story, Adrienne said "Well you can't leave him...so, what are you gonna do?"
"Let him screw Brittney. What else can I do?"
"How would you be able to stand that? I mean knowing he's with her. I wouldn't be able to if this happened to me and Billie."
"I'm just gonna keep myself busy with the kids and work. Surely, they'll keep my mind off of it. I just don't understand why he would want to stay together and act happy...he could just as easily divorce me, get custody of Leilah and Mikey and Sam, and have a happy life with Brittney."
"Maybe that's just not what he wants...like maybe he wants to be with you and Brittney both."
"Well I don't want that."
Sam came running into the kitchen and said "Mommy...Mikey won't let me play wif da trucks."
"Aww...baby."
Rachel picked Sam up, propped him against her hip, said "We'll talk about this when there are no kids or Mike around" to Adrienne, and brought Sam into the toy room where she dealt with the truck situation.
