lies lies lies || book three

chapter one

The honeymoon stage. It could often be defined as a period after marriage where you and your partner just are living in a fairytale until reality hits. And ever since the honeymoon occurred, that period of their marriage was already over.

If Laney had to hear one more complaint about how the honeymoon pushed back his new album getting approved or how they needed to sort through wedding gifts, she was going to lose it.

It was only two months after they were married and two weeks since the honeymoon, but life was anything short of simple. As she began to finish up the final touches of her painting for the one and only Anna Wintour, Morgan busted through the door. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face him.

"Morgan... this is for Anna from Vogue. The one who hosts the Met Gala. You need to knock," she softly said facing him.

"Ok ok. We just got a whole bunch of gifts delivered that we need to sort through," he said.

Laney just nodded and turned back to her painting to refocus on finishing the last few touches this painting needed. Anna specifically requested it for her office which blew Laney out of the water. She didn't know how it caught her attention but she didn't care. Maybe this was her break, maybe this would get her invited to the Met Gala in a few months. She never thought of it as a possibility until now.

"Are you coming?" Morgan annoyingly asked.

Laney sighed and dropped her brush before walking into the living room to be faced with five boxes.

"Morgan it's five boxes," she pointed out in annoyance. He couldn't have done this himself?

He gave her a blank stare before handing her a box cutter and they both began to open boxes together in silence. After a few annoyed grunts, Laney pulled open the first box while Morgan had already opened the other four.

"Did you give me the hard box on purpose?" she asked.

He laughed with a grin, "No no. What's in it?".

Laney peered into the box to see a beautiful floral box inside the box. She immediately could tell it was from Mia. Unwrapping the inside of the box she found a gold-plated necklace saying LW on it replacing the Laney necklace that was always adorned on her neck.

Morgan smiled kissing her forehead before helping her put it on, "Laney Wallen hm".

She chuckled at his response as he let out a whistle.

"We still have like thirty more boxes. I just don't feel like dragging them in here. What did we even ask for on that damn registry?" Morgan complained.

Turning to Morgan, Laney gave him a kiss  on the lips before pulling back to observe him up close. The dark circles under his eyes took away from his usual glow and the blue in his eyes didn't twinkle like they usually did. She knew he was up late trying to get work done in the studio with Thomas but she also knew that meant a cranky Morgan.

"You need to rest. I mean it. You've been nagging me about gifts. We need to just take a moment to relax babe. Nothing is going anywhere," Laney cautiously spoke after taking in his appearance.

His hands slid off her waist as he took a step back making her internally regret the words that just came out of her mouth. Sighing, Morgan just looked at her with an unidentifiable expression before just walking outside onto the patio. Letting out a frustrated groan, she took a minute to just look at the gifts left on the floor.

Piling them up, she placed them one by one in a corner on the kitchen counter. Open communication was the one thing that she knew would make or break this marriage, and she wasn't stupid enough to just throw it all way before it began.