lies lies lies || book three

chapter seventeen

Rotting in bed wasn't exactly what she wanted to do today but she physically couldn't force herself out of bed. She got up to use the restroom and began to cry when she saw both of their toothbrushes in the holder. So after she finished peeing, she sat right back in his bed. All she could do was think about what he was doing. How would he feel when the divorce papers got handed to him? Did he get them yet? What happened with his truck? What did Ashley say? What did Leslie say? These were the truthful questions circulating in her head, even though these were the last questions she should have been asking other questions to herself. 

After getting up to throw up and cry, she flushed the toilet eyeing it all disappear, just like her marriage. She was trying to not be unhappy but how could someone heal from something painful like this, especially when it was public? Trying to think positively, she thought of how this would ultimately make him become sober. Maybe he would get the support he needs and get his act together. But those thoughts instantly got substituted with the worry of knowing how depressed he would be feeling over his reputation tarnishing from that video surfacing and his management breaking down on him. Maybe this would be the change he needed... or maybe this would ruin him. The feeling was wrecking her mentally, the feeling that should be the last thing she was feeling: pity.

Gathering the strength, she unlocked her phone to check her 45 unread messages. Some were from the family group chat and Mia, but the ones that caught her eye automatically were from Lauren and Ashley. Peeking into her messages, she took the time to read them all individually.

Ashley: I'm sorry my brother is such a reckless asshole with a drinking problem. You're family to me so please don't forget about that when you gift the world with your beautiful newborn girl. I'll always have your back. He claims he is going to be sober but my dad is actually cracking down on him with his management to make him sober and instill a change. He may even go to rehab. I know it may be hard for you to hear from me so I'm not expecting to hear back soon, but I know you're a good soul so I know you care. I love you and I'm thinking of you.

This was enough to make Lansy freeze for a moment and make her brain lockdown. He couldn't be going to rehab. As much as she loved him and wanted him to get better, she knew the destructive consequences this would have on his career. This would haunt him for the rest of his life. She knew he would never forgive himself and she wouldn't forgive him.

Laney: Thanks for reaching out A. Listen, I really need to ask for a strange request but you can't let him go to rehab. It'll ruin him and his career. As much as that'll be his last concern, I don't want it to follow him around forever, especially when his daughter will be able to see that one day. I love you too.

Then she checked what Lauren sent.

Lauren: Hey, I'm thinking of you. I'm sorry for what you are going through. Thomas is staying with Morgan for awhile to take care of him. Don't feel guilty about it, but he got fucked up and tried to drive to you. His windows were smashed but he called Thomas at 10 PM asking him to drive him to you. He isn't a kid but we talked to him and Thomas personally staged a small intervention and he cried and said he couldn't drink anymore. I love you and my heart aches for you. If you need any help and need anything while you work on bringing this new bundle of joy into your life, you have a friend to rely on and a place to stay. Always and forever.

Laney sighed at the message when she re-read it but Lauren was right, his drunk driving wasn't her fault. But for Morgan to not mention what had happened to his truck was surprising, let alone the fact that he cried during an intervention. So much had happened in 24 hours. Selfishly, she checked his location. Opening the Find My Friends app, she saw he was home and set a bell notification for any time his location changed. It wasn't healthy but she would turn it off once she felt like it was time. Unsharing her location, she watched the pop-up message on her phone appear: "Want to share your location? This user is sharing theirs" and pressed No.

Looking at Jack's text, he mentioned that she had to be at his by 10 PM tonight and that Morgan was being served papers at 1 PM, and the lawyer would follow up with her. Checking the time she nearly choked, it was 1:10 PM.

She texted Jack to let him know that she was alive... and as well as she could be.

Laney: Hey, thanks for letting me know. I may stay here another night and tomorrow afternoon I will be at yours. Truthfully don't have the energy right now and need some privacy. I'll let you know when the lawyer follows up, thanks for your help.

Jack immediately replied:

Jack: Tomorrow afternoon by 1. I have off and will come pick you up if needed. Make sure you eat, we are here for you.

Laney left him on seen before checking her family groupchat of her family asking if she was okay with Mia getting ready to drive to Knoxville. Laney decided to text Mia back, knowing that Mia truly would drive to Knoxville and show up to collect her.

Laney: Mia! I'm in Nashville. You and I will be seeing Drake next week so get ready :) Send you the details soon. Don't worry about me. Love you

Laney had completely forgotten about the three Drake tickets that Morgan had gotten, but she knew he wouldn't show up.

As the day passed by, she forced herself to sleep by taking melatonin since she couldn't get herself to get out of bed. When she woke up, she saw an anonymous call and picked up, "Hello?".

"Laney Sierra?"

"Yes... who is this?" she asked suspiciously.

"This is Reese with the Hartworth Law Firm. I'm calling with an update," the man mentioned.

Laney's attitude shifted as she spoke, "Oh right. Sorry about that it has been hectic".

"No worries. The good news is that he did receive the papers in his hand. Uh... the bad news is that he declined to sign them in a harsh manner," Reese hesitated.

Did she want to know what he did? Not really. Did she need to know? Kind of. Curiosity would have killed her.

"What do you mean?" she questioned him as she yawned away from the phone.

"I knocked and handed him his papers. Once he read them, he got very angry and started cursing threatening to shoot me off his property. Then he told me that he would sign those papers once he was in his grave and shoved the papers out the door to leave them in the snow. So I put them in an envelope in the mailbox," he explained.

"Oh my God I'm so so sorry," Laney sighed. That very much was Morgan's behavior. Threatening to shoot someone and then tell them to essentially rot in hell wasn't completely our of his nature. It brought her back to when the Girl Scout came to the front door and Morgan brought out his gun just in case. But his complete attitude changed as soon as he opened that door. Her reminiscing was broken by Reese's verdict.

"It happens," Reese chuckled, "So we got one of two options. Either you can follow up with a police visit to force him to sign or you can wait it out for another 30 days until sending me back".

"I'll wait and see if I can talk some sense into him by then," Laney told Reese as she made notation of the thirty-day visit in her phone.

Severing ties with Morgan would be more complicated than intended. She knew she couldn't call the cops on him, people would bring up suspicions and Morgan would be destroyed permanently. She laughed at her internal thinking, after getting cheated on, only she would be concerned about someone else's reputation over her well-being.

All she wished for was to get rid of the idea of him and any speck of him. But all she could do was think about him. She couldn't help but wonder if he thought about her... well she knew he did. She hadn't opened the 15 messages he had sent her because she didn't have the guts to do it. Catching her finger wavering over the messages, she felt the baby kick as if there was no tomorrow. Her phone had plunged out of her grasp and onto the bed. In terror, she checked if the messages had been opened and felt at ease when she discovered they were still unopened. She didn't want to read his messages. Maybe it was because she was fearful of what he wrote. Maybe it was because she was dreading this was the last message she would ever receive from him.