Chapter 38

Chapter 38
It was understandable that Dylan could not meet her eyes. She was not sure if it was because of guilt or just him trying not to get distracted by her. Marianne didn't think too much about it and went about the wedding as if she didn't sleep with the groom.

It was time for the wedding and people were filing into the hotel. Since there was an area just for weddings, it was designed perfectly to the image of whatever couple was getting married that day. There was white silk running through the middle of the room, being the aisle for Vivienne to walk down. And on either side, there were round tables and chairs accompanying them. Each table decorated with flowers and having wine bottles and glasses.

Marianne knew that she would need to sip some wine in order to get through the wedding. She was just waiting for it all to be over. Now that she had done the unspeakable with Dylan, she was looking to get on the next plane and run back to Los Angeles and forget about all that happened. She made a mistake, a sexy, pleasurable, hot, euphoric—terrible mistake, and she wanted it to be swept under the rug and forgotten about.

It seemed like lately, she and Morgan were getting more acquainted with each other, but how could she want to get any closer with him after what she did? He was a true friend to Dylan and worried about him, wanting the best for him, and she had completely forgotten about those words. She knew that he would feel so betrayed if he figured out about their little mishap. It would obviously be taken as if Marianne took advantage of Dylan. Poor Dylan Carter, who had to suffer with the villain Vivienne Cross, and then be used by Marianne Blake, the therapist who used his skewered mental health as a way to get off.

The thought of people saying those things made goosebumps break out on her skin. She may or may not have been looking at Morgan in a romantic light, but how could she not, he was the total package, and even seemed to be flirting with her a bit too. But the guilt would absolutely eat her alive and so the best thing for her to do was just remain friends with him and root for whatever lucky female snatched him up.

When all the guests were seated and the lights around the audience were dimmed, the ceremony began. At this point, all the guests probably wanted to go home. Everyone knew that they were not going to last and knew that it was all going to be a waste of money. It was all just a charade put on to fund the ridiculous fantasy of Vivienne Cross.

Marianne had to admit that the dress Vivienne was wearing was gorgeous. It was cut just above her breasts and showed her very skinny figure before frilling out at the ends. She never would have guessed that Vivienne would pick out a mermaid dress and Marianne did not like the look of those dresses but she just shrugged and acknowledged that some people can pull them off. There were jewels that glittered in a gradient down the dress and it shimmered in the spotlight that illuminated the aisle.

It was actually quite surprising that there were no cameras broadcasting the event. It was definitely something Viviennewould do. She would have a special on some international station and show her wedding to the entire world.

At the end of the aisle, stood Dylan, waiting to take Vivienne’s hand and lead her to the pastor at the front of the room. The forced smile on his face was evident to everyone in the room, everyone except his bride. He looked to be sweating already and his legs shook as he stood waiting for Vivienne to finish with her little show. She was walking down the aisle as if she wanted to give every air particle in the room a chance to look at her. It was such a Vivienne thing to do and Marianne found it more amusing than annoying.

But that was not even the funniest part of the entire wedding. The most amusing part was that no one was paying attention, like at all. There was no one blatantly walking loud and having their own conversation, no one wanting Vivienne’s heel impaling them. But people were on their phones, admiring the paint on the walls and engaging in light conversations, being careful not to talk over the pastor. Marianne was not even paying attention and took to studying the way her wine swirled in her glass.

The other people at her table were either looking at the couple with a bored expression or murmuring to themselves. And the couple up on the platform was completely unaware of everything. The pastor, on the other hand, would look over every once in a while with a worried and sad expression every time he took a break from speaking. Marianne would have felt bad if not for the fact that she was also bored to death. Weddings were not the most fun and interesting places to be and frankly, Marianne cared little about them.

She would be more than happy to receive pictures from her clients of their weddings but would decline until the end of the day about going. And sometimes they would be so persistent and she would actually go and Marianne would try her best not to look bored or annoyed.

And what made this wedding even worse was that she had no desire to see them together and getting married. So the wedding all in all was just one big snooze fest.

But there was yet another thing that Marianne found very funny, she had thought that no one paying attention was funny, but when she left to go to the bathroom, about half of the guests were not even in the hall. The tables were bare and when she got outside, they were just mingling and carrying on as if it were any other day. Marianne had never felt so bad for Vivienne, knowing that they were mostly her friends.

The people were not even dressed like they had gone to the ceremony and then snuck out, they were all in regular everyday clothes and Marianne would have thought them to be hotel guests if not for the fact that she knew a lot of their faces.

When she went back to the wedding, she took advantage of the absence of people and took some bottles of wine from empty tables. They were all dunked in ice buckets and were nice and cold. She had always preferred white wine to red because it was sweeter and so she made sure to pick all of those. And she even got lucky scoring a Moscato. And she used that to hold her out until the ceremony finished.

After the wedding came to the reception and Marianne was borderline tipsy when it came about, but so was everyone else, so she kind of blended in. Marianne studied Dylan, he was officially married, trapped and bound, without any hope of getting out. She had warned him, and now there was virtually nothing she could do to help him.

After the ceremony Vivienne took pictures with all of her friends and paraded around, announcing herself finally as Vivienne Carter. The name didn't sound too bad, but the person who said it made her cringe.

"I was watching you drink."

Marianne looked to the side and saw Morgan, he always had this habit of coming from behind her and saying a random sentence that was supposed to be a conversation starter. Smooth motherfucker.

"Well, that Moscato was too good to put down. You can't blame me, right?" she smiled at him, her head felt weird but other than that she was fine.

Marianne was standing next to her table and so he leaned down and picked up the bottle she was talking about before taking a swig right out of it.

Morgan smacked his lips before smiling. "It does taste good."

"So what's up?" Marianne asked.

"Just wondering what's up in your world, and also if I can take you for a walk. You're tipsy I'm sure and I know it isn't going to help staying in this stuffy room one bit."

"But what about the reception and all of that? I'm sure our absence will be noted." Marianne looked around to all the people mingling.

"Half of the seats are empty. No one will miss us. Vivienne’s head is so far up her ass that she couldn't care less. Once there are some people doting over her then all is right in Vivienne’s land."

Marianne found his words refreshing. It was like he spoke whatever was on her mind. He was such a perfect person, it was unfair that Marianne knew better than to let her feelings run wild and control her actions.

"Sure, let's go."

But as they were walking away, Marianne caught Dylan’s gaze, he was staring intensely at her with an expression she could not read. Vivienne was right next to him talking with all of her chest but he was completely out of it and zoned in on Marianne. His gaze shifted to Morgan for a second before it went back to her.

If he was thinking how she thought he was thinking then Marianne would honestly just expose their whole thing and ruin the event. If Dylan Carter was getting jealous, then Marianne would not have known what to do with herself. There was no way she would be able to deal with that. The better option to his thought would be him thinking that she and Morgan were a thing and that Marianne still had sex with him. She hoped that that was where his mind went.