The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

Driving back to her parent's house, Lark was feeling sick to her stomach. Parked in the driveway, she watched as her parents were loading up six or seven suitcases each into a waiting truck. Her father seemed haggard and tired, and she knew he was desperate to get back to Gracie.

There was no news from the hospital on Gracie. They were all part of a group chat and Ollie, along with Fallon, were already in Houston and stopped in to check on her. She was still the same.

Lark felt her body was bone tired. The entire week felt too much, and she wanted nothing more than to decompress, pull her thoughts together and sort out what she was doing with her life. She looked up as her mom knocked on her window, gave a smile, and pushed the door open.

"Sorry, I was lost in thoughts." She hiked her handbag up over her shoulder and sighed.

"I can see that. Everything okay?"

"No." she gave a crooked twist of her lips. "Max doesn't want to get married now."

"What?"

"I made a drunken comment yesterday to the nurse about him manipulating me all the time and told him I knew I was the b***h, and he was the coercive one. He said he thought when everyone said it in the room at the hospital in Houston, we were joking. He only realized when I said it yesterday, he really did manipulate me, or at least he thinks he did. Anyway, he said he's not going to have me wake up in the future regretting being married to him because I felt pressured and we're on hold until I'm ready." "Wow." Everly leaned against the side of the car. "How do you feel about it?"

"I'm," she looked upwards trying to keep from exploding with the all the emotions she was feeling. "I'm angry Mom. I'm sad and I'm angry and I'm f*****g tired of people doing things which impact my life without giving me any f*****g control over it. I'm tired of people thinking I'm this silly little girl who can't think for herself or a puppet to the Villeneuve twins. I'm not. Fallon made a comment today and it really grated on my last nerve. She said she doesn't want to be me waiting on thing. I never have. I make my own choice. on a rooftop and almost getting killed because she lets them control her. The thing is I don't let anyone do anything. I make my my own decisions. decisions. Yes, some of them are bad horrible decisions which cost me. Expecting a teen boy to meet me on a roof was dumb but what was dumber was staying there, on a roof known for kids who go up there to have s*x, for a long time alone. I put myself in the situation. I should have left after five or ten minutes, and I didn't. I was the one who threw the pot through the window when I caught Doug and his slutty girlfriend. I cost me my job. It was my stupid decision. I am the one who went with Ollie to a bar to meet a mafia boss. She asked me to come but I'm the one, me, who insisted on bringing the gun and putting it on Santiago. She didn't do it, Mom. I did it. I was the one when Max asked me to marry him while he was higher than a kite and didn't know better, who told Ollie I was going to hold the fucker to his promise and make sure he asked me again when he was sober. It was my choice."

"Lark," her mother gave a laugh, "you do make a lot of stupid choices."

"I do but I own them, Mom. I don't blame anyone else for what I choose to do. Johan is on this trip lately of how the Villeneuve twins put me through hell and part of it is my own fault because I wined and moaned about it so much but gosh, they were my best friends. I did stupid things with them too and dragged them

along." "Like?"

"When I decided in ninth grade, I could be a lawyer and a world-famous painter concurrently and decided I needed inspiration and begged them to help me break into the art gallery downtown after hours so I could study the paintings of the artist I liked. The guy was a jerk and called me a kid and only adults were allowed in the building, so we broke in. I saw a lot of nude art that night."

Everly laughed at her comment. "I didn't know this one."

"Because we got away with it, since unlike Ollie, my plans didn't result in us getting caught," she grinned a toothy smile. "Or the time when I was working at the ice cream shack and the manager who was only a year older than me started docking my pay because she said I was overfilling the ice creams when my friends came. She only took like five or ten dollars off each paycheck, but I was a teenager, and ten bucks was a lot of money. Like a lipstick or a mascara."

"Oh my god, she did what?"

"Yes. She used to say I was giving Ollie, Johan and Max ice creams which were too big. They tipped huge! Anyway, we broke into the ice cream shack and stole six tubs of ice cream. Max even bought a deep freeze which he put in a room at the school. We ate free ice cream for months.'

"Lark Hoffman!"

She snickered at her mom's outrage. "I'm only saying, I got lost for awhile in blaming them for all the stupid s**t we did but I came up with my own ideas too. I'm tired of everyone saying I'm being led astray like a dog on a short leash." "You don't want to wait?" Everly asked quietly.

.n

She took a breath. "I simply don't think it's anyone else's decision but mine and Max's!" she threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "If everyone would butt the hell out, we would find out own way. Right now, Max has his parents, his sister, his best friend, his counsellor, and anyone else who feels they have a right to weigh in, giving their two cents worth about how he's rushing me. I'm getting people dropping ear worms in my head and advice I never asked for. f**k, stupid Heriberto made a comment, and it stuck in my head, and I foolishly repeated it at Max, and it's got him spiraling. I wish everyone else would let us live." She rubbed her face, "it's my own fault for listening to everyone else but god damn I just wish I we had a minute to

ourselves."

"I think it's a fair request, Lark." Everly said quietly. "You need to block out the noise."

The sound of yelling coming from the Villeneuve house turned their heads to look towards it. "Speaking of noise," Everly commented. "I think Bobbie is going to blow a gasket. I guess Max told her to piss off this morning. Now to find out LJ is dealing drugs might have broken her. Mori and Ronnie grabbed Kis stash and actually brought it into the house. Riggs needed to get rid of it. Margot was crying earlier about not wanting to go back to Houston, but Bobbie wants to be where Ollie is because Ollie is acting like a horny teenager talking about getting pregnant before Santiago even has his house in order. Not to mention Bobbie's your dad's right hand at work and if they're going to work on cases, they need to be near one another. Where we go, she goes, she said."

"Fallon was right. Bobbie needs a month-long retreat where the kids can't get at her. Mori and Ronnie need to face the consequences of their actions without their parents bailing them out. The house needs to be locked up so they can't come back and hide there, and they

eed

to be kicked back to their dorms,

their credit cards need limits far less than they have. LJ needs to stay in the bayou. Ollie needs this time alone in Houston with Santiago because I absolutely get why she wants to reconnect with the man she loves without her parents and family in the way. As for Dad and his work, I can help with the burden, it's not all on her shoulders.”

"I agree with everything you're saying." The sound of Margot screaming in the house she hated her parents made Everly snicker, "can I say of all the Villeneuve kids, she's the most typical of a teenager. She doesn't blow through money, she studies hard, she has her own little fits like the one she is throwing now but it makes sense to me because she loves school. She's just a normal nerdy kid. Kind of reminds me of Max before high school cheerleaders started throwing themselves at him." "Mom," Lark was looking at the house curiously. "Do you think Gracie would understand if I wasn't there when she woke up?"

Everly looked at her in surprise. "What are you thinking?"

"Max is being released from the hospital. He gave Bobbie the boot. He's going home in three days, but he'll be here in Dallas alone. I want to move into Max's condo."

"You want to stay with Max?"

"I do. I love him Mom and I think we deserve the chance to be together without five hundred people weighing in." She took a breath unsure of what she was about to offer, "but I think a sixteen-year-old girl wouldn't be too much for me to manage for a month in addition to Max. We'll make sure we don't scandalize her especially since Max isn't permitted to be intimate," she blushed. "She can take the room Johan usually uses, the one I was sleeping in when I was staying there." "You were sleeping in the guest room? Really?" Everly asked incredulously.

"Yes. Max was tucking me in at night and letting me sleep alone. He was really trying to take things slow and be respectful, Mom. It's why I'm so frustrated with everyone else telling him he's pushing me. He hasn't. I know his heart is pure for me, Mom."

They both looked over as Bobbie came out of the house flopped onto the front porch, buried her head in her hands and started crying.

"I'll go talk to her," Everly sighed.

"I'll talk to Olivier and Margot. Don't mention the island thing. If Olivier simply commandeers her to the Caribbean, she can't argue. It's time for Bobbie to get the break she deserves."

Her mother kissed her forehead, "man oh man, your father and I raised some really good girls."

"Yeah, and Nana Prue helped you. I need you and Bobbie around to be grandmothers to mine and Ollie's babies and the way my soon-to-be mother-in-law is looking right now, she'll be rocking a straight jacket instead of a baby."

It was time to take back her life.