The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

She was sitting squeezed between Olivier and Bobbie waiting on news of Max while Ollie paced circles. Ronnie, Margot, and Mori were taking turns walking back and forth between the two waiting areas searching for news which wasn't coming from anywhere.

"I hate this waiting," Ollie threw her hands up in the air.

"The longer we wait, it means the harder the fight is going on inside."

They looked up as Ronnie approached, "hey. Um. So, they let us know Sawyer didn't make it."

"f**k," Olivier cursed beside Lark and wrapped his arm around her and hugged her tight. "Any news on Gracie?"

"They are still trying but the bullet is still inside her, I guess. They have a bunch of specialists on hand trying to figure out the best way to get it out without causing more damage or to bleed out," Ronnie cleared his throat, "the nurse told Grady he should tell Charlotte to get here as soon as possible." "Oh my god," Lark felt sick.

"I'm sorry, Lark," Ronnie said quietly. "Any news on Max?"

"Nothing yet," Bobbie shook her head. "Is Grady okay down there? I'm worried about him."

"He's strong, Mom," Ronnie leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry about LJ. He's been getting worse lately. I was trying to manage his s**t on my own."

"You shouldn't have tried on your own. We're family but if anyone can sort him out, it's Levi and Meri. I think Levi and Timon are taking him somewhere off the grid."

"Better than having to deal with the soybeans," Ollie snorted. "Take me into the bayou before putting me on the damn farm any day."

"I've never been around people who died before. Losing Nana Prue," Ronnie's voice cracked, "it's hard Mom."

"I know baby," Bobbie cupped his cheek and wiped a tear off with her thumb.

"Lark?" Johan's voice cut in from the edge of the waiting room. "Why are you guys all down here and not down the other end?"

Ollie shot him an annoyed look, "you're an idiot."

"I know." He stepped into the room and reached for Ollie's hands, "I'm sorry. I was scared and LJ

mentioned how none of this would have happened if Max and you hadn't been involved and I needed a person to blame, and it was the pair of you, and I am so sorry for lashing out."

She stepped into his open arms and hugged him tight. "I forgive you, Johan."

"Where is Max? I owe him an apology too."

"He's um," Ollie cleared her throat, "he suffered a heart attack."

Johan's arms fell away from Ollie, "what?"

"He tried to pass it off as another panic attack but turns out he hasn't been taking his medications, he's been ignoring the heart fluttering things he's been having and chalking it up to anxiety and panic and overall has been ignoring all the advice the doctor gave him about not working so much and avoiding stress."

"He flatlined," Lark whispered from where she was seated with her head on Olivier's shoulder. "He died, Johan and your last words to him were to accuse him of pretty much murdering the woman who has been his grandmother his entire life." "Lark, I," he stammered as she didn't even look in his direction.

"I understand you are stressed and worried. You've been sleeping with Gracie for all of three days and you think you're in this deep love affair to defy the ages but Max, he's your best friend for nearly twenty years. He would do anything for you, and you abandoned him when he needed you. You made him feel he was going to lose me. Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on Job n ib.co-m. You didn't see the way he was freaking out trying to hold onto me while he his heart was literally breaking into pieces and shattering thinking I was going to leave him."

"I'm sorry." Johan took a shaky breath.

She rose up from between the two people who could have been her adoptive parents growing up based on how close she was to them and felt Bobbie squeeze her hand warningly and accepted the warning for what it was. She measured her words and sighed, "you are lucky we love you so much and are willing to forgive your bullshit but when he comes out from surgery, you better be kissing his ass with apologies." He nodded as she wrapped her arms around his waist and he hugged her tight, "I'm sorry, Lark." "Me too," she sniffed against his chest. "I'm scared Johan."

Ollie slugged him in the shoulder, "you should know better than to listen to LJ, dumbass."

"I know. I made it all the way down the street and realized how stressed out I was, and my first thought was, 'I should call Max and get his take on what I should do' and then it hit me like a train. I f****d up. I was trying to get back but then I ran into the Laredo brothers, and we got into a discussion on how best to deal with Doug."

"They're here?" Ollie asked with a quiet breath.

"Yup. Someone told her fiancé she didn't want him to come here and cause more drama so he's waiting downstairs in the lobby until you give him the go-ahead to come up and hold you while you wait." "He's here," Ollie whispered.

"You told him not to come up?" Lark asked with a laugh. "Now who's an idiot."

"I am," she pouted and sat on her father's knee.

"Text him and tell him to get up here, Ollie. You need him."

Johan nodded, "you do, Ollie. I want to hate the guy but he's not bad. Also," he looked at Lark, "I hope you don't have any residual feelings for Doug because pretty sure if the man makes it through one night in jail, it'll be a miracle in and of itself. Laredo seemed quite pissed off.

Lark met Johan's eyes, "I hope they make it hurt."

"Guaranteed," Ollie whispered as Bobbie mumbled under her breath incoherently.

Lark was pretty sure Bobbie wasn't arguing against their words.

Olivier chuckled, "enough with the morbid talk. Ask Santiago to come up and sit with you Ollie. If he's your fiancé he needs to get used to the insanity of us sooner or later."

A door pushed open and a doctor in green scrubs came out looking tired, "Mr. and Mrs. Villeneuve? I'm the resident working with the cardiovascular team. They asked me to come out and give you an update." "Yes." Bobbie hopped nervously from foot to foot.

"We did have to take Max to surgery. The surgery is more than halfway through and he's going to be fine unless something catastrophic happens between now and then, but the hard part of the surgery is over so should be smooth sailing. Our educated guess is, he's been having small cardiovascular events over the last several days and ignoring them."

"He has always suffered from anxiety and panic since he was a small kid. He had a panic attack in front of us the other night. Could he have confused the symptoms?" Johan asked curiously.

"For sure. He was lucid for a few moments before we knocked him out for surgery, but he made us promise to deliver the message and make sure Lark knows he loves her. At first, we thought he was talking about how he loves birds, and we were laughing at him because we thought the drugs were kicking in, but he was saying tell her and we figured it out."

"I'm Lark," she wiped tears with shaky fingers as she giggled at the doctor's storytelling.

"Well, Lark," the doctor smiled, "he loves you very much."

"I love him too."

"He also said, and I'm not sure what this means but he said tell the fucker I forgive him. Whatever that means."

"That'd be me," Johan held up his finger sheepishly.

Ollie and Lark started giggling as they hugged Johan tightly.

"Once they close him back up, he'll be moved to the recovery suite for an hour or so and then down to ICU. He'll be allowed visitors once he's in his bed down there. We will come back and let you know when's been moved but you're likely going to be sitting here at least another couple of hours. The cafeteria doesn't have much for food this time of night, but the coffee isn't completely horrible." "Thank you doctor," Olivier shook the man's hand and then pulled Bobbie into his arms and hugged her tight. "Our boy is going to be okay." Emotion coated his words as he stifled a sob.

"I'll go let the others know," Ronnie wiped his own tears as he raced down the hall to share the first good news of the evening.

"I'm so tired," Bobbie whispered. "It's been the f*****g day from hell."

"Agreed," Olivier kissed her forehead.

Watching them made Lark miss her parents and she stepped back, "I'm going to go down and check on my folks and Fallon."

"We'll come with you."

They walked down the hall towards the larger waiting room and as they stepped in Grady and Everly both reached for Lark. "How is he?" Grady asked.

"He's going to be fine," she whispered as they held her tight.

"Good to see you back Johan," Grady used his free arm to pull him into their group hug.

"I'm sorry for causing a scene," he whispered as Grady rubbed his shoulder.

"It's been a tough day."

"Dad, what about Sawyer's family?"

"There isn't any. His parents died long ago, and he was an only kid. Riggs is trying to find out contact information for Charlotte. Charlotte's father passed away a couple months back."

"She told me she wasn't really all that close to him," Johan whispered. "It was always just her and Sawyer taking on the world. Her words." He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. "I told her she had the entire Hoffman circle surrounding her now. She was pretty excited about it."

"The surgeons told us it was going to be at least another couple of hours if they can figure things out. They," Grady choked on tears, "they're keeping her alive right now on life support while they consult with surgeons. Olivier gave them authorization to spend every last penny in his bank account if they needed to but to not stop. The nurse did let us know she's registered as an organ donor" his voice cracked, "but I pray it's not why they're keeping her alive right now."

"I want to believe Nana Prue is blocking the doors to heaven telling her she can't come in yet." Fallon whispered from behind them. "It sounds right, doesn't it? It's why Gracie hasn't died already? Because Nana Prue is giving her hell and not letting her come?"

"It sounds right, baby," Everly pushed hair off Fallon's forehead. "Prue is probably also telling Sawyer right off."

Lark sent a silent prayer heavenward, hoping with her whole heart if Nana was there with Gracie, they both knew how much they were loved.