The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max) novel Chapter 8

“You good?” Johan’s voice cut into his thoughts.

Max looked over his shoulder. “No.”

“You beat him pretty good.”

“He f*****g made her cry. You didn’t see her, Johan. She was on her knees like she was one nudge away from breaking completely.”

“Is there some unwritten rule you are the only guy allowed to make her cry?” Johan flung himself onto the sofa.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he rattled the ice in his glass as he turned to look at his best friend who simply let himself into his condo without invitation.

“You used to make her cry all the f*****g time. Why do you get a pass, but no other guy does?”

“What the f**k are you talking about?”

Johan raised an eyebrow at him curiously. “Dude, you spent almost every f*****g day from grade six to twelve making her cry.”

“No, I didn’t. Christ. She’s like my sister. I wouldn’t make her cry.”

“All the f*****g time, man. All the time.”

“Name one time.”

“Eleventh grade when she got her driver’s license and the b***h Mona asked if you two were going parking and you asked if you were also expected to get in the back seat with your dog since they were both your best friends?”

“She laughed. She didn’t cry.”

“No? She didn’t cry. So, when she showed up to chemistry class and her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, it was nothing to do with you.”

Max frowned, “I wasn’t in her chemistry class. I was in her bio class.”

“I was. I was in most of her classes. Each time you made fun of her at lunch time, she came to first period afternoon class with puffy eyes and super quiet.”

“I never made fun of her!”

“You are my best friend, Max. We’ve been through it all together. I’ve seen you do a lot of things, but do you know the one thing you and I have ever fought over? We’ve been friends since we were ten years old. There is only one thing we have ever fought about.”

“We never fight. Hell, we don’t even argue.”

“True, because she left before prom was even over and there was no reason to fight over her since.”

“Wait, are you saying we fought over Lark?”

“Remember the homecoming game? Senior year. We both had dates. You were supposed to give the girls a lift to the party from the football game. Ollie f****d off with the goth girl from the other school. You left with one of the cheerleaders. I ended up having to put Lark in the car with me and my date and my date was f*****g pissed. I flipped out at you because you were getting laid, and I wasn’t because my girl took off on me as soon as we got to the house party because she was a third wheel.”

Max pulled his head back, “no. Ollie drove her and some guy she flirted with at the game.”

“No. You were supposed to drive them. In fact, you told your father and her father you would when we were all in the parking lot and then you f****d off and left her there. Both of you did. Alone.”

“But the guy!”

“There was no guy!”

Max thought about it.. “It was one time.”

“What about the time at the science fair when you were supposed to partner up with her, but you decided you wanted to work with the brunette from the debate team? By work with, I mean f**k her over the science lab tables. We saw it by the way, Lark, and I when we ended up forced to work together for the project because you took my partner. We went to the lab to get our supplies and you were railing the girl on the stainless-steel tables.”

“You lie,” he fought a grin on his face at his friend and then let it fall off as Johan lifted a quizzical brow in his direction.

“Lark’s comment was she really hoped you guys sprayed down the tables after. For the record, she hated science classes. She took the mandatory ones, but she always knew she was going to study corporate law. Do you know how much work two people who hated science class needed to do to get a passing grade on our project? You ditched me with Lark.” Johan stretched his arms along the back of the sofa, “I can go on and on and on about the number of times you or Ollie ditched Lark or made her cry.”

“This is bullshit. You were her friend too.”

“Yeah, I was. I’m not the one who ditched her in study hall and left her crying behind the library stacks while you screwed her study partner.”

“Now hold on. Why would she be crying if I slept with her study partner?”

“Seriously, you had to know she crushed on you, man.”

He staggered backwards at the accusation. “She did not.”