Max paid his portion of the bill with Brian's cash and stood as the waitress grumpily collected the payment. Pushing his chair in towards the table, he walked to the door with Vlad, grinning. "Oh yeah?" He raised a brow. "Usually that means there is." He looked happy, but inwardly was not. Women just got in the damn way. He remembered Gloria, the sway she had over Brian. She turned him into a puppy, and her constant presence made sneaking out exceptionally hard. When she had caught him, well.
She had deserved that for trying to ruin a good thing.
And now with the possibility of Vlad being under the spell of a woman, Max was beginning to wonder why they couldn't all just be sent out to sea. "Well, don't worry. I'll make sure your tie is never rumpled and I won't get any suspect stains on your lapel." His voice was light and teasing, all jest. Perhaps Vlad was just lying and there wasn't an annoying woman around. Or maybe it didn't matter at all.