His lips parted in a sinister smile and she shook her head. Vivienne once wondered if their animosity toward each other was driven by a sort of attraction, but after years of watching them go after each other with verbal battleaxes, she’d decided that it was just plain, mutual dislike. If not for her, they probably would have had nothing to do with each other.
Max suddenly leaned his chin against her shoulder and said, “Oh come on, Viv. Admit it. You enjoy seeing us spar. It’s basically free entertainment for you, isn’t it?” He winked and stepped away from her. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Drew.” At the door, he looked at the watch on his wrist and then past her with a devilish grin. She didn’t have to wait long to find out what that meant.
A few seconds passed before she heard a loud pounding and then Max’s voice rang out, “What’s taking you so long in there, Drew? It’s not even your birthday and you’re making us late! Don’t make me come in there—”
That was followed by a round of outraged shrieks as she guessed Max either pushed open Drew’s bedroom door or pretended to do so.
She stifled her laughter as she moved away from the mirror and began searching for her clutch purse. Max was right. Soap operas be damned. Who needed them anyway when she had Max and Drew?
***
“Viv, your sister’s crazy. You should have known better than to go camping with Cassie,” Max said with a shrug of his shoulders, as if that information were noted fact.
When she’d arrived back at the apartment that morning, she’d briefly informed them on her night with Cassie before crawling into bed and passing out. As the ride to the club was going to take close to thirty minutes in the bumper-to-bumper city traffic, she’d decided to inform them of the details. She’d told them of being chased by a wolf, and of running into strangers in the forest, and the blindfold, and the teenager sniffing her. They’d both found the blindfold and the teenager sniffing her extremely weird, but Max was the only one who’d commented directly on Cassie.
Vivienne was about to defend her sister, although she knew that Max meant no harm, when Drew spoke up.
“Just because a woman is smart enough not to fall for your jaded charms does not mean she’s insane.”
Vivienne’s laughter rang out as she turned to look at Max. She couldn’t make out his expression in the darkness of the cab but knew he was probably scowling. Max had never directly made a pass at her sister but he’d indicated a few times in college that he would. In fact, junior year he’d joked to Cassie about taking her out. Sadly, Cassie was on her “love the earth, love the world” road and had told him she wasn’t interested in “boys who didn’t know that leaving on the lights was slowly leading to the destruction of the environment.” Everyone else found it funny; Max had not.
“No, I guess not. Just because Dan Fuller never noticed you didn’t make him insane either but I do remember you saying—”
Vivienne winced when Max mentioned Dan Fuller, who’d been Drew’s crush almost straight through college. If Drew had ever had a dream guy, he’d looked, walked, talked, and acted like Dan. She’d never actually admitted it, but from the way she spoke of him before he’d turned into a jerk, anyone could tell that she’d seen him as more than a friend.
“Oh, be quiet, idiot,” Drew muttered. Vivienne contemplated interjecting before deciding against it. The last time she’d tried to break up one of the fights, they’d dragged her name into it and she’d had to listen as all the wrong things they’d ever done to her were aired in the open. Never again.
“I’m not the idiot. Dan was.”
“I am not getting into this with you right now. You are so immature,” Drew continued, and Vivienne closed her eyes and blew out a deep breath.
“I don’t know which guys you’ve been hanging around lately but I am in no way immature. I’m willing to prove it to you, if you like.” The last part was said in the most suggestive tone she’d ever heard Max use.
Drew fell silent and Vivienne was just about to change the topic to something tamer, like where they were heading. Were they still in the city? If so, where were the cars, and the lights? Where was this place anyway?
“Who falls for these ridiculous lines of yours?” Drew suddenly burst out, the rising anger evident in her friend’s voice.
“Women. I tend to stay away from immature little girls.”
Drew snorted. “Please, immature little girls are the only ones attracted to those stupid lines.”