“Left early?” Bennett doesn’t leave early.
“He does today.” She turns back to her computer. Conversation apparently over.
I should leave.
But then I hear Dominic’s voice before I see him, the static of his personality arriving before he does. Dominic stands over Jenna’s desk, holding two takeout cups in one hand. His usual thousand-watt smile clicks on when he sees me. He’s wearing a suit the color of a thunderstorm, no tie, shirt open enough to suggest that rules are for other people.
“Hey, Professor.” He holds one drink toward Jenna. “Don’t mind me, just keeping everyone’s favorite assistant caffeinated.”
“I don’t drink coffee after three,” Jenna says. She doesn’t look away from the monitor.
Dominic swings the other cup with a conjurer’s flourish. “Flawless prediction! That’s why I also brought you a tranquilizing peppermint chamomile with extra honey.” He leans it toward her, grinning like a benevolent villain.
Jenna hesitates, then accepts it, the faintest curve of a smile passing through her lips before she clamps them together again. “Thank you.”
Dominic bows his head, as if he’s being knighted for services to the exhausted. “Of course. You’re welcome. And for our resident coding virtuoso, I procured a dirty chai with double espresso, because I know you don’t sleep and I cherish your continued existence.”
He hands me the drink, and I take it because refusing Dominic is more effort than accepting. “Where’s yours?”
Dominic’s eye twitches. Almost imperceptibly. “Already drank it.”
“You were only holding two cups when you walked in.”
“I drank it very fast.”
“When?”
“Before I got here.”
Dominic’s eyes flick to Jenna—who is very deliberately not looking at either of us—then back to me. He makes a subtle gesture. A tiny shake of the head. A widening of the eyes that I think is supposed to communicate something.
I don’t know what it’s supposed to communicate.
“You had a coffee for me when you didn’t know I’d be here?” I continue, because the logic isn’t adding up.
“I was going to bring it to you.”
“But you offered it to Jenna.”
“Logan.” Dominic’s voice is strained. “Buddy. Let it go.”
I look at him. I look at Jenna, who is now typing with aggressive precision. I look at the peppermint and chamomile tea with extra honey.
Oh.
Oh.
He gave herhisdrink. The one he ordered for himself because Dominic can’t have caffeine after lunch or he doesn’t sleep—it’s his favorite hot drink. Shit. I really fucked this up.
“Anyway,” Dominic says loudly, clapping me on the shoulder, “what brings you to our floor? Looking for Bennett?”
“Yeah.” I grasp the subject change like a lifeline. “I need to talk to him about the NeuraTech signal interference issue. But Jenna said he left early.”
“Welcome home dinner,” Dominic says, steering me away from Jenna’s desk and toward the break room. Probably trying to get me out of earshot before I accidentally expose any more of his secrets. “Audrey’s back. Flew in this afternoon.”
The words hit me wrong. Like a skip in a record. A bug in clean code.
“Audrey’s back?” I repeat.
