Scott's smile looked forced. “Thanks.”
Zach tried to tell himself he was relieved everything was still status quo between Rae and Scott. That their interactions were relaxed and comfortable. Exactly what they needed to be. He wasn't jealous.
“New place?” Scott asked.
Zach shrugged. “Got tired of the last one. I decided to try something new.” His desire for small talk was vanishing. He grabbed the paperwork off the table. “Summons?”
Scott's scowl returned. He took a long drink. “DM has filed a cease and desist pending investigation. Say we're stealing intellectual property.”
Rae made a sound that was somewhere between a grunt and a groan. “But you're not. You're starting over. That's the point.”
“No,” Scott said. “The point is to tie us up in court long enough they exhaust our funds and delay our schedule.”
Zach didn't argue. He knew it was true. Fuck, why hadn't they thought about that? Right, because they were desperate to cling to something other than despair. “Have you talked to Legal?” It was a ridiculous question. That would have been who Scott called when he couldn't get a hold of Zach. “What did he say?”
“That's what he said.” Scott snatched the summons away and stuffed them into his laptop bag. “That's all he said. You had me on speaker phone in this place?”
Zach shook his head, shifting to the new topic as quickly as he could. “I was wearing my Bluetooth.”
“You're trying to learn how to relax, and you had your ear piece with you?”
“Habit.” Zach didn't like the direction of the questions. They needed to be planning a new strategy, not dissecting a rapidly formed cover story. “What do you mean that's all he said?”
“Technically it's not all he said.” Scott studied Rae for a minute and then ignored his own drink and took a sip of her coffee. “Second cup already?”
Zach frowned. What was going on?
She blinked. “Third. I thought we might be here a while. What else did he say?”
“That he couldn't tell me anything else, and technically he'd already said too much. How did I hear her talking to you earlier? How did she hear me asking where to meet?” He looked at Zach.
“Ear piece speaker is too sensitive,” Zach repeated. He was used to Scott changing the subject without pause, but he usually didn’t carry on two conversations at once. “You're leaving out details. Do I need to call him myself?”
Scott pushed his drink away. “Sure. Use your ear piece, so we can all join in the conversation but no one else can.”
“It's in the car.” Zach wondered if he was actually going to be able to talk his way out of this one, and why he thought it mattered.
“Because…?”
Rae sighed loudly. Before Zach could reply, she said, “Because he didn't want anyone else eavesdropping. Because he's trying to learn how to not be such a workaholic. Which would you prefer?”
Scott studied her for a minute. He brushed a loose strand of hair off her forehead. “Just the truth.”
Zach hid his discomfort and braced himself.
“Fine.” Rae leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. “He did have you on speaker phone. I heard because he was in my bedroom. Where he's been half of the last week. We got here maybe two minutes before you did, and it's my first cup, and I haven't even had a chance to put cream and sweetener in it. Which you were kind enough not to call me on.”
Scott rubbed his eyes before looking at her again. “So you're fucking him.”
She cringed and turned away from his glare.
Scott slammed his fist on the table, making all the cups—and Rae—jump. “You said you weren't going to go after him. That you weren't interested in being used and left at the side of the road after a week.”
Zach's eyes grew wide. They'd talked about him? She really thought that about him? The second realization dug deeper than he thought possible. Weren’t they past those issues?
Rae shrugged. “And I’m still not interested in that. But I am attracted to him.”
The confession momentarily distracted Zach from the disturbing details of the conversation. At least she wasn’t faking it. Not that he’d been worried. Or maybe only a little.
“I knew you liked him.” Something unfamiliar flashed in Scott’s eyes.
Malice. Zach’s gut sank.
“I didn't think he cared about you.” Scott focused on Rae again. “You're not his type. You'd need to be about six inches taller and ten pounds lighter.”
Fury raced through Zach, and he was on his feet in a second, yanking Scott up by the T-shirt. “You don’t get to take this out on her because you’re jealous. You know none of that is true.”