Thalia

As I heard footsteps, my attention turned to the stairs where both Leo and Peter were walking down towards us. My eyes met Peter's and I saw his eyes were red and puffy. He'd been crying.

'Are you okay?' I mouthed .

He nodded in response.

Leo walked over to me. "I apologize for my...brusque attitude earlier. It was uncalled for."

"Yeah, you think?" I asked scowling at him.

He sighed before holding out his hand. "I'm Leonardo Ronan. But you may call me Leo."

"I prefer asshole. It just slides off the tongue easier." I sassed.

"Oh for the love of- Is she always like this?" Leo asked Peter, pointing a thumb at me. Peter nodded silently.

Leo rolled his eyes and took a composing breath. "Look, I know we started off on the wrong foot, but can we just start over? I was really stressed and angry and I'm known to be very explosive when I'm angry, but I'm usually not a very temperamental person. Peter had just done something to piss me off, but I'm fine now. So, can we just...forget our first interaction? Please?"

Leo looked at me in exasperation. He was tired of my sass. But as I looked him over, he did look a little bad. His hot looks masked it for the most part, but his eyes were tired and had bags under them. He was a hard worker. I had to respect that. Plus this was his house.

"Yeah, okay." I shook his hand firmly. "I'm Thalia."

"Well, Thalia. My little brother told me you were looking for a job. I need a new secretary anyway. How soon can you start?"

My eyes widened. Was he serious? "Wait, you're seriously giving me the job right here and now? What about an interview? You don't even know me! How do you know if I'm qualified or not?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Thalia. Plus, it's only a secretary position. All you do is sort papers, make schedules, and keep me on track. It's not that hard. Anyone can do it. So, what do you say?"

I raised my eyebrow warily. "How much do I get paid an hour?"

"Sixty-five dollars."

My heart practically stopped. "And how many days a week am I working?"

"Monday to Friday from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM. You have the weekends to yourself."

"Oh wow." I muttered. This was amazing. Everything was...perfect! The hours, the pay, the position, it was all too good to be true!

"So, Thalia, when can you start?" Leo asked, snapping me back into reality.

"Two weeks." I said. "I can start in two weeks."

_ _ _ _

"I don't know if you should wear your hair up or down." Fiona muttered as she played with my hair. "I mean, up looks more professional, but down says 'I'm here, I'm ready, and I'm fierce'." She'd volunteered to help me with my wardrobe for the day. She'd let me borrow a pencil skirt and a blouse. She also offered me wedges, but I turned them down and requested flats instead. Heels were never my forte. She'd already done my makeup and now we were trying to tackle my hair.

Suddenly, she gasped. "A braid! Perfect! The best of both worlds!" She said as her fingers expertly weaved their way through my locks.

Finally she was done. I looked into the mirror and smiled at myself. I did look professional. It was kind of scary to think about the fact that a couple of minutes ago, I looked like I'd crawled out of a dumpster. "You are a literal magician." I said, standing up.

"Yeah, well, when cameras are always pointed at you, you learn to be ready with tons of looks." Fiona smiled. She herself was dressed in a simple pink silk robe with fuzzy slippers to match and her hair was held up in a messy bun. She looked breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless.

"Now run along. Peter's giving you a ride to work today and he has a tendency to be late if you're not on his dick about it."

I chuckled as I left the room. Sure enough, Peter was lounging on the couch lazily, a bag of chips in his hand.

"Can you get up? It's 6:40. I do not want to be late for my first day of work."

Peter turned around towards me and raised a brow. "Wow. Okay. Somebody's bossy." He said, getting up. "Come on."

I followed him out to the car and we were off.

The car ride was quiet, as usual. "So," I began, "Where's thing one and thing two?"

"Corey and Rhys are at their own houses." Peter said simply.

"Wow. So they don't live with you." I mumbled with a smile.

"Why the hell would we live together?" Peter asked a small grin tugging at the side of his mouth.

"They honestly just seem like your shadows. No offense, they're great guys they're just kind of...clingy."

"Well, that's their job. Our fathers were work associates. Their job is to look out for me like their dad's job was to look out for my dad. It's a family thing." Peter shrugged.

"Why do you guys always say that?"

"What?"

"That 'it's a family thing' excuse. Every time I ask about something you always say that. It's kind of annoying." I said playfully.

Peter glanced over at me. "Because it's the truth. You don't need to know everything."

"Why?" I pried. "It's not like you guys are doing anything illegal." Peter tensed up. "Are you?" I asked warily.

"Of course not!"

"Then why can't you tell me? I thought you trusted me!"

"I do! But it's not my place to tell you this."

"Are you kidding me?"

"NO!" Peter snapped. "I'm not, Thalia! The last thing I want for you is to get roped up in all this shit, okay? I'm trying to protect you!"

"I don't need your protection, though!"

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew what you were trying to get into." Peter mumbled.

"Then tell me!" I pleaded.

Peter parked in front of the company building and looked at me in the eyes. "I can't Thalia."

I sighed. "Fine." I climbed out of the car and closed the door behind me.

"Lea, please!" Peter called after me. But Iignored him. If he didn't trust me, that was fine. I just wouldn't trust himeither.