AN OFFER SHE CAN'T REFUSE

Marks

"What the hell is this all about?!" I demanded as Xander drove like a maniac out of the parking lot, "Fine. I quit!"

That seemed to startle all of them out of whatever angry trance they were in and Xander pulled into an abandoned lot.

"He's not a safe man, Brina," Xander said as we sat there, idling, "We know him."

"What do you mean? Solitude is safe. Everyone here is safe," God, I must have sounded like a naive child.

"No, they're not. He—he's hurt women before..." Quinn glanced at Xander who looked at me through the rear view.

"You're lying."

"Why would I?"

"You said you had beef! People with beef will say anything."

"None of you seemed to care when I was in school and his locker was next to mine."

I was grasping at straws here. The Quads were driving me insane.

"Just be careful," Seb said, leaning into my ear.

"Or what?"

Xander slammed his hands on the steering wheel.

"Or I'm not going to let you out of my sight!"

The car was quiet—save for the sound of the engine purring. My heart was racing so quickly and my body was shaking.

"Fuck, Xander..." Hudson shook his head and pointed to me, a trembling mess of a person, "Chill out, man."

"Well, I didn't know... " I gave up. They were unrelenting, especially Xander who'd turned into a caveman.

Seb frowned, "No, Xander shouldn't have reacted the way he did."

"Don't tell me how I'm supposed to react," Xander grumbled.

"Fine, fine.." I tossed my hands up, defeated, "Where to next?"

I found out where my PO box was, but Xander didn't like it.

"This is so out of the way for you to go and you don't even have your own car."

"I need to get one .."

"You have our driver's, but we'll get you a new, closer PO box or you can just have your mail sent to the house."

"Does everyone have their own mailbox at the estate?"

Sebastian shook his head.

"No, but they will.. starting today."

I smiled. I don't know why that made me happy or why no one else had the conveniences that I had.

"We'll get you set up this week after your first paycheck," Seb was saying, but I was looking at Xander who rubbed his side.

"Why were you and James fighting?" I just couldn't shut up.

Silence.

Xander opened his mouth and I don't know when I grew a set of balls, but I didn't let him start.

"And don't tell me you didn't. I'm not an idiot. "

Xander huffed, "I never said you were an idiot, Sabrina, but my business is my business. It's better for you to stay out of it. "

Seb put his hand on mine. I felt a tingling in my spine when he did it, but it wasn't all hormonal. It went deeper than that.

"He's right. You know we fight.. "

"In a town named Solitude, you think you'd get some peace. Aurora was at least accepting of me because I wasn't rich or popular or pretty enough... "