Chapter 5

“Juliet.”

I opened my eyes to see Jimmy kneeling on the floor next to the couch. His fingers were tangled in my hair. I sat and pushed him away from me. I dug the heel of my palm into my eyes as I yawned. Jimmy chuckled.

“I came in to help you with dinner,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“I need to get home,” I said. “People are going to be wondering where I am.”

Lina must be worried that I never came home from work the other night. She may have thought that I went home with Donavon, but when I did not come to work tonight she would know that I am missing.

“No one is looking for you,” Jimmy said. “No one in your old life loved you.”

“My roommate has probably called the cops,” I said.

“Juliet, I am not going to keep talking about this,” he said. “Let’s go make dinner.”

Jimmy grabbed my arm and pulled me onto my feet. He laced his fingers through mine and we walked into the kitchen. Jimmy opened the fridge and pulled out some vegetables and a slab of meat. He dug through a drawer and pulled out a small knife. He handed me a potato and a knife.

“Peel those,” he said.

I nodded my head and walked over to the counter. I watched Jimmy as he grabbed a pot and a pan and put them on the stove. He sliced pieces of the meat and fried them in the pan. I dumped the potatoes into the boiling water.

“Did you cook a lot before?” Jimmy asked.

“Not really,” I said. “I know how to cook, but my roommate and I lived off of take-out.”

Lina could not cook. She one time tried to make pasta for her boyfriend, but overcooked the noodles and burned the sauce. I had to save her and make her a whole new meal.

“I saw you did not eat your porridge this morning,” Jimmy said. “I told you to eat it.”

“I’m not hungry,” I said.

“You need to eat,” he said. “I don’t want you to get sick.”

I looked at my hand to see the small knife was still in my grip. I could stab Jimmy and run out of this house, but I was still probably locked in. Charles would come in and see his dead son and would murder me.

My thoughts were cut off when Jimmy grabbed my wrist. He ripped the knife out of my hand and tossed it in the sink. He grabbed my chin and lifted my head to face him.

“I love you,” he said.

He leaned in to kiss me. He pressed my back against the counter. I pushed my hands against his chest. I rolled my head to the side so that his lips were on my cheek.

The backdoor opened, and Tommy and Charles walked into the kitchen. Jimmy took a step away from me. Tommy and Charles hung up their coats on the hooks beside the door. They sat down at the kitchen table.

“Bring the food to the counter,” Jimmy said.

He kissed my cheek and joined his family at the table. I grabbed a fork and picked the fried meat out of the pan. I could not really tell what it was, but it kind of looked like beef. I put the potatoes into a bowl and carried them both over to the table.

“Thank you, Juliet,” Charles said. “You’re fitting into this family quite well.”

“Come sit down,” Jimmy said as he pulled out one of the chairs.

I took a step away from the table.

“I’m not hungry,” I said.

“You didn’t eat your breakfast,” Jimmy said. “You need to eat.”

“I really-“

“Juliet,” Charles cut me off. “You need to listen to Jimmy or there will be punishments. And Jimmy, you need to not be afraid to punish your girl. Now, Juliet sit down.”

Charles’ voice grew louder as he spoke. I looked over at Jimmy to see his large brown eyes were begging for me to sit down. Charles pulled a pocket knife out from his jeans. He flipped the blade open and set it down on the table. There was a lump forming in my throat as I swallowed.

I obeyed Charles’ silent threat and sat down in the chair. Jimmy loaded my plate with potatoes and meat. I took a small bite of the meat. It was incredibly chewy and had a really different taste. It was kind of sweet. It must be something like deer or duck. I’ve never eaten those animals before.

I kept my gaze down on the plate. Every time that I looked up, I could see all three of them stare at me. Charles kept the knife sitting on the table. They ate in silence as they shoveled food into their mouths. I managed to eat the food Jimmy gave me. When Charles finished his meal he leaned back in his chair.

“That was delicious, Juliet,” Charles said.

“You got a good one,” Tommy said.

Charles closed the blade of his pocket knife and shoved it into his pocket. Tension eased from my muscles as he took the threat away. He smiled and rubbed his stomach.

“We need you to clean up,” Charles said. “That will be expected from you. We are protecting you from the outside world.”

“There is nothing dangerous out there,” I said.

All the danger was inside of this house.

“It didn’t look like that when I was at that club,” he said. “I saw that man attack you.”

I remembered the man with the large crow tattoo grabbing me in the club. It seemed like so long ago. Plenty of men had grabbed me while I was working, but he was the first one to throw me onto the floor. Charles must have seen it all happen while he was sitting in the booth.

“What club?” Jimmy asked.

“She hasn’t told you?” Charles asked him. “Go ahead and tell him, Juliet. Tell him what you did for work.”

“What did you do?” Jimmy asked.

The heat rushed to my cheeks. All three of them were staring at me.

“I…um…I am a stripper,” I said.

Tommy burst into laughter. He threw his hand over his mouth to try and stop himself from laughing. Jimmy picked one of the potatoes out of the bowl and threw it at Tommy. It bounced off his shoulder.

“Don’t laugh at her,” Jimmy said.

“I’m sorry,” Tommy said between laughs. “I just find it pretty funny. Juliet just seems so meek. Strippers aren’t like that.”

“How would you know?” Charles asked.

“Taylor told me a story once,” Tommy said quickly.

Charles let out a huff of breath and shook his head.

“Juliet, you no longer are a stripper,” Charles said. “You were one, but we are going to take care of you. You are part of our family.”

I looked over at the backdoor. A lock on the door and bars on the window was what was trapping me in this family.

“What do you say, Juliet?” Jimmy asked. I raised an eyebrow and Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Say thank you.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” Charles said. “Now, you can clean the table and wash the dishes.”

Charles reached into his pocket again and pulled out the knife. He flicked open the blade again and set it on the table. Tommy looked at the knife and smirked. I stood from the table and stacked the plates. They started talking about some people that I had never heard of, so I focused on washing the dishes.

I had my hands in the hot soapy water and was scrubbing a plate. I was humming to myself as I cleaned. The stairs creaked, and I assumed that they went upstairs.

I jumped when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. The wet plate slipped out of my hands and crashed onto the floor. Jimmy let go of me and took a step back. The plate had shattered into many different pieces. I looked over my shoulder to see that Charles had turned to see the mess.

“You’re not going to let her get away with that, are you?” he asked.

“It was an accident,” Jimmy said.

“James, you need to punish her,” he said. “Get your knife out.”

My heart was pounding in my chest. Jimmy bit down on his bottom lip before pulling a knife out of his pocket. He pushed the blade out. He took a step toward me and I backed up. Charles was watching us.

“Give me your arm,” Jimmy said.

“What?” I asked. “No!”

“Don’t raise your voice at me,” Jimmy said. “Now, give me your arm.”

“Three slashes should teach her a lesson,” Charles said.

“No, you can’t do that,” I said.

Jimmy grabbed my wrist and pulled my arm out straight. I yanked my arm back, but he tightened his grip. He lifted the knife and put the blade against my skin.

“Jimmy, don’t do this,” I begged. “Please, please don’t do it.”

He lightly pressed down the blade, but he did not break the skin.

“James, you need to punish her,” Charles said. “If you don’t do it I will have to show you how to. Trust me, you don’t want that.”

“I can do it,” Jimmy said.

“Well, then go ahead,” Charles said.

My eyes burned with tears as I begged for Jimmy to let me go. He pushed the blade down deep into my flesh. I screamed as the fiery pain ran up my arm. The blood beaded up to the surface. He lifted the blade and made another deep slash across my skin. My knees gave out underneath me, but my arm stayed in Jimmy’s grip. My vision was blurry from the tears.

Jimmy made one more deep cut into my arm. The blood dripped off of my arm and onto the floor. When he let go, I let out a loud sob and held my arm against my chest. Jimmy kneeled next to me. He reached out for my arm and I kicked him in the shin.

“Don’t touch me,” I said through tears.

“I hope you learned to be more careful next time, Juliet,” Charles said.

“You’re crazy,” I said.

“You better watch your mouth,” Charles said. “Or Jimmy will have to punish you again.”

Jimmy held out his hand. He gave me a faint smile. I wiped the tears off of my cheeks with my good arm.

“Come on,” Jimmy said. “Let’s clean you up.”

Charles was watching me. My arm was on fire, and the blood was dripping all over my clothes. If I didn’t do what he said I know Jimmy would punish me again.

I took Jimmy’s hand and he helped me onto my feet. He slid an arm around my waist and we walked to his room. He guided me over to the bathroom.

“Sit down,” he told me, gesturing to the bathtub.

I sat down on the edge of the tub. Jimmy opened the vanity and pulled out a couple of boxes. He grabbed a towel off the rack and sat down next to me. He had a bottle in his hands. He held my injured arm out over the tub.

“This is going to sting a little,” he said before unscrewing the lid to the bottle.

He poured the alcohol out of the bottle and over my wounds. I gritted my teeth as the pain brought more tears to my eyes. Jimmy washed away the blood before wrapping my arm in gauze.

“You know that I never want to hurt you, right?” he said.

I bit down on my lip and sniffled. I cradled my arm to my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut when he kissed me on the cheek. He brushed stray strands of hair out of my face.

“I love you,” he said.

His words almost caused me to gag. I pushed him away with my good arm. Jimmy sighed and got up from the edge of the tub.

“Stay in the room,” he said. “If you leave I’ll have to punish you again. Dad will be coming up soon.”

Jimmy walked out of the bathroom. I listened as the door clicked shut.

I thought about going downstairs and checking the locks, but my throbbing arm told me that it would not be a good idea.