Family Comes First

Chapter 27: A Bit of History

 When I got out of the shower, Jimmy was sitting on the bed with the plate on his lap. I did not change back into my dirty clothes. I brushed my wet hair and wrapped a towel around myself. I was expecting Jimmy to lay clothes out for me, but he did not.

"Sit back down," he told me.

I sat next to him. I clutched the towel at my chest. My knee was bouncing as I tried to avoid looking at the plate.

"Eat some more," he said.

"I'm not hungry," I said.

My stomach churned as I looked down at the meat. Jimmy placed the plate onto my lap.

"Julie, I love you," he said, "so I have to be strict on this. You can't go to sleep until you eat it all."

"But I'm not hungry. I swear I can't -"

"Julie," he cut me off. "You can and you will. We can stay up all night if that's what you want."

I looked down at the plate and then back up at Jimmy. I was going to have to eat this meat eventually. It was either eat it now or stay up all night. Jimmy would probably punish me if I made him stay up. He would be tired and upset, so his punishment would be bad. I did not want to stay up all night either. The drug that Jimmy had injected me with last night was still making me tired.

I picked up a piece and hesitantly brought it up to my mouth. I chewed on the meat with my eyes closed. Jimmy's weight shifted on the bed and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I swallowed hard.

"That's a good girl," he said.

"Can I stop now?" I asked.

"Eat it all."

I reached down to the plate and grabbed more meat. This time I did not take tiny pieces, like I did before. If I kept doing that, it would take me all night to finish the plate. I grabbed a fistful of meat and shoved it into my mouth. I chewed it fast and swallowed it as soon as I could. The lump travelled down my throat and into my stomach.

"Wow," Jimmy said before kissing my cheek. "I'm so proud of you. I cannot believe how well you are settling in here."

"Thank you," I said.

"You're almost done," he said. "Finish it up."

There were just a couple of pieces left. I pushed them into a pile in the middle and scooped them up with my fingers. I dropped it into my mouth and ate it as fast as I could.

"Good job," he said. "I love you so much."

Jimmy took the plate off my lap and set it down on the nightstand. Jimmy pushed me back onto the bed. His weight was soon on top of me, and he was propping himself up on his elbow. The room was dark and it caused shadows to cast across his face. It almost hid his scar.

"You like it here, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Tell me."

"I like it here."

Jimmy leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. My wet hair had already soaked the pillow and caused me to shiver. Jimmy's body was so warm, and I could not stop myself from tightening my arm around his neck.

He was trying to make me feel better. He knew that I was upset and he wanted to make me happy. He made me eat the meat, but that was to help me. I know that I had to get comfortable here and eating that meat would help me relax. It was scary and I never thought that I would be doing it, but Jimmy was helping me.

I needed this house. This was the only place where I felt safe or loved. I was always told that people like this weren't supposed to be the ones to make me feel loved, but they were wrong. If they were wrong about this, they could be wrong about a lot.