Author's note: Wow! I can't believe I have over 50 reads. When I began posting I didn't think I'd get over 20. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my story. Please vote and comment so I can know your thoughts. I really want to know what you think of my characters.

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I spent the whole day scrubbing the house clean as I thought about the keys. I had to find a way for Jimmy to take his off. He slept with it on and I’m pretty sure if I tried pulling it over his head while he slept he would definitely wake up. Maybe he took it off while he showered. I would have to sneak into the bathroom while he was showering.

When my stomach started to growl, I began making dinner. There wasn’t many clocks in this house and I never took note of what time they start coming in to help, so I guessed. When they entered the house I wasn’t finished yet, but it would only take me a couple more minutes.

Tommy and Charles went up to their rooms to wash up and I felt Jimmy slip his arms around my waist. He nuzzled his face into my neck. His normal smell of dirt, sweat and soap filled my nose and I couldn’t believe that I actually started familiarizing myself with his scent.

I knew I was just imagining it, but I felt like I could feel the key around his neck pressing up against my back.

“How was your day?” he asked me.

“It was okay,” I said.

He pulled me closer to him and kissed me on the cheek. I kept staring straight ahead at my vegetables frying in a pan. Jimmy kept his forehead pressed against the side of my head.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered to me.

He pulled away from me and went up the stairs to our room. I started putting the food on the table before any of them came down. Tommy was the first to come down, followed by Charles. They pulled out their chairs and Jimmy came thudding down the stairs. He gave me an odd look when he saw that I was still standing and I sat down in my chair.

“It’s so nice having a girl around again,” Charles said as we were passing around the food. “There’s nothing better than coming home to a nice home cooked meal.”

“Yeah, we no longer need to go to Jenny or Lyndsey if we went a good a meal,” Tommy said laughing.

They were two more names I didn’t know. It must be family or friends, just like Taylor and Emme. I hoped that it wasn’t another family who was kidnapping girls too.

“You did get me a good one,” Jimmy told his Dad. “Beautiful and a great cook.”

“I do have to admit that it benefits us all,” Charles said chuckling. “Her food is delicious and she’s a lot better to look at than each other’s faces all day.”

I picked at my food as they were talking about me. I tried to control the heat that was rushing up to my cheeks. Usually when guys are talking about me they are calling me a slut or a whore. It’s never compliments like this. I knew I shouldn’t fall for any of them, but it was difficult.

“Since Taylor’s having a baby, can we visit them soon?” Tommy asked.

“In a few months, yes,” Charles said. “We need to make sure Juliet is settled first.”

“She’s doing a good job so far,” Jimmy informed them.

“I noticed that she isn’t screaming and fighting back like most do. I thought you were going to have your hands full with this one, but I appear to be wrong.”

I looked up and smiled at them. I saw Jimmy’s face beamed as he curled his lips at me. I was already earning so much of their trust. If I couldn’t take the key off of his neck, then maybe I could convince Jimmy not to lock one of the doors one day soon.

“I’m trying,” was all I said. I knew it would please Jimmy.

“Obedient too,” Tommy pointed out. “Wow. You are lucky, Jim.”

Dinner was quickly done, and I began cleaning up. Jimmy was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes followed me no matter where I went. He didn’t say anything, but just watched me as I washed all of the dishes.

Once I was finished, he got up off the wall and laced his fingers through mine. He didn’t grab my wrist in the painful way he usually did. He led me up to his bedroom, like he normally did.

“Lie down,” he told me once we were in his room.

My heart skipped a beat. I was trying to earn their trust at dinner, but what if I did more than that? What if Jimmy think I’m the perfect woman who will do whatever he wants? I was trying to earn their trust, but I wasn’t going to lie there and not put a fight if he tried to rape me.

Jimmy raised an eyebrow at me and I knew I was taking too long to do it. I slowly got down on the bed, and lied down on the side I do when I sleep. Jimmy sat down on the edge of the bed and was leaning over me. His long hair was coming out from behind his ears. He lightly traced my jawline with his fingers.

“I’m so proud of you,” he told me. His lips were lifting into such a big smile. “I was nervous about getting a girl because I wasn’t sure about how long and how much work it was going to take to get her settled here. But you’re such a part of our family you settled right away. You’re perfect, Juliet.”

“Julie,” I corrected him.

I bit down on my tongue when I said that. I always preferred Julie, but I only ever told my friends to call me that. Why did that slip out of my mouth so easily? I had to make sure that I didn’t start thinking that this pretending to be settled was true.

“Julie,” Jimmy tried the word out on his tongue and managed to smile even wider. “I like it.”

He leaned down and started kissing me. I continued to stay frozen as he kissed me. He wouldn’t know the difference if I was kissing back and this made me feel like I was keeping my sanity. I lied there as I felt Jimmy put his hand and begin to slide it up. I pushed it away and he pulled away from me. He was looking down at me and I could see the hurt on his face.

Play the sympathy card. I reminded myself. If I made him feel bad for me then he wouldn’t punish me. It worked before.

“I…I…I’m sorry,” I stumbled over the words. He furrowed his brows at me. “I’m not just comfortable with it yet.”

Jimmy leaned down and started kissing me again. My heart was slamming against my rib cage as it mustn’t have worked this time. I had my hands on Jimmy’s shoulders and I was trying to push him away. He quickly stopped.

“I know you already did, but now that I’m awake I want to wait,” I told him. I made sure my voice was shaking, sounding like I was on the verge of tears.

“Wait,” he told me, his face was paling quickly. “Did you hear me talking to Tommy the other day?”

I nodded my head and let a tear roll down my cheek for effect. Jimmy’s jaw dropped and he started shaking his head.

“No, no, no, no,” he said. “Julie, I was lying. Dad did tell me that I was supposed to do that to you – and I was going to – but you just looked too sweet. Too sweet and innocent and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I kissed you a lot though, you were just too beautiful. But please believe me Julie, I never touched you that way.”

Relief washed over me and I couldn’t stop my lips from curling. He was most likely lying to me. I reminded myself of who he was. A murderer. He should have no problem raping a girl. He must just be trying to calm me down right now by lying to me. I wanted to believe it so badly. It would make me feel a little better about this situation.

“Really?” I choked out.

“Yes,” he said. “Do you want to sedated tonight?”

“No.” If what he was saying was true, I wouldn’t need to be drugged. He couldn’t try to rape me now after he said all of that.

“Good girl,” he said, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

He got off of the bed and handed me the shirt I had been sleeping in for the last couple of days. I turned around so Jimmy couldn’t see my body and quickly put it on. Luckily, it was so big that it reached my legs and covered a lot of skin.

He got changed too and then we both climbed into bed. Jimmy made me put my head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around me and was playing with my hair. We stayed silent like this for at least an hour until I began to drift off to sleep.

I closed my eyes and ran my hand up his chest. Jimmy wasn’t wearing a shirt, so I felt the cold metal from the key over the warmth from his muscles. I latched onto it with my hand. Jimmy must have thought I was asleep because he chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

It was just another way I was outsmarting these monsters. I was going to be free soon.