Author's Note: Thanks to everyone voting and commenting. I can't believe how much support this story has gotten. Keep commenting because I love hearing your thoughts.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carrie was gone when Jimmy and I came back into the house. Line of blood were splattered against the floor. I knew I'd spend tonight having to scrub that away.

"I have to go outside and finish a few more chores," he told me. "You okay in here by yourself?"

I looked up the stairs. Tommy and Carrie were in their room, but I couldn't hear them. I wonder what he is doing to her.

"I'll be fine," I said giving him a faint smile.

"That's my girl." He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll only be a couple hours."

I set Hunter down in his crib and watched as Jimmy left the house. I grabbed the bottle of bleach out from under the sink and grabbed and old rag. I got on my knees and scrubbed the blood off of the floor.

I could hear Tommy moving around upstairs. Every step he made would make the floor creak and my stomach would twist into a knot. He was going to take me away tomorrow, and there was nothing I could do.

No.

I couldn't think that way. I couldn't believe it. Jimmy and Hunter were the best thing to ever happen to me and I was going to lose them because of Tommy? It wasn't going to happen.

Jimmy wouldn't listen to me, so I couldn't ask him to protect me. I was going to have to protect our family myself. If Tommy was going to take me out of this house, I wasn't going to go without a fight. He didn't want Carrie because she fought back and argued. I needed to do the same. I fought back when I first came to the house, but Tommy still wanted me.

The only option was to get rid of Tommy completely. I'd have to kill him, but how? Jimmy may not trust Tommy, but he'd be furious if I killed his brother. I'd have to make it look like an accident, but that was impossible. Maybe I could make it look like he had fallen down the steps, but I'm not strong enough to pull that off.

What would happen with Carrie? Would she stay here?

My thoughts were cut off when I heard Tommy running down the steps. He stopped when he saw me on my hands and knees. His lips curled into a smile and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You excited?" Tommy asked.

I bit down on my lip and started scrubbing the floor even hard. The sharp smell of bleach burned my eyes and nose. Tommy bent down next to me so that he was sitting on his heels. I tried not to look at him.

"I'm going out and I'm going to talk to Jimmy," he said. "I know he's nervous about leaving you alone with me tomorrow. But his worries are about to go away."

I glanced up at him before looking back down.

"I'm going to tell him I'm following what he did to you," he told me. "I'll tell him that tomorrow I'm going to spend the entire day taking care of Carrie. He'll think that she'll be warming up to me. He'll have no idea what will happen."

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I wiped it away with the back of my hand. Tommy reached out and started petting my hair, and I flinched. Tommy took a fistful of my hair and pulled my head back so that my neck was at a painful angle.

"Don't cry, Jules," he told me. "Everything will be perfect soon."

Tommy let go of my hair and threw me back down onto the ground. I watched him as he stormed out of the kitchen. I finished cleaning the blood before starting dinner.

By the time I was finished putting the food on the table, they came back inside. They were laughing and Tommy stuck his elbow out to nudge Jimmy. I could feel my heart drop in my chest.

Jimmy sat down in his seat and Tommy picked up his plate and began to load it with food.

"I'm going to bring some food up to Carrie," he told us. "I told her to rest, but she's probably hungry."

"No worries," Jimmy said.

Tommy nodded his head and went upstairs with his plate of food. Jimmy began to dig into his meal. I just pushed my food around my plate with my fork. The knot in my stomach was too tight to let me to eat. Jimmy looked up and noticed me not eating.

"Julie, you need to eat," he said.

"I'm not very hungry tonight," I said.

He dropped his fork on his plate, took a gulp of water, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"Nothing." I gave him a faint smile to reassure him.

"Julie, don't lie to me."

I let out a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair. I had to give telling Jimmy one more chance.

"Tom-"

Jimmy didn't say anything, but he raised an eyebrow. That look caused a lump in my throat.

"Are you going to disrespect me and talk about Tommy again?" he asked me. "You need to trust me. I'm always going to take care of you."

"Carrie looked like she was really hurt." My voice cracked.

Jimmy's face softened and looking in his soft brown eyes made my bottom lip tremble. I was going to miss those eyes.

"She's going to be okay," he told me. "Tommy had to do it. Carrie had to learn that she was misbehaving. She'll be more respectful after."

I nodded my head and looked back down at my plate.

"You want to go to our room after dinner?" he asked. "You look like you could use a long night of sleep."

I shook my head. I wasn't going to be able to sleep a wink tonight. "Jimmy?"

"Yes?" he asked before shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Can you read Lord of the Flies to me tonight?"

"Of course."

--

Jimmy never bothered to ask me what's wrong in the morning. As soon as his alarm went off, I rolled over on top of him and buried my face in his neck. I took in a deep breath of his scent. His arms wrapped around me for a quick hug before I rolled off him. I followed him around the room as he got changed and wrapped my arms around him when I got the chance. He chuckled before turning around kissing me.

"You're clingy today," he said. "I like it."

"I love you." I nuzzled my face into his chest.

"I love you too," he said kissing the top of my head. "You better get changed."

Jimmy opened up the drawer and handed me a pile. I peeled off my clothes and got changed into the jeans and shirt he gave me. Seeing that it was one of his old shirts gave me a sense of relief. At least I'd have something of him I could hold onto.

I picked up Hunter and grabbed Jimmy's arm and followed him down the steps. Tommy was down at the table with a bowl of cereal in front of him. My grip tightened on Jimmy's arm. Jimmy sat down in his seat and I grabbed us a couple bowls.

"What time are you heading out?" Tommy asked.

He was already eager to get us out of this house.

"Right after breakfast, so I'll be home for dinner," Jimmy said.

I bounced Hunter up and down on my lap. He giggled and reached out to grab my hair. I couldn't bring Hunter with us. Tommy would hurt him. Jimmy would do a better job raising him than I could.

"Is Carrie awake?" Jimmy asked.

"She was still asleep when I came down here," Tommy said.

"Remember to be kind to her today. It'll make her act a lot better."

Tommy nodded his head. I saw him take a quick glance at me and smirk. I swallowed against the lump in my throat and held Hunter to my chest.

I looked over at Jimmy's bowl to see it was almost empty. He was going to have to leave soon.

"Do you want any more cereal?" I asked.

"I'm good," Jimmy said shaking his head.

"Are you sure? You need your energy for today."

"I'm good, Julie."

He took the last spoonful of cereal and tilt the bowl back to drink the milk. He slid the bowl over to me and I gathered them up before putting them in the sink. Jimmy was already sliding his worn out plaid jacket on. I couldn't stop myself from putting Hunter in his crib, running over to him and hugging him again. He chuckled and patted my back.

"Julie, I'll only be gone for like six hours. You'll see me soon," he told me.

No. I was never going to see him again.

"I'm going to miss you," I said and struggled to stop my voice from wavering.

"I'll miss you too, honey," he said. "I love you."

I got up on my toes and kissed Jimmy. I moved my hands up so they were around his neck. Jimmy tightened his arms around my waist as our kiss deepened. I wanted him to be able to feel the desperation in the kiss. He needed to know I needed him here.

My heart dropped when he broke our kiss. His lips curled into a smile.

"Good-bye, sweetheart," he said as he kissed my forehead.

He pulled my arms off of his neck and turned to the door. He pulled the key off of his neck and unlocked the door. I looked over my shoulder to see Tommy standing behind us. The chain was around his neck. He wasn't wearing his key.

I went over to the sink and watched Jimmy through the bars on the window. He climbed into the truck and pulled out of the driveway. I squeezed my eyes shut when his truck was out of my sight.

"Jules, get upstairs and pack your stuff up quick."

�Q+^��~~���