I could not stand to look at my reflection in the mirror. It was like witnessing a car crash, and I could not look away.

My neck had deep purple bruises from Jimmy's fingers, and another bruise guided itself along my jaw. There were more bruises scattered all over my body. Blood was dried up on the inside of my thighs. My wrist screamed in agony every time I tried to move it. My hand was cut open from the key and the corner of my lip was swollen.

From the bathroom, I could hear the blaring alarm coming from Jimmy's clock. I stayed locked in the bathroom all night and did not sleep.

I wanted to take a shower, but I was afraid of being punished for not asking. I was also afraid of being punished for running the water and waking somebody. I don't think my body could handle another assault.

I wrapped a towel around my body. I let out a shaky breath before I unlocked the door and stepped out into the room.

Jimmy was pulling a T-shirt over his head when I entered. My good hand kept a tight grip on the towel to ensure that it wouldn't fall down. A smile appeared across his lips, and it was sickening. This is the first time he saw the damage he had done to me.

"I want to take a shower," I said.

"Just be quick," he said.

I nodded and hurried into the bathroom. Some of the tension left my body when I locked the door again. I dropped the towel and stepped into the shower. Washing off all of the blood was the first thing I did. I struggled to wash my hair with one hand.

After leaving the shower, I tied up my hair and wrapped myself in the towel again. Jimmy was no longer in the bedroom, but a pile of clothes sat on my pillow. I put on the jeans and what must have been one of Jimmy's hoodies. It was much too big for me.

With every painful step, I made my way down to the kitchen. Charles and Jimmy were standing at the counter talking to each other. They stopped talking when they heard me walk into the kitchen. Charles smirked. He must be proud of his son for doing this to me.

Charles extended his hand and curled two fingers in toward him. It was a motion for me to come forward. I hesitated before I stepped toward them. When I came into Charles' reach, he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. I winced as pain spread across my body.

His eyes examined my body. He brought his hand up to my face, and his fingers grazed along the bruise on my jaw. My bottom lip trembled as I was afraid that he would push harder into it to make me feel more pain. He slid his fingers down onto my neck. I wanted to pull away as he pulled down my sweater to look at the bruises on my chest, but I stayed still.

When he let go of me, Jimmy pulled me back toward him. He wrapped his arms loosely around me. He was being careful not to hurt me.

"Tell your brother to hurry up and meet me outside," Charles told Jimmy.

"Will do," he said.

"Good."

We watched as Charles put on his jacket and he went out the back door. There was a loud creaking noise as Tommy came down the stairs. Jimmy took his arms off of me and went over to the cupboard. Tommy's jaw dropped when he saw me. I avoided his gaze and looked down at the floor. He looked me up and down, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Dad says hurry up and get outside," Jimmy said.

"Yeah," Tommy said. "First, I want to know what happened here."

I scowled at Tommy for a second before the pain in my lip was too much to handle. He was the one that ruined my chance of escaping. Last night was all his fault.

"It's none of your business," Jimmy said. "Now, get outside."

Jimmy put a bowl in my hands. I gasped as a burning sensation shot through my wrist. I struggled not to drop the bowl, but Jimmy ripped it out of my hands. He lifted up my wrist

I had not really looked at it since last night. I was too busy looking at my face and chest. It was swollen and bruised. It was unsure if it was broken or sprained.

"When did this happen?" Jimmy asked.

"When Tommy threw me on the floor last night," I said. "I used my hand to break my fall."

"You did this to her?" Jimmy asked Tommy.

I looked over my shoulder to see Tommy rolling his eyes. He uncrossed his arms.

"I think you're forgetting the part where I stopped her from escaping," Tommy said.

Jimmy let out a huff of breath.

"Are you able to move it?" he asked me. I gritted my teeth as I slowly moved my wrist. "Okay, good. It's not broken."

He grabbed my good hand and pulled me out of the kitchen. He guided me to our room and pulled me into the bathroom. He let go of my hand.

"Sit down," he said, pointing to the bathtub.

I sat down on the edge and pain shot up between my legs. Jimmy opened the cupboard under the sink and bent to look through it. I waited until he pulled out a bandage.

He sat down on the tub next to me. He carefully lifted my wrist and brought it over to him. It confused me that Jimmy would do all this damage to me and then be so careful.

"It'll need ice," I heard him mumble.

I bit my lip as he began to wrap the bandage around my wrist. I did not want any sounds of pain to escape.

"You know I don't want to hurt you, right?" he asked.

I stayed sitting and watched Jimmy wrap my wrist. He stopped and looked up at me.

"Right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded. My throat was fighting back a sob that wanted to be set free. My nose and eyes were burning.

"Julie, I need you to tell me that you know that I would never want to hurt you," he said. His voice was much harsher.

"I know," I choked out. A couple of tears ran down my cheeks.

He wrapped his arm around me and kissed my forehead. He wiped the tears off of my cheeks with his fingers.

"You're safe here," he whispered to me.

I knew what he was telling me was lies, but I wanted to believe it so badly. If I could for just one minute believe that I was safe here I could gain some of my sanity back. I was going insane and Jimmy could help me.

I was careful with my wrist as I wrapped my arms around Jimmy. I let go of all of the tears as I cried into the crook of his neck. I did not care that I was getting his shirt wet. He pulled me in tighter with his arm and put his other hand on my thigh. He pulled me onto his lap, and I ignored the way that my body hurt.

"You're safe here," he said to me again.

Ugly sounding sobs were coming from my mouth. Jimmy rocked me.

"We're all that matters to you," he said. "I'm all that matters to you."

I had to forget about Lina, Donavan, and my family. They could not help me like Jimmy can.

"I'm always going to protect you," he said.

He's a killer. He's killed so many people. It's like second nature to him. He does not even want to hurt me. All he wants to do is protect me.

A loud noise came from downstairs. Tommy must have gone outside. He would have definitely heard me crying.

Ignoring the pain in my jaw, I nuzzled my face deeper into his neck. I took in a deep breath of his scent. He moved one of his hands so that it was on the back of my head.

"I'll protect you from the outside world," he said.

I never needed to see the inside of that club again. I didn't have to dance and strip in front of perverted men. I wouldn't have to ever have their wandering eyes on me again.

"We're your family," he said.

My family. A family that wants me. All of those foster homes could not wait to get rid of me, but this was a family that actually wanted me. They tried their best to make sure that I was comfortable here.

I pulled away from Jimmy and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I sniffled. Jimmy's lips softened into a smile and mine did the same. My face was pale, bruised, and my eyes were red and puffy from crying, but Jimmy did not care. Unlike all those men at the club, he did not want me for my body. I wiped my eyes again with my fingers.

"I love you," he said.

A rational person would have said that I lost my mind. I would have said they were wrong until the next four words slipped off my tongue.

"I love you too."