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He thinks being pretty will get him what he wants. Sometimes it will.

I sigh and hold out my wrist. “I’m humoring you. Because I’m good to my things.”

His smile gets bigger.

“Don’t push it.”

Jamie ties the ugly bracelet around my wrist. I turn my hand over once. It’s worse on. I leave it there.

I put the beads away and take Jamie down the hall with me. The bills don’t pay themselves and doll clothes are expensive.

He follows me into the kitchen and stops when I set my laptop on the table. “What now?”

“I work.”

Jamie looks around. “And I do what?”

I pull out the chair beside mine. “Sit.”

He sits.

I bring him a coloring book and the container of pencils from the playroom.

Jamie looks at them. “You can’t be serious.”

I open my laptop. He closes his eyes for a moment.

There are six new emails waiting for me. Two are from the same client who still hasn’t sent the documents I asked for yesterday.

Beside me, Jamie hasn’t touched the coloring book.

I answer the first email. Then the second.

Jamie shifts in his chair. He really is stunning.

By the fourth email, he gets up.

“Sit down.”

“I need to piss.”

“Bathroom is through there.”

He looks toward the hallway.

“Door stays open.”

His head turns back to me. “You’re fucking kidding.”

“Leave the door open unless you want me in there.”

Eventually, he walks away. I go back to my email. A few minutes later, he comes out of the bathroom and turns toward the living room instead of the kitchen.

“Jamie.”

He stops.

“You can’t get out. You’ve been medicated. If I have to get up and get you, you won’t enjoy it.”