Slow Agony (Assassins, #2)(51)

I thought about going after him, but I didn’t. He’d want me to agree with him, and I wasn’t sure that I did.

By all rights, it shouldn’t have been so horrible staying down here in this basement. It had once been a separate apartment, and the previous owners had rented it out. That meant it had a full kitchen and bathroom in addition to two bedrooms and this living room. In fact, this living room was the one the family always used to watch TV. The one upstairs was for entertaining, not relaxing. So, it seemed like we should have been comfortable down here.

But we’d been down here for so many days, it was beginning to feel like a prison.

Christa went after her brother. “Come on, Griffin, you can’t keep us down here.”

Uh oh. She was going to bother him until he got really mad, wasn’t she? I better go after her now.

Shooting an apologetic look at Beverly, who seemed tired and worried, I left the living room too.

Griffin and Christa were in the kitchen area. There were no windows down here, so the light was too bright and artificial.

“Christa,” I said, “maybe we should give Griffin a moment.”

“Why?” she said. “He’s still going to be irrational and controlling in a moment, isn’t he? Are we going to stay down here forever?”

“I don’t know,” said Griffin. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Call the damned police,” she said.

“I can’t do that,” he said. “It’s not possible.”

“Maybe we should call the twins?” I said.

“No, I’ve gotten them too messed up in this as it is,” said Griffin. “I’d rather they stay safe.”

“We really can’t stay here forever, Griffin,” I said.

“Thank you,” said Christa.

He glared at me. “Not you too.”

“Listen, Griffin,” said Christa, “I’m going to get my period. And I’m out of tampons. So, what are we going to do then, hmm?”

Griffin made a face. “Don’t be disgusting.”

“I’m not,” she said. “Hell, I’m sure Leigh’s going to get her period too. Will you get tampons for her?”

I guessed I should be getting my period at some point, shouldn’t I? When had I had it last? It was so much easier to remember when it was supposed to come when I took birth control pills. But since those damned things had failed me, I’d switched to something called a NuvaRing. I put it in at the beginning of the month and took it out three weeks later. Of course, sometimes I forgot to take it out, but that was no big deal, because I’d get my period, which would remind me to take it out.

The last time I’d put one in was...

Oh shit.

I was supposed to put one in, but Marcel had killed Naomi, and I’d had to run. I’d been understandably distracted. But that meant that I’d having unprotected sex with Griffin. The first time was two weeks ago, which was... two weeks after leaving Thomas... which was the perfect time for ovulation.

I bit down hard on my lip and started out of the kitchen, shaking my head.

“Hey, Leigh, where are you going?” said Christa.

“Um, I need some time alone,” I said. I shut myself in the bathroom. Fuck.

*

Late that night, I tiptoed out of the room that I was sharing with Christa. Beverly had the other room to herself, and Griffin was sleeping on the couch in the living room. I crept through the darkness to find him.

“Griffin,” I whispered.

I couldn’t see much. He was only a blob of darkness on the couch. He wasn’t moving. I got closer and shook him. “Griffin.”

He stirred. “What?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Leigh?” He sat up and reached over to turn on the light. “What’s up?”

“Um...” I took a deep breath. I started to pace in front of the coffee table, my hands clasped together. “We might have a slight... situation, you and me. I don’t know. I mean, we’d need to find out for sure, and I don’t know how we’d do that without getting out of here, which you don’t want to do, so...”

Griffin threw aside his covers and got up. He took me by the shoulders. “What are you talking about?”

“I started this new kind of birth control that was supposed to be better, because I only had to put it at the beginning of every month, and I didn’t have to worry about remembering pills?”

His face darkened. “Are you saying...?”

“I sort of forgot to put it in this month.”

“Leigh, are you serious?”

I swallowed. “Marcel was shooting my best friend in front of me. Birth control wasn’t exactly my top priority.”

He sat down on the couch.

“Anyway, it might be nothing, because we didn’t really do it very much this month. But, I mean, it would be time now for my period, like Christa said, and it hasn’t come, and...”

He dragged a hand over his face.

I chewed on my lip. “Say something.”

He sighed.

“Griffin, are you mad?”

“No,” he said, but he kind of sounded mad.

“I swear I meant to put it in. I didn’t do this on purpose.”