Chapter Thirty-Three
“I’ll be out shortly!” I yelled to Sasha. Two seconds later, I was back on my knees in front of the toilet, tossing up the contents of my stomach. It had been two weeks since the night of the Bratva cocktail party, and I hadn’t left the house once, not even to see my little brother.
I’d caught some sort of stomach bug that night, and I’d been unable to keep anything down since. Today, I thought that I was doing okay. I’d gone one day without being violently ill, and I figured the worst had passed. That was until I smelled the bagels Sasha had brought with her for breakfast.
The thought of the cream cheese sent me running to the bathroom where I hurled up the very few contents of my stomach.
After a few minutes kneeling at the toilet, I felt my nausea pass, and I knew that I was going to be alright. I washed up before tentatively opening the door and stepping out into the living room. I was still clammy and weak, and I didn’t want to take a tumble across the floor.
I’d done that once this week already.
“Are you alright?” Sasha asked. Her wide, blue eyes looked concerned.
I waved her off, trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing. “I’m fine,” I told her. “Just a bug.”
Alex snorted from across the room. If I’d had had the energy, I would have leveled him with a terrifying glance, but as it were, I could only shuffle to one of the chairs in the foyer. “She’s been throwing up for the last week.”
Sasha’s mouth formed a small O of surprise. I hadn’t mentioned my sickness to her lately, not wanting to have to shoo off her attempts to mother me. “Have you seen a doctor?”
“She refuses,” Alex answered for me.
This time I gave him the finger. It was worth the effort.
“I’m fine,” I told Sasha. “I think I ate something that didn’t sit well with me, or maybe, caught something at the hospital. Lord knows, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Sasha nodded, but the look of concern hadn’t left her face. “You should probably head home. I don’t want to get you sick with whatever I have.”
This caused a frown to form on her face. “Nonsense,” she said. “Someone has to take care of you.”
Now that my initial bout of nausea was gone, I was starting to feel more like myself. That’s how it had been for the last week. I wasn’t constantly sick. The nausea hit me quickly and disappeared just as fast.
“I’m honestly fine,” I told her. I was starting to feel more like myself the longer we sat around.
Sasha looked at me oddly, and I wondered what I had said.
“Alex?” she asked, turning to my new bodyguard. Despite the fact that we knew that my father had been the person following me, Marco wouldn’t ease up on security. I knew he was worried. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t want Alex near me. “Can you grab Ivy some water? She looks a little pale.”
Alex didn’t question the request. He simply got up from his seat and made his way towards the kitchen.
“Ivy?” Sasha turned her attention back to me. “Do you remember the last time you got your period?”
I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t that question. “What?” I asked. “Why?”
Sasha wasn’t a normal girlfriend. She didn’t have a lot of boundaries. I think it was because she didn’t have girlfriends growing up. But even so, she’d never asked me a question about my period before.
“I just…” she trailed off. “I think you might be pregnant.”
I released a snort. “I’m not pregnant.” I was sure of it. Though then again, Marco and I didn’t use protection; we were usually too wrapped up in one another to think about it. Now, thatseemed incredibly irresponsible.
Sasha raised her hands in defeat. “This just sounds a lot like morning sickness to me,” she said. “That’s all.”
My mind whirled as I tried to remember the last time that I got my period. I was never regular, probably because of my low weight and great stress, but I couldn’t remember if I’d had one in the last two months.
Before I could say anything further, Alex walked into the room with a glass of water. “Thanks,” I said, as he handed me the full glass. I brought it to my lips, sipping it slowly. My stomach clenched as the liquid reached it. This time I knew that the clenching wasn’t from my illness, but rather, Sasha’s words.
“How are you doing?” I asked Sasha. I hadn’t seen her since the night of the party when she’d struggled to be around the people who she’d once considered her family. I’d been meaning to check on her, but I’d been dealing with my own problems.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”