I hook my arm around her and kiss her cheek. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“Corey will be there,” she admits. “I haven’t told him about you yet.”
“I thought you were done with him.”
“I am. But he works for my dad and has never missed a holiday party at my house.” Her eyebrows rise. “Are you cool with meeting him?”
I bob my head. “I can deal with meeting an ex.”
She sighs, her eyes downcast. “I don’t know how he’ll react to you. We were together for a long time.”
“If you don’t want me to come…”
She brushes her fingers down my arm. “No, I want to see you. I want everyone to meet you. I feel like shit about Corey… and how we left things.”
Hugging her against my chest, I dip my head down to speak against the shell of her ear. “You’re with me now. He’ll get over it eventually.”
She tilts her head to the side. “I didn’t think I could care about anyone this quickly after a breakup.”
“I’ve never felt like this before,” I confess. “You set my world on fire, Jem.”
She slips her fingers through my hair, pulling my mouth to hers. And then she kisses me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jemma
My dad gives the Christmas toast with my mom at his side, dressed in a silver gown fit for a ball. Everyone raises a glass of champagne, and my stomach churns from the scent. Since the start of the winter break, I’ve had bouts of sickness that come over me in waves.
Jordan wedges herself between my parents and three brothers for a group picture. I squeeze between my parents, and my dad hugs me close to his side. He’s all smiles, and his breath stinking of his favorite holiday combination—whiskey and cigars.
Uncle Cameron snaps a few pictures of my family. It’s nice to be home again, but the distance has made me realize I made the right decision to attend Strickland University. This would have been my life if I’d stayed, and it wouldn’t have been a terrible life, just not the one I wanted for myself.
My phone dings with a new text message from Trent. A goofy picture of him wearing a Santa hat, shirtless except for a pair of red boxers, pops up on my phone. He’s so sexy and funny. I still can’t believe he’s all mine. And that everything worked out the way it did for us.
I smile so wide my cheeks hurt and raise my phone to take a selfie of me blowing him a kiss. My cheeks flush from the heat in the house. There’s a dusting of glitter on my face from when Jordan applied a new eyeshadow she’d forced me to wear for the party.
Jordan saunters over and hands me another glass of champagne. “Drink up, sis. You’re not drunk enough.” She tips her head back and chuckles. “You have a lot of catching up to do with this crowd.”
I survey the living and dining room, where people drink and talk loudly over the holiday music. My stomach churns when I lift the glass to my lips. Every time I’ve attempted to drink tonight, waves of nausea have made it impossible to get down one sip.
“You okay, Jem?” Jordan stares at me, a curious look on her face. “Your skin has a yellowish tint.”
I cover my mouth, the contents of my stomach attempting to reappear. “No, I haven’t been feeling good all day. I think I’m sick.”
Jordan takes the glass from my hand and sets it on the table. She leads me through the crowded house and into the upstairs bathroom. I drop to my knees in front of the toilet, and my sister holds my hair.
She rubs my back with her free hand, making slow, soothing motions. “It’s okay, Jem. Let it all out.”
After I vomit, I wipe my mouth with toilet paper and sit on the tiled floor next to Jordan. She pats my knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“I think I have food poisoning,” I confess.
“I doubt it. You ate the same food as everyone in the house, and no one else is sick.” Jordan reaches into the top vanity drawer and wipes the sweat from my forehead with a hand towel. “You look horrible, babe. Let me fix you up. Hang on for a second.”
I lean against the cold, tiled wall, which feels good with all the heat circulating through my body. I’m burning up, my skin flushed and growing damper by the second. I haven’t felt good all day or even this week.
Jordan fills a paper cup with water and drops two pills into my hand. “Can you hang out with the fam, or do you want to sleep?”
