Page 253 of Remy

What he’s doing.

My eyes burn, the increased threat of tears spurring my gut to counteract with a mass production of bile. I wince at the agonizing churn.

“Liv?” Ivy crouches in front of me. “You’re worrying me.”

Me, too.

I’m not sure how to recover from this. How to survive.

I’m lost. In pain. Yet I’m so goddamn numb.

“When was the last time you ate?” she asks.

I scrunch my nose at the thought.

“Do you want me to get you some sandwiches? I can check with the catering staff and see if there’s more food waiting in the kitchen.”

I pull my hands from hers to place a soothing palm over my abdomen. I’m definitely going to be sick again. There’s no escaping it.

I can already feel my body creeping toward the starting line. There’s a slight burn in my throat. A heated tightening takes over my temples.

“I need to use the bathroom.” I push to my feet, dizzy with the insurgence of nausea.

“Liv, you can’t keep doing this.” Ivy stands, running a comforting hand down my back.

The concern in her eyes undoes me, increasing the burn, triggering more bile.

“Please stay here,” I beg. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She winces but nods.

I hustle for the wake room, accelerating my pace, trying to outrun the inevitable.

“My deepest sympathies, Olivia,” a woman says as I enter the building.

“Your dad was such a great man” comes from someone else.

Condolences shadow me across the room, hounding me like wraiths.

“I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

“You’re in my thoughts.”

“He’ll be missed.”

I blink through my blurring vision, stumbling my way across the room only to stop at the edge of the mingling mourners.

Remy’s brother stands guard in front of the men’s bathroom, making it impossible to discreetly escape into the ladies.

Oh, God.

“Are you alright, dear?” A woman I don’t recognize touches my arm. “If it’s the bathroom you’re after apparently there’s a plumbing issue, but I was told if you walk through to the reception area?—”

“Excuse me.” I turn and flee in the opposite direction.

I don’t have time to reach the other bathrooms.

My chest is too tight. My throat too hot.

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