Read Online Light Unshaken (Unveiled #2) by Crystal Walton - Free Book Online

with him?
    It wasn’t that long of a walk back to my apartment. Still, I’d checked my phone for a reply five times before reaching my door. Where was he?
    I toed off my shoes by the heels and hung up my keys. Jaycee sprinted down the hall, muttering to herself the way she did when she was on a mission. I followed her into our room. A sweater sailed from the closet and landed on the corner of her mattress beside an overflowing suitcase.
    “Jae? What’s going on?”
    She peeked out from behind the closet door. “Oh, sorry, Em. I’m not ignoring you, promise. I’m just trying to make sure I don’t forget anything.” She pushed her hair off her face and left her hand on her forehead. “If I get stuck in rush hour traffic, I’m gonna kill Professor Greaves for keeping us late today.”
    Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with professor problems.
    “I thought you weren’t going home until Friday?”
    She rolled up a pair of jeans and stuffed them inside the perimeter of her bag. “My dad called. Said Mom’s been sick for the last week. I thought I better go home a few days early to help get everything ready for Saturday.”
    She held a black cocktail dress in front of her to examine it with her fashion meter, no doubt. “Sweet Sixteen parties are kind of a big deal at my house. I know it’s killing my mom not to be at her best.”
    “Well, don’t stress. You’re the queen of planning parties. Everything will turn out perfectly. Mandy’s gonna love it.”
    She stopped midstream in one of her trips between her dresser and suitcase with a pair of sparkly heels dangling from her fingers. Her restless expression yielded to a smile. “Thanks.”
    I flopped onto my bed while she assembled sets of earrings and necklaces to go with each of her outfits. “Is Trevor going with you?”
    “He’s coming down after class on Friday. So, he’ll make the party, at least.” She jumped on top of her suitcase to force it to close all the way. “You sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone?”
    “What will I do without my mom-away-from-home?”
    She tossed her pillow at me.
    “I’ll be fine, Jae. I have three classes plus my internship. Think I should be able to keep myself busy.”
    A ding lit up my cell with Riley’s delayed text.
    Booked all day. Will call at nine.
    I folded the pillow under my arms. Sometimes staying busy didn’t help.
    Hands hovering over her bags, Jaycee gave her packing job one last assessment. “You should invite Becky and Ashlea over one night if you get bored.”
    We looked at each other for a split second before busting out laughing.
    “Okay, maybe not Ashlea,” she said. “But, seriously, call me or Trev if you need anything. We won’t be that far away.”
    “Stop worrying. Have a great time with your family. Give your parents hugs for me, and tell that baby sister of yours to stop growing up so fast.”
    “Right?” She slid her arm through her toiletry bag straps and sat beside me. “We’re getting old, Em. It’s sad but true.”
    My forehead wrinkled in a mirror reflection of hers. “You better drive in the slow lane, then. You know how impatient people can get behind elderly drivers.”
    She shoved me off the edge of the bed.
    I lugged her oversized suitcase down the stairwell, each drop onto the next stair louder than the last. The thing weighed a ton. “You sure you’re coming back?”
    “If I weren’t, you’d be carrying a lot more than one suitcase right now.”
    We reached the curb the same time as Trevor.
    “Hey, Em, you gonna be okay with your partner in crime missing?” He toyed with the top corner of Jaycee’s jeans. “There’s no permanent damage, right? I mean, it had to be painful separating two people attached at the hip.”
    Our synchronized eye rolling perpetuated his amusement.
    “You know, Trev, I had the strangest notion the other day that maybe by senior year that joke would get old.”
    His mischievous grin ruled out that possibility. “You could