Page 80 of Hiding from Hope

“How’s the online store coming?” Ethan asks Jessie, and the conversation between him, Jessie, and Noah breaks off, Lucas and Stella in their own discussion as Riley, Rosie, and Addison turn to me.

“So, Casey’s birthday celebrations. Ideas?”

“This isn’t some big party. We don’t have to do anything, really.” I wave Rosie off and sip my drink.

“You’ve had a big few months, though, so—”

“But we’re still waiting to hear exactly how big,” Rosie interrupts Addison and looks at me pointedly through her thick lashes as she raises her hands under the height of the table, like she is again asking for indication on the size of Jessie’s dick.

“Rosie, yuck, stop!” Addison hisses at her, trying not to get Jessie’s attention.

Honestly, at this point, I might as well tell her, just to shut her up.

I make a point to look at her hands, tilting my head and smiling mischievously. “Much bigger.”

“I KNEW it!” Rosie screeches, slaps the table and throws her head back in a laugh that sounds almost like a hyena. She takes a few minutes to gather herself, the entire table now staring at us, and Addison just covers her head.

“What did we miss?” Noah questions.

“Absolutely nothing,” I assure him with wide eyes, but when my eyes dart to Jessie, the blue in them glows and his tongue-in-cheek smugness tells me he knows exactly what Noah and the rest missed.

I swear to god, Rosie is going to burst a blood vessel from restraining her laugh so much.

How mortifying. The guy only just started to admit his feelings for me, and here I am telling people he has a huge cock.

I mean, he does. A really, really nice one, too.

I have to shake my head to clear the haze of desire. But my gaze remains on Jessie as he and the guys return to their conversations. He sits relaxed, nodding at them, wearing the biggest smile they would ever get out of him–which is to say, it’s barely there. But I secretly love that he saves his showstopper just for me. He seems a lot more at peace of late than I had ever seen him and, like his strength and solidity, are infectious; I feel the tension inside me slowly evaporate. Forgetting the words, both said and unsaid between Grace and I. Letting it go because as of right now, there is nothing I can do to change her, fix her, or make anything different from what it is right now. So why let it take hold and ruin a night of joy?

“Oh Case! I have amazing news. You remember that manuscri—”

“I need to pee!” I scream in a panic. That fucking manuscript is going to ruin me. The entire table freezes. Jessie’s eyes are on me with concern, but I pretend I can’t feel it as I stand abruptly, my chair nearly falling to the ground. “Rosie, come with me?” I ask with eyes that basically say, ‘Stand the fuck up right now and follow me, or you die.’ Thankfully, she gets the message. Her stunned face at my outburst and raised hands in disbelief follow her the entire way to the bathroom.

When we make it into the bathrooms, she yanks on my elbow to make me face her. “What the hell was that?”

“You can’t talk about the manuscript I gave you, okay, I told you, it was confidential and anonymous.”

“Well yeah, but…it’s anonymous, no one on that illiterate table is going to know someone who writes an incredible piece of literature.” She waves at me before she gets bored and heads for the mirror, fixing her face. I throw my arms up in frustration and just head to the stall, suddenly actually needing to pee. I lock the door and sit down, talking to Rosie through the charming sound of my stream.

“Can you just, like, talk to me in private about it, or text me or something? Just don’t mention it in front of people.”

“Okay, okay. Whatever.” She sighs. Wait… did she say—

“Is it really that incredible?” I ask, even though I know it’s amazing, I read just over half of it, and knew it was going to be beautiful. I just wasn’t sure if I was biased. “Well… we’re in private now! Answer me.” This woman, I tell you.

“Oh, right, well—”

“You guys ran off in the most suss way possible. Who is pregnant!?” Riley announces as she enters the bathroom. I mutter profanity while I finish up and meet the girls at the sink, Addison and Stella also now in tow. Freaking gossip patrol.

“No one is pregnant,” I mutter.

“There are way too many women in this bathroom for you to make that kind of assumption,” Rosie points out. Addison matches my eye roll with hers.

Stella’s gentle laugh lightens the mood slightly, but it is out of the ordinary to hear from her. When we all snap our gazes in her direction, she waves us off and heads to the mirror next to Rosie.

“Nice color.” She lifts the corner of her smile, her onyx eyes painted with a delicate wing analyzing Rosie from head to toe, nothing but fellow female appreciation in her appraisal.

“Nice wing. Wish I could do that,” Rosie admires Stella.

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