When we arrived at Harris Memorial, Dad took Jim to do some tests, leaving me in the room where Jim would spend the night. I sat in a chair by the bed and closed my eyes, surrendering to the tiredness.

Falling asleep would be easy, but I needed to know what happened to Jim's back. I lifted myself off the chair with a sigh and went to get a cup of coffee. Had Harper been at the hospital, I would've rushed to talk to her, but she was still away at a conference.

Memories attacked me while I navigated the deserted hallways, flashing me back to the night when I met Jim. The "ordinary girl meets a superstar in disguise" trope would make a good book, except it was very much real. It was my life, and unlike in romance novels, where the happily ever after was guaranteed, I had no clue about the way our story would end.

The caffeine from the famous green machine infused some energy into my exhausted body. I loitered next to the steel box for a while before going back to the room. 

The sound of male voices floated in the empty hallway. As I pushed the door open, I saw Jim in bed and my dad sitting in a chair by his side.

My eyes landed on the IV attached to Jim's arm. I looked at my dad.

"Just some painkillers." He smiled. "It was a bad fall, but Jim will get better in a week or so."

"A week?"

Jim chuckled. "I'm okay. Just need some time for the inflammation and pain to go away. Thank you, doctor Morris."

Dad got up from the chair. "You're welcome. No physical exercise for now, Jim. You're staying, aren't you?" Dad looked at me.

I smiled. "If that's okay."

Dad approached me and hugged me tightly, kissing my cheek. "More than. I'll go home but will come back in the morning to check on Jim. Go easy on the guy."

"Of course," I said, watching Dad exit the room.

"Come here," Jim whispered as soon as the door closed. 

I walked up to the chair and perched on it.

A smile lifted the corners of Jim's mouth. "Ava. Not there. Get in bed with me."

"Are you sure?"

"I would throw you over my shoulder if I could, but since I can't, just come here."

I kicked off my sneakers and took off my jacket before climbing onto the bed and lying by Jim's side. "Has anyone told you you're bossy?"

Jim caressed my cheek with his free hand. "You did. You might even like it."

"I guess I have to take the whole package." I smiled at Jim.

"You should definitely take the whole package, but you need to wait till I recover."

The double meaning of Jim's words made me blush.

"There it is." He chuckled. "I missed it."

"Missed making me blush?"

"Of course. If I'm honest, I missed everything about you."

Carefully, I rested my head against Jim's shoulder.

"On my chest," he said. "That's where I love to have you. With your cheek pressed to my heart."

I slid down and draped an arm across Jim's waist. "Better?"

Jim dropped a kiss on the top of my head. "Yeah. I texted my chauffeur. He'll be here soon with our dinner and some clothes."

"You have a chauffeur. A bodyguard, too?"

Jim sighed. "After I got roofied. I didn't want to, but my manager and producer insisted."

I ran my fingertips over the side of Jim's body, quietly processing what he told me. Until now, I hadn't realized how different his life was from mine, but with every little thing he confessed, the picture became clearer. 

"Don't go there." Jim buried his hand in my hair, massaging my scalp. "We will talk, but don't start assuming things before we do."

A light tap on the door didn't let Jim say more. A man wearing a cap peeked his head in. "May I?"

Jim sat up in bed, taking me with him. "Come on in, Dec. This is my girl, Ava."

The man grinned, looking at the two of us. "Falling on purpose wasn't smart, boy. I said grovel, but that wasn't what I meant."

Laughing, Jim looked down at me. "Don't listen to Declan. It wasn't on purpose. But if I'd known we'd end up like this…"

Sighing, Declan put one of the bags he was holding on a small table by Jim's bed. "Your dinner for two. And the clothes are here." Jim's chauffeur lifted the other bag for Jim to see and left it on the bed. "Do you need anything else?"

Jim shook his head. "Only to thank you and tell you I owe you one."

Declan dismissed Jim's words with a wave of his hand and focused his eyes on me. "Your man is a stubborn fool, Ava. He also has a heart of gold."

"There, tell her good things about me," said Jim.

"I'll leave you so that you can cuddle." Declan winked at Jim. "Aggressively."

Jim kissed the top of my head again. "Food first. And seriously, Dec, thank you."

"You're welcome. Get some rest, boy."

When Declan left, Jim reached for the bag with dinner. "You must be starving. There's some lasagna." He peeked into the bag. "And apple pie."

"Sounds perfect."

We ate fast. Despite Jim's reluctance to let go of me, I went to get some coffee for the two of us and settled beside him in bed once I was back with two steaming drinks.

"I was thinking about the right way to discuss everything," Jim said, taking a sip from his cup. "Ask me whatever you want to know. I promise to answer every question of yours."

I downed my coffee and snuggled up to Jim. "Why Rebellious Hearts?"

"That's easy." Jim caressed the curve of my waist, rubbing my skin through the cotton of my shirt. "Hearts are stubborn. They go after what they want, not caring about the consequences. But they are hardly ever wrong. Think about something that brings you joy. Something that makes you want to live. I'd bet the heart was involved in choosing that thing."

"Did you come up with the name?"

"With Kennedy's help," Jim whispered against my temple. "Aiden is younger than me but really mature for his age. Back when I started, it was Kennedy, Nick, and me. Then, Aiden moved cities, and Jason began to play with us. Finlay was the last one to join the band. We were already famous."

"I read the band became famous overnight."

"I certainly didn't expect the label to offer us a contract, but nothing happens overnight. There were tons of rejections and doubts before we auditioned for Cayden, our current producer. I was about to give up many times. I did have a degree, after all. I wouldn't be jobless. At some point, making efforts that ended in nothing started to seem pointless, but I see it in a different way now."

"In a different way how?"

"Quitting is easy, but you'll be left with hundreds of what-ifs robbing you of sleep. What if I persisted? What if I tried harder? What if I waited just a little bit longer?"

"What if I didn't give you that cup of coffee?"

"I would be missing out on…" Jim paused and turned his head on the pillow to face me.

I looked up at him from his chest. "On what?"

"Ask me more questions, just not that one yet. Ask me things you are worried about. Tell me what scares you."

A shaky breath left my lips. As if sensing my turmoil, Jim drew circles on my back, the movements of his hand soothing.

"If I am your girlfriend, what will it be like?"

"I'll do everything I can to make you happy."

"I mean the media. Is it really that bad? Will my face be on the internet? Will they write about me, too?"

"I can't lie to you, baby," Jim whispered. "They will. They will write about you and probably make up stuff if they can't get enough info. You will have paps waiting for you at your store. They might ask your friends about you to get enough gossip for an article."

"My life will change."

"It will."

"That's why you made sure we were hardly ever in public. We only went to two restaurants in the city and one in a small town."

"I took you places where I knew the owners and knew we'd have privacy."

"Not because you didn't want to be seen with me."

Jim moved his hand to my face and lifted my chin with his thumb, looking into my eyes. "No. I wouldn't care if they saw us together, but I couldn't be selfish to expose you when you knew nothing. It has to be a conscious choice made by you."

"I've never thought about it. Is it like that for every couple if one of them is a celebrity?"

"Pretty much," said Jim. "Not everyone hates it. Some people enjoy the attention. I definitely like it when it's because of our music. What I don't like is the annoying kind of it when we're treated like objects."

"So, what can we do?"

Jim tightened his grip on me, pressing my body to his as if he was afraid his next words would push me away. "There are options. The first one is obvious. We let them see us together and deal with the shitstorm. It also can be done in a much better way by talking to our PR people and letting them suggest options."

"Which?"

"Arranging an interview with the two of us. Introducing you to the world as my girlfriend."

"But I would still have paparazzi following me around."

Jim kissed my forehead. "Yeah."

"Is that what everyone does?"

"Some people…"

The pause made me put my hand on Jim's jaw to make him look at me. "Some people what?"

"You've probably seen my photos with Riley White. She's a close friend of mine — a friend in a genuine, committed relationship nobody knows about."

My eyes searched Jim's face. "You're kidding, right? They wrote about so many boyfriends of hers—"

"Noah is my friend, too. They met when Riley was still in college. She dropped out when her acting career took off, but they continued dating. They own a beautiful home and spend every moment they can together, but Noah is a geek. He's an ordinary guy who develops software and makes video games. Okay, he is super famous in his circle, but that fame isn't the same kind as Riley's."

"So, they are keeping it secret," I mumbled into Jim's neck.

"Yeah. Noah is socially awkward, as he likes saying. But they fit. And they love each other. Since the media knows nothing, they can be successful in their careers without the additional stress of having their privacy ruined."

"That's another option."

"Those are the examples I know," said Jim. "My bandmates are single. Jay is happy having one-nighters with random girls, Nick and Fin are focused on music. And then there's you and me."

Silence stretched between us. Jim went on caressing me as he held me, and a million scenarios ran through my mind. 

I imagined the camera flashes and my uneventful life being written about. Talked about. Discussed. Judged. 

They would know who my dad was. It would also affect him and the girls. 

If I were to try to publish my book one day, they would also write about it because of me being Jim O'Brien's girlfriend. Not a single part of my life would remain unaffected.

"Say something," whispered Jim.

The fear and anguish in his voice were palpable, and his heart beat faster under my palm.

"I want to be with you," I said. "But I don't think I'm ready."

"Ready for me?"

"God, Jimmy. No. I don't think I'm ready for the attention and the changes in my life. But I don't want to be selfish by asking you to keep us secret."

Jim exhaled loudly. "Thank God. And no, it wouldn't be selfish. I gave you options. I wouldn't say anything if I weren't okay with it."

"So, Ava Morris is going to live her secret, forbidden romance with a hot rockstar."

Jim's green eyes twinkled. "Hot?"

"That's what I said."

We looked at each other. What I saw in Jim's eyes mirrored what I surely had in mine — hope. Hope that we could make it work. Hope that when we were stronger as a couple, we could find a way to be together in the open without ruining our lives and our relationship.

Jim pressed his forehead to mine and stilled. And then, he kissed me. His lips parted mine and molded against them, softly at first and with an almost bruising intensity a couple of frenzied heartbeats later. 

I fisted his shirt, leaning into him, into the wet heat of the kiss and his gentle hands that caressed me through my clothes.

My tongue circled his, and one of my hands made its way into Jim's hair, tugging gently. He kissed me harder, rougher, saying more with the kiss than he did with words.

I was the one to stop. Jim's chest rose and fell fast as he smoothed a thumb over my cheek, staring at me with those intense green irises of his. "Was it too much?"

I smiled. "No. Never. I just…"

"You just?"

"I just want it back," I said, placing my hand over Jim's heart. Careful not to touch the IV, I wrapped him in my arms and tucked my face in the crook of his neck, breathing him in. "My key."

Thoughts?

Okay, I know it's not our situation, but what would you do? Going public and losing privacy, or hiding and enjoying each other? I honestly don't know which option I would choose.

More to come.