After his meteoric rise to superstardom, Jim O'Brien is no longer a small-town boy who plays in bars and dreams of success. His handsome face is plastered on the covers of celebrity gossip magazines, and his voice alone is enough to make girls swoon...
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You are the sky over my head You are my calm Amidst the chaos
I opened my eyes and swept them over my bedroom. It was nine a.m., but the thick curtains blocked the light. Somehow, I managed to sleep, although it took me a while to give in to my exhaustion.
What happened between Ava and me didn't help my case. As if she sensed I was thinking about her, she pressed herself to me even more in her sleep. She was warm and soft and seemed to belong in my arms. After I saw her respond to my touch the way she did, with passion and abandon, and she lay on my chest, I thought that some people were like two pieces of a puzzle. They just fitted. Beautifully.
There was no need to pretend or force things with the right person. Everything happened naturally and seamlessly. It surely was that way between the two of us.
Being with Ava was easy. Maybe it was because of having so much in common. Perhaps it was because of Ava's personality. She had one, and I loved that.
Waking up with her next to me was another thing I adored. I pressed a kiss to the top of Ava's head and thought about the lazy morning we would spend together. First, breakfast in bed and a conversation, and then, if I was lucky, more of what happened last night — more of our kisses and more of her.
I closed my eyes and relaxed. I could have fallen asleep again, hadn't it been for the annoying sound of my intercom.
I waited, hoping that it was a mistake, but the intercom buzzed again and then once more.
"Fuck," I muttered under my breath as I got up, careful not to disturb Ava's sleep, and grabbed my T-shirt and some sweats from the armchair by the bed.
I left the bedroom, closed the door behind me, and got dressed on the go as I padded to the front door.
A single glance at the camera made me groan.
"Why today?" I whispered into the air of my condo as I punched the button to let my uninvited guests in and pressed my forehead to the wall in the hallway, listening in for the telltale signs of the elevator arriving at my floor.
As soon as it did, I opened my apartment door wide and waited patiently next to it.
Cayden stepped out of the machine first, followed by Andre and my bandmates.
Andre was holding takeout coffees. A brown paper bag was in Jason's hand. All I thought was that I'd rather have breakfast with Ava as I planned.
"Good morning, Jim," said Cayden. "How are you feeling?"
"Morning. I'm okay. To what do I owe the surprise?"
"We know what happened," Jay said.
"And we're sorry to intrude, man, but we have to discuss stuff and Cay said it couldn't wait," added Nick. "In our defense, we did text you earlier."
