OFFSTAGE, on my Mind
Quinn Parker has a system: keep her grades up, keep her feelings private, and absolutely never act like the kind of girl who screams over a boy band, no matter how many NEON ATLAS songs she has memorized.
So when the group’s lead singer, Jace Wilder, is chased through the arena hallway before a sold out show, Quinn reacts on pure instinct: she yanks him behind a giant fake pot plant, yells his name, and points the stampede of fans in the wrong direction.
Jace disappears with security. Quinn goes back to her life. End of story.
Except a week later, Quinn lands an after school cleaning job at a luxury rental and opens the door to find Jace Wilder alone, exhausted, and nothing like his shining, onstage self. He tries to flip the charm back on when he realizes she’s the girl who saved him, but Quinn doesn’t buy it. She makes him a coffee, tells him to sit down, and treats him like a normal person for the first time in a long time.
Quinn isn’t falling for a fantasy. She doesn’t even know him.
But the more time she spends in his offstage world, between rehearsals, rumours, and the pressure to always smile, the harder it becomes to ignore the quiet, real boy behind the spotlight… and the fact that he’s starting to look at her like she’s the only place he can breathe.