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She twisted her head aside and fixed her gaze on Julius’s boots. Rough black leather with square toes. Above that, legs clad in black denim. If she kept going, she’d see the cotton of his shirt stretched across his broad chest and finally, that black Stetson. If the rest of the team sported the hat well, Julius looked born to wear it.
Clay addressed Lana. “You’re in charge of publicity?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to ask you to only state the things we tell you. Our plan is to draw the perpetrator out by first making him feel confident that he can’t be caught. Then we’ll tighten the noose.”
“We’ll do anything to help end this for Avalynn.”
Her gaze shot to Lana’s. The emotions that hadn’t been far away ever since Julius walked into her suite and told her about the video hovered near the surface. The hot, tight ball in Avalynn’s throat spread downward through her chest too.
Clay waved a hand, almost hitting the redhead in the cramped quarters. “This is Lark. She’s going to instruct you about what to say online.”
Lark offered the PR team a soft smile. “Can we all talk over here?” She waved toward the built-in table that would never seat all of them. Her tour bus was large, but there were only a few of them on it.
She sought out Julius and found him staring at her.
After they all moved to the table Clay nodded at the other two men. “Livingston and Abel will be working with Julius to form a plan for your safety, Miss Ray.”
Her attention flashed to the man Clay referred to as Abel.
“You have the same last name,” she remarked to her bodyguard.
He nodded. “My brother.”
His brother shot her a wide grin. “One of them, anyway. There are five of us.”
Five brothers. Looking at the man, she saw the family resemblance. Did they all look so similar? And why hadn’t she ever thought to ask Julius about his life when he wasn’t hopping from city to city protecting her? Suddenly, she felt like the most self-centered human being ever.
Heidi redirected Avalynn’s attention. “What should we be doing?”
Clay assessed Heidi. “Why don’t you join the others?”
Heidi gave her hand a last squeeze before standing and joining the PR team and Lark. That left Avalynn sitting alone on the bench—but not for long. Julius took the vacant spot, scooting close enough that she could grab his hand if she needed the support.
But she didn’t and kept her hands folded in her lap.
The three men began to ask Avalynn questions, first about the men she’d dated and ended with the list—a short one—of the ones she’d slept with. The entire time, Julius remained at her side like a hunk of granite or a living piece of Stonehenge, solid and stalwart and exactly what she needed to get her through this ordeal.
Talking about her personal life always came with a measure of difficulty, and spilling it to the FBI task force was far from simple. But she took strength from Julius’s presence and told them everything and anything she could think of that might help.
Clay looked at Julius and then slid his gaze to her. “Do you have any memory of what happened?”
She shook her head. “None.”
“You don’t remember waking up? Perhaps feeling odd or out of sorts?”
“No.”
“Do you remember having any…evidence…of the incident?”
“That’s enough,” Julius cut across Clay.
“We have to know, Julius.”
He extended a hand to press into her lower back in that same protective way that always made her feel safe, even though her cheeks were burning from the question.
“She would have already said something if she were aware of anyevidence,as you put it.”
