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“All right. So the next move is just to go about your business. Attend concerts and fulfill your obligations to your fans. But if something unplanned or unscheduled pops up, you won’t be taking those on. We need to keep a tight rein on the situation.”
“What about the man on the tape? You believe it’s the same one who sent me death threats?” Her voice wavered, and Julius’s fingertips pressed tighter into her flesh, leaving five warm half-moons on her back.
“We believe that, yes. He’s bold enough to send those threats and release this video to the world.” Clay’s voice raised higher to be heard over the chatter taking place toward the front.
Her PR team was going crazy, each of them on their phones. Heidi and Lana were deep in conversation. Even Lark was flipping frantically through screens.
Julius’s brother stood and strode over to them. “What’s going on?”
Lark grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in to look at her phone.
“Excuse me a moment.” Julius’s voice at Avalynn’s ear left her feeling hot and cold and shivery all at the same time.
His hand left her back, and he squeezed around the other people to join them. Before long everyone had their phones out and were reading every post, tweet and word from news channels. She listened to their discussions about photos and screenshots of the video being leaked to the public, but she had no desire to look for herself.
She dropped her face in her hands and tried to find some semblance of calm in a tumultuous world. When someone gasped, she jerked her head up.
Lana held out her phone and ran the few steps to Heidi. “Fans are boycotting the concert! Tonight Avalynn’s going to be playing to an empty stadium!”
Avalynn’s blood ran cold even as the walls of the bus began to close in on her. Her stomach plunged to what felt like the soles of her feet. She must have made a choking noise because suddenly Julius dropped to the sofa next to her, close enough that his body heat washed up her side.
“It’s all right, honey. Just breathe. That’s not going to happen.”
“Everyone remain calm!” Lark’s voice carried over the loud talk. “Start deleting the comments, and everything will be fine.”
Julius stared at Clay. “The no comment thing isn’t working. Avalynn’s image is wholesome. This is destroying her.”
The room fell silent.
“So what makes a sex tape acceptable?” Clay asked.
A heavy heartbeat ticked by. Then Lark said, “When it’s not sex and they were making love.”
Avalynn’s jaw dropped.
Lark went on, “I think they were secretly dating.”
“But still not married!” Heidi burst out.
“No, but they got engaged. This is the night of their engagement.” Lark’s red curls seemed to bob around her face as though set in motion by the energy of their owner.
“Who do we say Avalynn is engaged to?” Clay’s question came with another long pause of silence.
Julius cleared his throat. “Me.”
Avalynn jerked her head around to pierce him in her stare. “What?”
Dark brown eyes burned into hers for a split second before Clay redirected Julius’s attention.
“How are we going to convince the world it’s him?”
“Their bodies do look the same,” Lark hedged.
Oh god. Did they? Avalynn had no idea what her bodyguard’s body looked like other than he was a badass hottie in black.
“Julius, stand up and take off your shirt.” Clay’s demand brought him to his feet.
Without hesitation, Julius clamped on to the hem of his T-shirt and stripped it slowly over his head. Each inch of muscled torso he revealed had the ladies gasping, and Avalynn’s mouth hanging open even more.
