Page 28 of Rock Hard
She squared her shoulders and straightened to her full, diminutive height. “I’m looking for Carly.”
He frowned. Then he noticed Alice’s usually radiant skin was pale, her beautiful eyes creased with worry. “Why?”
“Because I came to see her, and she’s nothere,” Alice snapped.
He narrowed his eyes, remembering the last time she had come around. Alice had wanted to take Carly away from him, and he’d shot that idea down in flames. Besides being his cub, Carly was the only solid, tangible connection he had to Alice.
“Why, Alice?” he asked softly, dangerously. “Trying to take her away from me again?”
“Yes! I mean, no, not permanently. Just for a couple hours. Sometimes when you have a show, I come for Carly and we spend time together. Except this time, she’s not here!”
Rex was floored by that knowledge.
“You’ve been coming to see Carly?”
“Yes,” she said, waving her hands in the air as if losing her patience. “We go shopping, have dinner. Where is she? Did that slutty she-cat of yours convince you to send her off to boarding school?”
“No, of course not.” He stalked over to Carly’s room and pounded on the door. “Open up, young lady.”
His demands were met with silence.
Alice huffed. God, how he had missed that sound.
“She’s not in there.”
He put his hand on the knob, finding it unlocked. The room was empty.
“I already checked in here,” Alice said irritably, appearing behind him. “No clothes, no hairbrush, no anything. It’s like she was never here. She was with you when you checked in, wasn’t she, Rex?”
“Of course she was.” He stilled, quietly appreciating the light scent that wrapped around him. Notes tickled the edge of his mind, dancing just out of reach. He closed his eyes, willing them to come.
“Are you certain? Did you actuallyseeher? Rex, are you even listening?”
Rex’s eyes snapped open again at the edge of panic in Alice’s voice.
Alice never panicked. Got riled, sure, but this was different. This wasn’t anger. She was genuinely scared.
He fought the sudden, nearly overwhelming urge to fold her into his arms and ease her fears. She wouldn’t welcome it, for one thing. For another, if he did get her in his arms, he might not let go.
Instead, he thought back to their arrival the night before. He had been half out of it, letting Valerie lead him where he needed to go, assuming she had things under control. He couldn’t remember seeing Carly, but that wasn’t unusual. Carly and Valerie didn’t exactly get along and avoided each other whenever possible. He said as much to Alice.
Alice’s features were set in disapproval, but she nodded as if that wasn’t news. “Okay, before that then. When was the last time you saw Carly?”
He thought about it, working backward in his mind from their arrival. He didn’t remember seeing her coming in, but that wasn’t unusual, either. They traveled on different tour buses, and by the time he made it up to the room, she was usually already settled in.
Before that, well, that last leg of the trip was a little blurry.
“Dallas,” he said finally, remembering that Carly and Valerie had gotten into a shouting match over something or another.
“Dallas!” Alice exclaimed. “That was two days ago!”
Her disappointment pierced his chest like a well-thrown blade. He rubbed his left pec absently.
He was about to respond when the door opened and Valerie came in, looking pissed. When her eyes landed on Alice, they went positively feral.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Alice stiffened. “Back off, Tigger. The grown-ups are talking.”
