Page 36 of Rock Hard
“I tried, I really did, but that puss in heat he’s got now wouldn’t let me anywhere near him.” Her shoulders lifted and fell in an elegant shrug. “And it’s not like he’d come anyway. He probably doesn’t even realize I’m not there.”
Alice exchanged a look with Johnny. “About that ... he does know.”
“He does? How?”
“I’m sorry, Carly. I thought I’d surprise you in Chicago, but you weren’t there. Rex caught me in the suite.”
Her eyes grew wide. “He knows?”
“He knows you aren’t there, but not where you are or what you’re doing. He’s worried about you, Carly. You need to let him know you’re okay.”
Disbelief clouded her young features. “He doesn’t care. He wishes I’d never been born, or at the very least, that my mother hadn’t died so he wouldn’t have to be saddled with me.”
Carly went into her room and closed the door. Alice immediately followed, unwilling to let the conversation end there. “Rex cares.”
“He has a funny way of showing it.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” Alice agreed. “But he does care, in his own way.”
Carly snorted softly. “Like he cares for you?”
It was a direct hit, one that Alice couldn’t deflect. Rex’s apathy toward her hurt as much now as it had then.
“I’m sorry, Alice,” Carly said quietly. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Alice summoned a weak smile and searched for the words to explain something even she failed to understand completely. It might have been easier had Carly not been so astute. “That’s a completely different situation. I was just his PA. You are his daughter, and he wants you with him. If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be.”
When Carly opened her mouth to speak, Alice held up her hand. “Let me finish. I’ve known Rex a long time. Long enough to know he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to. He might not qualify for Father of the Year, but he does ensure you have the best of everything. If he didn’t care, why would he do that? If he didn’t want you around, don’t you think it would make more sense to set you up in a boarding school somewhere?”
She let Carly process that for a minute, then added, “Rex doesn’t think like everyone else. That’s part of what makes him such an amazing artist. His world is his music, and everything else—with the exception of you, Carly—is superfluous. That might not be ideal, but it should mean something. Just think about that, okay?”
Alice got up and went back into the living area. Her hands were shaking as she poured herself a drink. Everything she had said was true. She truly believed that, deep down, Rex loved his daughter in his own way. Unfortunately, it was also a reminder that she would forever be in the “superfluous” category.
Johnny patted the seat beside him then wrapped an arm around Alice as she leaned against him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, of course.” And she was. Sort of. She had a great job, an amazing friend who had proven time and time again that he would do anything for her, and she had her health. Once her heart accepted the cold, hard truth and stopped mooning over a certain lion, she would be golden.
She pulled out her cell phone and tapped out a text to a familiar number. Then she hit send, turned off her phone, and tossed it onto the counter.
“What did you tell him?”
“That Carly is fine and we’ll meet up with him in Boston in a few days.”
“That’s all?”
Alice nodded. Her conscience had demanded that she let Rex know Carly was okay, but there was no benefit in saying any more than that. This was Carly’s time to shine, and Alice was going to do everything possible to make sure the next few days were drama free.
