Page 84 of Just What She Needed

Rhys leveled a warning look at the bass player. "You keep your hands off those girls. They may be old enough to play with, but they're still my daughter's friends."

Parker snickered. "I was just messing with you, man. Don't worry, they're safe from any Illicit behavior."

Ross and Rhys both groaned at the overused phrase employed by the media when they learned of any rock star antics by the band. Not to say it wasn't apropos at times, but after almost thirty years it had gotten old.

Alone in the dressing room, Rhys ran a hand over the back of his neck in an attempt to alleviate some of the tension that had settled there. The small venue had been hotter than the deepest pit of hell, and that, combined with the lingering effects of his fight with Rhett and his apprehension over seeing Sienna again, left him with a raging headache. Two ibuprofens knocked it back some, but his neck was still as tight as hell.

He rolled his shoulders and grimaced at the pops and cracks that resulted. A massage was definitely in order and looking up someone to sort him out would be his first order of business in Portland.

Portland. Rhett was supposed to have been with him when he got to Oregon, but she was back in Dallas. Or he assumed she was. He hadn't heard from her since she left him standing rigid and angry in Drew's guest bedroom. When he finally got it together enough to look for her, the house had been empty. Drew had driven her to LAX, and Rhys hadn't been able to bring himself to mention that, or her, to Drew since.

What the hell was wrong with him, anyway? He'd treated her like shite, and after she screwed up her courage and came to L.A. to be with him. Standing there with her cheeks flushed with rage, she yelled at him that she deserved better. And she did. But what did he do? Tried to push her out of sight when it might mean upsetting his grand self, that's what. Make sure the life of Rhys James rocked along with minimum friction.

The way he treated Rhett filled him with shame. He felt as small and guilty as the time when he was ten and had thrown the contents of his sister's underwear drawer into the front room where she was sitting with a boy. It was hilarious to his pre-adolescent self, but Rhys still remembered the look of hurt and mortification on his sister's face as the knickers and bras rained down around her. It was same look Rhett had worn when he told her he wasn't going to take her to San Francisco with him. His mother blistered his arse after the undies fiasco, and he spent the next three weeks laboring in the garden with his dad instead of playing at the beach with his friends. He almost wished his parents were there to punish him accordingly for the way he treated Rhett. If he had to come up with his own punishment, he might just throw himself under a bus.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught the movement of the door to the dressing room as it was slowly eased open.

"Sienna?"

After a moment, she looked around the partially opened door, her dark blue eyes wide and apprehensive. "Hi, Dad."

Rhys smiled and saw the mirror of that smile appear on his daughter's face. "Hello, sweetheart. Come on in."

Sienna burst through the door and ran to him, almost knocking the breath of out of him as she hurled herself into his arms.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry we had that fight." Her voice was muffled against his chest as she buried her face against him. "I said all kinds of horrible things I didn't mean. I love you, and I missed you so much."

Rhys hugged her tight and kissed her hair. "I love you, and I missed you, too. I'm glad you came tonight."

Face shining, she looked up at him. "It was such an excellent show. Even better than last year's."

This was the daughter he remembered, full of life and excitement and wonder, not the Princess of Pout he dealt with in Chicago. On impulse, he hugged her again, making her giggle.

"You wanna come meet my friends?"

"Not just yet," he said. "I want to talk to you a bit first. Sit down and tell me about school."

She dropped onto the couch with a bounce. "I love Stanford. All my professors are awesome, and I love all my classes. Now I know why Dax stays here over vacation."

Rhys sat next to her and stretched his arm across the back of the couch. "I still wish he'd have driven up with you tonight."

Sienna spread her hands in a "don't blame me" gesture. "I tried to get him to, but he's got some big paper due by the end of the week, and he said he had to work on it."

"I know, I spoke to him earlier. Oh, well." Rhys shrugged. "I saw him just last month, after all." He fixed his daughter with a gimlet eye. "Speaking of last month, your grandparents were disappointed when you didn't come for Christmas."

"I know." Sienna squirmed and looked down at her lap. "What did you tell them?"

"I said you had a scheduling conflict, and I told them that you'd be flying over on your spring break."

"I will, I promise." She looked up at him again. "I mean it, I'll go over to see them in March."

Rhys nodded. "Yes, you will. And no blowing it off to go to Florida or something."

"Cross my heart." Raising her hand, she did just that. "England, not Florida."

"Good." He cleared his throat. "While we're here, there's something else we need to discuss."

She went on immediate alert. He could tell by the way her shoulders stiffened and the rapid tap of her foot.