She nods eagerly. “Just let me grab my stuff.”
A minute later she comes out with a pair of flip flops on her feet and a bag over her shoulder. “You guys want to ride with me?” she asks, jiggling a set of car keys.
Tro shakes his head. “We’ll take the bike.”
She nods and skips down the stairs ahead of us. “I’ll meet you there.”
We reach the ground floor and Tro leads me into a single car garage where a Harley is parked. We climb on. “Hold on tight,” he says.
I clasp my arms around his chest and we rocket out of the garage. I press my body against his back, taking the opportunity to soak him in, but before I’ve gotten enough, we’re pulling over. We park and he takes my hand and walks me up the street to an opening in a knee-high white picket fence. Near the road is a red building all lit up with a sign boasting over thirty kinds of sausage and the largest tap wall in Austin. Next to the building are rows of worn wooden picnic tables full of people.
“Popular place,” I say, glancing over the crowd and cringing a little at the thought of the ensuing stampede when they spot Tro. “You can still go to places like this?”
He shrugs like it’s no big thing. “It’s pretty dark back there so I’ve never really had a problem. But even if I did, it would be worth it. They’ve got some pretty crazy stuff on this menu.”
“Hey, guys,” Kate says, jogging across the street toward us. “We good?”
Tro nods and we head in. We’re seated near the end of a long row of five picnic tables, and Tro’s right. The only light is from strings of small globes overhead.
We order: South Texas Antelope and Venison sausage for Tro, Drunk Chicken sausage for me, and Vegan Tempura Eggplant and Roasted Red Bell Pepper sausage for Kate, and beers all around. The waitress is trying to play it cool, but she obviously recognizes us and doesn’t card me.
The waitress turns for the red building and Kate kicks Tro’s foot under the table. “How long are you home?”
He rests his elbows on the table and props this chin on his fists. “Not sure. Things are a little up in the air right now.”
Her eyebrows go up. “Meaning?”
“Meaning the European leg of our tour was pretty rough. Grim wants me out, and the truth is, I want out too, so…” He trails off with a shrug as my insides turn to cement.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
He shrugs again. “Shit happens. Grim’s got his idea of what Roadkill’s supposed to be, and we just don’t share the same vision anymore.”
“But you are Roadkill,” I say, exasperated.
He shakes his head. “Not according to Grim.”
“Who writes the music?” I ask, anger flooding my words and making them sharper than I mean for them to be. “Who sings the songs? If you were to ask anyone on the street who’s in Roadkill, the only one any of them would be able to name is you.”
Tro just looks at me.
“Grim can think whatever he wants. You are that band’s heart, soul, and lifeblood.”
“She’s right, you know,” Kate says.
“I’m just so fucking sick of it.” He rubs a hand down his face. “I know this is a hell of my own making, but I don’t want to play the game anymore. I’ve wasted the last six years of my life on shit that doesn’t mean anything.” He shakes his head wearily. “I guess I just want something in my life to be real for a change.” As he says it, he finds my hand under the table and weaves his fingers into mine.
“I had no idea,” I say, shocked that Roadkill may be no more.
He breathes out a weary laugh. “Yes you did. You’re the only one who’s ever seen past the flash. I think I would have gotten to this same place eventually, but you cut through all the bullshit and made me see what I really wanted.”
My heart nearly bounds right out of my chest to meet Tro’s. “So what now?
The waitress sweeps by and drops our beers on the table. “Now, we celebrate.” He picks up his beer and taps it against mine. “To freedom.”
I clink his glass, then Kate’s and we all drink.
As I watch Tro I realize all the lines around his eyes have smoothed. He’s so much more fluid. So maybe he really is finally free of whatever’s haunted him for so long.
And so am I.
What if this could work, Tro and me? What if we could be free together?
Chapter 31
Tro
The feel of Lucky’s thighs hugging my hips, her arms around my chest, that spectacular body pressed all up my back on the ride home does things to me I can’t begin to explain. I’ve never felt hardwired to another person before, but that’s what this sensation is.
When we get back to the apartment, we’re not even though the door before we’re kissing. It was more than I could handle keeping my hands off her in public. But this is our private sanctum. I can have her here, away from prying eyes.