Page 23 of Road Trip
“‘Orgasm Donor’. Oh…yeah, no, I really enjoyed that.”
“How about this?” This one had an arrow pointing up, the words ‘The Man’ and an arrow pointing down that said ‘The Legend’.”
“Ha! No, I’m afraid I won’t be wearing that.” But I did hold up some panties for her that said “biker chick” across the back. “I don’t know if this applies. Do you ride motorcycles?”
“No, thank you. I like my skin where it is. I might have moments of being an adrenaline junkie, but not for motorcycles.”
“That’s too bad. I was thinking of applying for motorcycle duty for my next position. You saying you wouldn’t ride with me?” I was totally teasing. I’d never want to do that job.
“Oh, I’ll ride with you, just not on a motorcycle.”
I loved the way she talked dirty to me, but it showed just one more way she was a contradiction. She’d say shocking things, do things to shock me, but then she’d show a very levelheaded approach to life. It made me wonder about what she’d said earlier when the Shayla woman had approached us. Just what were her boundaries? And how would I know when I crossed them.
We wandered over to see a couple more bands. I had no clue who they were, nor could I understand the music, but I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Until Abra gave a little tug on my hand.
“You’ll be fine by yourself for a bit?”
I frowned. “Sure, you need to go to the restroom?”
She pointed toward the crowd. “I’ve got to. It’s a moral imperative.” With that, she ran toward the huge mass of screaming, fist bumping people and was swallowed up almost instantly. My heart was pounding. What the hell was she doing in there? I tried not to panic, but I couldn’t see her at all! I started to follow, but I was frozen in place.
Moments later I saw her legs as she was hoisted up on some guy’s shoulder and passed overhead. Hundreds of hands carried her petite frame over a sea of people. I finally got a glimpse of her face and she looked ecstatic, her arms spread out behind her in victory. I watched as she was bounced around the crowd until she was right up in front of the stage. That’s where I saw her last. I didn’t want to move for fear that I’d miss her, but I was desperate to know she was safe. I had a sick feeling that being with her long-term would be like this; a whole lot of fun combined with a whole lot of panic and fear. Was that really something I could handle?
It was probably twenty minutes later that she finally made it back to me. She wrapped her arms around me and smacked a big kiss on my bottom lip.
“That wasamazing! Did you see me? I almost got on stage! The guys in the band were reaching down, but those fuckers in security pulled me away. Oh well. Next time!”
She was so excited. I didn’t know what to say. She was sweaty and smelled like beer, but the smile on her face had her looking electric.
“That was probably one of the scariest twenty minutes of my life. I don’t know how, or why, or…let’s just say I’m glad you’re back.”
“Aw, were you worried about me? People in the pit are cool. I’ve only been groped a couple of times and I made sure to plant my Chucks in their faces when they did. I stay out of the mosh pit, though. I have no desire to get beaten on, nor do the beating.”
I was really trying to understand her, I was, but this was unsettling. I could never see myself enjoying something like that, and yet she was so excited. Would she find me a total stick in the mud? There were just some things I would never be okay with, cop or no cop.
“ABEY BABY!”
I turned to see a striking woman with a huge mane of fiery red hair approaching us with a guy who looked sort of familiar.
“Stevie!” Abra cried, and the women hugged each other, squeezing each other and falling all over the place. “I had no idea you guys were coming down. What’s up, McShane?” She hugged the guy, who then held out a hand to me.
“You look really familiar,” he said as we shook. “I’m Aaron McShane and this is my wife, Stevie.”
Stevie shook my hand and then gave Abra a raised eyebrow.
“Kelly Graham,” I answered. “And you look really familiar, too. Wait! Don’t you own Vinyl Mine?”
“That’s me! I worked on your guitar, I think, not too long ago. Hayward PD, right?”
“Man, you did a great job, too. It rarely goes out of tune anymore!”
“Small world,” Abra said, shock evident on her face. “My good friend Callie works for McShane. Her boyfriend, Troy, does my tattoos, and he’s done yours, too, right?” she asked Aaron.
I could see some ink coming out from under McShane’s sleeves. He smirked at Abra.
“Yeah, and without Callie I would’ve crashed and burned this past year. What have you been up to, Abra?”
She grinned up at me and put her arm around my waist, resting her hand in my back pocket again. “Rescuing dudes in distress. Kidnapping. Corrupting. You know, the usual.”
