Wild Like the Wind (Chaos #5)(136)

“Are you gonna miss the fireplace in your kitchen, Keely?” Millie asked.

I stared at the kitchen on Tyra’s computer.

That wallpaper was dire.

But the layout was awesome. I’d have to get rid of my dining room table but that didn’t matter since I’d never once filled it. I could fit a bigger table than the one I had in my kitchen now and everyone knew, when you had a party, all the guests ended up in the kitchen anyway.

Further, I had a feeling Hound was an “entertain outdoors” man. I had this feeling because when I’d asked him his requirements for a house that were non-negotiable, he’d said, “Fire pit, built-in grill and no tile anywhere in the house that makes me dizzy.”

That was it.

As for me, I needed three bedrooms, meaning a decent master for us, one for our baby girl, and one where the boys could crash if they were hanging, tossing back a few with their mom and dad and didn’t want to go home.

The rest, as long as Hound was there, I didn’t give a flip.

“I can do without a fireplace,” I said, reaching through and taking over the mouse in order to click through more pictures on that house, pulling up the one of the kickass backyard with its fire pit, built-in grill and large covered seating area with raised flowerbeds flanking it, those beds filled with neatly trimmed shrubs. “If I can give my man that.”

“I’m not sure ‘shrubbery’ goes with ‘biker,’” Elvira noted.

“Hound’s fantastic with yardwork,” I declared.

As I straightened away from the computer, I felt all eyes turn to me.

“He is?” Tyra asked incredulously.

“Before the boys got old enough for him to train them to take over, I had the best lawn on the block.”

“Well, knock me over with a feather,” Elvira said, gaze still on me. “No offense, girl. Just that Hound never struck me as domesticated.”

“He unloads the dryer and folds laundry too,” I shared.

“Whoa,” Tabby whispered.

“And puts away groceries,” I added. “All without being asked.”

“Yowza,” Lanie said.

“And when I’m not working, he prefers to be fucking me, eating with me or drinking beer and watching TV with me, not waiting for me to clean the house, so he vacuums too.”

“How did Keely get the housetrained one?” Lanie demanded to know.

I laughed.

“I’m pregnant.”

Everyone stood solid, staring at whatever their eyes were on at the moment Carissa made her statement.

Then everyone turned slowly to her hanging back from the posse that was scrunched around the computer.

Except Rosalie. She shifted closer to Carissa.

It was with that I knew that Rosie knew about Carissa’s condition. Then again, I’d learned quickly those two were tight, along with Tabby. It wasn’t like all the women weren’t tight, they were. It was just that the older generation had more history, and the younger generation was building their history.

The way of the world.

“Say what?” Elvira asked.

“I’m four months pregnant and Joker and I are getting married this summer,” she announced.

Elvira stepped away from the girl gang to stand at the side of Tyra’s desk.

And she did not appear as happy as this thrilling news should have made her.

I didn’t know these women very well. I’d only been a member of their club for a week.

What I did know, what anyone would know just looking at her, was that Elvira was fixing to blow.

I had that thought half a second before she blew.

“Are you fuckin’ shitting me?” she yelled.

“Uh …” I started to intervene, but since I didn’t know what to say, I trailed off.

It didn’t matter.

Elvira descended into full-on rant.

“Now, your girl Bev is gettin’ hitched and you’re all a-dither after seein’ pictures of him on her phone during the powwow we had where you made the insane decision to march your asses in on serious brother business at the Compound. And they weren’t pictures of his dick, which we now know makes that whole sweet package even sweeter. Millie and High are all moved in and playin’ house and gonna get hitched. Rosie and Snap are gonna move in in no time, and then for sure gonna get hitched. And Keely and Hound got engaged the day after the big brouhaha and we’re all clickin’ through listings helpin’ them find a house. And now you’re knocked up and gonna get hitched this summer?” Elvira demanded that last from Carissa.

Carissa then confusingly said, “I knew you’d be upset. That’s why it took me so long to share it with you.” She turned to Tyra. “We want our reception at Ride. In the forecourt. Nothing fancy.” She smiled. “But a butterfly theme.”

“Unh-unh,” Elvira huffed, hand up, all her peachy-pink-long-nailed fingers curled in except her pointer. That was wagging back and forth. “No planning. No butterflies. No forecourt.”

She leaned in.

We all leaned back.

She blew again.

“You’re stealing my thunder!”

“Elvira, you’re not getting married until Christmas,” Lanie said soothingly.

Ah.

That explained Elvira’s rant.