Wild Like the Wind by Kristen Ashley
She shook her head on the pillow. “I just told them it was going down. I didn’t know they were here until the girl posse got here and I saw their bikes.”
He nodded his head on the pillow. “They’re not in trouble. They handled it right. Showed loyalty. Didn’t take shit too far.”
“Good,” she said softly.
“The girl posse?” he asked.
She did a bed shrug and answered, “I called Bev, just for moral support. She told me she was coming over to wait it out with me, but instead she showed with all of them. Apparently, she’d warned them the day after I told her about us. But they didn’t get far in deciding what to do if things went south, because she thought they’d have time because she thought I’d warn her it was coming.”
“So Bev didn’t listen real good when you told her just her, you, me and the boys,” Hound noted.
“And Tad,” she corrected.
He said nothing.
She grinned at him and returned to her story.
“They hatched the plan to horn in. Elvira, who’s a freaking hoot by the way, and I tried to talk them out of it. Tyra and Tab, who, swear to God, if I didn’t know Naomi was Tabby’s mother, I would have sworn Tyra had birthed that girl, would hear none of it. Lanie was beside herself with fury at the very thought Hop might put hands on you for that reason. Carissa, she’s very sweet, but the perfect old lady. She was really calm, supportive of them, but I knew she’d stand behind whatever her man decided to do. It was an interesting decision and says a lot about how secure she is with whatever she’s got with her man, that she came in with them. But I figure she knows he’d stand behind whatever she decided to do too.”
“They’re young but they’re tight. I couldn’t imagine him with any other woman on the planet,” Hound told her. “She does it for him. He’s been in love with her since high school.”
“That’s so sweet,” she whispered. “I love that for her.”
“He’s a good guy,” Hound shared.
“Now I love it more,” she replied and went on, “Apparently Millie didn’t know, until today. Bev knew she and I had history, thought maybe Millie would be the one who would spill with High, so she saved Millie for last.”
Hound had nothing to say to that, though he grunted.
Then he declared, “So now it’s over.”
“Arlo and Dog,” she stated.
At that, Hound gathered her closer. “Babe—”
“No,” she whispered.
He shut up.
“All those brothers, those two couldn’t just let us have it?” she asked.
“Arlo’s got issues he needed to work out, Keekee, and it’s my place to help him work those out.”
“I disagree,” she returned. “Especially when that shit leaves you bloody.”
“You see him?”
She reached under her. Following his arm he had wrapped around her with her hand, she pulled it between them. She had her fingers wrapped under his wrist with her thumb rubbing lightly across the rope burns at the inside while her eyes watched.
She looked up at him. “You did all that damage with one hand tied behind your back?”
“Some of it. Most of it came after Dutch and Jag made their play, Dutch layin’ it out and Jag cutting me loose.”
“God,” she pressed his hand flat against her chest and melted the rest of her body into his, “I love my boys.”
There was a lot to love and their play that day was only part of it.
“Arlo and me worked shit out and you got your own mind, not mine to tell you what to put in it, but know that. Dog, I didn’t lay a fist on him and let him do what he had to do since he was standin’ in for Black.”
Her look shared that did not make her happy.
Her words did the same. “That’s not his prerogative.”
“It is and we won’t agree on that so I’ll just say, Keekee, I needed that, he gave it to me and we were good before, we’re good now and as for me, I’m better now.”
“You just let him beat on you, he took that opportunity and did it, and you’re better?”
“I needed to prove to them what you meant to me. And usin’ them, prove it to Black.”
“Shep,” she pressed his hand deep into her chest, “please get this. It’s important. Black is not here.”
“Not anymore.”
Understanding hit her face and her fingers curled tight around his at her chest.
“I’m clean and clear and from this point on, it’s Hound and Keely,” he declared. “And when I get a ring on your finger, baby, you’re addin’ Ironside to your name. I know the boys got Black and that lives on. But you’re mine now.”
The happy was back, shining from her face.
Christ, she was beautiful.
“So when are you gonna put that ring on my finger, Shepherd Ironside?”
“I want time with you. I want a baby with you. And I wanna be in a house with a fire pit by summer. If you can do all that and plan a wedding, we’ll go get you a ring tomorrow and you’ll be gettin’ on all that.”
Her head shifted back an inch. “That’s not very romantic.”
“Whose dick did you just ride?” he asked.
She grinned.
“The man belongs to that dick romantic?” he went on.
“In his way,” she told him.
That was when his head shifted back an inch. “When have I ever been romantic?”
“You make me breakfast every day.”
“That’s bein’ a good old man for my old lady.”
“Right, then when you yanked my knees out from under me, fell to your own at the end of your bed and buried your face in my pussy,” she stated.
“That’s romantic?”
“For a biker bitch, totally.”
It was his turn to grin, so he did.
He also used his free hand to roam, sharing, “I’m feelin’ romantic again right about now.”
She rolled her eyes.
He rolled her to her back.
And Hound got romantic not knowing two doors down, Lanie was getting her own version of romantic, one door up, Millie was getting the same, one door up from that, Carissa just finished getting her romantic, and several doors down, Tyra was getting angry romantic in a way the angry part was going to burn out and the biker bitch romantic would be all that was left.
But Tab and Shy were on their way home to their baby.
They’d get theirs later, when Playboy was asleep.
Last, not far away, Snapper was giving Rosalie the gentle version of biker romantic.
And for a spell, all in Chaos (but Boz) were happy.
They would not have time to get used to it.
Blessed
Keely
I watched Hound drop to his knees at the side of our bed.
I also watched him bury his face in my pussy.
After that, with all I felt, all he was giving me, my eyes were closed so I didn’t see anything at all.
When Hound made me hit the stratosphere, I was still flying high as I felt his hands come under my arms and drag me deeper into the bed. My orgasm was still burning through me, but it re-ignited as I watched him yank his jeans down just enough to free his rock-solid dick. He pulled my legs apart, covered me and he was then drilling inside.
I shuddered underneath him, took the violent thrusts of his cock, watched the beautiful savagery in his face and did all of that until I couldn’t anymore when my Hound sent me flying again.
He was still thrusting when I came down so I held him, stroked him, rocked to meet him and when his head jerked back and I watched and listened to him come, I happily felt an aftershock roll through my body as I absorbed the tremors throbbing through my man.
Hound dropped his head so his face was in my neck and I held on to him with arms and legs, keeping him close, feeling him, smelling him, glorying in his cock buried deep.
But I eventually took one arm from around him so I could lift my left hand, fingers sprea
On the ring finger was a two and a half carat simple solitaire diamond set in white gold.
My old man hadn’t lied.
We’d woken up that morning at the Compound. We’d showered together at the Compound. We’d dressed in our clothes from the day before (though Hound had put on a different tee seeing as the one from the day before was bloodstained).
And he’d taken me out for breakfast and then taken me right to the mall.
My first two rides wrapped around him on his bike.
They were perfect.
At the display of engagement rings, he’d asked me to pick.
I’d asked him if he was to pick, which one he’d pick.
He’d immediately pointed to the one that was right then on my finger.
Hound didn’t use words to ask me to marry him. He didn’t get down on one knee.
He bought me a ring and slipped it on my finger right there in the store.
And we were engaged.
Then he’d taken us home and gave me his version of biker romantic by getting me naked, falling to his knees and going down on me.
In all the agony I’d had in my life, all the disappointment I’d endured with my family, it was right then, laying on my bed, connected to Hound, wearing his ring that I realized it was moments like that, moments like standing at a register in a jewelry store and having my man slide a ring on my finger, moments so simple and extraordinary, there didn’t need to be any grand gestures made.
Just as they were, they made all the rest worth it.
“The answer is yes,” I whispered.
He lifted his head and looked at me.
“Say again?” he asked.
“Just, you know, to make it that much more official.”
He stared into my eyes.
Then he caught my wrist, pulled it in front of him and slid his hand up so he could press the back of mine, particularly where his ring lay, against the vulnerable base of his throat.
“You know, and don’t ever doubt, how much I love you,” he declared.
I felt the soft smile hit my lips.
I liked it that he said it, especially now, after he gave me the ring, fucked me hard and held that symbol to the life of him.
But he could just grunt and I’d be good.
“I know, cowboy, and trust me, I’ll never doubt it,” I promised.
He held my hand where it was even when he bent and kissed me.
He did it wet and he did it hard.
And I gave that back.
Harder.
Yes, it was moments like that that made all of it worth it.
When he was done with the kiss and working my neck with his mouth, I put a foot to the bed, shoved up and Hound let me roll him.
I did this because we were who we were, wild like the wind, so we knew to take those moments when we got them.
And tear them up, wringing out of them as much as we could get.
“Nope, the other one, it’s got a dining room,” Elvira declared.
“Totally this one,” Tyra said, clicking back to the one she wanted. “It’s got a bigger garage. They essentially have three vehicles and he’s a Chaos man. They’ll use a bigger garage more than they’ll use a dining room.”
This was true.
We would.
“But that one doesn’t have a very big master,” Lanie put in, reaching through the throng of women packed around Tyra’s computer in her office at the garage at Ride so she could push Tyra’s hand aside and commandeer the mouse.
She clicked. Clicked again.
“There,” she went on. “This one. Decent size garage with room to build on. No dining room but huge kitchen so you can get a big table in there. Nice master. And the all-important fire pit.”
Elvira shoved through, took control of the mouse and clicked through pictures, bringing up one of the kitchen from the house Lanie liked.
One of several houses Hound and I had appointments to view that afternoon.
“Now stare at that five seconds and try not to get a headache from that wallpaper,” Elvira bossed. “I already got a headache and I only looked at it two seconds.”
“You can peel off wallpaper, Vira,” Tabby pointed out.
“The ghost of that wallpaper might remain for eternity,” Rosalie murmured and Lanie started giggling.
“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.
“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.
Though I’d already seen the rock on her finger.
Mine, by the way, might be simpler, but it was still more awesome.
“Yeah, and with four weddings happening before that you gotta buy presents for and help plan, I’ll get the bottom of the barrel with presents and you’ll be burned out on planning. Not to mention,” she skewered Carissa with her gaze, “baby shit.”
“Honey, I’m planning your wedding for you, remember?” Millie pointed out. “And it’s gonna be amazing.”
“And I don’t want presents,” I put in. “Though, I think Hound would feel a couple of six packs would not be remiss.”
“Not to mention, Bev said Tad’s off on one,” Tabby told them. “She says he’s already found the venue and picked the colors and everything. We probably just have to show up for that one.”