Autumn Lake by Destiny Blaine Page B

apparently thinking he was a good enough negotiator to talk his way out of this mess.
    Sirens were heard in the distance. It sounded like a mix of ambulances and police cruisers racing their way.
    “The cops will be here any minute,” Scott said, still hiding behind the bar.
    Scott really crawled under Jake’s skin. He drank their booze, fucked their sheep, and when it came time to fight? He was the fellow tossing out the weapons and ammo. He claimed he was a black belt in karate but the only thing Scott kicked up was his own feet.
    The sirens kept blaring. The sound of screeching tires and slamming doors proved the cops had finally arrived.
    “Your turn, old man,” Logan said, his gaze shifting all over the place. “We can all walk away from this alive today or we can go out in body bags.”
    “You’ll be the first to go, Marcs,” Cav said, nodding his head at one of his guys.
    Before anyone fired from the other side, gunfire ricocheted all over the place. Marcs fired first. Jake pumped two into Cav. The rest of the club took out Morris Lake’s men.
    Cops were screaming outside the clubhouse, telling everyone to come out with their hands up. Jake rushed Autumn. Unable to see what was happening on the other side of the room, he screamed, “Check the fallen. Make sure they’re dead!” He ran across the recreational area. “Autumn!”
    Collapsed on the floor next to her father, she cradled his head in her lap. “I had to do it.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I didn’t have a choice.”
    “We all have choices, Autumn,” Jake said, his heart breaking in a million pieces. “Today, you made the choice to live. When your father came here, he should’ve known what he faced. This club was armed with his guns, his ammunition. He knew we were prepared. He supplied us with the very weapons we used against him.”
    “He thought you’d give me up,” she whispered, using her fingers to close his set eyes. “He thought you’d hand me over.”
    “We weren’t handing you over to a monster.” Devon stumbled over to check on everyone. “We protect our own.” He was slurred enough to prove he wouldn’t remember much of this tomorrow. “And as long as Jake wants you around, we’ll have your back.”
    Jake knelt beside her. He stroked her silken hair away from her face and whispered, “And I want you around, baby.”
    “Even now?”
    “Especially now,” he said quietly. “Now, you’re free to live without this monster looking over your shoulder. You’re free to be with me or anyone else you choose.”
    “I choose you,” she said, reaching for him. “I choose only you.”
     

Chapter Eighteen
     
     
    Two days later, Autumn paced the length of her kitchen, biting her thumbnail. “This is a bad idea.”
    “It’s the perfect meeting space,” Malory told her.
    “I don’t get it. Why do we have to tell him now?”
    “Why wouldn’t we tell him now?” Malory seemed suspicious of everything she said.
    Autumn stopped walking and took a seat on the sofa. She needed to pull herself together. She was a federal agent. She’d been hired to do a job and right now that job entailed positioning herself inside the club while handling the other agents already in place.
    It might help if she could remember that.
    About the time, a heavy thud landed on the door.
    “He’s here.” She rubbed her palms down her jeans and quickly stood. She didn’t rush the door, however. Instead, she faced that damn door as if she were facing an enemy.
    “Are you going to answer it or leave him standing outside?”
    She smoothed her hands across her belly, thinking this was probably the most nerve-wracking day of her career. What if Jake felt betrayed? What if he didn’t want to date a fellow agent, much less one who would be assigned to his bed now that she’d been embraced by the club? Even Devon seemed to like her and the women had taken to her, too, after they realized what she’d done in order to keep everyone at the