Free Autumn Lake by Destiny Blaine

this chick?”
    “She’s all right.” She was more than all right. Jake was already trying to figure out a way to see her later on that day.
    “Cool. We’re grilling out tonight. Invite her over. Let the old ladies and broads get to know her.”
    “Is it a homecoming?”
    Devon laughed and slapped him on the back. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to fuck her in front of anyone. And to answer your question, no homecoming. As far as I know, none of our guys are coming up for release anytime soon.”
    Jake walked to the door. “I’ll see what she has planned.”
    “Make sure you do,” Devon said, his voice dropping an octave. “It wasn’t a request, Jake. We need to get to know her and I want you to keep her close.”
    Hell, the keeping her close wasn’t a problem. The problem he had was being around her in front of the club. They’d take one look at him and know he was sunk. And that wasn’t the worst of it. He wasn’t sure he could take her out in public. After having his cock inside her, all he could think about was fucking her. Unlike Devon and the others, he didn’t want everyone to watch.
    He wanted to keep Autumn Lake to himself, at least for a little while. Then he’d find the strength to let her go.
     
    ****
     
    Before he left the clubhouse to go fetch his girl, Jake walked up and casually announced Victory was pregnant. He never broke his stride and he didn’t await a reaction. He just mentioned it in passing, boarded his bike, and left the yard.
    “What do you think that was all about?” Summer asked, handing off a platter of meat.
    “I don’t know,” Logan replied. “But it won’t be a moment too soon when we have another handler in place.”
    “Tell me about it,” Summer said, searching the parking lot.“Anyone heard from Tigger?”
    “Devon said he wouldn’t be back before the weekend.” Logan grabbed the spatula and started planting burgers on the grill. “If I were you, I’d use the time and decide how you want to play this thing out.”
    “I haven’t decided.”
    Logan shrugged, closed the grill, and set the platter aside. “Sassy is worried about you and I am, too. Take it from someone who knows these guys better than anyone, this isn’t going down the way you might think.”
    “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Summer, he will kill you. Tigger is Heroes and Rogues through and through. If I’d thought for one minute I could’ve saved him, I would’ve asked the Feds to pull him out a long time ago. Thing is, if we bust this place wide open and we leave him out? He’ll come after us.”
    “He won’t,” Summer said, grabbing hold of Logan’s forearm. “With a new handler in place, you can change your story. He doesn’t have to take a fall, Logan. You can claim Gaylord and Sampson lied, made up shit, or whatever. Please. Do this for me.”
    Logan jerked his arm free and tilted his head at Devon who was walking their way. “There’s the man you need to talk to.” He was actually glad to see him. He didn’t want to discuss Tigger with Summer now. She’d crossed the line when she’d asked him for favors that could damage his reputation and his future. He popped open a beer and spun around, searching the yard for Sassy before he called out to Devon. “Get over here and handle Tigger’s old lady. She misses her man and I can’t give her the answers she wants.”
    “Jerk,” she grumbled under her breath.
    “Yeah well there are a lot of those around here,” he muttered, taking off to find his woman. He hated that Summer couldn’t see the way the cards would soon fall, but she needed to realize two things. One, where Tigger was concerned, she wasn’t playing with a full deck. And two, when this bust finally went down, there wouldn’t be any winners walking around. The only people who would be left standing were the Feds and even they wouldn’t feel like the victors.
    They all had friends there. They’d gotten too close to the club and while