Chapter 8

eight

Autumn was running late again. It was nothing new for her. Many people thought she was early to work because she was a workaholic. That wasn’t the reason. Well, that wasn’t the entire reason she showed up early. She was a workaholic. She had her regular caseload, and then she had her investigation into Joseph’s shenanigans.

Yes, it was an unserious word for some very serious behavior. Still, it helped Autumn deal with the horror of the monster who “raised” her.

Anyway, she couldn’t be late tonight. She’d had a few things to wrap up at work on her last case. Saturday was a great day to do paperwork. She paused in applying her blush.

What the hell, Bradford?

Yep, she needed to get out more. She had always had a work ethic, but never like this. And since she wasn’t sure how much more time she had, she should be grabbing onto life with both hands. Instead, she had been getting deeper into what Joseph had been up to since he “died” and losing all perspective.

So, tonight, she would try. She would set her thoughts about Joseph aside and celebrate two people who truly deserved their happily ever after.

Stepping back from the mirror, Autumn took in her dress. As she had told Nikki, she did own dresses. This one was another of her favorites. The white halter dress looked simple. The gauzy material floated around her and reached her ankles. But it cut deep between her breasts, making it impossible to wear a bra. The back was completely open.

After putting on a pair of simple diamond studs Ian had given her for Christmas last year, she found her sandals. This would be held in Merri’s backyard, so there was no reason to wear heels.

The last bit was to pull her hair into a chignon to keep it off her neck. It was humid tonight, and the trade winds weren’t expected to return for a few days. As she stepped out onto her landing, her phone buzzed.

Ian: You are running late, right?

She rolled her eyes. Since her father was staying at the house she’d purchased, she had told them she would pick them up. Driving into Honolulu and then back to the Lee house made no sense.

Autumn: On my way. Do you have the directions to the house?

Ian: Of course.

She slipped her phone into her pocket and shut the door just as Freddy’s door opened.

“Hey, pretty Autumn. You look amazing.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you. Bossman is having a party for his engagement.”

He nodded. “You know...” His voice trailed off, and he shook his head.

“What?”

He drew in a deep breath and looked up at her. “You look like your mother.”

Alarm hit her first, winding its way through her entire body before she could stop it. It was her first reaction any time she ran into one of the former cult members. They were sometimes angry at her, thinking it was her fault that Joseph had a standoff with the feds. The truth was, they had been investigating him for months if not years.

Anger surged. She worried about this man and took care of him. Yes, he was definitely an informant, but he would have been dead if it hadn’t been for her.

Freddy’s creased face showed his regret as he held up his hands.

“No, don’t worry. I’m not still a True Believer . I was at Joyous Wave until about a month before everything went to shit. I overdosed, and once the hospital got hold of me, my family found out and came to get me.”

She was still on edge. Many of the survivors who claimed to be the true believers of Joseph Watters looked to her to be the next great leader. They thought that she would call them for the next great gathering. That was going to happen right after JFK Jr was elected president.

Worse, if they knew she’d hunted Joseph and plotted to send him straight to hell as soon as she could get hold of him, they would probably burn her alive.

He sighed. “I don’t blame you for not believing me. I didn’t pick up on it at first. I was having issues when you moved in.”

Oh, yeah, he’d had several overdoses the first year she lived in the apartment next to his. He was still a drug addict, but he seemed to be functioning at the moment.

“Yes. I remember.”

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but she ignored it.

“She was always kind to a stupid boy like me.”

“You aren’t stupid.”

“I’m not that boy anymore.”

And more than likely, his drug addiction started at Joyous Wave.

“I felt bad for not telling you.”

She nodded. “Well, thanks.”

“I also wanted to tell you that I’m hot on the trail of the person moving the new synthetic. They’re calling it The Rapture.”

Her heartbeat almost tripled in just a few seconds. “The Rapture?”

He nodded. That was definitely Joseph. He was such a nut job. He probably really loved that name because he knew there would be true believers he could sell to. And now, if Joseph remembered Freddy, he was in more danger. Joseph wouldn’t hesitate killing Freddy to prove a point, especially if he was worried Freddy would tell people he was still alive.

“Don’t worry about finding the person in charge.”

He frowned. “That’s what I do for you.”

“No, just getting the name is great. It will be easy to run down. I’ll get the money to you by Monday, okay?”

He didn’t look like he was convinced. Worry crept through Autumn. She still wasn’t happy that he hadn’t been honest with her. While she fudged the truth from time to time, she hated liars. Being “raised” by a pathological liar tended to do that to you. But…she would be devastated if anything happened to him because of her investigation.

“Promise me.”

He sighed and then nodded.

“Do you still have that gift card?”

“Yes.”

“Go get something to eat. I’d join you, but as I said, this is for the bossman and his fiancé.”

He nodded, then his lips curved. “You have a good time, Autumn. I’ll see you later.”

As she watched him shuffle back into his apartment, a sense of foreboding took over her. She wanted to demand that he go eat right now, but she understood addicts. He would go if he felt like it, but there was a good chance he would get high tonight.

Was she getting bad vibes about an overdose, or was it something different? With a shake of her head, she pushed the worries out of her mind. Autumn knew that he would keep his promise to her.

Seth rolled his shoulders as he watched his parents mingling with his workmates. It was the first time he’d ever brought them to something like this. His parents had been to his promotions and retirement but never really mingled like this. It was surreal, and it made him a little antsy.

“What’s wrong?” Rami asked. Seth glanced at the former SEAL.

“Why do you think there’s something wrong?”

“You keep rolling your shoulders. It’s your tell.”

Nikki stepped up. The former Coastie had definitely understood the dress code. She was wearing a dress that stopped at mid-thigh. Not that he would ever have noticed, but Rami had complained about it when she’d shown up thirty minutes earlier.

“He’s right. You’ve been surveying the area.”

She sipped her Mai Tai.

“Hyper vigilance,” Rami said.

“No. Someone is waiting for a certain someone to appear.” She leaned closer and waved her drink. “She’s over there.”

For a second, he didn’t look. He hadn’t been able to get Autumn out of his head since yesterday—since he had met her. There was just something about her. At the moment, he felt like a teenager with his first real crush. Looking at her might make him pass out.

“That’s not the problem,” Rami said as Seth finally found Autumn in the crowd. She was introducing her father to Merri and a few of the aunties. She was wearing another dress made out of gauzy material. It shouldn’t reduce him to babbling just because she wore something like a dress. It was just so different than what he was used to seeing her wear.

Then, she turned, and Seth lost all ability to think. The dress plunged low between her breasts, and there was no way she was wearing a bra.

Fuck.

Thankfully, years of training allowed him to control his emotions— all of them. He ordered his body to calm the fuck down. He wasn’t some seventeen-year-old with a crush. Autumn laughed at something Adam said. It irritated him even though he knew there was no reason to worry about it. Adam was her boss and in love with Jin Phillips. In fact, the Alpha Team leader had waited years for Jin to recover from a horrific attack.

Then, Autumn turned her head. Their gazes connected, and, at that moment, it was like they were the only people there. The chatter and music faded, leaving him completely entranced with their connection. Of course, his mother stepped in his line of view, her hand outstretched to greet Autumn.

“Oh, your mom looks like she’s checking out Autumn,” Nikki said.

The entire crew had met his parents when they’d arrived at the party.

“They already met.”

A whistle sounded beside him, and he realized that Kap and Ryan had joined them.

“So, your mom met her yesterday and then zeroed in on Autumn the moment she arrived.”

“Yeah. I mean, she didn’t zero in on her the moment she arrived.” But she had, and that worried him. As he said, his mother wasn’t one to pry into his social life. She seemed to be very interested in Autumn.

“I think your mom wants babies, and she thinks Autumn would be a great candidate,” Kap said.

“What? No.” But now that Kap mentioned it, he could imagine having Autumn in his life as more than a work colleague.

“Yeah, Kap,” Nikki said. “It’s not like someone with her background would be a good fit for marriage and two point five kids.”

He was already irritated with his crew for speculating what his mother was doing. Still, it turned to agitation on Autumn’s behalf.

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

His crew stilled. He rarely lost his temper, and they had never seen it happen. They just hadn’t been working together that long.

“There’s always talk, Seth,” Ryan said quietly.

“Well, there shouldn’t be. Autumn might not be on our team, but she’s on the team. And as a woman, I would think you would know better than to speculate, Nikki.”

Again, silence greeted him. He knew he was making an ass out of himself, but Nikki should know better. Women in their business always had to deal with people equating their job to their sexuality. How many times did female law enforcement have to deal with handcuff jokes?

“Sorry, boss,” Nikki said. “You’re right.”

He nodded and stepped away from them. He could feel all of them watching him. He took off in the opposite direction to prove to them and himself that he wasn’t that infatuated with Autumn. He needed a moment to figure out why he got so pissed off at his crew. They had only been joking, although he did not like Nikki’s assumptions. Was it because what she said was inappropriate, or did he want to be untrue? Why would he care if she wanted more than casual hookups?

Before he could work all that out, Del called out to him. Great. He probably wanted to ream him for what had happened. Seth hadn’t raised his voice, but Del had a keen sense. As former special forces and now commander of TFH, he had to be aware.

“Hey, boss,” he said.

“Everything okay with Bravo?”

He nodded. “Yeah. They were speculating, and it irritated me.”

“Oh, okay. You mean about you and Autumn?”

He rolled his eyes. “Does everyone think there’s something going on?”

“No. I don’t actually give a fuck.”

He blinked, then chuckled. “Then why did you just ask about it?”

“Listen, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of work, I don’t care. She doesn’t directly work for you. And yeah, I know people, and I have seen how she reacts around you.”

“What way?”

Del shook his head. “I’m not in high school. You figure that shit out. Also, be careful around Autumn.”

“Are you warning me off her?”

“No. I know she has much more going on beneath the surface than most of us know.”

“Even you?”

“Especially me. Also, she’s…fragile.”

He cocked his head to the side and studied his boss. “You’re worried about her.”

It was not a question because there was no denying the concern in his boss’s voice.

“Yeah. She’s been more on edge lately, but with Sam getting a transplant last year, she’s been getting worse.”

He filed that information away. “Okay. Anything else?”

“Yeah, I’m giving you Graeme to take out on a few runs next week. I know he has a military background, but I want him to understand our procedures just in case you need him to help.”

“Now I know I’m in trouble.”

Del chuckled as his attention snagged on something in the crowd. Seth followed his line of sight and saw Emma, Del’s wife. The diminutive woman was a genius in game theory and programming and was as beautiful as she was brilliant. After over five years of marriage, they also seemed to still be infatuated with each other.

“Harry,” she said, using his old nickname from the military, “how are you this evening?”

“Doing great.”

She turned to her husband. “See. I was nice.”

He hid his smile. She was probably on the spectrum and actually really sweet. Granted, she was a little awkward, but he found it refreshing that she could be so blunt—just like Autumn. That had him blinking and looking across the yard. She was in a discussion with his mother about something that had his mother laughing.

“Your mother seems to like Autumn.”

He glanced at Emma. “How can you tell?”

“She’s laughing. Are you two dating?”

Of course, she was trying to feel him out. “Boss, your wife’s been betting.”

She gasped. It was so dramatic that Seth knew he was right. Del hated the betting, or he said he did. The fact that his wife was placing bets would probably not go over well with him.

“I need another beer,” he said. “Have fun with that.”

Then he headed for another drink because no matter how much he wanted to figure out his feelings about Autumn, it wouldn’t happen tonight.