Altering Authority by Ashley Dooley Read Free Book Online

things planned for you all today anyways. I hope you don’t mind… but I already told May I’d ask you if she could have the day off.”
    Jager looked at Tatum. She was wearing jean shorts and a long sleeved shirt. Her hair was somewhat tamer than it had been this morning but was still wild and curly.
    Connor really liked her. He placed his chin on her shoulder and was twirling a piece of hair around his little finger. They were waiting for him to answer he realized and since he couldn’t see any harm in it, he agreed.
    “Yay!” Tatum said and Connor clapped his hands. “Let’s go get you and your brother some shorts,” she came to stand next to Jager and leaned in with Connor. “Tell dad you’ll see him later. Give him a kiss.”
    Jager was taken aback by her proximity. She smelled good. It had been months since he’d allowed himself to really notice a woman. He’d had his share of groupies since April’s death but they were just warm bodies. Something to make him feel better, at least temporarily.
    He kissed his son and told him to be careful and to listen to Tatum. She smiled at him and he knew then that Phil must have told her what happened. She seemed warmer since she had this morning. Not that she was rude or mean, but he knew he was being a dick. It was a natural reaction to be standoff-ish toward him as of late.

CHAPTER TEN
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Phil took the boys to his daughters club. They all drove their cars and when they walked in the girls cheered for them. At first Jager was kind of awkward, unable to loosen up, however the girls were all very welcoming, and before the day was out, he was actually laughing.
    He’d asked Phil numerous times to text Tatum and check in on the boys. He was exceptionally more paranoid now since everything and was constantly worried about his kids. Tatum called, growing sick of the texts and asked to speak to Jager. She told him that the boys were doing well. They had gone out for lunch and a bit of shopping. She had plans to take them to the beach but couldn’t find any swim shorts amongst their stuff so she just bought them new ones instead.
    Jager was comfortable with her having them for some reason. He just met her, knew she had a reputation of being a hard-ass, but he figured that they were family now. He could tell she loved his boys already and if she was blood of Phil, she had to be amazing.
    Phil was like a surrogate father to him. Jagers own father had taken off when he was just a baby, leaving his mom to raise him alone. Her brother, his uncle Adrian took him under his wing and introduced him to the gambling world and to his muscle – Gary and Phil. He was the reason why the guys looked to Jager now, having taken on Adrian’s role of Authority in running their little set-up. After Adrian died in a car accident when Jager was fourteen, Phil stepped up to the plate.
    He was able to relax after speaking to Tatum. He had a few drinks and even agreed to a lap dance. Gary motioned to one of the girls he seemed quite familiar with when Phil had gone out back with another girl. “This one reminds me of Tatum,” he said, and Jager looked at him and laughed, feigning disgust.
    “She’s half your age and your best friend’s daughter, sicko,” Jager said.
    “Not my daughter. Doesn’t make her any less beautiful to me.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Just before nightfall the men arrived home. The party had already started with the groupies on the patio and Jager immediately went looking for his kids. He made his way towards their room and stumbled on the last step, but caught himself before he fell. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been day-drunk. The thought of it, a thirty year old man, being day-drunk made him smile. He realized then that he was in fact smiling and that made him smile even more. It had been a while since he could say he was having fun.
    He heard the opening and closing of dresser drawers and when