Altering Authority by Ashley Dooley Read Free Book Online Page A

he rounded the corner to the boys room, he found May sitting on the floor with bags of clothes and toys. In a separate pile were tags and a pair of scissors. She smiled at Jager and said, “Tatum bought them some new stuff. A lot of stuff. She didn’t want you to get mad, and think she was over stepping so she asked me to fold it all up and put it away.” May smiled at Jager then, recognizing his squinty eyes, the way he was using the door frame to hold himself steady. He was clearly feeling no pain and she was glad. He’d suffered enough and now she hoped he was starting to come around to his old self.
    He wasn’t mad. He was touched and felt a little guilty. How long had it been since he’d bought his kids new clothes? That had been April’s thing. He made a mental note to thank Tatum and to pay her back. “Where are they?” he asked May.
    “At the beach still.  You have to see the boys Jager. They are having the time of their lives!” Jager smiled at her again. She loved his boys too. He realized then at that moment that maybe he had a lot more to be thankful for than he had been. Walking out the patio doors, the groupies cheered at the sight of him. He said his hellos and peeled a couple of them off his arms. He made his way towards the beach and spotted the boys and Tatum trying to run away from the waves. Tatum held their hands and Ava was yelling at them from the sand to hurry. He could hear the squeals of delight from a mile away.
    Ava spotted him first and walked over to give him a hug. “You smell like a brewery,” she said smiling at him. He smiled back, a real smile before walking towards his kids.
    It took Ava’s breath away. She hadn’t seen that smile in months. She watched the boys run to him and waved good bye to Tatum, who was making her way up through the sand from the water, pulling her wet shirt away from her body, in attempt to shield Jager from seeing.
    He picked up a soaking wet Matthew and hugged him tight, not bothered by the water. He messed up Connors wet hair and looked up at Tatum. She could see it in his eyes that he was happy. He practically glowed. She couldn’t help it. Her smile was uncontrollable. She didn’t believe he could get better looking but seeing him happy, albeit drunk, made him look like a God.
    Her smile took his breath away. She was beautiful, just like Gary had said. They laughed at each other then, for no reason what so ever other than the fact that they were both smiling at the same time.
    “Swing me!” Matthew called out, holding Tatum’s hand in one and his father’s in the other. Tatum looked at Jager and said, “One, two, three!” and they swung the older boy as they walked down the beach, his feet skimming the cold ocean water.
    From above, on the patio Phil looked down and at first he thought that they were a family. A mother and father and their kids having a good time. He was about to scan the beach again when he recognized Jagers sweater and realized it was them. Something about seeing two of them together like that had Phil feeling uneasy, but he didn’t know why. He knew that keeping Tatum from this life was already out of the question. She was as tough as Jager. Maybe that was it.
    Still, he was glad to see Jager having a good time. The day had been productive on that front but he wanted to mention it to him. Them, together, gave Phil the willies.

CHAPTER TWELEVE
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Jager dried his kids off, put on their new pajamas, and tucked them into bed. Within fifteen minutes they were asleep. Tatum had really worn them out that day and he could tell that May had a good day as well. She was happy and relaxed.
    He left and went out to the patio with his brothers. There were a couple bonfires going. He scanned the crowd for Tatum and found her sitting with Ava, a few groupies and some other girls down on the deck below them. They had tables laid out with food and drinks that weren’t there when they came back from the