Altering Authority (5 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Convincing Jager wasn’t as difficult as he’d expected. When Phil mentioned it to him he began to say no, but then Tatum walked into the room with Connor in her arms. “I wanna go to the beesh dad.”

Jager couldn’t help but smile at his baby. “Its beach buddy. Not beesh.”

“Beeeesh,” Connor replied and they all laughed.

Jager looked up at Tatum then.

“They’d really like it. I can take a couple of my guys if you’re worried but I promise they’ll be fine. Phil has some 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 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 beach. He walked over and sat with his guys. Bobo was polluted and pretending to dry-hump a pool toy in the shape of a whale. The guys laughed, drank, and ate. Someone threw Sugar in the pool. Phil hadn’t remembered a time when he saw Jager laugh so much. He decided to leave his conversation about Tatum until later.

A girl ran up the stairs then. She was friends with Tatum and she looked frantic. “You need to come down here now and get your girl Jessica.” Jager calmly took a sip of his drink; he hated Jessica and didn’t really care if she was in trouble. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “She’s saying shit and Tatum’s getting pissed off. When she gets pissed off she’s dangerous. Seriously, if you want her to go home whole, you need to come and get her or Tatum is going to destroy her.”

When no one made an attempt to move, the girl began growing panicky. Phil and Jager stood, taking their time, bringing their beers with them with no real intention of stopping what was supposedly going to happen. Tatum looked fine. She was sitting next to Ava while Jessica was saying something.

“Seriously, I know Tatum. She’s brewing right now. It’s coming. Go and take Jessica away.”

Phil was about to say that everything looks fine when Tatum stood slowly, walked over to a cooler on the table behind the circle of women and grabbed the lid. She turned it slowly in her hands, as if judging the durability of it.

“Oh my God,” the friend began to say.

Tatum looked over at the group of girls and then at Jessica’s back. She took three slow steps toward her and swung the lid, nailing Jessica in the back of the head and sending her flying off her chair. The girls all stood, screaming, tripping over tipped chairs as Tatum launched herself on top of Jessica and began pounding her fists into her face.

All Phil and Jager could do was stare at them, their mouths hanging open, eyes wide. Some of the girls were yelling at them to stop and the guys who were up on the top patio came running down to see the cat fight. It wasn’t a cat fight though. Tatum was a better fighter than most of the guys here. She dragged Jessica, screaming, by the hair towards the ocean and pushed her head into the water, holding it there with her foot while the other girl thrashed widely.

“Fuck! Go stop her before she kills her right here in the open in front of everyone!” the girl pleaded.

The two men looked at each other, thought about it. They didn’t want Tatum to get arrested. Just as they took two steps forward, Tatum removed her foot. It appeared then that she would stop. She stepped off Jessica and began to walk away.

Jessica spit and spluttered and stood up, wiping the hair and water out of her eyes. “You crazy fucking bitch!” she yelled at Tatum’s back.

Tatum turned then to face her, looking serene and calm. She walked back slowly towards Jessica and smiled, noticing her eye was beginning to swell. She took a couple steps closer to her. Jessica was stubborn and refused to back away. She regretted not running when Tatum cocked back and struck her in the mouth. Falling back into the water, Tatum straddled her and began wailing on her face. Eventually Jager and Phil knew they had to stop her. Jessica was barely conscious.

Grabbing her by the waist, Phil pulled his daughter off the girl. She didn’t really resist him. Just smiled towards Jessica and it was then, at that point, that Phil saw himself in her. He couldn’t help but laugh. She realized then, with the sound of her father’s laughter, what she’d done. She turned to look at him, pushing his arms away from her waist. “Shit, I’m sorry Phil.”

His laughter grew even louder. “If I’d seen this before the paternity test, I wouldn’t have even bothered with it.
This
is the proof right here that you’re mine.” He kissed her on the forehead, “go on and put some ice on those,” he nodded toward her knuckles which were busted and covered in blood and sand. She nodded, feeling the sting of them then and walked back towards her house. As she made her way through the crowd, they cheered for her and patted her on the back. Someone smacked her ass, and she was almost positive it was Bobo by his expression but she chose to ignore it, her hands in the state they were and all. While she was running her hands under the kitchen sink, the patio doors opened and Jager came through.

“Remind me not to piss you off.” He said to her smiling.

She didn’t know if he was mad at her or not for nearly killing one of his girls. His smile seemed pretty relaxed. He seemed in a good mood.

“I’m sorry Jager. She was saying shit. I get in these moods sometimes…”

“Don’t apologize for going rounds with Jessica. I hate Jessica. Everyone hates Jessica,” he laughed and opened the freezer door, pulling out a bag of mixed veggies. He laid them on the counter and grabbed a towel from the handle on the oven. He opened it up in his hands and motioned for Tatum to put her hands in his. He dried them gently, avoiding the parts that were busted open. Laying the towel aside he motioned for her to sit at the table. She laid her hands flat on its surface and Jager put the veggies over them.

She flinched and sucked in a strained breath. “You’re not that tough then I guess,” he joked, looking fixatedly at her hands and avoiding her eyes.

She laughed and the room grew silent.

“Thanks for everything today.  Thanks for spending the day with the boys, and buying them new clothes and toys. Thanks for the party for the guys at your club. Plus, you know, kicking Jessica’s ass.”

She smiled, suddenly feeling self conscious and shy. The heat from his hands was heating her in places she forgotten she’d had. She looked at him as he studied her hands, gently running his thumb over her knuckles. She noticed that he had a light smattering of freckles across his nose and on his cheeks. The hair on his face had kind of a red highlight when the light hit it a certain way.

“Your boys are great,” she said, “they’re really good kids. You did a great job with them.”

He looked up at her then suddenly, almost surprised by her words. He swallowed hard, frowning and nodded.

She wanted to say so much to him. That he deserved to be happy. That people die all the time, it’s a part of life. He should live his life to the fullest. Instead she just stayed quiet until he said, “What was it all about anyway? What did she say?”

Tatum didn’t want to answer that. She looked at him and shook her head.

“Please?” he pleaded.

She looked up from his hands on hers. She hesitated a second and he lifted his eyebrows expectantly.

“She was talking about your wife. Nothing good… it made me mad. I don’t like that. People talking about other people like that. She was their mother… it was just… disrespectful.”

Jager nodded again and looked around the room. “She had her faults I guess,” he said quietly, out of nowhere. Tatum sensed this was important for him to say so she kept quiet.

“The things you were doing today, with the boys. She’d never do that. I mean, she told them she loved them and took them to the park and stuff, but she never really played with them. She always assumed that she knew what was best for them. She never asked me or included me. Before she died, I started resenting her for it. I wasn’t easy to live with. I don’t blame her for leaving. She wanted out of this lifestyle so bad but I forced her to stay. I didn’t think anything would happen to her. Now I feel guilty, all the time. I took their mother away. It was
my
fault. The people I’m involved with… The worst problem is I don’t even know who did it. I have so many people that are hell bent on destroying me that I honestly have no clue.” He shook his head slightly before continuing. “The thought of them ending up like this, like me…” The words hung in the air.

Tatum didn’t know what to say. Everything he’d said was true. She didn’t necessarily believe that it was his fault. He didn’t kill her himself, but it’s the lifestyle. If they didn’t live the way they did, they wouldn’t have to constantly be looking over their shoulders.

“People die every day,” Tatum said in a quiet voice, matching his. “If it’s not murder, it’s a car accident, or cancer. You can’t blame yourself. The type of life we live, you just have to appreciate the good days a whole lot more to make up for how bad the shitty ones are. Your boys are amazing, and obviously that’s because of you. If they are going to end up like this, then they end up like this, but ultimately it’s up to them. I’m proof of that right?”

Jager looked at her then. She continued, “If your daddy is a baker and mommy is a baker, but you are allergic to gluten, you probably won’t be a baker. If your parents are rocket scientists, but you hate physics and numbers, you probably won’t be a rocket scientist.”

Her smile was infectious Jager thought. He couldn’t help but smile back at her. He’d never really thought of it that way before.

Phil walked in then and Jager broke eye contact with Tatum. Instinctively, he pulled his hand back from atop hers and leaned back in his chair, putting as much space between them as he could without physically jumping out of his seat. He noticed Phil looking at the situation before him, analyzing it.

“Everything ok?” he asked, looking at Jager. 

“I don’t know,” he replied casually, looking at the girl. “She’s the one with the busted hands,” he smiled, attempting to look casual.

Tatum, ever calm and collected removed the bag of veggies from her knuckles and turned them around to show Phil. “Nothing a few more drinks can’t fix,” she said smiling. She stood, kissed Phil on the cheek and walked out to the patio where everyone saw her and erupted in cheers. Her mood had lifted exponentially. She wasn’t positive, but the way Jager reacted when her father walked in, the way he opened up to her, proved that he thought about her the way she had been catching herself thinking about him.

“You alright brother?” Phil asked Jager warily when Tatum was out of earshot.

Jager raised his eyebrows in question to Phil. He was smiling wasn’t he?

Phil bit his tongue. He didn’t want to ruin the mood by telling Jager to leave Tatum alone. “Just asking, we need ice out there,” he smiled and walked to the freezer.