Altering Authority by Ashley Dooley Page B

bottle. The fire warmed her cheeks. She couldn’t tell if she was blushing or if it was just from the heat. Still looking at him, she wondered idly why she didn’t come down here more often. The smell of the burning wood filled her nose, the smoke burned her eyes, and she loved it. The sound of the guitar changed the mood with every note.
    Ava sat next to her, “I don’t know how you get anything done,” she said and shook her head, looking out at the ocean. The sky reminded her of cotton candy. Pastel purples, pinks and blues. She smiled wistfully and turned to Tatum, “I’d have to just live here, on the beach. It’s so beautiful.”
    Tatum smiled back at her. Still unsure how this other girl fit into the group of misfits. She seemed too normal to be a groupie. The men treated her with respect, unlike the other girls who’d they grope and hit on.
    They sat in silence for a while, taking in the conversations around them before Tatum couldn’t hold it any longer. “Ava, I have to ask you something, and I hope you don’t get offended.”
    Ava raised her eyesbrows. “Shoot. I never get offended,” she smiled.
    Tatum searched her face for a minute, deciding if it was a good idea to actually ask her. Choosing her words carefully she said, “How do you fit in with these guys? I get the feeling that you don’t just hang around with them, like the other girls do, if you know what I mean.” The other girls definitely didn’t just hang around , Tatum thought. They were there to suck dick and hopefully get in on some cash if they were good enough at it. Saying that however seemed a little too harsh.
    Ava spluttered on her beer. “Oh God,” she said mortified.
    “I’m sorry…” Tatum began before Ava cracked up laughing.
    “You have no idea do you?!” she said wiping her eyes.
    Tatum shook her head and raised her eyebrows, glad that she didn’t actually seem to have offended her.
    “Jagers my cousin!” she said and started laughing again. “I do the books for the guys. Try to keep it all somewhat legal. My father used to own the club.”
    Her eyes drifted down to her hands before taking a swig of her beer again. Tatum guessed the topic of her father was still a sensitive one. “I’m sorry,” she said to Ava. “I didn’t mean to bring it up. I heard of your father and how he took Jager on as his own. I didn’t realize he had his own kids.”
    Ava laughed a quick, bitter laugh. One that was mostly just her huffing out a quick breath. “Most people don’t,” she said before staring back into the fire again.
    The tension was palpable. It lasted for all of five minutes or so. Tatum was about to get up and walk around until Ava spoke again. “So, um…” she began, then looked away, and then back at Tatum, chewing her lip, as if she were uncomfortable with what she was about to say, or didn’t know how to say it.
    Tatum smiled at her new friend. The tables had turned. It seemed to be an evening for awkward questions. Ava smiled back and shifted her chair closer, this was a secret apparently. Raising her eyebrows Tatum grabbed the arm rest of Ava’s chair and helped her. When the chair came down on Ava’s foot and she yelped, the two women laughed uncontrollably, rendering Ava useless to tell Tatum what she intended to. Eventually they got their bearings and Ava leaned toward Tatum, her hair falling down the side of her face, shielding it from the view of others. “You can slap me if this is none of my business, but…” she bit her lip, unsure if this question was appropriate.
    Tatum shook her head and raised her eyebrows, waiting.
    “…Is there something, with you… and Jager?” she whispered.
    Tatum realized then that she wasn’t blushing before. The feeling in her face now was undoubtedly, positively that of embarrassed blushing.
    Ava recognized right away. Her smile grew and she began to sit back with a smug look on her face but Tatum shot out and grabbed her arm in her hand. Ava’s eyes