Chapter 4
Zarik finally found himself in the dining room as his mother was starting to bring plates from the kitchen.
His father was already sitting at the table and Zarik moved to hug him.
"It's good to see you again boy." His father said.
"Yeah." Zarik nodded. He motioned towards Angela to get her to come closer. "Father, this is my partner, Angela."
"Partner eh?" His father gave him a side look. "Kind of young looking, isn't she?" Zarik watched Angela look confused. "Wasn't aware I raised a cradle robber."
Zarik laughed as Angela looked flustered. "It's not like that Father. Besides, she's older than she looks. She was an Agent for Deva."
His father looked her over again and he watched Angela shift on her feet nervously. It was the first time he'd seen her do that in a very long time.
"I see." His father held out his hand to her and Angela hesitated before putting her left hand in his. Zarik gave her a reassuring smile when she looked at him as his father turned her hand over in his.
"A firearms user like yourself I guess. But hand-to-hand combat as well?"
"I...how did you know?" Angela frowned.
"The way your hands are tinted in certain locations. Finger joints of your index are slightly darker and your knuckles are a hint darker than the rest of your hands. It tells me you're capable that I'm not seeing scars or breaks. Zarik has a scar over his left knuckles where he broke his hand beating a kid up when he was younger. Stupid son didn't know how to hold his hand on follow-through and now he has to live with it." His father said.
Zarik was startled slightly when Angela reached for his hand.
"I never knew anyone could tell things like that." She said as she saw the lighter line that went over his middle two knuckles where he'd busted them on the kids glasses because he'd tried to pull away instead of pushing forward. Had he just pushed harder, it would have been a pinprick from the rim, instead it'd torn open his knuckles.
"Well, I guess it's not often taught anymore. But it's nice to know there is someone to look out for Zarik now." His father smiled at her and Angela relaxed.
His father had a way of making people at ease with him. Maybe it was his no-nonsense personality, maybe just his banter, but either way he was glad Angela was accepted.
"Well, lets get settled down for dinner you three." His mother said.
Zarik watched his younger brother saunter into the room as he was pulling the chair beside his father out for Angela.
It had been a year since he'd seen his brother, but nothing had changed.
He still wore the same gaudy shirts and jeans. His hair was still long and just shy of dingy.
Which reminded him, he needed a haircut himself. Angela had trimmed it up pretty nice last time, so he'd see if she could do it again tomorrow.
It was surprising how little his brother looked like him.
Leaner, more of an angled face. His brother reminded him of a rodent honestly.
His brother sat at the other end of the table and Zarik tensed as a woman followed into the room.
"Oh, Zarik is home, how come you didn't tell us?" She asked.
Angela frowned as his sister-in-law moved around the table and kissed his cheek.
It wasn't the friendly sort and he still pushed her away.
"Gloria." He kept the edge to his voice, but it never worked with her.
xXx
Angela heard the irritation in Dingo's voice.
Did this woman not understand he was annoyed? It definitely wasn't his sister.
"Sit down." Angela heard his mother say from the doorway as she carried another large plate in.
A timid younger woman followed behind her with a large pitcher.
Angela watched the other woman who had followed his brother into the room move around the table.
She knew the man had been his brother by the features they did share. Complexion, height, bone structure. The boy had a few of Dingo's fathers looks, but he looked shifty compared to Dingo and his father.
The younger woman following his mother must have been his younger sister. The one who was kidnapped and raped.
She still looked scared among her own family.
'Gloria' walked past his sister and Angela saw her nudge the girl ever so slightly.
Not enough to be noticeable by any but a trained hunter like herself or Dingo.
Angela watched as the girl fumbled her hold on the pitcher and it started to fall.
It was followed by a huge crash and his mother jumped away.
"Oh dear." Gloria sounded surprised.
Angela pushed up as the girl looked terrified.
Zarik was out of his seat and around the table before she was even up enough to think about moving that far.
Angela watched him reach out for his sister and pull her away from the mess.
"It's alright Mira." He said. "Accidents happen."
The girl looked ready to cry. His mother touched her cheek.
"We'll just get a new one. Let me get this mess cleaned up first."
Angela hurried around the table to follow his mother into the kitchen and was in awe.
While the rest of the house was colorful, this was a metallic heaven to her.
It was top of the line.
"Here." His mother shoved a couple hand towels into her hands. "That girl is going to drive me insane." She muttered.
"I'm sure your daughter didn't mean to drop it." Angela said with a bit of surety in her voice. She'd seen Gloria nudge Dingo's sister first.
"Not Mira my dear. Gloria." His mother patted her hand before leading her back towards the dining room.
Angela frowned as she understood that Dingo's mother had known it was Gloria's doing.
By the time they got back out, Dingo had gotten his sister seated beside his father and was picking up all the glass shards from the floor.
He took the towel from his mother and started to mop up as much as he could.
Angela dropped hers on the floor around and started to clean it up.
"Such good kids. Barely home for a minute and already back to helping." His mother sighed.
Angela glanced at Dingo from under the table edge. 'Gloria did it.' She mouthed at him.
'I know.' He looked angry.
He gathered the mostly wet towels up and Angela used the last dry one to get the floor as dry as she could and checked to see if there were any more glass shards.
"I'll take them." He said as he held out his hand for it. She nodded. "Back in a minute." He said to the room.
Angela moved to sit back where she had been.
"Well now, a most eventful way to introduce our family to you." His father said as she sat down.
"More than I've ever seen before." She smiled. He laughed.
"Well, you've met my wife, Suki. And myself, Raymond. This is our daughter Mira." He motioned to the girl now sitting next to him between himself and his wife as she was pulling a chair up.
Angela smiled at the girl and watched her look away at her lap. Honestly, this was more what she had expected to see of Dingo's siblings. A pretty girl with her fine features and delicate look that she could tell was from Dingo's mother. She had the same brown hair Dingo did, but it was longer and hid her for the most part.
His brother had gotten their mothers black hair and it looked almost oily unlike hers.
"My younger son, Lyle." Raymond waved to the other end of the table absently. "His wife, Gloria."
The other blond woman looked about like Angela would have expected an agent of Deva to look. Supermodel beautiful, ruthless, and uncaring of how she got her way.
Blond hair, but more of a rusty blond than her golden blond.
It just hit her how much Gloria looked like her honestly. Just older and more 'refined' compared to her young face.
Yet Dingo didn't seem to like her much.
"And of course you know my eldest." Raymond said. He looked at the rest of them before putting his hand on her shoulder. "And this is Zarik's partner Angela."
"Partner?" Gloria looked almost disgusted. "Never thought that man would find anyone who liked him."
Angela looked her in the eye. "And why wouldn't I like him? He's a great guy."
The woman huffed. "I'm just saying his preferences are a little rough."
xXx
Zarik stood in the hall outside the dining room listening as his father introduced everyone. He felt a bit stupid for not doing it himself, but it just didn't occur that Angela wouldn't figure it out quick.
She was smart.
Then he heard Gloria again.
Why did everyone have to assume they were that kind of partners? And what kind of man did she think he was? A monster?
He grinned slightly when he heard Angela defend him. It was good knowing she did like him.
"I'm just saying his preferences are a little rough." Gloria had the tone as if they'd been intimate before when he never had. Not with her. Ever.
He hated bitchy people.
He came around the corner.
"You wouldn't know what my preferences were, but I think Angela could handle just about anything I can come up with." He said as he moved back to his seat.
He caught the very slight blush that tinted Angela's cheeks, but it very well could have been annoyance too.
"Well, that's enough of that." His mother said as she started to get food dished out. "Let's just enjoy the fact that Zarik is home for a while." She looked at him. "You are staying for a bit, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I was going to be getting some maintenance done and maybe seeing about redoing the design of my home." He looked at his sister. "If Mira has any time to work on it anyway."
He watched his sister nod.
The table was quiet for the most part as everyone ate.
As plates were cleared up, Angela started to help his mother clean up.
"It's alright dear, I've got it handled." She said.
"It's no problem, you cooked after all. I'm used to cleaning up when Dingo cooks." She said.
He flinched as she said the name.
"Is that his hunter name?" His mother asked.
Angela frowned. "Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm just used to calling him that because it's what the agency gave me as his preferred working name and it just kind of stuck."
His mother actually laughed and Zarik kind of just wanted to sink into the floor.
"He really did like that darn mutt." His mother said.
"Well, it is easy to remember and I read up on the lore of it and it fits him for the most part." Angela said as she carried stuff into the kitchen.
He sighed.
"You know there is another meaning to that word." Gloria said. He arched a brow at her. "A man who likes older women."
Zarik gave her a nasty smile. "Well now, I guess that puts you far out of my range, doesn't it? Though I do believe Angela might actually be a couple months older than I am. Isn't that funny?"
Her look was so worth the shock on Angela's face.
And then he saw her trying to figure out if he was indeed younger than her.
He was pretty sure he was older than her even by her actual age.
He watched that knowledge cross her face and was slightly startled by the look of dejection at her realization. He'd find some way to let her know that he wasn't actually into older women and was leaning more towards her anyway.
He stood up as his father did.
"Well, lets get some of your stuff moved into your old room. I'm afraid you two are going to have to share since we'll be having people over tomorrow and the rest of the rooms are already booked." His father said.