Chapter 8
Zarik woke up as early as ever.
This time with a headache.
He opened his eyes as he felt a weight on his right arm.
At some point, Angela had put her back to him and he had turned onto his side to hold her close again.
It felt amazing to have someone to hold like this.
Did she remember last night?
He could. He also remembered that their liquor was drugged.
Should he tell her that?
But he really didn't want to ruin what they had done last night.
He loved it. And her.
If Gloria's drug induced shots were what had finally gotten Angela over whatever reservation she had against him, he'd take it.
He was never letting her go anyway.
Hell, he might even thank his bitchy sister-in-law.
Her plan had backfired on her because she'd assumed he'd be alone like every other time he came home.
Yeah, he'd keep it to himself. If she found out on her own, he'd feign surprise.
He turned to his back and sighed before trying to pull his arm free of Angela.
She made the most adorable mumbles before opening her eyes and glaring at him.
"Morning." He grinned.
"Fuck you." She pulled the blanket over her face.
"Maybe later." He teased.
He slid to the side of the bed and stood up.
It wasn't a full blown hangover by any means, but the drugs did cause a bit of a headache.
Was it worse for her?
He started for the case he'd brought up last night and pulled out a clean pair of jeans and a button-up shirt. He also grabbed the smaller case tucked into his of bathroom things. Really just a toothbrush, cologne, and his shaving kit. He knew hers had just as little
He headed into the bathroom to get ready for the day and put his stuff on the counter.
Before he did anything else, he collected up the laundry and dumped it into the hamper by the end of the tub.
He took a quick shower before putting his clean clothes on and then looked at his reflection in the mirror.
She didn't like beards?
And yet she'd never complained about his.
Then again, Angela wouldn't. 'What did it have to do with her' is probably what she'd say.
Well, it did have to do with her.
He didn't want her to avoid kissing him because of it.
He stared for a moment, putting his hand over his jaw to try and see how far he wanted to trim it down to.
Zarik knew if he took it all off, he'd look at least five years younger. Would that throw her off more?
He sighed.
Part of him wanted to take her at her word of letting him do what he wanted, but another part of him wanted her to like his looks. And if she didn't like his beard...he'd get rid of it.
He needed to trim anyway.
He squeezed a tiny bit of the gel from his kit out and used the water from the tap to turn it into a foam.
After rinsing his hands off, he held the razor in his hand.
Was he really doing this?
He looked at himself again.
Yeah. He was.
Taking off his beard was both terrifying and a bit relieving as he worked.
He left himself a patch at his chin, mainly just taking off the sideburns.
He wasn't ready to give it all the way up.
Zarik leaned over the sink to wash away the rest of the foam before pulling out the scissors and trimming up the goatee he'd left himself with.
Now he just needed to get someone to trim his hair for him and he'd be good.
He pulled open the bathroom door after cleaning up his stuff in the bathroom and looked over to his bed.
It was still early. She'd likely be in bed another hour or even two.
Normally he went for a run before she woke up in the morning.
He shook his head to himself as he quietly headed out of his room.
He checked his watch.
Seven wasn't too early for anything.
He could hear movement downstairs as he headed down towards the kitchen.
When he pushed the kitchen door open, he smiled as he saw his mother already cooking bread for breakfast.
"Good morning Zarik. Angela not up yet?"
"No. She sleeps in normally. I tend to get up a bit early and run before she's ever awake." He said as he sifted through the fruit basket to pull out an orange.
He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt arms wrap around him.
He heard childlike giggling and turned enough to see his baby sister.
"Think it's funny to sneak up on your brother like that?" He ruffled her hair.
She huffed and glared at him, so like Angela that he laughed.
"I missed you." She said.
"Me too Mira." He moved to lean against the counter and watched her pick something out of the basket as well. He could see the dark circles under her eyes. The way her skin was pale.
Nothing was as he remembered with her.
He knew his sister was turning into a woman, but he never wanted it to be like that.
"Mira...you know why I'm back right?"
She jumped at his words before looking scared.
He held out his hand to her after putting another slice of orange in his mouth.
She was timid, but came to him.
"You know what happened."
"I do. Father told me in their letter to me." He said as she fidgeted with the apple she'd pulled out. He held her close. "I will hunt that bastard down and make him pay. And then I'll let the authorities handle their end. If they don't do things to my satisfaction, then I'll handle it my way."
"Don't you go getting in trouble with the law boy." His mother pointed a spoon at him.
"I'm not. Even I'm not above the law. I'm just a hunter. But you know...things happen out in the desert." His mother saw the cold look in his eyes, and he saw the same look in hers.
She wasn't disagreeing with him, she just didn't want to lose her kids.
But there wasn't anything the law could do if they couldn't prove anything.
After all, he was a sniper. He didn't have to be anywhere close to the man to kill him.
And he had plenty of experience.
He looked down at his sister. "You still know how to cut hair?" He asked her.
She frowned as she looked up at him. "You need it?"
"Dearly." He sighed. "Don't tell her, but Angela isn't as good at it as you are." He tried to sound conspiratorial and his sister giggled.
"Alright." She said.
He nodded. "Go get your stuff then. Meet you in the courtyard." He let her go and watched her hurry off, biting into her apple on the way.
He looked at his mother again. "I won't let this sick asshole keep at it. Angela and I have a bit of experience in hunting these kinds of people. Her childlike looks pay off sometimes."
"Don't let her put herself in danger for us."
Zarik waved it off. "She'd volunteer. Besides, she's got me for backup. And she is a seasoned hand-to-hand combat veteran. She can handle herself."
His mother nodded. "Still..."
"It'll be okay." He moved to hug her. "Now, Mira will be back out there before I will."
xXx
Angela finally poked her head out from under the covers a bit after Dingo had left the room.
How could she have done that last night?
With him?
She felt so stupid. Alcohol was never a good way to start anything.
But it had felt so good. Finally getting to feel all that muscle under her fingers. Knowing what that body looked like under the jeans and button-up shirts.
She'd known Dingo would be sexy, but that was just too much.
And he was gentle. Sweet.
Her body ached in a good way when she pushed herself to get up.
No, sleeping with Dingo wasn't the bad idea. Sex due to alcohol was.
She headed to her case to pull out a clean pair of jeans with embroidered vines and roses on the thighs and a dark green shirt with a few roses stitched on the right side of her stomach.
She picked out a set of red silk undergarments and headed for the bathroom.
After a quick shower, she got dressed and tried to wring out as much water from her hair as possible.
She started to put her hair in a braid after tying a long ribbon around the beginning and tied it off at the end with the tail of her ribbon.
It was one of those girly things she liked to do without being too inconvenient.
She pulled her boots on and headed downstairs following the smell of bread baking.
She still couldn't believe the amount of color around the house as she walked.
Angela heard laughter from the kitchen as she turned the corner into the dining room.
She caught sight of Dingo and was startled when he turned to face her.
His hair was trimmed back again, not nearly as long as when she'd first met him and trimmed it that second month they'd been working together. It looked good.
But the biggest change was that he'd shaved off his beard.
Well, most of it.
He'd kept a bit of a chin beard, but on him it looked really good.
She could actually like that.
"Morning." He said.
"Morning." She was a bit slow to respond.
"Better?" He asked.
She frowned until she realized he was talking about his beard removal. "If that's what you want." She shrugged. Couldn't she for once just tell him that she liked things?
She thought it was even more sexy this way than having his whole jaw covered in scruff.
"Good." He grinned.
His lack of facial hair made him look a couple years younger than he was, but she didn't mind.
Now she didn't feel so much like a kid with an older man.
She was trying to look more mature, but if he stayed with that then he'd look more her age.
Dingo turned back to the kitchen and she watched him come back to the dining room with a large plate this time.
Angela heard a door close as she watched Dingo put the plate on the table and he motioned her to sit.
"We'll be eating shortly, so give me a minute." He said.
She nodded and watched his mother come help him finish setting things out.
Angela looked up as Mira came back into the dining room this time, with her father in tow.
"Ah, just in time. I finished up measurements for Mira to get a real working blueprint on." Raymond said.
Dingo nodded as he took a seat beside his father.
"I can get that quickly." Mira said as she sat on the other side of Raymond.
Suki sat beside her daughter and Angela frowned as she realized they were getting started without his brother.
"Your brother and his wife aren't coming?"
"They actually live next door now."