The Stripper And The Anxiety-riddled Dork

A mutual Love for THE Striped Feline

Chapter 17

"We seriously have to be here?" Dalia grumbled, her arms crossed against her chest as she watched Dax grab the tickets from the Zoo's ticket booth. Her 4-year old niece sitting quietly atop her father's shoulders. Dallas let out a tired sigh of her own as she held Lucas's small hand in her slightly larger one. Her little boy looking at the near vacant entrance before looking up at his mother.

"This is boring. Can we go home now?"

"No, Lucas. It's your sister's birthday and she wanted to come to the Zoo. So that's what we're doing." Dallas told her son while looking to her sister, Dalia rolling her eyes at her.

"Can I at least get my Gameboy? I wanna beat Zelda." He asked, Dallas pursing her lips. She never liked how obsessed her boy has been over that game system.

"Please, Ma?" He whined, wrapping his arms around his mother's waist and rest his chin against her stomach. His mother tilted her head down and met his honey brown gaze, his eyes being far more similar to his father's than hers.

"Fine, let's go get your toy."

"Gameboy." Lucas corrected as he placed his hand back into his mother's, the both of them walking towards the parking lot while Dax headed where they had been waiting for them. He watched as his wife and son walked away, his hands loosely wrapped around Codi's tiny legs. The quiet girl holding the tickets tightly in her hands.

"They forget something?"

"Lucas's Gameboy. Not even in the Zoo and that boy of yours is already bored outta his mind." Dalia explained, Dax letting out a soft huff as he turned to face the Zoo's entrance.

"That damn thing. Never should've gotten it for him." He grumbled, his hands moving from Codi's legs to her sides. He picked her up and off his shoulders, a small squeak leaving his little girl, carefully placing her on her own two feet.

"Silus!" He called out to the Butler. The loyal man servant walked towards him from where he had been waiting at the entrance alongside Win. They walked towards them, Silus giving a small but warm smile to his youngest master before it fell to a neutral line when his eyes connected with Dax's.

"Yes, Master Dax?"

"Take Codi and Win inside. I'll wait for Dallas and Lucas and we'll meet back up with you all." He told the older man. Silus's lips pursed at the demand, his eyes flickering down to Codi who lightly kicked at a pebble with a resigned expression that shouldn't belong on a 4-year old's face. Win also took notice and she grabbed her cousin's hand, the smaller of the two letting out a soft noise of surprise as she was dragged.

"Come on, Codi! I wanna show you the best cat ever!"

"Better than Mufasa?" Codi questioned with pure intrigue, Win letting out an affirmative hum as she nodded. Silus looked at the two girls with a Melancholic gaze before turning back to his employer. He gave a quick bow of his head before following behind the girls, his perfectly pressed pants and vest a stark contrast to the two girls' jeans and polo.

"Ain't going with them?" Dax asked his sister in law, Dalia giving him a careless wave of her hand before she crossed her arms against her chest.

"Please, the less I'm in that foul smelling barn the better. Honestly you and Dallas are bloody rich. Couldn't you just get Codi her own petting zoo? Or a damn bounce house? Don't kids like those?"

"I feel bad for Win, sometimes. Her birthdays must be so boring with you around." Dax chuckled, his hands stuffing themselves into his pants pockets.