Twenty-Six

 

 

Giovanni

“What are we doing today?” Aria asks for the millionth time since I made the mistake of using the word surprise. We are riding down to the second floor in the elevator, and for the millionth time I tell her she has to wait and see. The elevator dings letting us off and Aria lets out a loud gasp. “Wow! Gio, is this your casino?” I nod and take her hand, leading her to the entrance.

Last night, I decided to take Aria to the hotel instead of going home. I felt like we needed a night away from it all and since we are here, I figured she would enjoy experiencing a casino for the first time. Since she was living with me when she turned twenty-one back in April, there was a good chance she hasn’t experienced being at a real casino before.

We walk up to the guard who checks ID’s. He recognizes me and lets us through. “You ever gambled before?” Aria shakes her head. She’s looking around, taking it all in. “Let me give you a tour.” Holding her hand the entire time, I show her all the different areas ranging from the penny machines to the blackjack tables to the poker tables and ending at the roulette tables.

“I want to play this one,” she whispers.

“Roulette? You know how to play?”

“No but I like how the ball rolls around the spinner thing.” I chuckle at her innocence.

“Ok, sit here.” I point to the chair and sit down at the one to the right of hers and pull out several bills, setting them down in front of us. The dealer scoops up the money and gives us a stack of chips. I attempt to explain how the game works but when she gives me her adorable look of confusion, I go with the easy version. “Take your chips and place them down on the numbers you think the ball will land on.” I place a couple chips on a few different numbers and Aria follows my lead.

“What’s this?” She points to the outside betting area.

“You can place a bet on whether you think it will land on red or black.”

“Oh! That’s a fifty-perfect chance!” She takes two chips and places them on red. The dealer calls last chance and then spins the wheel. The ball lands on a red twenty-three and Aria squeals that it’s on red. The guy sitting next to her laughs at her enthusiasm.

“Do I take my money?” She reaches for the chips.

“They’re chips and no, the dealer will distribute your winnings.” She watches with wide eyes as the dealer takes the chips and distributes them back out to those who won.

“I got like double the amount I started with!” I find myself grinning at how enthused she is. I have learned quickly that Aria finds pleasure in everything she does. Whether it’s learning to cook and bake with Maggie, taking photos and developing them in her darkroom, or playing a game of roulette here at the casino, she approaches everything with equal excitement and enthusiasm.

 The dealer starts the process all over again and everyone picks their numbers. This time Aria loses everything she won plus a few extra chips making her pout. A waitress comes over and asks us for our order. Aria orders a coke and I order a Macallen neat. Aria plays several more rounds, losing more often than not. I keep giving her more of my chips until she’s down to her last few.

“Where did all the chips go?” She looks around us like I’m hiding the chips from her. She grabs my hand and searches in my lap.

The gentleman next to her cracks up laughing then says, “You lost them all. That’s what the casino does to you, sweetheart. It’s a mindfuck. You start off winning so you gain confidence; the more you win, the more you think you are invincible. Then little by little the house takes from you in such small increments you don’t even realize you are being robbed with your eyes wide open, until you are sitting in this chair, thousands of dollars poorer.” He gives Aria a small wink and if he didn’t look to be in his eighties, I would probably have decked him but seeing as he’s old enough to be her great grandfather, I simply chuckle.

“Wait! What do you mean thousands?” Aria turns to me. “How much did we lose?”

“We?” I laugh. “You lost all our money.” She bites on her lower lip nervously looking around like the money will reappear. Running my thumb over her lip, I pull it out from her teeth. “Did you have fun?” She nods. “Then that’s all that matters. What do you want to play next?” We grab our drinks and she says bye to the guy sitting next to her.

“How much did I lose?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my casino. I get it all back regardless.” She rolls her eyes.

“Ok, but just tell me. If it wasn’t your casino, how much would I have lost?”

“Two grand.” I shrug.

Aria splutters out her drink. “Two thousand dollars?”

“Baby, that’s child play. The man next to you put out and lost probably triple that.”

“I think we should go play the penny machines!” she says seriously and I can’t help but laugh at her. She has millions of dollars in the bank from the sale of the shares and in less than a year she will be five hundred million richer, and the woman wants to play the penny slots.

“Well then, let’s go play those penny slots.”

Aria and I spend the day gambling. She tries out probably every table and machine in this place. She cheers when she wins and pouts when she loses, and I feel like my face should be in pain from all the goddamn smiling I’m doing watching her every reaction.

When it’s close to dinner time I get a text from Nico letting me know he’s aware we have been down here all day and we better meet him and Amber for dinner. I text him back that we’ll meet them at one of the restaurants in the hotel.

“Let’s go up, so we can shower and change for dinner. We are meeting Nico and Amber.” Aria agrees and she throws the couple chips she has left into her pocket.

“What are you doing? We have to go cash them in.”

“I only have a couple. I want to keep them.” Her face heats up, turning a faint pink shade.

“Why are you blushing?” I pull Aria into my side while we wait for the elevator to go up to our room.

“I like to keep mementos. It’s similar to taking a picture.” She shrugs. “This was my first time in a casino and it was with you. I want to keep the chips to remember this day.”

We enter the room and I strip my shirt off as I walk toward the bathroom to jump in the shower, stopping at the door. “You coming?”

Aria giggles. “Hell yes!” It takes me a second before I put it together. My girl has jokes.

 “You are a bad girl.”

“I blame you! You have turned me into this.” She looks down at herself.

“Into a beautiful woman? I’m pretty sure you were just as beautiful the day I took you. A bit skinnier, but still just as beautiful.”

“What I meant was, you have turned me into a horny sex maniac! But now I’m stuck on the fact that you just called me fat.”

Grabbing Aria’s shirt, I lift it up over her head then reach around and unclasp her bra, pulling it off her. Her hands go to her soft stomach and I ignore it while I undo her jeans and pull them, along with her panties, down to her ankles. She steps out of them, her hands moving briefly to hold onto my shoulders to keep balance.

I turn the water on so it can heat up then sitting her down onto the sink, I separate her legs and step in between them. “You see these beautiful, perfect tits?” I don’t give her a chance to answer. “When you moved in with me, they were still gorgeous, but the last several months they have become all supple and full. When you wear those tiny little tank tops, they spill out and it takes everything in me not to spend my days and nights sucking on them.” I take one hardened nipple into my mouth and suck on it before letting go of it and sucking on the other one, earning me a breathy moan from Aria.

I release her nipple, and pushing her back into the mirror, I kiss a trail down the center of her tits straight to her stomach. “When you came to me you were beautiful but too skinny.” Bending down, I kiss a line across her stomach from one hip bone to the other. Then I stand up and pull her hips toward me, her hot pussy hitting my cock. “I had nothing to hold on to.” I push my pants and boxers down stroking my cock a few times before I guide myself into Aria, gripping her hips to hold onto while I push in and out of her slowly. “You are fucking perfect.” I thrust into her, my cock bottoming out before I pull back slightly then thrust back in.

“Play with those beautiful nipples, tesoro mio.” My treasure. Aria brings her hands to her breasts and palms them at first, then with her index and forefinger, pinches both of her nipples, her eyes never leaving mine. “There’s nothing wrong with a skinny woman.” I grip her hips harder as my movements get rougher, her tight cunt quickly bringing me to the brink. “But fuck if a man doesn’t love his woman with meat on her. Tits to suck on, hips to grip onto.” Grabbing her thighs, I start to pump in and out of Aria deeper, harder. “Fucking thighs to grab a hold of.” I can feel her pussy clenching around me, growing even tighter as I pick up the pace, fucking her hard. “You are fucking perfect and you are mine. Say it, Aria. You’re perfect and mine.”

My thrusts turn savage, as I push into her, her tits bouncing as she pinches her nipples. Her eyes still trained on mine. “Say it, Aria! Say it and then come all over my fucking cock.”

Aria’s eyes briefly close. “I-I’m perfect,” she moans out.

“And?”

“And I’m yours!” She screams out the last word as her orgasm rips through her. The feeling of her climax, her pussy gripping my cock like a vice has me coming so fucking hard I almost black out.

“Fuck yes you are.” Pulling out of her, I grip those perfect hips of hers and pull her up to me so her face is only inches from mine. I seal my lips over hers, my tongue running over the seam of her lips before I pick her up and move us into the shower, setting her down under the stream of hot water.

Ripping the loofah out of the package, I pour some soap onto it and wash Aria’s body, focusing on all my favorite parts of her. When I’m done, she takes it from me and does the same thing. “What does this mean?” The loofah stops at the tattoo over my heart. I’m surprised she hasn’t asked me sooner.

“Dalla nascita. Per sangue. Famiglia.” I say the words without having to look at them.

“I know they say something about birth and family. I don’t know the middle word, though.”

“By birth. By blood. Family. It’s the family motto. Every son has gotten this tattoo the day he was officially brought into the organization.”

“How old were you?”

“Eighteen but I grew up in the organization. While kids were out riding their bikes, I was learning about money laundering. When my friends were hanging out playing video games, I was helping my dad count shipments of various illegal paraphernalia. I lost my virginity to an escort when I was fifteen. It’s all I’ve ever known.”