Finding Beauty in the Darkness

by Ash, Nikki

  Last night, I decided to take Aria to the hotel instead of going home. I felt like we needed a night away from everything and since we’re 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.

  The guard who checks IDs recognizes me immediately and lets us through.

  “Have you ever gambled before?”

  “Nope,” she says, looking around and taking it all in.

  “Let me give you a tour.” Holding her hand and guiding her around the casino, 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 says.

  “Roulette? You know how to play?”

  “No, but I like how the ball rolls around the spinner thingy.”

  I chuckle at her innocence. “Okay, sit here.” I point to the chair and sit on the one to the right of her, pull out several bills and 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 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 would mean I have a fifty percent chance of winning!” 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 animated she is. I’ve 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. When a waitress comes over and asks us for our order, Aria orders a coke and I order a Macallan neat. She 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. “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’re invincible. Then, little by little, the house takes from you in such small increments you don’t even realize you’re being robbed with your eyes wide open, until you’re 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’d probably have decked him for flirting with her, 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. “Okay, 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’s 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’ll be five hundred million dollars 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 damn near 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’ve 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’re meeting Nico and Amber.” Aria agrees and 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 her 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’re a bad girl.”

  “I blame you! You’ve turned me into this.”

  “Into what? 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’ve 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 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 underwear, down to her ankles.

  I turn the water on so it can heat up, then set her on the counter, separating her legs and stepping 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’ve become 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 against the mirror, 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 cunt hitting my cock. “I had nothing to hold on to.” I push my pants and boxers down, stroking my dick a few times before I guide myself into Aria, holding onto her hips while I push in and out of her slowly. “You’re fucking perfect.” I thrust into her, my entire shaft bottoming out before I pull back slightly and 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, she 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 on to.” Grabbing her thighs, I start to pump in and out of her deeper, harder. “Fucking thighs to grab ahold of.” I can feel her pussy clenching around me, growing even tighter as I pick up the pace, fucking her hard. “You’re fucking perfect and you’re 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. Her pussy chokes my cock like a goddamned vice grip and I’m coming so fucking hard I almost black out.

  “Fuck, yes, you are,” I rasp. 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?” she asks, stopping the loofah on 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. Hell, I lost my virginity to an escort when I was fifteen when he was teaching me about the ins and outs of the bordello. It’s all I’ve ever known.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  ARIA

  “It’s all I’ve ever known.”

  I frown at Gio’s words. Not at his obvious fierce loyalty toward his family and the organization but at the fact that I know I could never compete with either one. I’m not his family or his blood. I’m just a woman he saved and is sleeping with. Sure, he’s called me his girlfriend, but I also saw the way his mom and dad looked at me, like an outsider, which is crazy because at first, everyone you meet is an outsider. Technically, at one time Cecilia was an outsider. I wonder if it’ll always be this way. If his family will ever give me a chance to become a part of their circle or if I’ll always remain on the outside looking in. The thought is mildly depressing.

  “Hey.” Gio lifts my chin. “What’s wrong?”

  I push my negative thoughts aside and ask a question I’ve been wondering for a while. “Will you one day take over the organization?”

  “Yes, I’m the eldest of the three of us. Nico loves working at the hotel and casino and while Mario has talked about moving back here on several occasions, he’s never taken the initiative to actually move. I’ve known I would take over since I was little.”

  “If you could do anything, what would you do?”

  Gio looks at me with confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “If you weren’t in the organization and you could have any career you wanted, what would you want to spend your life doing?”

  His lips curve into a puzzled frown as he considers my question. “Probably running a restaurant.” He smiles, and it shocks me he didn’t say he would want to be doing exactly what he’s doing. “When I was growing up, my parents owned—still own—a few restaurants. I used to love hanging out in the kitchen with the chef and learning about all the foods. When my dad would hold meetings at the restaurants, I would constantly get yelled at for wanting to help in the kitchen instead of attending the meetings and learning about the business.”

  Gio’s lips turn upward into a soft smile, most likely remembering a fond memory, and it tugs at my heart that I’ve never seen him smile so carefree as he is right now while discussing the restaurant. When he discusses the business and organization, he’s always cold, completely void of all emotions. He never smiles, especially not like the one he’s sporting right now. When you love something, when it’s your passion, it makes you happy. His reaction tells me the organization isn’t his passion, but instead an obligation, and that makes me feel sad for him. I couldn’t imagine spending my life doing something I don’t love and feel passionately about.

  Gio reaches over and turns the water off then grabs us both a towel. I wrap mine around my body and he does the same. “So, you can cook?” I ask, wanting to know more about this passion of his.

  “I can, but I’d want to take it a step further. I’d want to go to culinary school and learn how to do it all the right way.”

  “Well, now you’re going to have to cook for me sometime.” I give him a playful shove with my hip as I walk passed him to get dressed.

  “If it’ll end the same way it did with the cake and strawberries, I’ll gladly cook for you any time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ARIA

  After our brief detour from reality, we’re back home and Gio is back to work. If you would have asked me a year ago if I could ever consider a mansion where women prostitute themselves out to men to be my home, I would have laughed in your face, but now I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’ve grown to love the women here. The problem is, while Cecilia is gone, Claudia is now here training Natalie to take over and she isn’t exactly fond of me.

  The last few days I’ve been roaming the expansive property taking pictures. Then an idea came to me. I could take pictures to go in the women’s profiles. Gio could include a couple photos of the women, so the members could see a good image of who they’re picking. Right now, there’s a simple head shot of each girl in their portfolio, which isn’t flattering at all. At first, Gio said no, but when I started following him around, bored out of my mind, taking pictures of him, he said whatever I wanted to do is fine.

  So, I had each girl let me know when they’re dressed up and would like her picture taken. I did mini photo shoots for each of them and now that I’m in the darkroom developing their photos, I’m in love. I’ve always been more of a landscape photographer, but seeing how these photos turned out, I think I’ve found what I want to do: professional shoots. From boudoir to family shoots, I want to capture the special moments people want to remember.

  As I’m hanging up the last of Holly’s photos from her shoot to dry, there’s a knock at the door. Gio put a lock on the door so when I’m developing, people can’t just barge in and ruin the photos. I rinse and dry my hands and step outside to find Claudia standing against the wall with her arms crossed. She’s dressed similar to the way all the women dress around here, in an expensive formfitting dress and tall heels. Her makeup is done to perfection and if I didn’t know she has a thirty-two-year-old son, I would think she was no older than forty years old.

  “Claudia,” I say, giving her my best smile. She’s made it a point to ignore me the last week so I can’t imagine why she wants to speak to me now, but I know it’s probably best to be pleasant if she’s ever going to give me a chance.

  “Aria, I was hoping we could speak.” She hits me with a smile just as big as the one I gave her and something tells me hers is fake as well.

  “Absolutely.” I follow h
er out to the back patio near the pool. She asks Darla, one of the servers, to bring us some sweet tea then gestures for me to have a seat.

  “I thought since Giovanni is out on business for the day we could talk. He’s made it a point to keep me away from you all week but there are a few things I need to say.” I’m stunned to learn that Giovanni has kept her away from me. I thought this whole time she was simply avoiding me, but to learn it was his doing has me extremely curious as to why. Without waiting for my response, Claudia continues. “I wanted to apologize for Cecilia’s part in what happened regarding Senator Weston Hightower.”

  She’s apologizing for something Cecilia did? “No, please, I can’t let you take the blame or apologize for something you had no control over.”

  “Please let me finish, dear.” She places her hands into her lap and sits up straighter, her shoulders jutting back. “As I was saying, I am sorry for her part. She did what she felt was best for this family but she should have come to me first because I would’ve told her it was a waste of her time. You’re twenty-one years old and while I’m sure your pussy is fresh and tight, just how my son likes it—since he is his father’s son after all—you have no future with Giovanni.”

  My drink splutters out of my mouth as I take in her words. This woman has no intention of apologizing. Gio kept her from me because he knew how she felt. My only hope is to explain to her how I feel about Gio.

  “Claudia, I know Cecilia is close to your family.”

  “No, she is family.” Her left eyebrow quirks up, daring me to argue, and I take a sip of my tea to fill my mouth before I say something I can’t take back.