48. Lark

Chapter forty-eight

Lark

I crawl into bed, my whole body wrapped in that warm feeling I always have when I’m with Gi.

When he comes out of the bathroom, I expect to see him ready for bed, but instead, he enters the dark room with the lights off, and I’m momentarily blinded.

A chill shivers down my spine as I hear his next words.

“Little red,” he chides, his voice filled with a mocking quality that both infuriates me and turns me on in equal measure. I blink rapidly, my eyes adjusting to the dark room, and when I see him looming over me, it clicks.

Ghostface.

“I’ve been waiting all day for this… Watching your every move, taking in the gorgeous curve of your ass, and imagining how those lovely bowed lips of yours would look curled around my cock as you choke on it within an inch of your life.” He chuckles darkly, further encroaching on my space .

Through the mesh and plastic of the mask, his voice is even deeper, reaching a bravado so uncharacteristic of him. The sound rushes straight to my core, where I clench involuntarily. 1

He crowds my space, his hands settling on either side of my hips as he brings his face to my ear. “Is this okay?” he asks me, his voice barely above a whisper as he reminds me exactly who’s underneath that mask.

I nod instinctually, fully aware that I’m safe with him— with Gianni.

He hums beside me, unmoving as he waits for my answer, and I realize he can’t see me or my nod of approval. “Yes,” I croak out past my trepidation.

“Such a good girl,” he tells me. “I bet you’re absolutely soaked for me, ma petite rouge .”

Who is this man kidding? I’m always soaked for him. And no mask is about to change that. Especially since this is exactly what I’d asked for.

He stands, pulling away from me abruptly, and the loss of his body heat sends a tendril of ice racing down my spine.

“Get on your knees and prove just how excited you are to scream for me tonight,” he tells me, his voice so deep it reverberates through the room around me.

I slide off the edge of the bed and to my knees, obeying as he steps out of his briefs, completely bare for me. Except for the mask, of course .

He grips my roots roughly, and I open my mouth on a gasp. He uses the opportunity to plunge deep inside my throat, my eyes watering as I gasp and gag around him. My hands shoot out, clinging to his muscular thighs, the hair rough beneath my fingertips.

“That’s right,” he taunts. “ Fucking choke on it. ”

He fucks my throat, my head bobbing up and down his thick length as he relentlessly uses me for his pleasure. I’m dripping wet as my lips repeatedly meet his hips, and he abruptly pulls me from his shaft.

I collapse, my hands sliding to the ground to hold myself up as I heave, sucking air into my lungs.

He flicks the bathroom light on and illuminates the bedroom through the bottom of the door. It’s just enough to make him out in all his glory.

“Get up,” he grunts as he slowly strokes himself. When my brain takes too long to catch up to his demands, his head tilts slowly, almost menacingly, as he assesses me. He grips my face tightly, squeezing my cheeks together as he stares down at me. “I said—” He tugs on my face, not hard enough to hurt me, but enough to will my body to follow his earlier command. “Get. Up. ”

My cheeks burn as his hand remains clamped down on them, but my thighs are so slick I wouldn’t dare lie and say I’m not thoroughly enjoying myself.

“Remember your safe word, little red,” he tells me, angling himself over me, crowding me, and suddenly, all of the air has officially left my lungs.

He whispers his next words, and my limbs feel weak, unable to hold me up much longer as my core tightens. “Because tonight, I’m coming for your screams.” When he drops his hand, he drags his masked face over the bridge of my nose.

“Now run. ”

My eyes widen, and a moment passes before my brain reconnects with my legs, and I take off. I yank the door open, knowing full well if he wanted to catch me immediately, he already would have. I run across the living room, my head whipping from left to right as I try to decide where the fuck to run to in this godforsaken tiny-ass apartment.

The dogs are lying in their bed, and embarrassment at being caught like this by our fucking dogs rushes through me, but Rex practically rolls his damn eyes and tucks his face back into Tiny’s side.

Suddenly, the lights go out around me, and I realize I’m stuck. “Fuck,” I whisper.

I rush to the bay window, and I’m so damn glad I put up both blinds and curtains. I crawl up onto the ledge, perching myself there and hoping like hell he didn’t see me.

I don’t know why I’m trying so hard to hide in the first place. Hell, I want to be found.

I’d love nothing more than to find out exactly what my punishment is.

I hear him tsking as he strolls through the room. “I can hear you breathing, little red. You aren’t very good at this game we’re playing now, are you?”

Sucking in a deep breath of air, I hold it, letting it out slowly as I consider my next move, but his words float through the room again, a deep, gravelly sound that makes me crawl out of my skin in the most delicious way .

“Are you wet for me?”

A moment later, “That’s okay. You don’t have to answer because I know you are positively soaked for my cock. And I can’t fucking wait to dole out your punishment when I find you.”

I inhale sharply, and I see his head snap in my direction. He prowls over here but keeps his distance. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” he says, chuckling darkly.

Trepidation sparks up the base of my spine, and his next words sear through me. He stops just two feet from me as I hide behind these curtains.

“Are you scared, little red?” he whispers, his voice so low that if he weren’t right in front of me, I would never have heard him.

“If not, you should be ,” he says, his hands jolting forward and gripping me through the curtain.

I release a loud yelp and hear Rex release a single warning bark that makes Gianni chuckle lightly.

Using that as a distraction, I push him off me, throwing myself off the ledge of the windowsill and running around to the back of the couch.

“Let me make myself abundantly clear,” he says, staring right at me through the dark room. “When I find you, I fuck you . And you’ll be begging for my mercy.”

Before I can move, he’s running toward me, jumping over the front of the couch and landing behind me. A scream leaves my lungs, but an arm snakes around me, pulling my back to his chest as he brings his palm to my mouth, effectively muffling my screams.

“It’s time to pay up,” he tells me, his voice gruff, brushing against my skin like sandpaper. “Hold your screams for when you’re coming undone around my cock. ”

I feel his dick nestling between my ass cheeks as he thrusts his hips against me, showing me exactly how much this turns him on.

When I start to relax into his touch, he releases his grip on me, but only long enough to swing me over his shoulder and drag me back to bed.

He throws me down into the center of the bed, and I scoot away, moving toward the wall as he crawls toward me from the end of the bed.

“There’s no escaping now. Take those panties off.”

My fingertips graze the edges of the white lace, and slowly, I slide them down my thighs, but before I can toss them to the side, he snatches them from my hand and pushes me flat against the bed, a hand on my chest.

My eyes go wide as I realize what he’s doing a moment too late.

He stuffs the panties in my mouth, gagging me as he says, “Taste yourself, ma petite rouge. Taste how fucking drenched and needy you are for my cock. How goddamn much you love the idea of being chased. Of being punished. ”

I squeeze my thighs together, doing anything in my power to chase the friction I so desperately need.

“Absolutely not. When I finally let you come tonight, it’ll be because of me . Now be a good little songbird and spread those thighs nice and wide for Daddy Ghostface,” he demands, his words holding a humorous quality while also remaining dead serious.

This is fucking torture. Need is practically weeping from my pores.

Why did I ask for this again?

Oh, right… Because sometimes, I just want to be fucked like a dirty little slut, and Gi makes me feel safe to explore that .

When I don’t obey in the split second he expects me to, he wrenches my thighs open, his fingertips digging into my flesh as he pulls my body down the bed. I don’t have a single second to regain control of my breathing as he lines the head of his swollen, dripping cock up with me and plunges in.

A shudder wracks my body, quaking through me as his hips meet mine in one swift movement. I can barely breathe.

Grabbing the lace panties from my mouth, I toss them to the side, and luckily, he’s so lost in the feel of me spasming around him that he doesn’t seem to notice. Or at least, he doesn’t seem to care enough to punish me for it. Not yet, anyway.

It was a fleeting thought because as soon as the words fly through my head, his hand darts out just as quickly, wrapping around my throat. His thumb digs into the soft skin at the base of my neck, pressing down with so much force that my vision is narrowing. Before I can lose myself to the darkness, he releases his hold on me.

He grips my calves, bringing them up to rest on his shoulders as he takes me even deeper. My mind is spinning, my body floating higher and higher as heat licks up my spine. A moan leaves me, followed by a plea that sounds so unfamiliar to my own ears.

“Gi, please , let me come,” I beg.

“I don’t know who Gi is, but tonight, the only name that’ll be grazing that twisted little tongue is mine. ”

My eyes widen, and the pad of his rough, calloused thumb glides over my clit. My body bucks off the bed, my calves tightening around his head and neck as my hands grapple for purchase in the sheets .

I’m about to come; I’m seconds away as he plucks his thumb away, leaving me wanton and aching. “Oh god,” I cry. “Please, Ghost , let me come!” I scream, begging for my release.

“What a good little slut.” He chuckles darkly, returning his thumb to my clit. It swirls the sensitive bundle of nerves, my body writhing and quaking as I shatter around him.

I see stars, my vision blurry as I come hurtling back down to earth, my core clenching as he comes with me. “Oh fuck,” he groans out. “Such a tight, sweet little cunt. I could fill you up all goddamn night,” he tells me, and the words both sound like a promise… and a threat.

My breathing finally starts to settle, and as it does, I’m finally able to open my eyes. Gianni rips the mask off, tossing it over the side of the bed, and reaches for the lamp on the nightstand, flicking it on before returning his gaze to me.

His bright-blue eyes are dancing as he smirks at me. “As much as I loved every second of that, ma petite rouge , it turns out that I’m not even a little bit okay with another man or ghost’s name leaving your mouth.”

Gi slides up the length of my body, never removing himself from inside me as he claims my mouth with his.

His tongue swipes across the seam of my lips, begging for entrance. My lips part, allowing his tongue to tangle with mine. He sucks my lower lip between his teeth, nipping the swollen skin as he releases my mouth and sits back on his haunches, finally gliding himself out of me, still mostly hard.

Just as I think we’re done for the night, he slides down my body, burying his face between my legs .

He breathes me in, licking a hot trail up my seam and spreading me wide with his fingers.

“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he praises me. His hot breath coasts over my clit, and he dips his chin, sucking it into his mouth and swirling his tongue, sliding down my center as he laps at me.

My body is spent, and yet, it behaves exactly as he wants it to, coaxing me to the edge of another orgasm.

Before I know it, my thighs are crushing his head, his scruff tickling my sensitive skin as he drives his tongue inside me, unabashed at the combination of our arousal. He licks and slurps at my skin, electricity shooting through me.

My hand jolts out, gripping his roots as I call out, my hips jerking against his mouth. “Yes! Yes, Gi, oh god.” I moan.

I ride the wave, coming down from the high of my second orgasm.

My eyes flutter closed when he removes his mouth from my overly sensitive core.

My eyes burst open as his mouth returns, shock rocking through me.

“Stop! Stop, stop, stop! It’s too much!” I shout, repeating what I’d said earlier this afternoon. Gianni’s tongue slides through me one last time, causing me to buck off the bed.

“Just like that.” He chuckles. “ That’s exactly how I wanted you to sound.”

My body is buzzing with that familiar feeling of happiness. It sings through my blood every time I’m with this man.

He kisses the insides of my thighs, trailing up my abdomen, paying special attention to the bruises where I inject my insulin and then to the CGM on my deltoid. He kisses that, too, and looks up to meet my gaze. “Why don’t you get an insulin pump so you don’t have to keep jabbing yourself all the time?”

A sly smile grazes my lips. “How is it that you can go from ‘Daddy Ghostface,’” I say, using air quotes as I chuckle, “to being concerned about my insulin?” I lift a brow at him as he repositions himself beside me, pressing a chaste kiss to my cheek.

“Because I’m a multifaceted man. What can I say?” He winks. “Now, please, answer the question, ma petite rouge.”

“I’ve thought about it, and frankly, it’d be a good idea to do with how busy my schedule can get, but they’re just expensive, and the last time I really considered one, I was a lot more self-conscious about my body. So that played a role in my decision not to get one at the time too. I think I’ve just gotten so used to doing it this way that I haven’t put much thought into changing it up.”

He hums softly, then props himself up on his elbow beside me. “I know your father would give you the world,” he tells me, and I can’t disagree. “So why would money be an issue, then?”

I lean farther into my pillows, tugging the sheet over my body and rolling onto my side to face him.

“Ever since my mom left, my dad has done everything for me. He’s given me a life most people could never even dream up. I owe everything to him, and yet he wants nothing in return. He’s just so content as long as I’m happy. Did you know that most veterinarians, at least in the US, will spend most of their careers trying to pay back their student loans?”

His brows crease, confusion clear on his face from the turn in conversation. He shakes his head but remains quiet.

“Well, most do, but I never had to worry about that because I always knew that I had my dad to fall back on. So when he asked me what I wanted to do with my degree, I told him about my plans for the clinic and made it clear that I wanted to have it be donation based. I never wanted to turn someone away because they couldn’t afford our services,” I tell him, and the way his eyes soften makes my heart feel like mush.

“All too often, I see people searching for advice online, and there are always nasty comments ridiculing these people for not just taking their pet to the vet. But that’s just such a privileged way of thinking about it,” I say, my hands now flailing as I become more and more passionate about the conversation.

“Yes, if your pet is sick, you should take them to get help like you would your children, but not everyone has the means. And then there are the people who say if you can’t afford to care for your pet properly, why have one at all? Who’s to say these people have always been living in the current circumstances?”

Gianni clamps a hand on my thigh, squeezing it as he listens, seemingly enraptured by every detail. “Maybe they just lost their job or their home to a natural disaster or literally any number of things that could change a person’s life to make something as simple as a vet visit nearly impossible. So, that’s where Toute la Famille pet clinic started,” I say, smiling brightly.

“I wanted to offer around-the-clock veterinary care to those who need it while only accepting the bare minimum payment from those who can afford it, and those who can’t, well, they’re supported by donations from people who visit our website and on occasion, from my dad when I come crawling to him for the money. He has literally never cared, but I try my best to support myself, so he knows that one day when he’s not around, I’ll be okay.” I give him a small smile, squeezing my hands together, suddenly feeling shy. “Sorry, that was a lot more detail than you probably needed.”

He cups my jaw, dragging it up so I can see his face more clearly. “I want every detail you’re willing to give me,” he says, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead, and more butterflies flap around in my gut.

“So, you don’t want to bother him with the cost of a pump? I’ve been reading up on the different kinds offered, and some of them are covered by insurance too. Though there are a couple at the top of my list due to reliability, so if those aren’t covered, I’d like to just buy one for you as a gift,” he tells me. “The one I’d really like you to get is called a tubeless insulin pump or something. It’s compatible with your CGM and it uses an automated insulin delivery system that determines when and how much insulin you need based on the numbers recorded by your CGM.” He’s been researching insulin pumps for me?

Tears prick the corners of my eyes, and not for the first time tonight. Where did I find this man? He’s so much better than I could’ve thought up, even in my wildest dreams.

“I’ve also read that the majority of people your age with type 1 diabetes have had a pump most of their lives since they’re more reliable and easier than jabbing a kid multiple times a day. Why didn’t you get one as a kid?” he asks. Nothing in his tone is judgemental; he’s just curious.

“Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood, and there are two common age ranges when it first becomes apparent. That’s ages four to six years and ten to fourteen years, though it’s diagnosed in babies and everyone in between too. I was diagnosed at fourteen, and since I played contact sports, I refused to get one even though my dad pleaded with me. He was always big on autonomy as long as I wasn’t doing anything that could hurt myself or others. So when I explained that not only was I embarrassed about wearing a pump, but that I’d read that the tubing gets tangled and causes the possibility of injury, he let me continue with the injections.”

“How’d you make it through veterinary school having to manage your insulin without a pump?”

“I had been doing it like I am now for so many years that it’s just become second nature, like brushing your teeth or showering. And like I said, I haven’t really thought about it recently, but I’ll look into my insurance and see what it covers,” I assure him. “I think it could be nice to not have to worry about dosing myself or running out of insulin. I just have to make sure to refill the pump, but it’ll remind me. Most new ones will.”

“And what about if your insurance doesn’t cover it? Will you please tell me?”

I nod, knowing he won’t let this go even if I ask him to. He cares, and that’s more than can be said for my ex.

“I’ll tell you if it doesn’t. Unfortunately, the thing about running a clinic that’s as close to nonprofit as possible is that I don’t really make any money at all, and I still have to pay my employees, so I don’t have a whole lot of savings, but I’m lucky. I still have more than I need.”

“Well, if there’s anything you want or need, you just say the word, and it’s yours, okay? I have far more than I need, and I’m happy to spend it on my girl.” His words swirl around inside me. There he goes again, being the most incredible person I know and making me feel like maybe he feels the same about me too. My girl .

Before I can ask him the question that’s sitting at the tip of my tongue, he says, “Will you tell me more about your mom?”

“What do you wanna know?” I ask.

“Anything you want to tell me,” he says. His features are relaxed as he pulls me closer to his chest, waiting for my response.

“Well, she was always the brightest person in any room. Figuratively and literally.” I chuckle.

“She wore these bright-colored sundresses everywhere and always looked like she was moments from heading to the beach on any given day. She had this way of understanding exactly what you were going through without saying as much and just letting you be so you could simmer in it. I always knew I could work through anything that was bothering me so long as she was by my side.”

The memories that stir inside me warm me to my core as I’m brought back to the months before she’d left. “She taught me to paint, and for my birthday, she would take me anywhere I wanted to go so we could collect an item for each year of my life and turn it into art so we could hold onto those memories forever.”

Sadness threatens to take hold as I think of that twelfth birthday. We’d never made it to that one. “She was the best person I knew, second only to my dad,” I joke. Truthfully, they were always equals. “Even when she’d have bad days or weeks and wouldn’t take her medication, she was always in there somewhere. Her bold ideas were just larger and all-consuming during those times, but she was still at the forefront of them.”

Gianni sits in silence, taking in my words and allowing me to sit with the heavy feeling, not trying to use humor to break through the shift in the air surrounding us. Much like my mom, he acts as a calming presence to just let me feel .

“From what Dante remembers of our mom and the family videos we grew up watching, it sounds like our moms were a lot alike,” he says, his voice quiet and thoughtful.

“I like to think they’d be proud of us,” I tell him, my voice small. He pulls me into his chest, and I bury my face into his comforting embrace.

“Do you know why I call you my starry sky?” I finally ask, my voice barely above a whisper, and I’m hoping he’s had some time to finally work this out for himself.

“No,” he tells me simply. “But I’d like to understand.” Gianni presses a kiss on the top of my head. Who’d have thought that something so simple could be the most comforting thing I’ve ever experienced?

I peek up at him, and wait until his eyes meet mine. “I call you my starry sky because even through all of that darkness swirling around in your head, you still manage to act as a bright star for those around you.” I feel my cheeks heat, and the way his lips part convinces me to keep speaking. “As corny as it sounds, it’s like you’re the North Star, leading your loved ones home, even when you yourself have been led astray. I don’t think you even realize the impact you have on the people around you.” I whisper the last words. “I’ve only known you for such a short time, and you’ve brightened my life in nearly every moment of that time,” I admit.

He runs a hand down the back of my head, pressing my cheek against his before he whispers against my ear, “ Thank you .”

Two simple words that mean so little when spoken from the mouth of someone else, but they weigh more than the entire universe when breathed past the lips of this incredible man.

1. Animal I Have Become — Three Days Grace