Page 3 of Gratification in Gluttony

“Am I?” Toni shouted, grasping desperately at his shirt. “Am I, Gem?”

“Yes, Toni,” Gem said, half-sobbing, “you are. I know you are.”

“I’m a weak man,” Toni admitted brokenly. “I ain’t strong enough.”

“You are strong enough,” Gem insisted, gripping Toni’s arms with numerous hands. He shook him just shy of too hard. “It’s not too late.”

Shrugging off Gem’s hold, Toni shook his head. “It is. You know it’s too late for me. But it ain’t too late for you. You can still go. Get outta here before—”

“We’ve been in this together. From the start. You think I’m going to abandon you now?” Gem grabbed Toni’s chin and forced his head up, glaring down at him furiously. “It’s not too late for either of us. We can face this together. We canbeat thistogether.”

“Maybe I don’t want to,” Toni seethed, and Gem’s hand dropped.

Betrayal and anger played over Gem’s face as he shook his head. “You’re pathetic.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Toni demanded. “You think it doesn’t eat me up inside?”

“I can’t watch you do this,” Gem whimpered, fisting a few hands in his shirt. “I can’t stand here and watch you hurt yourself.”

“I ain’t asking you to.”

“Maybe you’re not strong enough,” Gem said, inhaling deeply like he was steeling himself for something. “But I can be strong for you. Give me the box.”

“What? No!” Toni stretched his arms wide and took a defensive stance in front of the table. “It’s mine.”

“Give it to me!” Gem shrieked as he lunged, his many arms scrabbling behind Toni to grab at the box.

They grappled and struggled as Toni planted his feet firmly and shoved against Gem’s flailing body. One of Gem’s hands knocked the box over, and the contents rolled out onto the table. Gem made a desperate noise in the back of his throat and redoubled his efforts.

“Give it to me, Toni! Give it to me now,” he cried, and Toni grimaced.

“Come on, Gemmy, the neighbors already think we’re fucking,” he lamented as he turned around and bent over the table, fingers grazing the edge of the carton. “Stop giving them more ammunition.”

Nearly climbing over Toni, Gem trapped him against the table with the weight of his ginormous ass. “Shut your whore mouth and give it to me!”

“That ain’t helping!” Toni roared as he grabbed the two cold cartons and tried to bundle them in his arms.

He undulated beneath Gem in an attempt to wriggle out from under him. If his neighbors across the alley were looking in the windows, it would definitely look like Gem was enthusiastically fucking Toni over the dining table right now. But Toni didn’t care. All that mattered was protecting his precious cargo.

Gem pried at his strong grip, teeth bared, fangs glistening. “If you think I’m letting you do this—”

“You just want it for yourself!” Toni accused.

Gem’s jaw dropped, and he ripped one of the pints free, shaking it in Toni’s face. “Of course I want it for myself!” he shouted. “You got Chunky Monkey. You know that’s my favorite!”

Glaring at each other, Toni straightened, still clutching the second pint—Karamel Sutra—to his chest. “Maybe a part of me wanted you to smell it on my breath tomorrow.”

The Araknis’s eyes flared with fury. “You bitch!”

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be giving that back right now.” Toni took a menacing step forward, and Gem bared his fangs.

“Over my sexy, dead body!” he snarled before ripping the lid off the ice cream and obnoxiously swiping his tongue right over the top. Retaining unsettling eye contact with Toni, Gem proceeded to cover every inch of exposed ice cream with his gray tongue, making gross noises that sent Toni back several steps, face scrunching.

“Aw, come on, that’s disgusting.”

“You still want it back?” he said as he slurped up the human ice cream, adding a few fingers to the mix. “I may have masturbated while I waited for you to come home, and I might not have washed my hands.”

Defeat made Toni’s shoulders slump. “You’re a sick man, Gem.”

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