Page 15 of Ambition

Weird.

And once upon a time, we didn’t have this strange tension between us. We loved one another more freely, openly.Iwould be the one touching him on the couch, but he always shied away from anything past friendly gestures when we were younger.

So I took the hint and found someone else. And another person after that, and another and another. It’s for the best, I tell myself. Loving your best friend in this life is like posting your blackmail online. People would always be after us, pitting us against one another. Best to pretend there is nothing like the deepest love hidden away in our hearts.

And it’s as if Cosmo can see all of this between Von and I because he shrugs and says simply, “One day the both of you might regret using us as crutches.” Then he flips his lighter in his hand and brushes by me with a small smile.

* * *

“You knowthey’re doing that…thing tonight, right? The uh…” Karia snaps her fingers in an adorable way, and I smile tightly at her, waiting for her to get to the point. She wandered in not long after I left her with Von and Cosmo in the living room and changed into shorts. Von said he had a call.

Fuck him and fuck his call.

But when I actually think about what Karia is saying, I remember.Solemn.“The ritual,” I say. “The bonding one, for the old dudes.” I glance past her, ensuring Cosmo isn’t lingering in the hallway. Another thing he can’t know that she can.

She laughs, bright and easy, and I hate that I kind of like her. Actually, I don’t hate that. I just hate Von, right now. For this moment only.

“Don’t worry, Cosmo is on another smoke break. And yeah, Solemn, right?”

I nod once, yanking out my dirty clothes from my Tumi suitcase. The red dress, underwear, silk PJs. Theo has a thing for red, and it definitely looks good on me. I toss it all into the black laundry basket in my walk-in, making every little shot. When I’ve nearly gone through everything and made it to my skincare and makeup bag, I glance up at Karia, perched on the edge of my bed.

“Did you need something or…” I trail off, waiting for her to get to a point.

She clasps her hands around her shins, tucking her knees to her chest as she glances at my hardwoods. “Von is pissed about something. Before the call, he was…mad.” She lifts her eyes to me. “Cosmo couldn’t even make him laugh. What is it?”

“You mean Von’s acting like an asshole?” I shrug once, pulling out my silver makeup bag and sliding the golden zipper open. “That sounds like regular Bentzen to me.”

“Yeah.” She laughs but it’s forced. “But also he’s…not talking. So it’s just me and Cosmo sitting in awkward silence while Von seems to sulk.”

I glance up as I walk over to my vanity, positioned perfectly so the morning sun beams down on my face as I’m applying my makeup in the morning. I start pulling out foundation, highlighter, mascara, and lip liner. “Probably best that way,” I tell Karia, her eyes catching mine, but only for a moment. “You both can leave. He deserves to have y’all desert him.”

She frowns as she looks at my bedroom floor.

The thing is I don’t think she’s in love with him or anything. But she has this hopeless crush. She’s like a puppy following him around. I get it. He’s one year older than her, much higher in rank, he’s tall, in great shape, has good hair, those stupid fucking eyes, and even though I’m not sure he knows it, he is phenomenal in bed. He makes me feel like everything I do turns him on. Like I’m immaculate

He’s probably the same with Karia. Because sheisimmaculate. And she’s got this innocence I think Von could eventually fall in love with. She certainly wouldn’t be fucking a drug dealer for secrets. Wholesome. He needs that.

I swallow the bitterness in my mouth from that thought and focus back on arranging my makeup in its proper, diamond-encrusted brush holders, accidentally jostling a few perfume bottles in my frustration. I glance at the scent of Curses—yes, really; it smells like sex in a gothic cathedral—and try not to remember it’s Von’s favorite.

Yeah. I fail, obviously.

“I just wondered if you knew how I could cheer him—”

“What are you doing in here, Karia?” Von’s toneless voice cuts through her question and I look up at him, standing fully in my doorway, hands in his pockets. He might have asked her the question, but he’s staring atme.

“She was chatting while Cosmo smoked. That a problem?” I plunk my last brush away, then toss the makeup bag on the vanity table and fold my arms, turning to face him fully.

His eyes dart from me to my makeup and perfumes, and back again. I wonder if he’s remembering how he made that little moan one of those nights after the warehouse, when he dipped his nose to my neck and inhaled the Curses scent and it’s like he wanted to eat me alive.

Nowyou’rethinking about it, Isadora.

“Well, I know you’ll probably want to get cleaned up so…” He says it like an insult.

We both know that.

But Karia has no idea where I was or who I was with last night and I don’t plan to tell her, considering discretion is pretty fucking important to my entire career. As Von knows.

Then he glances past me, at Karia, and jerks his chin. “Come sit with me,” he says, his voice different from how he spoke to me, his gray eyes focused on her.

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