Page 37 of Ambition

Then understanding washes over me. Cold and heartbreaking. I stop trying to pull my wrist from his grip.“That’swhat this is about? You weren’t worriedabout me,you’re mad that you think it’seasierfor me?” My voice is raw, and I wish I could remain composed, especially with an Unsainted audience.

But I remember how even though he struggles to do more than kiss me when he’s sober, he is not a celibate angel. He is not a shining example of abstinence. He had Karia over just yesterday, fingered me while she and Cosmo watched.

And I remember too how nervous I was walking through the Vipera compound. How my pulse raced when Theo locked the door. I put my life in his hands,for Writhe.

“You are…” I shake my head once, words failing me for one of the first times in my life. “I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”

“Maybe you could start withthank you.”Von’s voice is clipped, emotionless.

My hand is to his chest, his fingers braceleting my bones. But he doesn’t touch me with his other hand and combined with his words, his thoughts on my work, it feels like he thinks I’m…less than. He’s never overtly shown me he was fucking sexist. Sure, he was reluctant to spar with me when we were younger, but after he realized I could do some damage to him, too, he got over it. And maybe he avoided me during the day when I had someone over in the night. A different man each time. Maybe he was colder than usual. But to truly believe using a man’s delusional lust to my advantage was a weapon to wieldagainstme?

“Fuck you, Von.” I shove him away with my free hand, open palmed. His body jolts but he doesn’t release my wrist. “You’re not the friend I thought you were.Fuck you.”I try to pull away, half-turning. My mind is livid, thoughts dark. My pulse is racing, and I want to hit something that isn’t him. Not because I care for his health, but because I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.

There’s a bag in here though. Many of them, meant to take a punch.

There’s Cain.

And it’s his dark eyes that meet mine as Von yanks me even closer. It’s the Unsaint I’m staring at as my alleged best friend speaks again.

“You’re really this upset because you didn’t get to fuck him again?” He snorts, a cold sound. “I got what we needed, and your pussy wasn't necessary.”

Cain arches a brow as my blood pressure shoots up. I can feel it under my skin, in my fucking arteries.

I spin around and lunge toward Von, a strangled sort of scream leaving my lips as he staggers back. For a second, I think he’ll get his feet under him, but a heartbeat later, my fingernails pressed into the fabric of his hoodie, my body weight coiled to pounce at him again, I see the stack of yoga blocks.

He releases me and trips backward, throwing back his hips and dropping low as he lands, since he clearly knows he can’t avoid it. The blocks scatter. The entire gym shakes with his weight as he comes to his back, and I feel a sick sense of satisfaction as he winces while I stare down at him.

I wonder what else Vipera did to him.

Immediately, he sits up, but I don’t want him on his feet.

Fuck that. Fuck him.

I drop into a crouch over him, straddling his waist. Then I bar my forearm over his throat and drive him backward, refusing to look at his cut, the stitches done by Cain’s hand. The bruising around his eye, so vivid against his pale white skin.

His throat rolls beneath my arm but he stays down, glaring up at me, not touching me. My palm is planted on his chest and I can feel his heart racing, slamming against his ribcage even as he stays silent, as if he doesn’t care.

As if he’s unaffected.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” I say quietly, staring down at him. “Maybe you are just jealous. Maybe you always do want more of me than you’ll take. Maybe I should show you exactly what he got.”So I can prove you’re no better. You’re not above me. Above Theo Sancte, even. You are just as vulnerable to me. You are just like every other powerful man. You loathe what you can’t have. You despise it. But if I give it to you, then what? What are you? No better. No different. We're all the fucking same. I will drag you down to my level.

“Get off me, Isadora.” He says the words with distaste.

I know about consent. I don’t want to assault him. But I’ve already got him pinned to the floor.

And he’s ruined my most important assignment yet. Isn’t that a rape of its own? Taking what doesn’t belong to him?

I lean down close, my hair coiling around us both. “Apologize to me,” I snarl.

His nostrils flare.“No.”

I lean closer, my hips shifting upward, onto his groin.

I can feel it, then. How fucking hard he is for me. A smile curves my lips. I duck my head, my mouth by his ear.“Apologize.”

He laughs and the sound seeps into my bloodstream. He leans up, his abs tensing beneath me as he turns his head, burying his nose against the side of my face.

“No,”he says again, vicious.

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