Page 44 of Ambition

“Yes,” I say, my voice hoarse, tone condescending. “I,what?” I ask, never looking away from her as I close my fingers as tight as I can on her hips. The slice of agony lighting up my wrists is nothing; I simply put it into a box with all the other pain in my life.

She jerks her fist back, like she’s going to punch me again, and I wonder if I will black out if she does. But before the blow can land, Cain is there, behind her, kneeling at her back. He dominates the space around her, his fingers circling her elbow as he prevents her from hitting me once more.

My breath catches in my lungs from tensing at the expectation of pain.

Isa whips around, no doubt to glare at the Unsaint, and curls of her hair slash against my face.

I breathe in the coconut scent of her strands, my fingers flexing protectively over her hips as Cain still holds her elbow.Let her fucking go.It’s what I want to say, even though he just saved me a lot more pain.

I watch them carefully as Cain stares down at her, his face expressionless.

“They will take you seriously,” he says quietly. He nods his head toward me, and my heart races. “Show him what you would have done.”

“No,” I say immediately, feeling sick and weak and fucking annoyed.“I don’t want her.”It’s a lie, everyone in this room knows it, but I don’t want her fucking me in front of Cain Bonavich. What I did with Cosmo and Karia watching was too much, as is.

“You want her so badly you didn’t tell me what they said about her to make you put Lenox Mars in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury. You want her so much, you didn’t tell me what it was that made you vomit up all that blood I saw in the supply closet sink. You want her so badly, you’re willing to keep your mouth closed about the contusions all over your chest right now, just so she can stay mad at you. And she wants you too, or else she would have already walked out.”

“What? I—” Isadora starts, her body tense against me.

But Cain cuts her off with a look and says in a low voice, “Show him. Showme.Then you walk out of here like you did the damn job.” He tilts his head thoughtfully as he stares at her, then he adds, “And everything I said he did, it’s true.” Without another word, he releases her arm and shifts back, standing and walking a few feet away, giving her space.

Usspace.

Isadora turns slowly, her red lips pushed into a line, her dark brows furrowed as she looks at me.

My pulse pounds uncomfortably fast inside of my chest. It’s like I’m getting bruised now from theinside.

“All of that, everything you did…” If she is amazed by it, honored, flattered, she reveals none of that. Instead, she shakes her head like she is disappointed. “I want to work, Von,” she says quietly, staring at me. But her fingers, I realize a moment later, are at the hem of my hoodie.

My body stills, hands still cupping her hips.

She rolls them a little, over my erection—when am I evernothard around her—and I let my eyes flutter closed as warmth consumes me, momentarily blotting out the pain.

“I want to be as respected as you are. As valuable,” she continues, her fingers inching up my hoodie. “I’ve wanted to be inside the rooms you’ve been in since you were eighteen years old and came home to collapse into my arms, even thoughIwas the one who murdered first.”

My chest tightens painfully. I remember both of those nights so well. Halloween, then the night of my first kill.

I know now that what I said about meeting with the 6, I understand it’s what set her on edge. She cared for me, she was there for me, but she felt like she was being left behind. She felt like, after murdering the guard in the warehouse, she deserved the same tasks I had. The same respect.

“It wasn’t so bad, in Vipera,” she whispers, but there is something of venom still inside her tone as she lifts my hoodie higher, my shirt catching in the fabric of it and rising, too. “With him, it really wasn’t so bad. Why couldn’t you just leave me alone, Von?” She pushes up my sweatshirt more, cold air grazing my abs, causing me to shiver, but I’m not sure that’s from the cold of Nox alone.

“I liked it, even. He was fine. He was…decent. He—”

“He was anything but,” I snarl, my eyes flashing open. I use one arm to reach behind me, body lighting up in pain as I do, then I pull up my hoodie and shirt both, hauling the fabric over my head one-handed, then tossing it away onto the mats nearby. My hair is a fucking mess around my eyes, blood probably coated in the strands too, where Theo hit me.

My hand comes back to Isadora’s hip and I watch her dark gaze widen as she stares at my chest, her fingertips over my triceps, a featherlight touch.

Her complexion pales, her lips parted, brows lifted.

“He was not fine. He was not decent. He…” I trail off, thinking of everything Theo said to me about her. And the taunts Lenox goaded me with prior. My stomach rolls and I swallow hard, keeping it all inside. It would hurt her more, if I spoke it out loud. “He didn’t deserve to touch you like that,” I say softly. “And you are worth far more than sneaking into monsters’ beds and hoping you don’t get bitten.”

She snaps her head up.

The horror is still there, in her wide eyes and open mouth. The bruises seem to affect her more than the stitches. But she manages to bite back all the same. “If you had let mesneak intoTheo’s bed,” she says, her voice harsh but trembling, “none of this would have happened to you, and it was never going to happen to me. You hurt yourself overnothing.”

I look upward, searching the rafters for fucking patience. “You are so stupid sometimes, Isa.” I whisper those words and I feel her body stiffen, perched on my lap. I drop my gaze back to hers. “Of course it would have happened to you!” The words seem to rip out of me, harsh and loud and fucking desperate. “Maybe not exactly like this, and maybe not tonight, but eventually. How long did you think you could play this game? How long do you expectthis kind of jobto stick before you’re discarded?”

She narrows her eyes and I know she is afraid to touch me roughly like she did before, the way her fingertips jump over my arms, but never settle. “That’s for me to deal with,” she snarls. “And you want to talk about stupid? You’re the one who just…who just got yourself…” She glances at my chest and sucks in a breath. “Fucked up for…forwhat?To prove you could do better than me? To steal any opportunity for advancement that comes my way? For the chance to rub it in my—”

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