Page 21 of Ambition
I gasp, sitting forward on his lap, my thighs spread on his, my hands curled tight in the blanket.
“This feel good?” he asks quietly.
“Yeah,” I manage to say, watching the nun on TV streak through a dark forest, glancing over her shoulder with wide, horrified eyes.
“You have so many knots here, Isadora.” Von’s low rumble and his touch has me closing my eyes, little hairs lifting on the back of my neck, like spiders waltzing softly on my skin.
“Yeah,” I mutter again, loving the feel of him working out the kinks. A low groan leaves my throat, and he doesn’t stop at all. Instead, he trails his hands lower down my back, slips under my shirt, then works deep into the muscle, his fingertips skimming my skin.
My cheeks heat and I glance at Karia but she hasn’t moved and when I lift my gaze to Cosmo, I see he’s not on his phone anymore.
And one of his hands is under the blanket over Karia’s body, his own leaned toward her, like he’s...
“Cosmo,” I whisper.
Von stills, his hands gripping me tight but no longer moving. I feel him turn his head toward our friends too, and for a moment, we both stare as Cosmo’s hand moves under the blanket and Karia shifts a little, making a tiny noise, her eyes fluttering but ultimately falling closed again.
“Do you like him watching?” Von whispers, and I tense in his lap, staring at Cosmo.
“Are you…” I trail off, glancing at Karia again as she whimpers.
This time, she flips to her back, and her eyes are open, locked onto mine.
A sleepy smile curves her lips as she shifts back, further into Cosmo’s lap. “It’s okay,” she says quietly, her voice thick with sleep. “I like when he fingers me awake.”
My pulse leaps to my throat and I swallow thickly as Von starts to move his hands again. I got this all wrong. Maybe Cosmo and Karia are athingnow. Maybe Von passed her off or she left him behind.
“Relax, Isadora,” Cosmo says quietly, his voice a little strained as he does something that makes Karia arch her spine off the couch. “Let Von touch you.”
Fuck.
I slowly drag my eyes to the television, and I melt into his touch again.
It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong anyway. And after last night, the fear, the anxiety, and the physical… I think I deserve this undoing.
Von’s hands trail lower, and he sets to work massaging my low back. I arch forward more, my hands dropping to his knees so I don’t shift off his lap.
It feels so damngood,like ecstasy for my muscles, and when he’s not running his mouth and instead is making me feel better, I fall into a different type of love with him all over again. And maybe I like that Karia wasn’t here for him. And maybe I do enjoy they’re watching. All four of us in our fucked-up little lives with our fucked-up friendships.
Von works me deep as the movie plays and I occasionally glance at the screen, watching a black-robed man following the nun deeper into the woods.
And when the man catches up to her and tackles her to the ground, Von’s fingers are on my hips, moving toward my thighs, fingertips on my bare skin as he squeezes my muscles there, under the blanket, hidden from our friends.
I stiffen a little in his lap, but he is not deterred.
He makes small circles with his hands, his thumbs brushing closer to my inner thighs, and I resist the urge to clamp my legs together.
Because warmth is building in my low belly and I feel safe with Von, and I am relaxed, and the reason I agreed to slut myself out for secrets is because Ilikesex. Couple that with the fact the last time Von and I had sex was over a year ago—when he got drunk after a kill for Writhe and I sank down onto his lap in his bed and started riding him—I feel like letting his fingers get even closer.
They brush against my center, quick and then gone as he keeps up the pretense of massaging my thighs. A soft moan leaves my lips the next time he does it, and I feel his chest press to my back as he leans in close.
“You’re going to have to be quiet. I don’t want them to hear you.” His voice is the softest whisper against my ear. “Now, tell me what you want, Isa.”
I turn to crack open my eyes and see Karia lying there, blonde wisps across her cheekbones, her lips parted as Cosmo works her over under the blanket, and this time, his gaze is dropped to her.
“Don’t look at them,” Von says. He glides his hands up to the waistband of my shorts, dipping his fingertips in but going no further. I’m not even wearing underwear because I didn’t think I would stay out here; I was going to grab another snack and go back and— “Don’t even think about them. They don’t exist. Tell me what you want.”
My knees tremble as my muscles tense and I think of last night and the thoughts of Von flashing behind closed eyelids. I’ve never pitied myself for this life I was born into. Never really thought of having it any other way, except in far-off, scattered blips of time. I like having goals, tasks, assignments. Knowing I’ve got family you shouldn’t fuck with.