Children of Ambition (Children of Vice 2)

I didn’t even need to finish. Dona was already walking towards the helicopter. I grinned again, catching up and walking in pace with her.

When the door slid open - because I was born a gentleman - I placed my hands on her ass, helping her inside before getting in myself.

As I sat beside her, she said, “I’m going to kill you later.”

“I’m ready when you are,” I replied, taking a set of headphones, carefully brushing the loose strands of hair out of the way before putting them over her ears. She didn’t even pretend not to glare at my face as I did.

When I was done and had put my own headphones on, she crossed her arms and legs and looked out the at the city below us. The noise from the chopper made it far too difficult for us to talk, but that was fine. We had time for that.

Step one: Get her to give me the smallest of chances; even if the door to her heart opened a millimeter, it was still an opening I could work with.

Step two: Get her to invite me in.

Step three: Stay there at all cost.

I was currently on step two. Step one took much longer than I’d anticipated. Step two required even more patience and a man proficient in seduction.

Luckily, I was such a man. Normally the secret to the art of seduction called for one thing—knowledge. Knowing exactly what it was the other person craved and giving it to them in small doses until they became addicted. However, with Donatella, I was sure it would take more than that. I needed to make sure she was always on her toes, that she never knew what to expect. I needed to frustrate, anger, excited, confuse, and amaze her. I needed to give her everything. I needed to be everything.

It sounded daunting, exhausting, for most men at least.

However, I was not most men. Since I was a child, I’d been taught and trained to be best at everything. So, I was willing to do almost anything even if it meant crawling to her cousin and begging for a clue. I was sure she’d do it, with a little convincing and I was right. What didn’t expect was her answer.

Her text simply said, “Donatella is greedy in the same way all women are greedy. Her dream date is every cheesy thing you’ve seen in movies and read in books. She wants to have every experience.”

The answer was both helpful and completely useless.

She’d basically told me anything is fine in the most eloquent way possible. Meaning I was left to think of something on my own. Fortunately, there was no shortage of things to do in this state.

She’d be pissed at first, but I was looking forward to it. Her rage excited me.

If she wanted everything; I’d give her everything.

SEVENTEEN

“We didn't realize we were making memories,

we just knew we were having fun.”

~ A. A. Milne

DONATELLA

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I stared out at the barely clothed bodies, covered in fake tattoos, body glitter and jewelry, all of them holding clear cups which were definitely not filled with water. There were blow-up chairs, fake Bohemian print blankets, and tents on top of the grass. I looked at what lay before me with a mixture of astonishment and exasperation. “You brought me to TLSM?”

“Is that what this is called?” he asked me, tossing the duffle bag he’d taken off the helicopter over his shoulder. He was the one who’d brought me so why did he look like he no idea where we were? Noticing me ready to beat him to death, he lifted his phone. “I just searched things happening within a hundred miles of the city and saw this music festival.”

He’s an idiot.

I’m an idiot for thinking he was anything but an idiot.

“I’m going home—”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back. “Donatella, have you ever lived life like normal twenty-six-year-old?”

“No, because I’m not a normal—”

“Me either,” he said seriously, looking me in the eye. “Tomorrow we can go back to being not normal people. My secrets will start to come out and when that happens, I don’t know when either of us will get to have normal day of youthful stupidity. You don’t trust me. You don’t know me. Fine. But everyone here is the same. No-one knows anyone. They don’t care; they just want to have fun. So, let’s join them and have fun.”