Page 16 of Dancing with Daggers

He needed to concentrate. It was hopeless because Zia was built for sin. He slid the soap down her spine and up over her shoulders again.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice softer.

"I want us to make a deal and stop fighting with each other."

"Why?"

"Because everyone else is fighting with us too," he said, massaging her shoulders. "Please, Zia. I can't work, try and keep you alive, and be sparring with you all at the same time."

"What do you mean to keep me alive? I've been doing just fine, thanks," Zia replied.

"Really? I stopped you from being poisoned, blown up, and shot at, and that was only one afternoon," Ares said.

Zia whipped around. "What the fuck do you mean blown up and shot at? I think I would know?—"

"The bomb was put under your car when your chauffeur was on a smoke break at the auction, and the sniper tried to take you out when you were talking to Erik at the party last night." He pushed his wet hair out of his face. "I wouldn't lie to you about that."

"The bug…" she whispered and put her hand to her ear. "The fucker tried to shoot me at his party? Is he fucking out of his mind?"

Ares had been wondering the same thing. "Erik's not smart enough to even hire a sniper."

"Really? Because he's smart enough to be stealing money from under your nose," Zia snapped.

Ares went cold. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh? Didn't you know? Your dumb shit brother is up to his eyeballs in debt to Galen Murphey," she replied smugly. Her smile slipped off her face. "Shit, you really didn't know."

"No. I knew someone had been stealing from the company, but I have been looking in all the wrong places," Ares admitted. He was going to murder Erik.

"Yeah, he bragged about how easy it is. I suppose it would be if you had access to everything." Zia hesitated, but Ares caught it.

"What? What else do you know?"

Zia huffed out a breath. "I'm only telling you this because I like Corven. Understand?"

"Yes, now spill," Ares pressed, dreading the answer. What else had he been so fucking blind to? He had been doing everything he could to run the company and help it grow, and he felt like he had been cut off at the knees at every turn.

"I found Erik's notebook that keeps track of his debts. I have photos to prove what I'm going to tell you."

Ares swore. "Because Galen isn't the worst of it?"

"Yeah. It's not just the sorcerer he's screwed up with. He owes half a million to Thor," Zia said, and Ares swayed.

"Of all the fucking vampires…" He covered his face with his hands and tried not to scream. "Please tell me there's no more."

Zia's fingers ran over his chest, and he moved his hands from his face. She was soaping him up and calming him down at the same time. "Don't lose your temper, Ares. We need to be smart about what we do with this information. Are you calm?"

"Yes?" he said. He wasn't calm, but she distracted him from driving his fist into the tiles.

"Okay, so Camille is fucking Clark from her charity board."

"Everyone knows that," Ares replied.

Zia began washing him again. "Yes, but I doubt everyone knows Clark is also using the charity to launder money with Regina for a werewolf cartel."

"Fucking gods," Ares groaned.

"Yeah, that one is pretty bad," Zia admitted, running her soapy hands over him again.

---