"What's wrong with Bourbon Street?"
"There are lots of unsavory people there."
Now that offended her. "Excuse me, I live on Bourbon. So you're calling me unsavory?"
"No. Not exactly. But you do own a sex shop."
That set off her hackles even more. "Oh! That's it. Nothing for you tonight, Count Penicula. You can go roast your own-"
"Tabitha, please. I don't like Bourbon Street."
"Fine," she said sharply as she stalked away from him. "You go that way. I'm headed this way."
Valerius clenched his teeth as she left him standing there. He truly hated to step one foot into this area. It was bright, loud, and filled with people who hated his guts.
Just go. Forget her.
He should. He really should, but he couldn't.
Before he could stop himself, he headed off after Tabitha. By the time he caught up to her, she was already on Bourbon Street.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as he came up beside her. "I would hate to sully you."
"Tabitha, please stay with me. I didn't mean to offend you."
She turned on him with a curled lip.
The instant Tabitha opened her mouth to let him have it, someone tossed a bucket of foul-smelling water from over a balcony and doused Valerius.
He went ramrod stiff while she frowned, then looked up to see Charlie, one of the doormen for the Belle Queen strip club, laughing. He set the bucket up and high-fived another man standing beside him.
"Charlie Laroux, what the hell are you doing?" Tabitha yelled up at them.
"Me?" he asked indignantly. "Since when are you hanging out with enemies? Nick done told us all about that ass-wipe and I promised Nick that if I ever caught Dick on our street again, I'd make him regret it."
Tabitha couldn't have been more stunned had Charlie slapped her. She looked at Valerius, who'd taken a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his face while that angry tic worked in his jaw.
"I swear, Charlie, if you were down here, I'd wring your neck."
"Why? You know our code, Tabby. Why you violating it?"
"Because there's nothing wrong with Val other than the fact that Nick needs to get a life. Just you wait, Charlie. I'm going to have a nice long talk with Brandy and when I finish with her, you'll be lucky if she lets you park your car in her driveway to sleep in it."
Brandy was Charlie's girlfriend, a regular customer in Tabitha's shop.
Charlie went pale while she reached to take Valerius's arm. She pulled him across the street, toward her store.
"I can't believe them!" she snarled.
"It's why I hate this street," he said in an emotionless voice. "Every time I come here, I end up walking the gauntlet through Nick's friends."
"That asshole!"
Tabitha had never been more furious in her life. She led him into her store and didn't even stop to chitchat with her employee. She took him upstairs to her bathroom and grabbed a towel and washcloth from the closet.
"Go ahead and take a bath. I'll borrow some clothes from my roomie."
He went pale. "No offense, but silver sequins and pastels are not my style."