"No, I never met her before last night." Nick raked a hand over his face as he set off cursing.
Tabitha shook her head. "Ash is going to kill you."
"Don't you dare tell him!" Nick snarled.
"I'm not about to. But what if Simi-"
"I'll call him and tell him I need to talk to him. I'll confess..."
"Nick, he will kill you. He loves Simi and I mean loves Simi. He'll never forgive you for this. You'll be lucky to come away with all parts attached."
Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing. There had been several times over the last few years that Ash had intimated that he had a girlfriend and Nick had taken to goofing on him for it.
The last thing he'd ever expected was to meet Ash's girlfriend in the Quarter without him.
Oh God, this couldn't be happening. How could he have slept with his best friend's girl? Why hadn't Simi told him? If, as Tabitha said, Simi knew who he was, why would she do such a thing?
"Is she fighting with Ash?" he asked, hoping, praying it was a possibility.
"No, Nick. You're not that lucky."
He cursed again. "I have to tell him," he said to Tabitha. "I'm not going to be a coward. I owe him that much."
"Then you better make sure you go over to the St. Louis Cathedral and confess before you do."
Nick crossed himself, unable to believe what he'd just gotten himself into. He should have known Simi was too good to be real. She'd been a lot of fun, and in truth, he'd been looking forward to seeing her again.
Tabitha was right. He was a dead man.
"Hey, Tabby," Marla said as she stuck her head into the shop. "Valerius is up and showering in the bathroom."
Nick gaped, then glared. "Valerius?"
"Sh," Tabitha snapped at Nick.
He didn't take the hint. "Valerius as in Valerius, dick-head Valerius? What the hell is he still doing here, Tabitha?"
"It's none of your business."
His anger snapped at that. "Oh, yeah, right. Excuse me, but between the two of us..." He paused as he thought over what he was about to say, then reconsidered it. "Okay, I'm still more screwed than you are, but you are seriously screwed blue. Amanda will tear your heart out if she finds out."
Tabitha turned on him with her eyes flashing anger. "So help me, Nick, you breathe a word of this and I'll press the speed dial on my phone straight for Ash."
He held his hands up in surrender. "Deal. But you better get that Roman prick out of here."
She pointed toward the door. "Good-bye, Mr. Gautier."
He put his sunglasses back on. "Later, Ms. Devereaux."
Tabitha rubbed her hands over her face as she contemplated what a horror this day was and that it wasn't even close to over yet.
Aggravated, she headed toward the door that led to her apartment. Upstairs, she heard Valerius in the shower.
Tabitha went ahead and called to have a pizza delivered in case he was hungry.
By the time he was finished and dressed, the pizza arrived. Tabitha paid for it and set it on the table as she waited for Valerius to come down.
She still had the sickest feeling her stomach. "There really needs to be a do-over button for days that suck this much," she muttered as she set out two paper plates.