Wild Nights

by Katherine Garbera

  Neither of them was good at expressing emotion. Dare normally just hopped on his motorcycle and roared away when things got too real. And himself… Well there was a reason why Nicholas was an illusionist: he could front being composed when everything was going to hell. But he knew that Casey and Dare were two people he could count on.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” Nicholas said. “I’m just handling this my way. There aren’t a lot of people who know what that chest means to me. It had to have been stolen by someone who knows me very well. It seems almost like a betrayal.”

  Dare clapped a hand on Nicholas’s shoulder and squeezed. Dare and Casey were more like brothers than friends. To be honest, they were the only friends he allowed himself.

  “That’s why I’ve got your back.”

  “Thanks, Dare. Did you see anything while I was talking to the shop owner?” Nicholas asked. He’d never admit it to Dare, but it was nice to have another set of eyes. Normally, he’d have brought Leo with him, but with the show only six weeks from opening, Leo was busy making sure everything was ready.

  “Just you getting your ass handed to you by that redhead,” Dare said with a lopsided grin. “Not something I see every day. Usually chicks are all into your magic vibe.”

  No, Nicholas thought. Zelda definitely hadn’t been.

  Trixie was waiting as he walked into the warehouse that they used to store all of their props for his show, Phantasm. She wore a slim-fitting skirt that ended just above her knees and a fitted top that accentuated her curves. She’d once told him that she used her looks like he used illusion—as a distraction. But right now, she was giving him a look that left no doubt she wasn’t happy with him for being late. Message received.

  “I can explain.”

  She crossed her arms under her breasts. “Don’t bother. Leo is in the other room and ready to run the water-torture escape. Keely has spent the better part of the morning placating Leo.”

  “Good. While I’m rehearsing, I want you to do a search on Zelda Quincy. She owns a shop just outside of town, Touch of Magic, and has a Houdini chest for sale that matches the one that was stolen from me. I spoke to her this morning, and she said she purchased it from an online auction house in London. Could you double-check the sale and get me any details you can find on her? She’s got a lot of magic props in her shop but didn’t know who I was at first.”

  Trixie arched one eyebrow at him. “A lot of people haven’t heard about you.”

  He put a hand over his heart. “You wound me, Trixie.”

  “As if,” she said, walking toward her desk at the back of the large warehouse. He followed the sounds of cursing into the area where a large tank that resembled the one in the lobby of the Jokers Wild was set up. Leo was nowhere to be seen, but a rig had been positioned over the tank with thick chains dangling from it.

  Nicholas undid his tie and moved toward the changing area that had been set up for him to get out of his street clothes and into his show ones. When he did the underwater portion of his show, he preferred to wear tight-fitting pants and no shirt. For one thing, the look was more dramatic and gave the crowd the impression he wasn’t hiding anything on his person. He also preferred not to have any clothes getting in his way as he did the stunt.

  He thought about Dare and Casey having his back and felt a warmth spread through him. As someone who’d had only his grandmother and grandfather growing up, Nicholas sometimes found it hard to accept that he had created his own family at the Jokers Wild.

  He emerged from his changing area to find Leo standing with his back to him. He was a tall man, almost 6’5”, and had thick brown hair that had started to gray at the temples. He wore a full beard year-round and had a tattoo on his left forearm that said Mona. No matter how many times he or the others on the team asked, Leo never talked about Mona.

  “Leo—”

  “It’s about time you got here. We have to have at least twenty hours of rehearsals before I’m signing off on this trick. And we haven’t even begun to rehearse the reveal.”

  “Have I ever let you down?” he asked, knowing that Leo was direct and fair. He had a right to be upset with Nicholas for being late, but that was it.

  Leo turned, glancing over his shoulder at him. The older man was a mentor and one of the best in the business. He’d worked for the big magicians in the late nineties and early 2000s, so his insight was invaluable. Nicholas hadn’t had anyone mentor him except his grandfather, who’d had a library collection of old magic tricks. So, when he and Leo had met, Nicholas had been rough around the edges. Leo had taught him how to bring the show to life.

  “Nah. I just know you want this trick to be big, and we need time to make sure it’s perfect. I won’t be associated with a half-assed show.”

  “I know,” he said, walking over to Leo and clapping him on the shoulder. “I appreciate all of your hard work. I just needed to follow a lead on the chest that was stolen the night of our show at my house.”

  “I’ve got some feelers out in the magic community, too. I think we shouldn’t rule out Jade. You are definitely not her favorite person, and she knows the things you hold dear.”

  He had considered the possibility that his former lover and partner had been behind the theft, but he’d thought he knew her better than that. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been wrong about a woman. “She’s clean so far.”

  “We’ll see. Keely, he’s ready. Get in here,” Leo yelled.

  He didn’t know what he’d do without Keely. His special-effects wiz was twenty-six and had been with them for one live television special last summer and a six-engagement tour they had done in Europe before coming here to set up the permanent show in Vegas. She was really good at what she did, and she put up with Leo’s eccentricities—something not everyone would do.

  “Dude, chill. I saw him come in, same as you. I’ll be there in a minute,” she called from the other side of the room.

  Nicholas glanced over at her and saw that she was sitting on the floor, her fingers moving over the keys of her laptop. A few seconds later, she looked up at the two of them, then beyond, to the water tank. He turned to see what she was looking at and noticed that somehow, she’d made the tank look as if it had the same thousand-dollar fish swimming in it as the tank in the lobby.

  “Nice.”

  “It’s okay. If Pine can’t get out of the chains, it won’t be impressive at all,” Leo said drily.

  Nicholas gave Leo the finger and climbed the riser to the platform, where the thick chains were attached to a rig that would lift and then lower him into the tank.

  Keely scampered up the steps behind him.

  “Boss man, you been working out?” she asked as she wrapped the chain in a cross over his chest.

  “Some. Need to keep in top form, since Talia wants to change up the posters. The new ones will show me in chains. She thinks it will sell more tickets.”

  “She’s not wrong. And if you keep working out, we won’t need my computer fish to distract the audience. They’ll be entranced by your guns.”

  “For the love of all that’s holy, Keely, just do your job. If his head gets any bigger, he won’t be able to escape this room, much less the tank.”

  Nicholas laughed to himself, thinking how gray and dark his world had been before he’d found magic. He couldn’t imagine his life without it now.

  Chapter Two

  “So, I met the famous Nicholas Pine,” Zelda said as she handed Molly Saunders a glass of sauvignon blanc. They were sitting on the patio behind the duplex they lived in. Molly’s son was jumping on the trampoline, calling out to both of them to watch his tricks as he did flips and other jumps that sometimes involved him yelling out the names of his favorite superheroes.

  “You did? How?”

  “Well, remember that stalker I told you about?” Zelda said as she took a sip of her wine.r />
  “Yeah. Did you confront him? I told you not to do that. What if he was dangerous?” Molly asked. “You need to think these things through.”

  Molly had a point, but the guy had been there for three days. “Turned out it was Nicholas Pine.”

  “But why is he skulking outside your shop?”

  “I asked him. Turns out he is looking for a missing Houdini water chest and thought the one I was advertising might be his.” Whenever she got a high-ticket item, she liked to give her customers a heads-up. She had mentioned a lot of magic antiques from Europe on her website—the water chest was just one of those listed.

  Molly turned. A strand of her hair fell in her face, and she tucked it back behind her ear. “That’s odd. Why would he think you’d have his chest?”

  “His was stolen, apparently. I’m not sure, but I think he’s just following any lead he finds. Anyway…I told him I’d let him know when it came in in exchange for tickets to his show for you and Stetson,” Zelda said. She’d done a little research on Nicholas that afternoon and was more convinced than ever that she should keep her distance from him.

  His illusions were top-notch. In fact, he had been doing variations of the water trick a lot recently. Maybe inspired by Houdini? She didn’t really have to think that hard on it. All modern magicians and illusionists were emulating Houdini—he’d been the one to set the bar in that world.

  “You did?!”

  “Yes.” It had been worth letting this bit of her past back into her life to see the look on Molly’s face.

  Molly leaned over and hugged her. “Thank you. He’s going to be so amped up about this.”

  “I know,” Zelda said. Stetson was her godson, and if she was honest, she’d admit she loved him as if he were her own.

  “So, what’s he like? Nicholas Pine. I’ve seen the posters up around town. He looks intense.”

  She thought about it. His bright blue eyes and that suit that fit him like a second skin were never far from her thoughts as the day had gone on. Which wasn’t like her. He’d been arrogant, and there was a confidence in him that hadn’t surprised her. She’d been around magicians before and knew they often carried themselves as if the world revolved around them. She understood it—otherwise, how would he mesmerize his audience? But it had been more than that. When she’d snapped the photo, she’d surprised him, and for a minute she thought she saw past the illusion to the man behind the magician.

  She shrugged.

  “Zee, you like him.”

  “Not really,” she said. That was not her way. She liked to keep things casual. In fact, she still wasn’t sure how she’d ended up with this close relationship with Molly and her son. But after so many years, it had been hard not to care for them. Not to let them in.

  “Liar. You always can break anyone down in a minute. You see past the clothes and the attitude to the person beneath, and this guy you have no words for? That’s telling,” Molly said.

  “He wasn’t what I expected. And his eyes are so pretty… I was kind of caught off guard,” she admitted. “I think he’s arrogant and cocky, but what illusionist of his ilk isn’t? I mean, he has to be in order to keep his show going.”

  “Fair enough, but you don’t like the show part,” Molly said.

  “You’re right. I don’t. I prefer seeing the real man, not the showman,” she admitted.

  Molly just smiled, then looked down at her watch. “Oh my God, I have to go make dinner. Lorraine is dropping Cameron off to stay the night from the afterschool program in thirty minutes. Thanks for the wine.”

  Relieved not to be talking about Nicholas any more, Zelda hugged her friend goodbye and then watched her walk back to her place. In fact, she managed to shove him out of her mind completely until she was getting ready for bed and had her phone in her hand to set her alarm. She clicked on the photos and opened the picture she’d taken of him. There was something about his presence that drew her to Nicholas. She stared at the image for a moment, zooming in on his face and looking into those eyes that were so mesmerizing… Was there more to the man than magic?

  She hoped so… But then again, why did it matter to her? He was no one to her—just a possible client and someone who could help her give her godson a gift that he desperately wanted. That was all.

  But her subconscious didn’t agree, and she woke in the middle of the night, the remnants of an erotic dream that had featured Nicholas Pine still in her head. She tried to go back to sleep but found she couldn’t. So she got out of bed and reached for her phone, looking again at that photo of him and wondering if he’d put some sort of spell on her.

  “Zee, watch this,” Stetson said as he held up his hands, which were handcuffed together. His thick brown hair fell over his forehead.

  “I’m watching, kiddo,” she said.

  She sat in one of the seating areas in her shop. It was four o’clock, so there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic at this time of day—the perfect time for company. Stetson walked to her shop after school and stayed with her while his mom finished her shift as a payroll clerk at one of the larger casinos on the strip. The trick handcuffs had been in a lot she’d won from an online auction house and had arrived earlier that day. Zelda had pulled them out of the box, knowing the kid would like them.

  “You may think that I’m trapped and escape is impossible,” Stetson said. He’d been working on his patter for a while now and was getting better with each new illusion he performed for her. Watching Stetson’s excitement and happiness brought some of her own joy in magic back.

  “Ma’am, would you please check these cuffs and confirm they are locked?” he asked, holding his wrists out to her.

  She reached out and tugged on each cuff to make sure they were firm. Then she nodded.

  “They are locked,” she said.

  The bell over the door at the front of her shop chimed, and she glanced over and saw the shadow of Nicholas Pine. It had been a week since she’d confronted him in front of her shop, and he hadn’t been back since.

  Stetson wasn’t distracted, and Zelda forced her gaze back to him instead of staring at the illusionist who had been in the back of her mind more often than she wanted to admit. She’d gone online and checked out his profile on the Jokers Wild website and might have lightly stalked him on social media. And she’d been surprised—and a little excited—by how buff he looked in the posters for the show. Surely those muscles had been airbrushed on when he’d been wrapped in thick chains. But today, his suit was fitted, and he was even more tempting as he came over to lean his hip against the counter.

  Stetson looked up from the cuffs he’d been working, then back down at them again before doing a double-take.

  “Nicholas Pine?!”

  “Hello,” Nicholas said. “Finish your escape.”

  Stetson nodded, and Zelda saw the determination on her young friend’s face. She hoped he remembered everything she’d shown him earlier, and, for a moment, she saw his fingers fumble. He stood up straighter and looked right at one of the most famous illusionists in the world, then spoke.

  “Today I will attempt to escape from these cuffs. Zee has already checked them to see that they are locked, but would you like to check, too?”

  “I would,” Nicholas said, inspecting the cuffs before standing next to her again.

  She caught a whiff of his aftershave as he moved and closed her eyes for a second to inhale deeply. No one should smell that good. It didn’t matter that the fresh scent of the air after it rained was her favorite smell. Really.

  “Now watch carefully as I…” Stetson trailed off as he twisted his wrists, and, a moment later, the cuffs opened. He caught them with one hand and looked both proud and a little bit surprised as he held them aloft. “Ta-da!”

  Zelda applauded, as did Nicholas. “Well done.”

  “Very good job,” Nicholas said. “You have the makings
of a showman.”

  “Thanks,” Stetson said. “Can I do another trick?”

  “Sure. You know where the box is,” Zelda said.

  Stetson ran toward the back of the shop, leaving her alone with Nicholas. She glanced around her crowded, dusty floor room and tried to remind herself that she really didn’t need to be attracted to a magician right now…no matter how sexy he was.

  “So that’s the kid you wanted the tickets for?”

  “Yes. He loves magic,” she said.

  “You don’t,” he said.

  “It’s okay,” she said. She was uncomfortable lying about her connection to magic, but at the same time, he was a stranger, and that was a box she didn’t want to open. Even Molly didn’t know all of her secrets.

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  “Just that I like the old stuff better than the modern shows. No offense,” she said after a moment.

  “None taken. I still haven’t heard what it is you don’t like.”

  “Take that trick, for example. It’s escaping something, and it’s pretty straightforward. No smoke machines or distractions—just a ‘watch me escape this’ kind of trick,” she said.

  “You know there is still sleight of hand in what the kid did, right?” he asked sardonically, arching one eyebrow at her. “Every illusion has a bit of smoke and mirrors to it. It’s the magician who sells it well that makes it seem like it doesn’t.”

  “Yes. But it seems less…” She stopped. She was about to insult him. There was no way she could say “flashy” and have it not sound like she thought that there was no substance to magic today. Especially to someone like Nicholas Pine.

  “Real?”

  She shook her head. “Never mind that. What can I help you with?”

  “I stopped by to find out if there was any word on the chest. My assistant mentioned you’d called.”

  “I did. There’s no firm date yet, though. Shipping from the UK can take a little longer than normal. But I had an email this morning from the seller, and he said that he had confirmation it had arrived in Los Angeles. So I’m thinking I should have it sometime tomorrow. I asked your assistant to pass the message along to you. Sorry you made the trip for nothing.”