“You get all the blonds, babe,” I say. “You know I like tall, dark and handsome. Wait.” I stop and pretend to consider this before we head out the back door. “Maybe that’s my problem.”
She laughs. “But Isaac was tall, salt-and-pepper, and handsome, so I think you’re good as long as you stay away from the guys going grey.”
***
We arrive at the Hermes Theater at 8 pm and take our seats in the orchestra area. The theater has been recently restored, and cherubs blowing horns adorn the ceiling. The beige walls are trimmed with gold, and deep burgundy curtains drape the black stage. Balcony seats draped in similar deep red jut out from either side of the stage, looming high above it.
The lights go down and Laura grabs my hand, gives it a squeeze and gives me a wide smile. I return it, but I’m not expecting much. Maybe it’s just my bad mood lingering from the crappy news Isaac’s note delivered. Truth is, I’ve never been big on magicians. Sure I’m seen Damien Lane and Rick Seraphim, the two big ones out there these days, and their tricks are impressive. But I can be a hardcore cynic and I’m not easily impressed. From what I’ve heard about Niko, he’s a magician past his time and on his way out. If it weren’t for his family’s connections, he’d probably be forgotten by now.
A disco ball spins above the stage after the curtains part. The lights dim and ominous music plays to get us in the mood. I glance around, finding the place is packed. So maybe Niko isn’t as washed up as I think, or maybe his family pays people off to come see the shows.
Stop being a bitch, I scold myself. After all, the ticket was a gift from Laura and I shouldn’t be so ungrateful. So I focus forward and try to enjoy the show.
After some flash and pageantry during the opening, Niko gets to the tricks. He does a couple with cards to warm up and get the show rolling, then does a few impressive sleight of hand illusions. Next his assistant, a pretty brunette dressed in a sparkling blue mini, wheels out a box and places it at the center of the stage.
Niko is an intimidating and strikingly handsome man. I’ve only seen his photos on a few occasions, when the local papers have covered his shows. He’s tall and barrel-chested and walks straight and proud as he performs. He wears a trimmed, black beard that accentuates his pale skin and icy blue eyes. Now he turns to the audience in his tuxedo and begins to open panels on the box that sits atop a table.
“You will note there are no tricks, no secret compartments.” His voice booms out as he speaks to the crowd. He raps the top of the box with a massive fist. “Once the lovely Jemma is inside, she has no way of getting out. No hidden escapes.”
Another man also clad in a tuxedo brings out a buzz saw as Jemma, Niko’s assistant, climbs inside the apparatus.
“Now, ladies and gentleman,” he says, sweeping his arms wide. “I will saw Jemma into three pieces right before your eyes.”
I can’t help rolling my eyes. This trick is as old as god, if I believed in one. Thankfully Laura doesn’t notice my disdain.
But, somehow, Niko does. Those icy blue eyes focus on me and he calls out, “Excuse me, sir. Do you doubt my claim?”
The spotlight pins me and my eyes go wide. I hate being singled out, and my anger gets the best of me. “Not saying you can’t do it. I just think the trick is a little dated.”
Niko arches an eyebrow. “Perhaps you’d be more impressed if you came up here and watched?”
His male assistant comes down to escort me to the stage. I give him an annoyed look, but Laura whispers, “Get your ass up there.”
I don’t want to piss her off. She’s been more than generous to me today. So I go up.
Niko gives me a glare, and I’m thankful looks can’t kill. “Please, watch closely.”
His large hand clamps on my shoulder and he positions me so I can see the box well but I don’t block the audience’s view. Sparks tingle where he touches me, and I almost flinch away from his touch. There’s instant chemistry. Probably just from our combative stances. At least that’s what I reason.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stand and watch.
Niko flips open the side of the box to show that his assistant is laying prone inside. Then he starts up the buzz saw after he closes the panels, and its mechanical whine rises above the music that accompanies his performance.
I hold my breath, caught up in the illusion for just a moment as he brings the saw close to the box. But then I remember it’s all a trick and watch calmly.
Until the saw bites through the wood and Jemma screams moments before blood flies. Her head thrashes back and forth, but Niko keeps cutting.
I lunge forward to stop him, but his male assistant, a man equal to my size and quite strong, holds me back, though I struggle in his grip. My heart hammers in my chest and I breathe rapidly.
“It’s fine,” he whispers in my ear. “It’s all part of the trick.”
But as the blood continues to fly, I’m not so sure I believe him. The audience gasps and screams as Niko finishes cutting through her torso and moves to her knees. Jemma’s face is stained with blood, but she still breathes, her eyes still blink. More gore spews out as he severs her legs from her torso. Then he beckons his tuxedo clad assistant to come help him pull the sections apart. He does so, but not before he demands I “Stay here.”
I watch the two men separate the boxes, twirl them around, show the crowd the sections of chopped up human. My mind is reeling, but I keep reassuring myself it has to be a trick. After all, I’ve seen Rick Seraphin pull a woman in half, and she wasn’t even in a box. Her top half lurched away afterward. But that was on TV. Not in real, up-close life.
My eyes are glued to Jemma’s face. She looks so calm it has to be okay. Niko and his assistant, whose name is revealed as Victor, put the pieces back together. Niko does some funky hand gestures over the box then opens the side. My stomach tightens into knots. Even though I know it’s all a show, I expect bloody chunks to fall out.
But what does emerge is a fully intact Jemma. There’s not a drop of blood on her sparkling blue dress. Niko helps her out of the apparatus and she sashays across the stage. Uproarious applause drown out the blood pounding in my ears.
After he bows and kisses Jemma on the cheek, Niko strolls over to me. “Still think I’m too boring for your tastes?” He smirks.
“I never said that.” Then I shrug and bluff nonchalance. “It’s still a little old school.”My eyes dart from the buzz saw Victor takes off the stage back to Niko’s blood spattered tux. “But how’d you do that?”
His smirk widens into a smug grin. “Come backstage with Laura after the show and I just might tell you.”
***
Laura and I attend a small party in the foyer after the show. Niko still hasn’t told me how he pulled off that trick, or his grand finale, but he did invite us to stick around and teased me with the promise of possible secrets revealed if we did so. The man is infuriating me already, but he’s hot as hell and too enigmatic for my own good.
Before we left his dressing room, he did reveal one secret however.
Once again, I asked him, “How’d you do that? That blood look real.”
He held up a finger to my lips, while Laura grinned at my awe. Niko smeared the blood over my bottom lip. “Taste,” he said.
Dubiously, I licked my lip, but found sweetness instead of an iron tang. “What is it?”
“Corn syrup, food coloring, and a special secret.”
Then the bastard just winked at me and walked away.
I shook my head at my naiveté. “I should’ve known that.” When we were kids, it was what Laura and I used to make our grisly killer costumes look more realistic most Halloweens.
“Don’t feel bad.” Laura patted my arm. “That trick freaked out the entire crowd. He lulls you by making you think it’s just the same old, same old.”
Now, out in the foyer, I sip some champagne while I watch people cluster around the charismatic Niko. Reporters shove microphones and cameras in his face, fans flock to
his side. I stand back from it all, observing and waiting for Laura to leave the throng so I can go home. I’ve had enough excitement for one night.
The crowd around Niko disperses and he makes his way toward me. I look around for Laura, anxious to get out of here, since my bad mood has lingered and I’m not up for a party or more mental barbs with this sexy magician.
Still, my curiosity lingers, and when he draws near I ask again, “So how did you do it? That and the final trick.”
He gives a hearty baritone laugh. “I won’t reveal all my secrets. A good magician never tells everything. But I’ll tell you how I sawed Jemma in thirds.”
He puts a hand in the center of my back and draws me away from the crowd, down the hall that leads toward backstage. Once again I feel that tingle of electricity between us.
“The table is a trick table,” he confesses as we move closer to his dressing room. “There’s a set of false panels that open once I close off the box. Jemma slips down into this and she is replaced by a fake torso and legs. The legs and feet include motors that move them. When I start to saw through the box, little bags of fake blood burst, and voila, the illusion is complete.” He puts an arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer. His spicy cologne and minty breath tease my nostrils, stirring a traitorous fire low in my belly. “But you do realize something?”
I frown at him. My voice is gruff when I speak. “What’s that?”
“Now I’ve told you the secret, I’ll have to kill you.” His deadpan stare makes me back up. Is he fucking with me or not? For a moment, I can’t tell. Then he breaks into a broad grin. “Or, I could offer you another alternative.”
I chuckle. My bad mood finally breaks under his smooth charisma. “Could you?”
“Come work for me. You see, Chad, I am a bit too old school, as you might put it.”
I clear my throat and try to hide my embarrassment.
“I’d like to modernize my act somewhat,” Niko continues. “How’d you like to be my new assistant? The job requires more than a pretty face.” He strokes a finger down my stubbled chin and I try to suppress a shiver. “My assistants are also consultants who help me develop new tricks for the show.”
“I already have a job, thanks,” I say, sensing working with this man would be dangerous. My libido rules my head way too much, and he’s sending it off the charts.
He stops me with a firm hand on my shoulder before I can walk away. Once again those sparks whiz through me. My nostrils flare along with my anger.
“Laura tells me you got yourself in a bit of trouble with Isaac Gemini. If you help me, I could help you get rid of that problem.”
Anger sears through my brain. I’m pissed Laura divulged this personal information to a man who is a stranger to me. At the same time, the opportunity grabs my interest. I know Niko belongs to a family with much wealth and influence. And I’d love to get my business back to what it used to be, have Isaac off my back for good.
Still suspicious, but now more open to his proposition, I ask, “What kind of deal are we talking about?”
Niko smiles a wolfish smile. “Come work for me part time. I’ll make sure you have ample hours for tattooing, also. And I’ll clean up the mess you made for yourself with Gemini. I need some more young blood in my show.”
His crack about my mess almost sends my temper flaring again, but I tamp it down. Still I can’t resist getting my own barb in. “Maybe you’re just too old. Time to think about retirement, perhaps?” In truth, the guy looks no more than thirty-five.
He almost chokes on his champagne. But he raises an eyebrow at my insolence and merely smirks that smug smirk. “A lesser man might get angry with your smart mouth.” Then he reaches down and cups my cock through my jeans as he leans close to whisper in my ear, “But it just turns me on.”
He slaps my ass before turning away to stride confidently down the hall.
As he does, he throws over his shoulder, “Be at my place Saturday by 9 am. Laura will give you directions.”
***
“You told him about my situation?” I’m enraged, despite Laura’s earlier generosity. “What is this guy to you? Are you doing him or something?”
Laura laughs as she parks in behind the tattoo shop. “No, sweetheart. Niko is as gay as you are. I haven’t got the right parts to please him.” She shuts off the car and turns to me. “You can trust Niko. Let him help you.”
“No way am I working for that guy.” I give an annoyed sigh. “I don’t even know him. And how come I never knew you were so cozy with a magician?”
Her lips quirk sideways in a coy smile. “What’s our code, Chad? I don’t pry into your life and you don’t pry into mine.”
I take off my seat belt and thrust open the door.
She blows her razor cut bangs out of her eyes and shakes her head at me. “Meeting Niko kind of happened by accident. Point is, he’s a generous guy, and when I told him about you he wanted to help out. Can’t you just be grateful?”
“I am, but it’s tough to trust after Isaac,” I say, still sulking as I get out of the passenger seat and walk toward the stairs leading to my apartment.
“I know,” she says, following me. “But would I tell you the guy was safe if he wasn’t? So drop the twenty questions.”
Before I can throw another clever quip her way, a tall, slender man strolls our way from the base of the stairs. The streetlight glints off his silvery hair and I recognize that chiseled face as gray eyes pin me. Isaac Gemini wears an immaculate black suit that moves in perfect time with his athletic form as he draws near.
My every muscle stiffens. Even the one down below flutters, and I curse myself for still having a strong physical attraction to this heartless bastard.
“You got my letter?” he says, his keen eyes moving from me to Laura and back again.
“Yup.” My hand clench into fists. “And you’ll have your money by Monday.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Guaranteed?”
Laura walks up beside me. “Guaranteed. Come to the shop before noon and we’ll give you the cash.”
He gives her a bored up and down perusal and his nostrils flare. “We’ll see you Monday then.” As he strides past me, he purposely bumps into my shoulder and adds, “No excuses. I want every last dollar.”
After his car pulls away, Laura turns to me. “Don’t worry. I’ll cover the past due rent, too, along with this month.”
I shake my head violently. “No way. You can get this month, but I’ll take care of the rest.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “How you plan on doing that?”
I take a long, slow breath. “Didn’t you say Niko would take care of it?”
She gives me a wide smile. “You bet he will.” Then she wraps me in a quick hug. “I’m glad you’re gonna take him up on his offer.”
“One other thing.” I stop before I head up the stairs. “Thank you, hon. And I’m making you full partner. No arguments.”
She grins. “Well, it’s about damned time! Come on. Let’s order pizza and pig out before I head home.”
***
Saturday morning, Laura drops me off outside the Royal Plaza. She introduces me to the door man first. He’s a tall man who’s Celtic ancestry shows in his face. After shaking my hand and telling me his name is Daniel, he says I’m to go to the front desk. Apparently Niko wants me to have a keycard.
“Guess he was expecting me to show up,” I say before leaving Dan at his post.
Dan smirks knowingly. “He never doubted it.”
I’m irritated by Niko’s arrogant assumptions, but I smile at the Asian Canadian woman who hands me a keycard and directs me to the elevators. On the penthouse floor, I let myself in via massive crème colored doors trimmed in gold, wondering if it’s real gold as I do.
The place opens up before me as I enter a massive great room with hardwood floors. Expensive looking rugs are scattered about in front of a leather couch and chair. There’s a dining room table made of glass, and the
chairs surrounding it are also leather. No sign of Niko or anyone else yet, though.
“Hey, I’m here to help you pull a rabbit outta your hat,” I call.
A booming laugh fills the room as Niko walks from a hall to the left of the kitchen. “Facetious.” He nods and gives me a drop dead gorgeous smile. “I like that.”
I glance around again, uncomfortable under his icy eyed scrutiny. “Where are the others?”
He looks impeccable in a casual crème sweater that lets some thick, dark chest hair poke out of its neckline. His dark blue jeans hug his muscular legs and ass well.
“It’s just the two of us.” He stands with one hand braced against the back of the couch, studying me until I nearly squirm. “Usually I train new assistants at my studio in the city, but I wanted a little one on one time with you.” He pivots and beckons with a hand. “Follow me.”
He leads me through the spacious suite to a room the size of a studio apartment. Here is where we’ll practice, he tells me.
“We’ll start off with something simple.” Niko wheels over a large rectangle that contains smaller squares all along its front. “The box of delights.”
I try not to cringe, but I feel like I’m at a kid’s party. “What’s this all about?”
Noticing I’m not impressed, he frowns. “Each box reveals a surprise for the audience.” He slides one square open, showing me a vacant compartment. “It appears empty from the crowd’s perspective, but each space contains a hidden compartment. Open it this way,” he waves his hand over the hollow space, “and nothing. Open it the other way…”
When he moves the tiny door to the right, a dove flies out of the opening. I almost yawn, but I try to be polite.
Niko raises an eyebrow. “Still not impressed, I see. Each container holds a different surprise. As my assistant, you wheel out the box, show the crowd these compartments are empty, then I get you to point to each one while I say what will appear in the box. For instance…” He starts opening each one and revealing their hidden treasures as he speaks. “Flowers.” A bouquet pokes from the top corner. “Marbles.” Colorful glass balls plink to the floor. “Fire.” A burst of flame shoots out of the center box. On and on it goes, until he reaches the last box in the end row, where a small brown rabbit hops out. “We keep Oscar close to the ground. He’s getting old and his joints aren’t what they used to be.”
Surrender Boxed Set (Surrender Series Volume 1 - 7. BDSM romance with man love, bad boys, and billionaires.) Page 47