Wild Nights (Jokers Wild)

by Katherine Garbera

  “Yet you own a magic antique shop, you have been staging my pre-show and even—the laugh’s on me, I guess—used your own family’s poster in one of the alcoves. Did you think—?”

  She couldn’t listen to any more of this, so she walked over and put her fingers over his mouth, hardly aware of the tears that were streaming down her face. “Stop it. I didn’t set out to make a fool of you or to use you. Once I realized how much I loved you—”

  He shook his head. “Don’t. Not right now. You let me love someone who wasn’t you.”

  “I did. And now I’m trying to save your show. If you didn’t have that need to prove you are the best, you wouldn’t have done that trick in front of a test audience—with Jade in it—months ago. You should have kept it under wraps. You said yourself, you needed that trick. I tried to help you because I love you. Not because I thought it’d make you look foolish. You don’t need my help to do that,” she said, dropping the rope. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my family sooner. But by the time I realized you needed to know, I was falling in love with you, and I’ve never had anyone like you in my life. It’s been years since I felt loved and accepted for who I am by someone who was mine,” she said. “I just wanted to enjoy it for a few days longer.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “I get it. I knew the way my luck goes that you couldn’t be as perfect as you seemed. There had to be something more.”

  “No one is perfect,” she said, smiling sadly. Her heart was breaking, and not just for herself and the loss of the love that they’d found for each other. But also for Nicholas, who thought he didn’t deserve love. “I think you would have seized any opportunity to find a problem with me. I think you like being alone.”

  She turned and walked out the door, and Nicholas didn’t try to follow her. She saw Leo, Keely, and Trixie all standing off to the side, pretending they weren’t watching. She kept her head high as she walked over to them.

  “Email me if you need the details of the trick. I think you could do wonderful things with it,” she said.

  She walked away, trying to come up with a positive spin on how everything had gone to crap with Nicholas. She only hoped that one day, she’d be able to find joy in how he’d brought magic back into her life and take solace in the fact that she’d helped him with his show. But right now, it hurt. And she wanted to be home, where she could fall apart in private.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nicholas didn’t want to talk to anyone. But the show was a mess, and Leo and Trixie had gone behind his back and gotten the details of the Waterstone family illusion—one that had been held in secret for generations—from Zelda. As a parting gift, she’d given him a powerful one. He knew that when he was done hiding his hurt and betrayal under anger, he’d owe her an apology. But he wasn’t there yet.

  Keely had been toying with adding a Nicholas Pine twist to the trick. In their previous show—the one Jade copied—they’d gone with a desert theme, since they were in Sin City and had been using wind as the element in the show. But now that they were doing the Waterstone trick, Keely had suggested using water as the element anchor.

  “I want to have the sound of water trickling as they walk in, so it becomes part of the show,” Nicholas said. “And I think we should start the show with me in the lobby, in front of the large aquatic feature. I can do some street magic–type tricks, levitate and then disappear. I’d reappear, of course, up here on the stage.”

  “I like it,” Leo said. “Kee’s already worked most of that out. And if we start with the stolen trick, then we’re setting the bar high. I’d like to find a kid that looks like Zelda to use for you to “rescue,” but we don’t have time to train someone and get them up to speed before the show.”

  “I could do it,” Trixie said.

  “Uh, girl—woman, you look nothing like Zelda,” Leo said gently.

  Nicholas liked the idea of that, though. “Give me some time to think about the details, but I have an idea that I think we can work with. Since the show is called Phantasm, I think we could tie in the ghost of the Waterstone child. Maybe do a mystical rescue and then free her spirit. Then I will perform the trick and take it up a notch, ending the show as I began, back in the lobby of the casino,” Nicholas said.

  “I love it,” Keely said, her fingers flying over her keyboard. “I’ll reach out to Zelda and see if they have any footage from the trick. Then I will start to build that part of the illusion.”

  “And I’ll reach out and make sure we can use it. She might not want to give us permission,” Trixie said. “I’ll take care of the legal stuff.

  Nicholas didn’t say anything, just nodded curtly at Trixie. Then he turned away from the group. Leo had ignored the entire thing with Zelda, but Keely had tried to talk to him about it, and Trixie had just raised both of her dark eyebrows at him as if he’d screwed up big time.

  Yes, he owed Zelda an apology, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. He’d been trying to come up with something, anything to break the ice and get her to talk to him again, but so far, he’d had no luck.

  “Speaking of legal stuff, we’ve got some good news to share with you,” Casey said as he walked in. His friend looked so much happier now that he was engaged to Talia. He was more relaxed, though he still wore his poker face most of the time.

  “Yeah, wait until you hear this,” Dare said. He’d come back from three days on the road and had been a live wire ever since.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Well, you know how Talia was taping the audience’s reaction to your show that first night? Well, she had tons of footage, and we finally looked through it. It turns out we’ve got Jade and her showrunner on tape. Our legal team went to work, getting a cease and desist order for her show. Even better, they were able to secure a search warrant for the backstage area. They found your Houdini water chest, as well as footage of you performing the trick on their laptop. So Jade’s show is shut down for good. If you want to do your original show as written, you can,” Casey said.

  He was floored by how much Vinnie and the legal team had been able to make happen in a mere forty-eight hours. But they’d already pushed back the opening of the show for a week, and Nicholas knew better than to perform the trick now. But at least he had his chest back. He could breathe a little easier, knowing that. But still… “Audiences won’t care about that. If we do the trick, there will be rumors that we stole it from her. Besides, we have something bigger and better.” He took a few steps, rubbing his head. “I guess I should have realized she’d do something like that.”

  “Yeah, she’s a total crazy woman where you are concerned. Vinnie said she mentioned several times that you had stolen her chance at being in the spotlight when they arrested her. She’d claimed she was just taking her fair share.”

  Nicholas shook his head. He hadn’t realized that Jade had become so obsessed with him or blamed him for her own lackluster career. She’d left him to be a star. And though he knew that her television show hadn’t been the ratings giant that both she and the producer had hoped for, it had been her decision—one made after he’d found out she’d been working a deal on the side. She’d left, and he’d had to start over with nothing, not for the first time in his life.

  “And you were right in thinking that she was behind the theft of your Houdini water chest,” Casey said. “She snuck some of her men in with the catering crew the night of the event. While she was in the audience, they were in your vault, taking the chest.”

  He couldn’t help but think of how different Zelda had been with him when she’d revealed her past ; how she’d hidden it from not just him, but the world. She’d been generous in sharing information with his team, doing everything she could to ensure his success. And she had been all grace and dignity when she’d left. She was better than he deserved.

  He’d let his own sense of betrayal and his fear of being vulnerable drive her away. He
knew that he had to figure out a way to make it up to her and win her back.

  Casey and Dare left a few moments later, and he turned to face his team, who were all busily working on adjustments for the new show. But he had to get Zelda back by his side before he did anything else.

  “Guys, I screwed up.”

  “We know,” Trixie said.

  “I need to get Zelda back.”

  “We know,” Keely said with a kind smile.

  “I need something big to show her how much she means to me.”

  “We’ve already designed an illusion that will help,” Leo said. “But you’re going to have to be real with her when it’s over.”

  “I can do that.”

  …

  “I can’t believe it,” Molly said. “I mean, I know that he’s, like, a superstar magician, but I’m tempted to not take Stetson to his show after what he did to you.”

  Zelda leaned back in her chair on Molly’s porch as Stetson and his friend practiced magic tricks in the yard. She’d told Molly that her relationship with Nicholas was over.

  She hadn’t revealed anything else. It wasn’t as if telling Nicholas about being part of the Waterstone family had changed anything. She wasn’t going to start doing magic again. But she did need to talk to her sister.

  After Suria had been unmasked, Zoe and Zelda had been free to be themselves, and it had been harder than either of them had thought. Zoe, of course, was struggling to learn how to deal with life from a wheelchair, and Zelda was eaten up with guilt. She’d partied too much, acted like an ass, and finally just disappeared from everyone’s life. She’d cut contact with Zoe because she hadn’t wanted to cause her sister any more pain. But once she’d confessed to Nicholas who she really was, she’d called Zoe.

  Zelda had apologized, and Zoe had told her there was nothing to forgive. Zoe had missed her sister and hoped that this call wouldn’t be the last communication between them. They talked for a long time. Zelda learned that Zoe was married and had twin sons, which had made Zelda cry. She promised she’d go to the Keys to visit soon.

  She had told Zoe about Nicholas and his team and how they were going to be performing the illusion in their show. Zoe had no objection but cautioned her to make sure they always checked everything before they ran the trick.

  Stetson had arrived after school, and she’d cheered herself up for him. And now, two days after everything had fallen apart in her relationship with Nicholas, she was spending the afternoon drinking sweet tea and talking to Molly.

  “Don’t miss the show for me. I won’t be offended at all if you take Stetson. I mean, I originally bartered for those tickets because I knew how much Stetson loved magic. I want you to go. Also, I think Stetson would straight up never forgive you if you didn’t take him.”

  Molly reached over and squeezed her hand. “He would be upset, but he’d understand if I told him that Nicholas had hurt you.”

  She squeezed her friend’s hand back. “It’s not, strictly speaking, all his fault.”

  “It never is. Even with Stetson’s dad, it wasn’t all his fault. But I love you, and you’re hurting, so I’m on your side,” Molly said. “Love doesn’t make relationships easier.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” she said, feeling tears burn the backs of her eyes. It had been a very long two days. That call with her sister… She’d really hoped that by bringing some closure to the trick, giving it to Nicholas, facing the past, that maybe she’d get some peace with what had happened to Zoe. That they could move forward and share, if not the closeness they’d once had, at least some semblance of a sisterly relationship. And now, Molly’s support was almost too much. She just felt tired and selfish and wished, for the first time since she’d dropped the Waterstone name and moved to Vegas, that she was someone else.

  She didn’t want to move on again, but a part of her was considering it. If she stayed here, she’d still see the billboards for Phantasm and the shirtless PR photos of Nicholas. But she had put down roots. She’d lived in the shadow of magic since she’d moved out here, and she was ready to be back in the shadows again.

  “Well, I’d been holding back on telling him something. And after finding out that his ex had blatantly ripped off his show, well, let’s just say it wasn’t good timing on my part,” Zelda said.

  “Z, it’s okay to say you screwed up, but he hurt you. You’re allowed to let me be on your side without trying to make it seem like he’s not a bad guy,” Molly said.

  “I know that. But he’s not a bad guy, and I don’t want you putting negativity into the world,” Zelda said. “Remember you said the same thing when I wanted you to go after Cody. Track him down and make him do the right thing even though I’d never met him.”

  “I did. But that was for Stetson. Cody is still his dad,” Molly said.

  “Stetson still likes Nicholas, so we can’t bash him,” Zelda said. “Not in front of him. He doesn’t need another male role model to not be his hero.”

  “I know. I’m glad you understand that. But I really am upset for you. He invited Stetson and me backstage on opening night,” Molly said. “I didn’t know if I should go or not. I wanted to talk to you first, but Stetson was in the room and knew I was talking to Nicholas.”

  “It’s okay,” Zelda said. She had known when she walked away that their lives had become intertwined and she was never going to be able to avoid him completely. “I want you to go. Stetson will love the show, and Moll, you’re going to like it, too.”

  “I’m sorry,” Molly said. “I really thought he was going to be the one for you. I mean, I know you weren’t looking, but he seemed so perfect for you.”

  “He was,” Zelda said. But she wasn’t perfect enough for him. And while she knew she should have come clean sooner, she also realized that Nicholas could be a little less unflinching in his need for truth. But that was neither here nor there. They’d said everything that needed to be said. Now all she had to do was figure out how to move on.

  …

  Nicholas’s team had worked hard to bring the show together in a very short time. The legal department from the Jokers Wild Hotel and Casino had Zelda and Zoe sign off on allowing them to use the Waterstone illusion, and Nicholas had insisted they be compensated for it. They had already allowed Trixie to use footage of the actual stunt in the show, but that had been between the sisters and the lawyers, so he hadn’t seen her since the night she’d left.

  It had been impossible to focus on the show exclusively while at the same time coming to terms with the realization that Zelda had saved him in more ways than one. So, on Sunday afternoon, four days after Jade’s premiere, he was standing center stage at the Jokers Wild by himself. He’d done all he could to set everything up in a way that would make Zelda hopefully realize how much he regretted his words that night. He wanted her back.

  Hell, he’d wanted her back even as he had been saying things to drive her away. But the last four days had felt empty. He might have been focused on the show, but he couldn’t enjoy it, couldn’t feel vindicated by Jade’s arrest or relieved that he had found a way to salvage the trick he and Leo had developed. All he had been able to think about was the plan Leo outlined roughly a day ago to win Zelda back.

  The entire team had gotten used to having her in the rehearsal hall. She’d become a part of their family, and everyone was blaming him for losing her. He heard the door to the theater open, and a moment later he saw Zelda’s bright red hair as she walked into the auditorium. She stood in the center of the seating area, just looking up at him on the stage. He was wrapped in a straitjacket.

  She looked tired and like she’d lost weight. And the smile and joie de vivre that were so much a part of her were gone.

  He’d done that.

  That was how good he was at loving someone. He’d turned Jade into a criminal and Zelda…into this—a shadow of the woman who’d threatened to go t
o the cops if he didn’t stop creeping around her shop.

  “What’s going on? Trixie messaged me and said I was needed down here,” Zelda said.

  “Sorry for the ruse,” he said. His own voice felt rusty, and his heart ached at the pain he could see in her expression. “I wanted to see you, but I was afraid you’d refuse if I asked you.”

  She nodded as she wrapped both arms around her waist. “What did you want?”

  His mind went blank as he gazed into her chocolaty brown eyes, and all the words he’d rehearsed disappeared. He needed to fix this—fix what he’d torn apart. And he needed to do it not by being an illusionist but by being real.

  “I…I was going to do a trick for you, this straitjacket one because I thought it would bring up happy memories, but I don’t think that’s the best idea. Would you give me a moment to get out of this?” he asked.

  She just went and sat in one of the front-row seats. He watched her, suddenly realizing that maybe, if he was to bare his soul, he might be able to win her back. Honesty—the thing that had caused them to break—might bring them back together. Because she hadn’t left. She could have turned around and walked away, but she didn’t. He remembered what she’d said on that horrible night. That she loved him. And given his own deep emotions for her, he knew that love wasn’t fleeting. It didn’t disappear quickly, no matter what the logical mind wanted.

  “When I first started learning magic tricks, I only wanted to take my grandmother’s mind off of her pain. She was confined to her bed, and my granddad and I would come and do shows to entertain her,” Nicholas said as he started to work his way out of the straitjacket. “Concentrating on magic became a way for all of us to ignore the fact that my grandmother was dying. And that sort of became what magic was to me.”

  He had his arms free and let them fall to his sides, walked to the edge of the stage and sat down. “It was only later that I learned I wasn’t their grandson at all but their adopted son. That hurt more deeply than I expected. I thought they’d lied to me, and then over time, I kept looking for that pattern to repeat itself, seeing lies in every relationship I had.”