Stage Wizardry Read online

  Bastard planned it.

  Jason ground his teeth even as he obeyed the command to come to stage.

  Why?

  The uneven steps to the stage nearly proved Jason’s undoing, tricking his gait into thinking the next step should have been lower than it was and trying to send him sprawling. But he managed to grab the railing without too much of a stagger. The dancing people near the ceiling should have prevented anyone from seeing.

  Still, by the time he reached Stu, Jason seethed, his stomach a tight ball and his fists trembled with unreleased rage.

  How dare this untalented hack insult him like this!

  But the “untalented hack” wasn’t done.

  “No. I definitely need two people for this one.” Stu tapped a finger on his lips, a towering man up close, he stood almost a full head taller than Jason, something Jason was not used to. At all.

  “Hmm, not your wife, that’s no fun.”

  Stu tossed a sly gaze at Jason that the audience likely missed, but made Jason want to punch the magician. Asshole.

  He almost left the stage, but that would be even worse. He’d ride out the humiliation; then there would be hell to pay.

  “Ah-ha! Perfect. A young woman in the back. I will swap your position with hers. Don’t move, I don’t want to take a limb off.” Stu winked at Jason.

  Jason gapped. A limb? What was the bumbling fool talking about now?

  The lights—all magical or whatever Stu was using, not the theater lights at all—dimmed, grew stronger. Almost as if Stu drew power from them. Too much power.

  Jason’s eyes flickered to the ceiling where a hint of red returned. He shuddered, but a chill spread through his spine as Stu pointed a hand at him and ensnared Jason in a shivering, blue light.

  Words he couldn’t understand flowed from the magician’s mouth and seemed aimed straight at Jason.

  Until they weren’t.

  Stu’s other arm rose and pointed into the audience. More nonsense words spilled from the magician.

  I should have left the stage. But Jason couldn’t move, even if he wanted to. The light held him steady. He strained against the… whatever it was, it couldn’t be magic! Magic wasn’t real. But something held him in place. Held him from running like a coward.

  That thought brought Jason’s back up straight. He’d face whatever the asshole could throw at him. Afterward, Stu would find out what one of the wealthiest families in the world could do. The man would need his magic to survive later!

  “Sara Kramer!”

  Jason’s jaw fell as his head snapped to the audience. He shouldn’t have been able to see anything. Not at that distance, not in the still dark theater. The glowing people dancing near the ceiling were lit up, but they didn’t give off light. It was a fantastic effect that would have had Jason thrilled in other circumstances.

  Now, all he could do was stare. His stomach sitting near his feet. Not that he cared if his wife found out, she likely knew of his… dalliances. It was the coincidence. The sheer shock.

  And, the conservative suburb where he lived would allow affairs, so long as they were never paraded. Open secrets were fine, what happened outside the suburb or in the darkness of the hidden night, didn’t happen. Jason knew of at least three wife swapping couples and two polygamous couples if couples was even the right word in those cases.

  The hypocrisy of the society in which he lived didn’t matter. Only their acceptance did. And Jason being seen with his girlfriend within the confines of said society would destroy the appearance of piety he had worked so hard to build.

  At the stacked, gorgeous blond sitting near the back.

  A woman he was intimately familiar with.

  His girlfriend.

  Probably sugar baby when it came down to it, but with such an amazingly good looking woman, he didn’t care if he shelled out thousands a week to keep her lifestyle.

  Worth it.

  She shouldn’t have been there.

  He’d never mentioned the show to her, only said that he couldn’t make their scheduled date.

  How had she found him?

  And the theater held 4,000 people.

  How had Stu picked the two of them out?

  A grin twisted Stu’s lips when Jason looked back at the magician.

  “Boom,” Stu said softly.

  Darkness more complete than Jason had ever seen and now had seen twice in one day, covered Jason.

  He knew no more.

  Chapter Three

  The line stretched around the block despite a light drizzle that should have kept people away. Not that the length of the crowd told the real story, the old theater simply wasn’t designed to move people quickly into its interior. It had been built in the days where a show was an event, people arrived early to rub elbows with other self-important people.

  “Ugh, is this line ever going to move,” Jen asked.

  Sara shrugged, there wasn’t an answer. Not one Jen wanted to hear anyway, and Sara wasn’t feeling charitable. When Jen had found out Sara’s plans had fallen through, she’d insisted her friend accompany her to some magic show.

  Magic.

  Right. The stuff was for kids or freshman year college students easily impressed with hypnotics and chicken jokes.

  Sara would much rather have stayed home and fucked Mark.

  They’d still managed a quickie before Sara had to leave. Sara imagined she could still feel the thick semen trickling down her inner thigh and shivered in delight.

  She loved cock.

  Big cocks.

  Little cocks.

  It didn’t matter.

  Glancing at her slender friend, Sara smiled. Pussy was fun too.

  She preferred to think of herself as open-minded rather than label herself as bisexual.

  Not that it mattered, Jen was a prude who believed in serial monogamy. Any thoughts of being with her had to stay a fantasy.

  The slender brunette cocked her head at Sara. “What?” she asked. Touched her hair. “Is something wrong with my hair?”

  Sara laughed. “No. You’re fine. Just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “Cock.”

  Jen rolled her eyes. “You are such a pervert.”

  “Prude,” Sara teased.

  “You won’t think that when you see the show.”

  “What?”

  But the line moved before Sara could twist the answer out of her friend and nothing Sara did would get her to answer.

  What were they going to? Was it some kind of sex show? That seemed unlikely. While there was a depraved underbelly to the wealthy suburb, an outright sex show just didn’t fit.

  If anyone should know, it would be Sara. Her sugar daddy lived out here somewhere. She’d never bothered to visit. She didn’t want his house or to be his wife, just his money.

  And his cock, she thought with a purr. Can’t forget the cock. Jason might be almost 30 years her senior, but he swung a nice cock and used it very well.

  Not enough to satisfy Sara, but he made a pleasant mount in her stable of lovers.

  It probably helped that he didn’t know about the other lovers though. Jason seemed like the jealous type. Whether that was willful ignorance, or he really thought she would remain faithful like some sort of lap dog was something she’d never figured out. Or cared to.

  If he found out and dumped her or demanded exclusivity, she’d move on. There were plenty of cocks in the sea.

  “It’s fish,” Jen said.

  “Huh?”

  “It’s plenty of fish in the sea, not cocks.”

  “I said that out loud?” Sara felt heat rush to her cheeks. She wasn’t one to worry about what others thought but speaking when she didn’t mean to, was an embarrassing habit she’d been trying to break for… well since she learned to talk.

  “You did,” a deep voice broke in. A lovely voice that sent a quiver along Sara’s spine.

  She turned and looked up.

  And up.

  A tal
l man, brown hair, bushy-bearded, green eyes that sparkled with amusement looked back at her.

  “Uh, sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I always like hearing about all the cocks in the sea.” He winked at her, and Sara found herself grinning back.

  Too bad he’s gay, she thought with an internal sigh before turning back to Jen.

  “You are terrible,” Jen said.

  The line moved again while Sara just laughed.

  It had taken some time to work through the line, but once inside things… didn’t get much better. The old theater had terrible seating, especially back in the cheap seats where Jen’s tickets were. Hard metal. Metal! At least plastic had some give.

  Sara squirmed in her seat, her ass was going to be sore for days and not even from a good fuck in the ass.

  Still, there was an almost sexual excitement in the air. The audience chuckled and even laughed at the raunchy comic warming up the crowd. Some women—and a more than a few men—covering their mouths at a few choice jokes.

  None left though.

  Even when the lights came back up, low as they were, and the wait for the main event began.

  “What’s the big secret, you’re dying to tell me,” Sara asked.

  Jen grinned. “Nope, not this time. This time you’re going to have to wait.”

  “Damn it,” Sara grumbled though she wasn’t angry. Jen was as leaky as a noodle strainer usually. That she’d managed to keep a secret even a few hours impressed Sara.

  As did the sexual energy in the auditorium.

  Even in the dim light of the theater, Sara could see a few couples with hands in places she wouldn’t have expected in such a conservative community. Just two rows ahead, she swore a guy had his fingers dipped in his date’s pussy.

  Assuming they were dating.

  While a few were obvious, few people had their hands to themselves. It was a peculiar environment. Especially for Jen to have brought Sara to. What was she up to?

  Sara squeezed her thighs together, thinking of a man slipping his fingers into her aching pussy. She shuddered while a stifled moan still slipped from her lips.

  “Already?” Jen’s sultry voice whispered in Sara’s ear. The touch of warm breath sent tingles down her back, goosebumps rising. Where the pleasure coming from her squeezing thighs met the desire coming down, a fuzzy warmth grew in the pit of her stomach.

  For a—mostly—heterosexual, monogamist, Jen did know how to touch Sara’s buttons.

  “Tease,” Sara hissed back.

  Jen laughed and settled back into her seat. Or tried to. A moment later, she winched and leaned forward. “These seats suck!”

  A familiar head stuck itself between Sara and her friend. “They keep raising the money to improve the place, but somehow it never gets done.”

  Sara glanced at the man who had spoken to them in line. His seat was right behind theirs. She sighed.

  He was likely still gay. That didn’t seem like something that changed quickly. The fierce glare from the slender guy sitting next to the bearded stranger only reinforced that idea.

  “Greg,” the tall man said, holding out his hand.

  “Sara,” Sara offered, taking his hand. Big hand. Large enough to engulf one of her breasts and at her size, that was depressingly rare. “This is Jen,” Sara said, nodding at her friend.

  They shook hands. More fantasies ran through Sara’s head.

  The slender Jen getting fucked hard by Greg. In her fantasy, Greg had a giant cock, almost comically big.

  Sara bit her lip and just succeeded in holding back a moan.

  “Are you looking forward to the show? I’ve heard it’s more than a little…,” Greg stumbled to a stop when Jen hissed.

  “I haven’t told her about Stu’s magic. I want it to be a surprise.”

  Greg glanced from Jen to Sara and back with an amused grin. “You’re either an evil friend or brilliant.” The emphasis on friend was a question as much as a statement.

  Jen nodded while Sara sighed. They could be so much more than friends if only Jen would give up her need for an exclusive lover. The whole world wanted to be one-on-one, what was wrong with variety?

  The other man, who still hadn’t been introduced, hissed just as the lights went out.

  That didn’t begin to describe the darkness. Sara had grown up a city girl, the lights never went out, not entirely.

  She couldn’t remember a more complete darkness in her entire life.

  Trembling, she reached out to grasp Jen’s hand. Her friend squeezed it.

  And then the real terror began.

  Red light.

  A horrific voice.

  Sara screamed, half in terror, half in delight. Nothing got her excited as a good scare. Okay, that was a lie. Sara pretty much went around in a state of arousal that only intensified with many different stimulations. But being scared was one of them!

  The… thing, banished, the show turned… erotic. No wonder Jen had had a grin a mile wide when Sara mentioned her plans had changed.

  Glancing at her flushed friend, Sara wondered. Maybe the stoic Jen was changing.

  Sara wasn’t about to risk their friendship for sex, even fantastic sex, but the thought did cross her mind to make a play for the lovely woman. Even if Sara was hornier than she usually managed.

  The thought disappeared in an explosion of shock with one name.

  “Jason Mallory!” Stu, the terribly named wizard, yelled into the buzzing crowd.

  Ah crap, he’s here? Sara drew back. She enjoyed spending time with Jason, but if he was going to abandon their plans at the last minute, it sucked that he would show up at the same show she went to.

  Damn it.

  At least Sara was with Jen. Had she been with Mark, she would have feared the loss of her revenue stream. Assuming Jason even noticed she was there. Sara relaxed, there were 4,000 plus people in the theater. Jason wasn’t about to pick her out in that crowd. Especially since he had to be seething at being called to the stage with no preparation.

  The fear of discovery evaporated only to redouble into an “oh shit” moment when Stu yelled, “Sara Kramer!”

  So much for not being discovered.

  Light exploded around her as the noise of the crowd, even the high pitched, excited squeals of Jen, disappeared.

  A tugging sensation deep inside, like nothing Sara had ever experienced, pulled at her.

  “Boom,” Stu whispered as if he were right next to her instead of nearly a football field away.

  And everything disappeared

  Chapter Four

  The endless nothingness lasted only a fraction of a second, but for Jason, it was a moment he would never forget.

  Couldn’t forget.

  When light, sound, scents, even the touch of air on his skin popped back into existence, he stumbled into the towering Stu, who caught him in a gentle, but firm grip.

  The audience roared, almost deafening after the brief moment of soundlessness. Jason rested his head onto the comforting chest of Stu.

  Wait. Chest?

  Stu was tall, but not that tall.

  How could Jason’s head possibly be resting on the magician’s chest?

  Looking up, he tried to meet Stu’s eyes while pulling away. Stu turned Jason to face the audience which was on its feet, half the crowd looking at the stage and the other half looking…

  At Jason.

  Where he stood bathed in a sourceless light, a look of shock on his face.

  A brief flash of double vision filled Jason’s mind. How could he be on stage with Stu and in the very back of the room?

  And if he was in the back of the room…

  Jason looked down.

  Into pale, expensive bosom.

  A familiar cleavage he’d buried his head in many times.

  So many times.

  Sara’s.

  But he saw it from an unfamiliar angle.

  His own.

  How could he possibly be seeing Sara’s cleavage as if it w
ere his own?

  His head snapped up to somehow meet the gaze of the far away… Jason.

  But Jason knew he was on stage. In what appeared to be Sara’s body.

  Which meant…

  Sara had to be in his body.

  Right?

  Not that it made sense when thought about that way. Nothing made sense and hadn’t since the moment he’d stumbled on to the stage.

  Least of which was the comfort emanating from the arm wrapped around him.

  Stu’s arm.

  A man’s arm.

  Jason had never been one to experiment with his own sex, nor was he about to start now, assuming being in a woman’s body meant touching another man was even experimenting with his own sex. Or that Jason was even feeling another man as opposed to just a man.

  A splitting headache formed behind Jason’s eyes.

  The situation was ridiculous.

  Impossible.

  Maybe he had fallen and conked his head.

  Could he be lying in a hospital bed, hallucinating?

  That almost made more send than the idea that he was staring at his own body, from inside a lover’s body.

  He opened his mouth to demand to know what was going on, but Stu held up his hand for silence from the audience, which somehow encompassed even Jason. It encircled Jason’s rage and bound it. Jason could still feel the anger, but confusion and a need to obey overwhelmed the fury.

  For now.

  “Give it up for our brilliant volunteers!” Stu screamed, causing Jason to wince back. The hand on his shoulder tightened to keep him from escaping.

  Not that Jason had the slightest idea of where he’d go or what he’d do if he did run off.

  Assuming this wasn’t a hallucination, he’d need Stu to reverse it.

  What am I thinking? Reverse what? A… body swap? A soul swap? That wasn’t possible, so there was nothing to reverse.

  Nothing to undo.

  It had to be a weird image in his head.

  An illusion.

  Not… Wizardry.

  “Come join us on the stage!” Stu spoke into the cheering crowd, glanced slyly at Jason before adding, “Jason,” to the man out in the audience.

  He knows, Jason thought.

  Whatever happened wasn’t an accident.

  Was it?