Stage Wizardry Page 3

  Had it even happened?

  To keep his sanity, Jason had to keep the idea that everything was a dream or something similar.

  He couldn’t contemplate the idea that he’d somehow shifted bodies with Sara.

  Sara.

  A woman he knew well.

  Jason took a deep, quick breath.

  Sara was here.

  And so was Carla.

  He knew Carla knew he cheated. She had to know.

  That didn’t mean he wanted it out in the open where anyone could see.

  Sara had to stay quiet.

  Jason glanced in the direction his wife sat, expecting to find her staring and clapping at his body, which made its way towards the front.

  But…

  Carla was looking at Jason. The soul Jason. The person on the stage. A soft smile played across her lips even as Jason met her gaze.

  She knows. Stu knew. Carla knew.

  They’d planned it!

  Somehow, whatever had happened, they’d done it to him.

  Together!

  Fire burned through Jason’s chest. No one, not even his wife, made a fool of Jason Mallory. She would regret the day she’d married him.

  The flare died down.

  If she’d done this. If somehow it was real.

  She likely already regretted it.

  The burning feeling fell into Jason’s stomach. A sense he didn’t experience very often. A tightness that made him want to hurl.

  To cry.

  Had to be the woman’s body.

  Jason wasn’t a crier.

  He just wasn’t.

  He was tougher than that.

  Wasn’t he?

  “Take her hand!” Stu screamed at Jason.

  Well, at Jason’s body.

  Sara, who Jason assumed was controlling his body—and the twists of the situation would have given Jason a headache had his head already not been throbbing—grabbed Jason’s hand.

  The oddly familiar, yet utterly new feeling sent Jason’s head spinning. He didn’t know how to deal with any of this.

  Who was he?

  Who was Sara?

  And who was Stu?

  How could a stage magician possibly swap two people across the theater and swap their very identities at the same time?

  Both were impossible.

  And both had happened. If Jason were even awake and not hooked up to life support machines in an expensive hospital bedroom.

  Which seemed more and more apparent what had happened.

  Because otherwise he was standing on a dark stage, holding his own hand, but in the body of his mistress, while a wizard battled a demon.

  “Hold your hands up!”

  Jason wasn’t about to agree to anything this idiot said, not until he gave back his body, but Sara had other plans, and in Jason’s body, she was much more powerful.

  Not that Sara lacked in the size department. She was a tall woman, with a broad chest and did work out despite her voluptuous appearance giving rise to the idea that she was idle.

  Just being near her would have given rise to something else, had Jason still had the part in question.

  Instead, an ache, a tightness rose from his midsection. Almost like his penis in an aroused state but reversed. Pulled inside.

  The close but not quite feeling drove him crazy.

  The burning ache of lust that filtered through his body during the show made things that much worse. How could he be feeling desire in a woman’s body?

  For a woman’s body, no question.

  But as a woman?

  He couldn’t even be a woman!

  Yet the evidence seemed to indicate otherwise. Jason liked to think of himself as a logical person, his position as CEO of the combined companies that had formed when he’d married Sara, required rational choices, not ones made from emotion.

  So, while his emotions screamed, “I couldn’t be a woman,” the evidence of his eyes, his body said otherwise.

  Not that it mattered right then.

  As Sara brought their hands upward, squeezing tightly in a grip that was at once reassuring and confusing, light grew from their fists. It flashed and pulsated until too bright to look at, but impossible to look away.

  “And now you return to the hell in which you were born!” Stu screamed, blue light connecting the two lovers.

  A pulse.

  Lust rose in Jason until—if he’d had still had a penis—he was confident he would have creamed his pants. Instead, he ached until a wave of pleasure so different from what he was used to, blew through his body.

  The light connected with the glowing red creature hovering near the ceiling.

  Terror.

  Lust.

  What the show promised its audience.

  Terror was true.

  Jason refused to acknowledge the lust part. Even as it threatened to overwhelm him.

  Blue and red light mixed.

  Fluctuated.

  And exploded in a dazzling display shining brighter than any fireworks.

  So bright, Jason’s eyes should have been overwhelmed. But somehow, he saw it all.

  Saw the being disappear.

  Felt the terror recede in the audience.

  And reverberate when the horrific voice spoke. “Next time. Wizard.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Jason screamed once they were in Stu’s expansive dressing room. He winced back from the note of hysteria in his high voice. So much for cold logic.

  Stu cocked his head and frowned. “No need to scream young lady. It was just an amazing show.” Spinning so his cloak flared, Stu raised his hands in a glowing display that staggered Jason into the arms of… well, into his own arms.

  Sara gripped Jason, her hands—Jason’s hands—drifting down to rest on Jason’s new, but massive breasts. She pulled him back and leaned over to whisper. “Relax Jason.”

  But having his own voice whispering into his ear was hardly relaxing.

  The strong arms around his body did manage to relax him.

  A little.

  “We had a little battle, a little erotic fun, and some amazing magic. Exactly what was promised. I’m not sure why you needed to follow me to the dressing room.” Stu didn’t precisely look angry, but after the show and the demonstration of power right there in his room, Jason wasn’t about to think of Stu as weak.

  Magic might not be real—and Jason was no longer willing to bet on that despite his logical mind’s refusal to contemplate magic’s existence—but whatever Stu was able to do, he had some kind of power. Something disconcerting.

  Jason fumed, even afraid, he wasn’t going to just give up. “You swapped us.”

  “Yeah, you’d think the lights and fighting demons would be the big audience pleaser, but somehow people love seeing two people shift positions.” Stu tossed his cloak on the couch and dropped bonelessly into the cushions with a wince. “Geez, doesn’t anything in this place have comfortable cushions?”

  “No.” Sara—in Jason’s body—said softly in Jason’s voice but without the right… tone. “There are no good cushions, and the seats in the back don’t even have bad ones. But also, no, Jason wasn’t talking about the swapping places.”

  Stu glanced from Sara to Jason and back. “Um, what? Why are you referring yourself in the third person?” He frowned. “Not that it made sense in the third person.”

  “She,” Jason snarled. “Means that I’m Jason. She,” he pointed at his body, “is Sara.”

  Stu glanced from one to the other again. Lowered his head into his hands and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “not again.”

  Confused, Jason snuggled back into the comforting embrace of Sara.

  No wonder women like to cuddle. Jason flinched from the thought. Strong men did not need to be held. He didn’t pull away though.

  He’d been sure back on stage that Stu had intentionally arranged the swap. Somehow.

  But his off-guard mumble seemed to imply…

  Had there
been some kind of accident?

  Or was he back to a hallucination?

  Stu jumped to his feet. “Look, I can fix this.”

  “You don’t seem to be surprised,” Sara said with Jason’s voice.

  Stu ran a hand through his hair as he began to pace. “Look. Things happen with magic sometimes.” He threw up his hands. “Accidents and such. I can’t be held responsible for every little mishap.”

  Jason grabbed his boobs and thrust them upward and at Stu. “This is not a little mishap!”

  Pausing to stare, Stu shook his head after a moment and grinned. “I’d say not.” He looked up, his grin getting wider.

  Glancing over his shoulder and up at Sara, he found his body grinning back at Stu.

  “This isn’t funny!” Jason yelled while stamping a foot.

  “It is a little funny,” Sara said.

  Before Jason could explode, Stu held up his hand. “No. You’re right. I shouldn’t make light of this. But I can fix it. I promise!”

  “Then do it.”

  Jason expected Sara to echo him, but there was no response from above and behind him. Why wasn’t Sara protesting as hard?

  “Well…,” Stu said. He gripped his hair, took a deep breath, and finally shook his head. “It’ll take a bit of research. I’m not sure what happened.”

  “You’re not sure…,” Jason’s words were cut off by a hand covering his mouth.

  A whispered, “Shh,” right in his ear sent a swoon of pleasure through him.

  What the?

  “You can fix us though. Right?” It wasn’t really a question, but Stu nodded to Sara’s statement.

  “Of course! Of course! One or two days. Three. Tops.”

  Three days.

  As a woman.

  In a body he didn’t understand.

  Or want.

  Though…

  It did feel good to be held and controlled by…

  No! What the hell was he thinking?

  Jason bit Sara’s hand to get her to release him. His former body yelped and pulled the hand away.

  “One day wizard. One day or you’ll be buried in lawyers.”

  Stu’s smile could have chilled the hottest summer day. “Do not meddle in things you don’t understand. It will take as long as it takes and one whiff of this to other people will see you in the nuthouse.”

  “Don’t say nut house,” Sara said.

  Stu stared. Jason was caught off guard. He glanced over his head in time to see his former body give an embarrassed shrug. “It’s not used anymore. I’m sure Jason will keep his cool and give you the time you need. Isn’t that right?”

  “I’ll do whatever I need!”

  “I’m in your body,” Sara said.

  “I know! That’s what… we… are…,” Jason trailed off. Sara hadn’t said it. She threatened it.

  Think it through.

  Jason wasn’t in his body.

  Sara was.

  If he went to the lawyers, who would they believe? Even with private information, which Sara would explain away as stolen, there was no possible way his lawyers or any lawyer worth the law degree, would believe a story of swapped bodies.

  Ducking his head, Jason mumbled, “Just be quick.” The new threat had no teeth.

  Stu smiled. "It doesn't matter. You might want to read the agreement you signed with the tickets. You agreed to this."

  Agreed to this? No way. But the wizard was right about one thing. It didn't matter. Not until he swapped back. Maybe he could convince his wife and maybe they could convince their longtime lawyer, but Jason had his doubts. A day or two wouldn't hurt. He could that.

  He’d lost the battle.

  By a shoddy wizard and Jason’s own former—emphasis on former—lover.

  The war had only just begun.

  Stu and Sara shook hands while Jason sulked by the door. Stu’s explanation of why they needed to maintain their bodies typical locations had set off another round of arguments, which Jason had lost.

  He’d have to spend the next day, and it better be a day, as Sara. In her home.

  Hiding out if he had his way.

  While Sara spent the day in Jason’s home.

  Sara glanced at Jason and sighed. “Be quick if you can. He thinks he is cold and logical, but Jason has a vicious streak.” She grinned. “Which can be fun under certain conditions.”

  Stu laughed while Jason stewed. When he had his body back, the two were going to face a slew of legal problems that would have them running in and out of court for the rest of their lives.

  Maybe Sara was right.

  Maybe he did have a mean streak.

  She’d find out just how terrible a person he could be.

  Chapter Five

  “Sara!”

  Jason jerked his head around to the shout. Sara squeezed his arm and left him near the front of the theater. They hadn’t spoken much after leaving the dressing room, just a few shared notes on how to avoid people until they could get back into their usual bodies.

  Though… Sara had been evasive on what to expect. Just a quirk of her lips after saying she’d come by rideshare with a friend, Jen. Jen should be waiting out front, probably over-excited.

  Based on the description, the tall, slender brunette who approached had to be Jen. Though Sara hadn’t mentioned anything about the even taller, bearded man who followed in Sara’s wake.

  A boyfriend? Jason fumed. She better not have been stepping out on him. They’d had an agreement.

  Okay. It had been assumed. Jason had thought Sara knew better than to cheat on him. Hypocritical or not, he did not share his women.

  Jason prepared to unload on the man, demanding to know who he was and what he was doing come near Jason’s girlfriend.

  A part of him cried out that confronting the strange man would sound crazy, but he’d been humiliated in front of 4,000 people, many of whom were neighbors. Likely, Jason’s name would be on the lips of the gossips for weeks.

  There was no way he was going to put up with Sara’s lovers on top of the humiliation that happened on stage. Even if no one knew the real mortification.

  His mouth opened but he snapped it shut when Jen’s arms wrapped around him. Jason preferred soft, curvy women. An irony he was prepared to accept given his wife was precisely that, but he refused to be involved with her beyond his duties.

  Jen’s hug caught him off guard, and so did the flood of warmth that burrowed into his stomach. Her flat chest, slim hips, and non-existent ass were so far from his ideal of the female shape that he normally would have dismissed her into the male category as far as sexual activities were concerned. And he didn’t have sex with men.

  Not that Jen resembled a man. Far from it. Even Jason’s addled mind could admit she was a very beautiful woman. No one would mistake her for a man, but she just didn’t have the curves Jason loved.

  But right at that moment he would have gladly tossed her onto a bed and had his way with her. If he still had the equipment to have his way with her.

  Jason shuddered, something hot spilled down his cheeks.

  Jen pulled back. “Oh, sweetie! What happened?”

  Sara’s friend tightened her grip and hugged Jason again.

  A sob escaped from his lips.

  I’m crying?

  That made no sense. It had to be the body. He’d never seen Sara cry, and she didn’t seem like the type, but obviously, she was a crier. That was the only explanation that made sense. He pushed aside the idea that he was simply overwhelmed and needed an emotional outlet. Jason Mallory didn’t express his emotions.

  Certainly not in front of a fellow alpha male.

  The thought brought his attention back to the man who was with Jen. Taller than Jason’s real body, possibly even approaching the idiot wizard’s height, though with far more broad shoulders and muscle tone. If anything, the new guy resembled a stereotypical lumberjack with his wild, full beard.

  Though most lumberjacks in pictures were not wearing polo sh
irts with cargo shorts and hopefully didn’t have sandals on while working.

  Jason’s heart raced. Maybe he was more attracted to slender women than he’d thought. When he got his body back, he’d have to see if this Jen were open to a relationship. After he eviscerated her friend…

  Maybe it would be better to look for a different woman with a similar build.

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” Jen asked.

  I better answer before she gets suspicious. Because the one thing Jen had to be thinking was that her friend had been swapped with a man.

  Jason snorted, the buildup of emotion switching from crying to laughter so quick it caught him off guard.

  “Uh. Fine. Just, um, terrifying experience.”

  “It was incredible! Did he tell you how he did it?” the lumberjack asked in a deep voice. A voice that sent a shiver down Jason’s spine and caused his… no, even his head he wasn’t going to think about his pussy clenching. Even if it felt sensational. It was just a… a penis. Inside out. Yeah. That had to be better.

  Jason wiped his eyes and blinked, trying to clear his vision before speaking. “No. He wouldn’t, um spill.”

  “Damn,” the man grumbled in a low growl that made Jason want to purr like a kitten.

  What is wrong with me?

  “As long as you’re okay,” Jen said while inspecting Jason as if for damage.

  Jen might be the most dangerous part of the next day—Jason refused to consider more than one day. A friend who knew Sara better than Jason did despite Jason being Sara’s lover. If anyone were going to discover what had happened, it would be Jen.

  But she wasn’t going to.

  All Jason had to do was hide out in his apartment for a day, swap back, and begin his quest for vengeance.

  Easy.

  “Well, Greg here has offered to give us a ride home. Is that okay? I thought it would be, but I didn’t want to presume.”

  “Um.” No. Jason wanted to take a rideshare. There were two problems with that. He hadn’t asked Sara for her phone password, so unless it had thumb or face unlock, he wasn’t getting in.

  And he didn’t know where Sara lived.

  They always met in a condo Jason kept for just this sort of thing. He deposited “gifts” into an account for Sara, but beyond that, he hadn’t delved into her life much at all.