He found himself led behind the curtain in the theater, where everything Jett worked with was stored between shows. The movement and voices he’d heard when he’d first come back to find Jett were gone. The shadows seemed less menacing without the whisper of unknown people nearby, but Rico still found himself searching the darkness, sweeping for any possible threat.

Jett looked at him, as if sensing his tension and reached for a nearby row of switches. Bulbs high in the rafters above burst to life, sending welcome rays of light down around them. It wasn’t enough light to illuminate everything, but it was enough to ease some of the tension that had worked its way into Rico’s muscles. He swallowed his sigh of relief, stepping forward into what looked like a workshop and storage area.

“It’s quieter in here than when I came to look for you,” Rico said, catching sight of the strange covered ladder from before, seeing there were mirrors on it now.

Jett stepped past him, following Rico’s gaze. “Everyone is off tonight. I don’t have any major shows until next week, so I cancelled all of the smaller shows until then.”

Rico looked at him in surprise. “I didn’t know you cleared your schedule.”

Jett grinned. “You said yourself you didn’t have me pegged as well as you thought—just take this as another sign.”

Rico didn’t have an argument and returned his gaze to the ladder with a thoughtful expression. He didn’t consider himself prideful but he knew he had a hard time admitting when he was wrong, especially when it came to his assumptions about other people. Jett’s questions over lunch had struck Rico harder than he expected and he could still feel his mind whirling over the implications. It was quite possible the things he saw and judged Jett for at first were merely more illusions. It was unsettling, not just because it still kept Jett as a suspect in the case, but because it meant the glimpse of someone else under the ego and glitter of Jett’s personality was the true Jett.

Jett nodded toward the ladder. “I noticed you were giving it the eye.”

“I saw it when I hunted you down the last time, but it didn’t have mirrors on it.”

Jett stepped closer, running his fingers over the edge of one of the mirrors. “It’s not done being built, but I use it for a few of the tricks. When it’s built correctly and set up, no one would even know it’s there, but it allows someone to get up on the ladder in the middle of my show and help me with a few of my tricks.”

“Which tricks are those?” Rico asked curiously.

Jett turned, winking at him. “Why don’t you come to one of my shows and try to figure out which of the tricks might use it.”

“Magic shows were never really my thing,” Rico replied with a smile.

“Maybe you should give them a chance. Think of them as mysteries you can try to solve.”

Rico smiled. “Mysteries that magicians don’t want solved.”

“No, but trust me, even I would be very impressed if anyone but an expert in the field were able to figure out how some of my tricks worked. Anyone capable of looking past the smoke and mirrors deserves a pat on the back…and maybe some money thrown their way so they don’t go spilling all their secrets,” Jett added in afterthought.

Rico snorted. “I take it you’ve done that before.”

“Only once. This little technogeek who watched one of my shows in a recording and was able to figure out one of my earlier tricks. It wasn’t the best trick I’ve done, but I was still impressed when some skinny little dude, not even out of high school, managed to figure me out with only a single recording. I threw him some money, told him I was impressed, and I never saw his solution posted on the internet, so…” Jett shrugged as if it didn’t bother him.

Rico grunted, thinking how little consideration he had given to how far a magician might be willing to go to keep their secrets. If a magician would buy someone’s silence, would they be willing to go a few steps farther to keep them quiet? It was a big leap from paying someone for their silence and shooting them in the chest, but Rico had seen worse and he was never willing to think too highly of people in general.

“Speaking of, I have a trick I’m going to show you. It’s what I would call the main event, the biggest trick I do through the course of the night,” Jett said, turning on his heel and heading further into the mess of objects.

“And what exactly makes an act the main one?”

“People want to see impossible things happen in front of their eyes when they come to a show. The bigger, flashier, and more dangerous an act looks, the more people want to see it. Some people want to have the adrenaline rush of facing death and surviving it by watching another thwart it. Others are just gore crows who wonder if they’ll be the ones to see the magician finally stumble and fall right into a death trap,” Jett said, sounding amused as he weaved between set pieces.

“And you’re willing to put yourself in a position where people can possibly witness your death without hesitation,” Rico said as he followed as close behind as he could.

Jett chuckled. “This coming from the former Navy SEAL and current police officer.”

“Yes, but I don’t have an audience full of people who possibly see me die in front of them.”

“Some of us just enjoy the sounds of laughter and applause, Detective Hernandez,” Jett said in a sly tone.

Jett came to a stop before what appeared to be a small conveyer belt. Rico’s gaze slid along the stretch of the belt, following it to where it ended in what looked like a deathtrap of blades and a clear-walled case of sorts.

“Your big act?” Rico asked as he looked over the device.

Jett nodded, pointing to each portion as he spoke of it. “I’m placed in a box with my hands handcuffed behind me. The box is sealed up, and when my assistant Riley pushes the big button, the belt starts moving. The audience witnesses the box going along the belt until it’s sawed in half, then dumped into the end where an incinerator turns the whole thing into a pile of ash.”

“Meanwhile, the audience thinks you’re still inside of it, but you’re somehow not.”

Jett motioned Rico closer, pointing to a spot on the belt. “See the outline? There’s a door here, and there’s a special spot on the box I’m locked up in where I can slip out of the bottom. I have a set of mirrors set up at the bottom of the conveyer so it looks like there’s nothing there but air. I slip out the bottom of the box, through the hatch in the belt, and through the trap door which every decent stage has. I give the audience a few moments to wonder if they just watched a man cut in half and burned to death before their very eyes, and then the spotlight reveals me standing at the back of the audience, whole and alive.”

Rico snorted. “Seems like a lot of work all to get a rise out of people.”

Jett laughed. “Let me tell you, just about every major trick you see, on TV, on stage, wherever, involves ten times the setup beforehand. This little arrangement took hours of planning and building, all for a few short minutes on stage. But you know what? I love every single second of those few minutes.”

“Alright, I can clearly see how you get out of the box, but what about the handcuffs?”

“Ah, now the handcuffs are the simplest part,” Jett told him as he turned to a nearby table.

Jett returned with a shiny pair of handcuffs in hand and motioned to a nearby pair of boxes. They appeared to be almost identical, thick wood made up each wall of the boxes, both propped open and waiting for the lid to seal them. Each was tall enough for Jett to have enough space to step in and stand comfortably, though Rico could see where he would probably brush the top of the box.

“I take it these are the boxes you use for the show, then?”

Jett motioned to floor of both. “And with only one difference between the two.”

Rico crouched, spotting the outline of the trap door in one but not the other. “Why two different boxes?”

“I send the box without all the work done on it through the machine so the audience can see what to expect. The knowledge drives their anticipation. They’re so caught up in finding out if I’ll escape with my skin intact, they don’t bother to wonder if the box I’m locked up in has some sort of trick involved with it.”

Rico nodded. “Misdirection and psychology.”

Jett held up the cuffs. “Step into the box for me, please, Detective Hernandez.”

Rico glanced at him, raising a brow. “You want me to get in your box?”

Jett wagged his own brows. “Maybe if you take me to dinner first. Please, just indulge me. I want you to get a taste of what I do when I’m on stage, but it will only be the two of us.”

It almost sounded like a promise, and Rico’s heart thumped. “Will you be handcuffing me as well?”

Jett nodded toward the box. “Yes, but I promise to do it with your hands in front of you, rather than behind your back, like I have Riley do to me.”

Rico hesitated, not so sure if he should allow himself thrown into a box and handcuffed by a man he didn’t know, the very same man who was still a potential suspect in a murder case. He considered Jett for a moment, calculating his odds of survival if he were forced to fight back. Jett was no small man, but he lacked Rico’s bulk, and more importantly, Rico’s training. Hoping he wouldn’t have to rely on a fight, Rico slowly stepped into the box and faced Jett. His guess about the height of the box was correct, but he was surprised to find the box was still wide enough he could stand without having to compress himself.

Jett waited until he held out his hands before placing the cuffs over Rico’s wrists. “These, if you hadn’t already guessed, are not what they appear. They’re standard issue handcuffs that I modified myself. If you’re not careful when you lock them up, they’ll seal like normal handcuffs and you’ll have to find some different tactics to slip free.”

Rico tugged on the cuffs, feeling the metal bite into his wrists and grunted. “They certainly feel like they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Jett grinned, reaching out to still Rico’s hands and pulled them at a particular angle. Rico’s heartbeat thudded again at Jett’s touch, almost missing the way Jett was moving his hands. After a moment’s pause, Rico repeated the gesture, moving his hands as Jett had shown him. To his surprise, there was a click from each wrist, and the cuffs fell back a few notches, giving more room for his wrists and hands.

“I’ve modified them so if you pull at them in a certain way, you can loosen the cuffs,” Jett explained, a sparkle in his gaze, eager and excited.

Rico looked carefully, seeing more room than before. “But still not enough room for me to slip them.”

A small bottle of clear fluid appeared in Jett’s hand. “You need this.”

Rico eyed the bottle, laughing softly at the sleight of hand Jett had pulled right in front of him. “Lube?”

“Hey, it has more uses than people think. You just apply it over someone’s wrist, enough to spread around when you’re wiggling out of the cuffs, and they slip right off. Riley has become very talented at keeping the bottle in her hand and applying it to my wrist while slapping the cuffs on me without anyone being the wiser,” Jett explained, wiggling the bottle.

Rico nodded down to his hands. “Alright, put it on and I’ll give it a shot.”

Jett applied a thin layer of the lube. “I made sure the cuffs were closed to what should have been enough for someone with hands as large as yours, so it should have loosened them enough.”

Rico gave his hands another tug, performing the same motion Jett had showed him, but wasn’t surprised when the cuffs refused to loosen further. He wriggled his wrists until the lube was applied around his wrist and up over the bottom of his hands. Pinching his hands together, fingers pointed straight out, Rico pulled on one of the cuffs, using the other as a counterweight. At first there was nothing, but gradually, his hand slipped the smallest amount, followed by more and more. Giving a sharp tug, Rico yanked his one hand free with a grunt. Grinning, he reached down and tugged at his other cuffed hand, until finally, both hands were free of the cuffs and he held them out before Jett.

Jett was grinning. “Look at you, Rico, you’ve got it figured out already.”

Rico chuckled. “It’s not the first time I’ve had to slip cuffs.”

Jett smirked. “Been left on a bedpost or two, have you?”

“I never wanted to risk being left tied up by my own cuffs if I happened to get caught by surprise. I made it a point to learn a few tricks to get out of cuffs if I needed to. Using lubricant to slip out of badly locked cuffs is a first though, typically you won’t have lube on you in the field,” Rico said with amusement.

Jett nodded in approval. “A man who remains ever practical.”

“And one who wants to stay alive,” Rico reminded him.

Jett laughed. “A fair point.”

Rico held the cuffs out to Jett. “Here, I’ll show you one of the other ones I know. Cuff me again please.”

For a moment, Rico thought Jett was going to make another joke, but the magician remained quiet as he took the cuffs. Jett unlocked them first, bending forward to lock them around Rico’s wrists once more. He hadn’t noticed the first time, but Jett’s fingers slid over the skin of his wrists gently as he carefully applied the cuffs, measuring to make sure they were locked to just the right notch.

Rico had almost forgotten about the thick aura around Jett until he felt a finger brush along the underside of his wrist. His soft touch brought the color blazing to life. The colors were bolder and more prominent than they had ever been, and as he looked down, he could see the border of their auras beginning to flicker with a dull gold where Jett was touching him. Rico’s stomach flipped at the sight, realizing it meant they were both enjoying the contact, even if they would have otherwise hid it well.

Jett looked up at him, dark eyes piercing through the haze of color surrounding him. Rico’s gaze flicked to Jett’s lips, licking his own as he thought suddenly of what Jett’s mouth would feel like against his. The desire to find out rose up with a sudden ferocity, feeling not only like a good idea, but like the only thing he could possibly do with the current circumstances.

Rico tried to remind himself that the two of them were supposed to be working together, keeping their relationship strictly professional. He also tried to remember Jett was technically a suspect, and he shouldn’t be treated as anything else until he had been completely cleared. Yet even as he chided himself over and over, the voice of reason began to falter and die out, becoming quieter as his desire screamed louder.

“Rico?” Jett asked, his voice quiet and thick.

Rico licked his lips. “Kiss me.”

Jett blinked, the surprise so clear on his face it managed to pierce through the haze of color only Rico could see. The surprise didn’t last long. Jett stood up straight, leaning in to kiss him. Rico heard a soft groan, realizing the sound had come from him as he felt the touch of Jett’s lips against his own. There was a final struggle from the cautious part of him, the fearful voice, and it died as Rico opened his mouth, his tongue dancing along Jett’s with sudden abandon.

Jett pushed into the box, their bodies slipping together in the confines of the container. Heat seemed to radiate off the magician as he kissed Rico back with as much as vigor as he was given. The warmth seemed to spill out of Jett’s body, flowing into Rico with pulsing waves, which steadily wiped away logical thought.

Jett broke the kiss with a soft gasp, cheeks pink and eyes wide. “Rico—”

“God, don’t start asking more questions when I’m tied up and kissing you,” Rico groaned, feeling himself harder than he’d been in ages.

Jett snorted, tracing his fingers down Rico’s arm and stopping on the cuffs, tapping them. “You could always take them off, you know. The lube is oil based so it will last through any speech I might make. Your hands can still slip the cuffs.”

Rico reached with his bound hands, bundling up the bottom of Jett’s shirt and yanking him closer with a growl. “Maybe I don’t want to be out of them just yet.”

Jett huffed, smirking. “I don’t think I want you out of them just yet either.”