Magic Mansion by Jordan Price (best fiction books to read .txt) 📕

top hat so he could lean in close and whisper directly in Ricardo’s ear. “You look uncannily like the first boy who ever slid his hand down my pants. Only more glittery.”

Though the hairs on Ricardo’s forearms were damp with sweat, they managed to stand on end anyway as a delirious thrill raced down his spine. All around them, the crew milled, the handhelds zoomed in and out, the audience surged beyond a few flimsy screens, and Iain stormed around being a dick. But for Ricardo, the world had narrowed down until it consisted of only the two of them, him and John, together.

___

The throng of viewers queued up at the table to receive their Magic Mansion T-shirts and, more importantly, to get their parking validated. “Make sure these ballots are correct,” Marlene told the assistant who was helping her collect them. “One magician chosen in each category, no more, no less. We have exactly one hundred people here. If any of them screws up their voting, the scores won’t add up right in the end.”

Immediately, the assistant spotted a card with five checks on it, and made the audience member re-do the ballot, much to the annoyance of everyone in line behind them. Marlene called out, “If you marked more than one magician in any category, raise your hand and we’ll get you a new ballot.” A few hands popped up, and she sent another PA out with some blank ballots, muttering, “Go help them, okay?” It was almost over. That’s what she kept telling herself. And she had two weeks in Cabo coming to her, with no cell phone, no executive producers and no bleeding magicians, in the very near future.

With the re-do ballots dispatched, she turned back to the front of the line, noticing one guy watching the proceedings more shiftily than the people around him. “You…in the blue windbreaker. C’mere.” Marlene crooked her finger, and the guy stepped up and handed over his ballot.

The ballot was technically correct. There was only one magician chosen in each category. In fact, there was only one magician chosen at all: Kevin Kazan for magic tricks, Kevin Kazan for style, and Kevin Kazan for the theme of his act. No big surprise. The home viewers had their favorites, and a few “straight ticket” votes were to be expected.

But the word FAG scrawled across Ricardo’s name was a bit much. “Really?” Marlene said. The guy in the windbreaker wouldn’t quite meet her eye. She threw a too-small T-shirt at him and said, “Get out of here.”

Chapter 36

RUMOR MILL

It was late, and the magicians were all snug in their beds. The day had been brutally long, flying to the east coast and back with a big performance in between. And for once, Iain felt like he had another few hours’ reserve energy to draw on.

He’d slept like a baby on the plane.

Marlene, on the other hand, was looking haggard, though she always looked that way toward the end of a project. Iain scanned the email his PA had sent him, and realized he was probably about to accelerate Marlene’s need for another botox injection by a few weeks. He hit the print button and cleared his throat.

“What is it?” she snapped. “Can it wait? Because getting everyone together for the next big reveal is a bitch—”

“I think you’ll want to see this.” Iain slid her the printout. Marlene set it in her lap without glancing at it so she could finish up the email she was currently working on. Once she hit send, she glanced down. And groaned.

The photo was the most striking thing. Backstage, Atlantic City Boardwalk. Professor Topaz whispering in Ricardo’s ear, bending close, holding his top hat off to the side, dapper, almost courtly. Ricardo with his face all lit up, leaning toward him. Camera phones were getting better and better these days. This candid wasn’t as clear as a posed studio shot. But for onscreen viewing, it conveyed its message loud and clear.

And then there was the title of the message board thread: Ricardo the Fag-ificent.

Iain turned back to his monitor and read along with her.

realmagic34 - everything u see on this show is a fraud - maybe prof topaz is gay but riccardo is like the biggest fag u eva seen - look at him here hes just wishin he could go down on the prof right now

JodeeGal - shut up yr a jerk

sp@rkle - It doesn’t matter if someone is gay, if you care about magic like you say you do, what matters is how they do magic.

JodeeGal - and u didn’t even spell his name right

Anonymous - dude hes a total fag

PrettyBitty - ur wrong I tottally ship SueCardo

Anonymous - I hope they give each other AIDS and die

Marlene handed the printout back to Iain, pressed her fingers into her temple, and said, “Make this go away.”

“On the network’s message board, no problem.” Iain hit a few keys. “Done. But I’m sure by now it’s everywhere.”

“And the weird part is, once we got off the plane, I thought Ricardo and the Professor were pretty low-key about their…thing.” Marlene drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. “The contestants don’t have access to phones or Internet. I don’t suppose public reaction at this point matters.”

“They’ll see it eventually.”

“True. But not when it can throw them off their game before the final challenge.”

Iain looked down at the photo again. It wasn’t that the magicians were even doing anything particularly incriminating. It was more subtle than that. The lines of their bodies, the expressions on their faces—absolutely everything about them suggested a smoldering attraction. He wadded up the printout and lobbed it into the trash can. “Funny thing is, Ricardo’s the one they’re tearing up. Not the Professor.”

“What are you saying?”

Iain wasn’t exactly sure. “I dunno…the Professor’s, like, twice Ricardo’s age. Someone who didn’t know better could make the Professor out to be the bad guy, a creepy old performer out to