Chapter Four

"Oh for fuck sake," Peter sighed as he watched the young woman in the sparkly cat suit sauntered off the stage and he looked at the list. He wanted a drink so badly when he looked at Cassandra and waved with two fingers for her to come closer. Picking up the cage, she walked closer while he looked at her and his eyes traveled up and down her body. She had a pleasing shape and was beautiful but she looked more like a secretary than a magician's assistant and Peter swung the leg he had over the arm of the chair back and forth. "Um, what's with the outfit?"

"What is wrong with it?" Cassandra asked as she looked down and he arched an eyebrow.

"You look like you should be in a board meeting," he teased and she gave him a blank look. Sighing, he waved with his fingers for her to continue as she knelt down and opened the cage. Carefully removing the falcon from the cage, she stood up as his eyes went wide and he gave her an amused look. "Hmmm, that's an eagle, right?"

"No, he's a peregrine falcon," Cassandra said and the falcon seemed to give Peter a snooty look.

"Sorry," Peter said as he gave her a snooty look and sat back against the back of the chair. "Does Tweety have a name?"

"His name isn't Tweety. His name is Cross," she said as the falcon glared at Peter and Peter held his hands up in surrender.

"Ah. So, what do you and Cross do?"

"I could show you if you had a perch or something," she said when he pointed with his hands toward the phony trees behind him as she walked to the phony tree to his right and placed the falcon on the branch. Peter folded his arms across his chest as she walked toward him and he arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "Now I need you to stand over here."

Peter shrugged when he walked over to her and she slightly blushed when she turned him around to face the tree. They could hear the soft whispers as he turned around and looked at the young women that were looking at his bottom. Not to disappoint them, he lifted the leather coat as he wiggled his hips and Cassandra sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me," she said as he looked at her then rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He watched as she removed a deck of cards from her purse then handed the deck of cards to Peter and he looked at the deck of cards then at her.

"Oh, come on. You're kidding. You do card tricks?" he asked as he started to lose interest and she smiled, shaking her head.

"This isn't your ordinary card trick. I need you to look through the deck and find one card," she said and he rolled his eyes, getting bored.

"I know how the trick works, Love. It one of the first tricks I learned when I was getting started."

"Just do it!" she half shouted and his eyes grew wide.

"There's no need to get sassy, Cassy," he said then smiled. "Ooo, I like that. Mind if I call you that?"

He saw the anger in her eyes as he looked at the cards, found one and looked at her.

"Ok, I got one," he said and she nodded.

"I want you to concentrate on the card."

"Ok."

"Now I want you to spread the cards into a fan then hold the deck over your head."

"You want me to hold the deck over my head?" he asked as he arched an eyebrow and she nodded. Shrugging, he spread the cards out into a fan then held the deck over his head and concentrated on the card he picked. He looked at the falcon when Cassandra snapped her fingers and the falcon flew into the air, heading right for Peter. "Holy shit!"

Peter tossed the cards into the air as he ducked and the falcon flew over him and over the heads of the young women, who screamed and dived under the tables. Peter stood up as the falcon flew to Cassandra and landed on her wrist. He saw that the falcon had something in its beak as she pulled the card out of the falcon's beak, walked to him and held the card in her fingers.

"Is this your card, Sir?" she teased while he tried to calm his heartbeat down and looked at the card. To his surprise, she was holding the card he picked as he looked at her, smiled then snapped his fingers.

"Darcy?" he shouted and Darcy walked on stage, heading for Peter.

"I'm not your fucking dog," she grumbled as he looked at her and softly smiled.

"Take Miss…" he said then looked at Cassandra and she titled her head to one side.

"I'm Cassandra Lake," she said and he nodded.

"Take Miss Lake to the office and get the paperwork started," he said then walked to Cassandra and stood toe to toe with her. "Right, the show is at eight, which means you have to be here at seven to get ready."

Cassandra was gob smacked as she watched Peter walking away then felt Darcy tap her arm and she nodded as she followed her off stage.

"What the hell just happened?" one of the young women asked as the other young women shrugged and they left the room while the door closed behind them.

The car moved down the street while Cassandra held the steering wheel tightly in her hands and smiled. She had thought she had ruined the interview and was shocked that Peter had hired her. Darcy and the other young women Peter worked with were nice and she agreed that he was a true asshole. What she couldn't stop thinking about was his dark, chocolate brown eyes and she swore there was such sadness in his eyes.

"Wonder what his damage is," she thought and made a mental note to Google his name when she got home. After all, he was her new boss and she wanted to make she sure wasn't making a mistake. Her last boss nearly raped her during rehearsal under the stage and he would have succeeded if Cross hadn't swooped down from the open trap door in the stage and pecked a large hole in the jerk's head. He threatened to sue her but she countered with telling him that she would tell his wife, who happened to be the owner of the club where she worked and didn't buy his bullshit. After quitting that job was when Cassandra had trouble finding any club that wanted to hire her and she knew that the asshole must have black listed her.

"Jerk," Cassandra whispered then pulled the car into the drive and stopped the car. Getting out of the car, she removed the cage from the backseat then placed the cage on the ground and closed the door. Heading for the small porch that half wrapped itself around the Victorian style house, she stopped first to check the mailbox and removed the mail she found inside it. She walked up the stairs when she placed the cage down and looked left then right before looking at the door. With slight smile, Cassandra snapped her fingers and the front door unlocked then slowly opened. She picked the cage up when she walked inside and the door closed behind her.

The door to the lift pinged as Peter walked out and headed down the small hallway that led to the living room. He looked at the display cases as he softly smiled then stopped at the frame with his diploma. He didn't care that he bought it on E-bay, he liked it then walked closer, seeing the overhead light shimmering on the glass. He checked the other display cases then jumped when someone tapped his back and turned, seeing Jane behind him.

"Sorry," she said and he nodded. "I got a bit of a cleaning bug and did a little cleaning. I wasn't sure what I could or couldn't touch and that looked dusty."

"That's alright. Ginger used to…" he said then trailed off and Jane nodded, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Where's Charlie?"

"He and Amy are upstairs," she said and Peter smiled. "Oh, get out of the gutter. They're studying."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Come with me," she said as they walked down the hallway and he removed the wig, brushing his fingers through his hair until it was standing up on the top of his head. Jane barely smiled as they walked to the place in the wall where the door to the panic room was and she opened the panel, tapping the buttons with the code Peter told her would open the door. The door opened as they went inside and he looked down at the floor. He could still see Eddie's severed arm lying there as he shivered and Jane coughed, making him look at her. He walked to the screens when he looked at the one she was pointing to then looked at her. Jane did feel guilty about placing a camera in Charlie's room but Peter thought it was a good idea and looked at Charlie and Amy making out on his bed. Placing a finger to his lips, Peter pushed the intercom button and Jane quietly laughed.

"ATTENTION, THIS IS THE WARDEN! LIPS OFF THE BITCH!" he shouted as Charlie and Amy jumped while Jane slid down the wall while laughing and Charlie glared at the camera.

"Fuck you!" Charlie shouted and Peter saw that Amy was laughing.

"Hey, it's my house, Pal. That means you have to listen to me."

"No, I don't."

"But you have to listen to me, Sport," Jane said and Charlie sighed while Amy placed her bra and shirt back on.

"Now get your asses down here and study in the living room!" Peter said as he let go of the intercom button then helped Jane off the floor.

"Yes, Sir…Warden, Sir!" Amy said with a salute and she and Charlie moved off camera. Rolling his eyes, he took Jane's hand as they left the panic room and the door closed behind them.