by Black, Tasha
At last they saw a man up ahead with a dog.
“I’m going to ask him where it is,” Ruby said, taking off a bit too quickly in the man’s direction. “Excuse me,” she called out to him.
Margot noticed that just past the man and his dog, the street sloped downward. She would hardly have noticed it on foot and not at all in a car.
But Ruby was headed toward it and not paying attention.
“Ruby,” she called out warningly.
“Do you know where the aikido studio is?” Ruby asked.
Margot saw the exact moment when her friend realized she was on a slight hill.
But it was too late.
Ruby was already sailing down, a look of cartoonish alarm on her pretty features.
“You’re heading right for it,” the man said encouragingly, giving them a little wave.
Margot had just enough time to get to the crest and see Ruby fly down the slope and into the door of a building that looked like a rec center.
The skateboard went out from under her and she fell hard on her bottom just as the door opened.
“Nice of you to drop in,” quipped the older African American man who had opened the door just in time.
He wore a resplendent white uniform and a pair of glasses attached in the back with elastic.
The man offered Ruby a hand and she took it.
“Thank you,” Ruby said. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I’m guessing you’re here for the contest?” the man asked politely.
“Yes,” Ruby said. “Thank you.”
“Here you are, dear,” the man said. “But would you like to come in and sit down for a minute before you go? Catch your breath?”
“No thank you,” Ruby told him. “We need to hurry off.”
“Well then go on around back,” he said, looking a little nervous. “Your transportation is there. You can leave the skateboards with me.”
“Thanks so much,” Margot said.
“Good luck, ladies,” the man replied.
They scrambled down the hillside to the back of the building where a row of bicycles awaited.
“Out of the frying pan,” Ruby said, shaking her head.
“A bike is much easier to ride than a skateboard,” Margot pointed out.
“A bike implies distance,” Ruby said. “More mileage means more opportunities for disaster.”
“Well, let’s read the clue and see if you’re right,” Margot suggested.
Ruby unfolded the piece of paper and they both bent over it.
Come here to find this golden orb, and maybe an alien too.
“Shoot, I don’t know this one,” Ruby fretted. “Golden orb? Could that mean a jewelry store?”
“I know this one,” Margot said. “I saw it on my way here. It’s the farm, you know the peach orchard?”
“Holy crap, of course,” Ruby said. “That’s the farm where you can get your picture taken with an alien. Let’s go.”
“Do you know how to ride these things?” Margot asked, indicating the bikes.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Ruby said, choosing a pink one.
“Pretty much?” Margot asked.
“Look, does it matter?” Ruby asked. “We have to go.”
She was already mounting her bike and heading back in the direction they had come from.
Margot shrugged, grabbed a silver bike and followed. At least she wouldn’t be far behind if her friend had an accident.
They flew up the street and passed a few of the other contestants who seemed to be heading for the aikido school. Margot noticed Regina glaring at them and cursed herself for not thinking of taking another street so as to avoid attention.
They passed the movie theater and the streets full of small shops and cafés.
At last they swung out onto a country road.
Their path hadn’t taken them past the gas station where she’d first met Kent, and that was probably for the best. She was trying to concentrate on the task at hand.
The breeze felt fabulous, and Margot looked forward to reaching the farm. Hopefully, some of the other contestants had gotten out ahead of them. If not, she would just have to make sure Ruby got her hands on a peach before she did.
So you want him to marry Ruby?
She ignored the voice in her head and tried to focus on the pretty scenery, trees and lush grass in every direction.
But she couldn’t quite overcome the hollow feeling in her chest.
He had told her that they were fated to be together. And it didn’t feel like a lie.
Was I wrong about him?
Whether she was right or wrong, Margot realized suddenly that she didn’t want to lose this contest. She wanted to stay in it until the very end. She wanted to know if what Kent had said to her was true.
At last they reached the hand printed sign.
Welcome to Martin’s Bounty
Pick-Your-Own-Peaches Season is Here!
Ruby nearly took a spill as she turned into the gravel parking lot, but managed to stay on her bike.
“Let’s walk from here,” Margot suggested.
Ruby mercifully agreed and they headed up the path.
It looked like there was some sort of outdoor fair going on. A woman stood at a table full of assorted fruit. And behind her, a cameraman was already filming as one of the producers watched.
Ruby began to run for it.
There was a screeching of tires as a car swerved into the parking lot behind them in a cloud of dust and a shiver of displaced gravel.
Ruby turned to look and tripped over her own feet.
Margot managed to grab Ruby’s elbow before she could hit the ground.
Someone was leaping out of the backseat of the car, flying toward the fruit stand.
“Go, Ruby,” Margot urged her friend.
They both took off again.
Ruby arrived at the table and looked frantically at the fresh produce laid out on it.
There was a single peach.
Ruby picked it up, and Margot stepped back to watch her friend’s important moment.
Just then there was a flash of strawberry blonde hair and Ruby cried out.
Margot turned to see that Regina had arrived and snatched the peach from Ruby.
“Give that back to her,” Margot said.
“I don’t think so,” Regina said with a smirk. “Finders keepers.”
“How did you get here anyway?” Ruby asked.
“Oh, I saw you guys, so I snagged an Uber,” Regina said lightly.
“You cheated,” Ruby said quietly.
“No such thing,” Regina said lightly. “There were no rules, except that we had to get this peach to win.”
Ruby’s face fell.
“Besides, no one wants you losers in the final four,” Regina added. “The klutz and the fatty.”
Margot felt a fury rising in her chest, deep and powerful, as if it had been brewing for a thousand years.
“Give. Her. Back. That. Peach.” Margot said clearly and calmly.
“No. Loser. I. Won’t.” Regina replied. Mocking her serious tone.
Olivia’s words echoed in Margot’s head, even as her fist clenched.
Any physical altercation will result in immediate disqualification.
But she already knew what she was going to do.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Margot felt her fury travel up her arm, felt the breeze whistle along the trajectory of her fist, saw the exact instant when Regina realized what was happening, heard Ruby mournfully howl noooo.
Then her fist connected with Regina’s cheekbone hard enough that she thought her fingers might break.
“Holy shit,” a man said from behind the table.
And then Regina was falling, her bottom hitting the gravel with an undignified thump.
Margot bent and grabbed the peach from her hand and turned to present it to Ruby.
Ruby took it, but only stood staring at Margot, her mouth wi
de, the peach balanced on her open palm, all but forgotten for the moment.
21
Lex
Lex’s heart pounded as he realized who the brown-haired contestant was.
He’d been flummoxed right up until she clenched her fist and let the blonde bitchy one have it.
She wasn’t some dumb bit player from another show like he had first suspected.
She was Margot Lane, the star of A Lion’s Game.
He spun around and took off with his camera as the blonde began to whine from her spot in the dirt.
The so-called aliens were watching all this unfold from the porch of the old farmhouse. This might be his chance.
At first he had imagined that the girl was in on the game. But he’d heard through the rumor mill that Margot Lane was getting lipo before they started shooting A Lion’s Game. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Plus, they’d never let a known actress compete - it would undermine the whole reality aspect of the show.
He wondered if she was too scared to get the surgery. That tracked. Not disciplined enough to diet, not brave enough to man up and get lipo. Where had all the good women gone?
He slowed down to a trot, getting a little winded. He’d put on a few pounds himself, not that it mattered.
He doesn’t know who she is, and he’s going to freak when he finds out, Lex assured himself. This is my chance to surprise him. Catch him out of character. And get the whole thing on film.
He reached the farmhouse. A woman was pouring out lemonade for a gathering of giant alien-types and their so-called mates.
“Is Kent here?” Lex panted, his camera at his side, but rolling the whole time. He didn’t want to miss a second.
“Oh, yes, of course,” the woman replied.
But Kent was already coming down from the porch.
“Good afternoon,” he said politely to Lex, looking a little nervous.
“Yeah, except your girl just punched that other one,” Lex said, wondering what reaction he might get at calling Margot your girl.
But Kent only nodded sadly.
“Walk with me,” Lex said, pulling an alpha move by turning on his heel and heading off without waiting to see if the big dummy would follow him.
Sure enough he trotted to catch up.
“Here’s the thing,” Lex said. “I know who she is, so the jig is up.”
“What do you mean?” Kent asked.
Lex was pleased to note that the guy sounded genuinely mystified.
“I mean,” Lex said, stopping and turning to face him, “that she’s not Margot Chase - she’s Margot Lane.”
Lex wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he had been hoping for.
But it wasn’t what he got.
Kent cocked his head slightly, studying him as if he hadn’t understood.
“Do you mean… we haven’t been pronouncing her name properly?” he asked at last.
“No, you idiot,” Lex stormed. “I mean she’s not who she says she is. She’s an actress on a big show. She’s only pretending to be someone else.”
“An actress?” Kent echoed.
“Yes, yes, an actress,” Lex said. “Pretending to be a regular person.”
“Why would she do this?” Kent asked.
“Who the hell knows?” Lex asked. “Though I heard she might be running from her agent since he wants her to do lipo.”
“What is lipo?” Kent asked.
“Liposuction, where they suck the fat out of your body,” Lex said.
“They do this while you are living?” Kent asked, a horrified expression on his face.
This guy was a real ham.
But Lex would flush him out.
“Whatever,” Lex said. “But it makes you mad, doesn’t it? Her whole deal was just an act. She was tricking you.”
Suddenly Kent’s face went blank.
And then he turned and ran back toward the farmhouse.
Lex smiled to himself as he looked out over the farm.
He’d never been big on nature or anything. But the trees looked so green today, and the birds sang so sweetly, and that big fake alien was about to go do something to blow the lid off the whole stupid scam.
22
Margot
Margot ran back to the parking lot, tears misting her vision.
She could hear Ruby calling after her and Regina shrieking, but none of that mattered.
She had forfeited her chance to marry the only man who had ever made her feel treasured.
She grabbed her bike from the parking lot and hopped on. It felt good to move, she pedaled hard, letting the wind blow her hair.
She had no idea where she was going.
And yet she did know.
She was going to Kent - she had to find him. She had to tell him herself what she had done.
Not just that. She had to tell him everything, including the truth about who she was.
The one time I stand up to a bully, I ruin two lives…
All her fears about mating with an alien, all her suspicions that he was anxious to be on TV were gone now.
Now that the choice had been taken away, the truth hit her like a meteor: Kent was sincere. He had no reason not to be.
She might have spotted a cameraman following them, but that was natural - they were the stars of a reality TV show. It certainly wasn’t Kent’s doing.
Kent believed in fate, in destiny. He knew in his soul that she would win this competition because she was meant to be his and he was meant to be hers.
He had faith - a rare gift on this jaded blue and green planet.
A moment ago, she’d literally held her own fate in her hands. And she had deliberately done the one thing that obliterated their chances.
Furious with herself, she pedaled faster.
With tears in her eyes she didn’t notice the truck coming until it was almost too late.
Margot jerked the handlebars to the right and managed to get off the road before she hit the ground and tumbled into the trees.
For one terrible moment she lay still, taking inventory of her body. But all seemed to be well.
Senses reeling, she pulled herself up. She was bruised, but she didn’t think anything was broken.
Except the front wheel of the bike - it was bent nearly in half, over a rock she had just missed with her head.
Margot sighed, got up and brushed herself off, testing her limbs gingerly.
She was a little banged up, but none the worse for wear. There was going to be a big bruise on her hip where she had landed, but it was a dull ache, less intense than the bite in her hand from punching Regina.
She looked out onto the road.
She wasn’t even halfway back to town. But just like before, she wasn’t going to head back uphill. There was nothing back there for her.
No, she would walk back down to the town once more.
Her plan had one step:
Find Kent.
She’d figure out the rest along the way.
23
Margot
Margot arrived back in town just as the sun was setting pink over the horizon.
She was exhausted and thirsty, but eager to find Kent once she had cleaned herself up and written a note to leave for Ruby.
Not wanting to bump into anyone, she slipped into the alleyway behind the buildings on the block where the theater stood.
It was hard not to think about this morning - how much fun it had been to slip down this alleyway with Ruby.
Focus, Margot, she told herself.
She had nearly reached the backyard of the old movie theater when she heard voices.
The fairy lights were on again, adding their magic to the already ethereal sunset glow that filled the little clearing.
Kent stood at the center of the clearing, back in the tux he’d worn for the day of dancing.
And Regina stood in front of him.
Margot’s breath caught at the sight of the man she loved and the woman who had made her so angry.
Regina was wearing a black lace dress. She looked up at Kent, his hugeness accentuating her already tiny form.
“My time with you has been very special,” Kent was saying to her.
“I’ve loved every minute of it,” Regina simpered, sounding bubbly and nice and the opposite of the personality she had shown to Margot.
“I know I’m not supposed to make my choice until the final evening, but…” Kent trailed off.
“You don’t have to say it,” Regina said. “I know you’re going to choose me.”
“You’re a very clever woman, Regina,” Kent said. “And very beautiful.”
“And I’m going to make you very happy, Kent,” Regina said. “You won’t regret your decision.”
It was too much. It was all too much.
Margot tried and failed to hold in a sob as she dashed back to the theater.
“Margot,” Kent shouted.
Damn. He’d seen her.
She ran faster, but his footsteps were pounding. She didn’t really have any chance of outrunning him.
She stopped and spun around.
“Go back to Regina,” she yelled. “No. You know what? Go back to Aerie, you intergalactic jerk!”
Kent stared back at her like a deer in the headlights.
Regina tottered up on her stilettos and grabbed his arm.
Margot was ashamed and a little pleased to see that the other woman’s cheek was pink and swollen.
“He’s made his choice,” Regina said coldly. “Get out of here, loser.”
“Margot,” Kent said.
But Regina kept her hold on him and thankfully he was too polite to drag her bodily along with him.
Margot turned and ran down the alleyway, unsure where she was going, but unwilling to have to talk with them again even if it meant taking off forever without so much as leaving a note for Ruby.
Margot Lane was done with all of this nonsense.
24
Margot
A few days later, Margot took a deep breath and looked around her familiar apartment. It was so clean it fairly sparkled.
