The Second Set of Lies

They were losing. Badly. The first set was currently five to zero, and it wouldn’t be long before the set was done since it was Hazel’s turn to serve. She tossed the ball above her head and swung with her racket. The ball flew across the court, whizzing by as Aubrey lifted her racket to try to intercept it.

“Fifteen-Love”

Hazel served again, and this time Aubrey was able to hit it and actually start the point. But then Helena caught it as it went over the net and hit it straight down over the net. It bounced up straight down towards Richard. He used to have been able to make that shot at least half the time, but as he watched it come down he was barely able to get out of the way.

“Thirty-Love.”

Helena and Hazel were better than them, but the difference had never been this stark. His stepsister wasn’t taking it easy on them like she usually did, and the only game they’d won so far was when Hel had to serve and kept double-faulting.

He moved back into position for Hazel’s next serve. As it came, Aubrey caught it with her racket and hit it over the net. Instead of the aggressive vertical hit from the last point, she went for a light drop shot that he was just barely able to catch as it crossed to his and Aubrey’s side of the court. But that brought him to the net, and left an opening for Helena to hit it diagonally out of the court.

“Forty-Love” Hazel announced. It was usually her job to keep score. She served again to Aubrey, and it bounced in and out in a flash before Aubrey could move. “And that’s the first set.”

Both sets of partners went to the side of the tennis court. “So that didn’t go very well.” He said to Aubrey as she drank from the water bottle they’d picked up outside.

“No, it really didn’t. Did you know Hazel could swing that hard?”

“Yeah. Since the Seattle house has an indoor court, she’d play with us sometimes.”

She gave him a strange look. “Even after all this time, it feels weird when you two say stuff like that.”

“Like what?”

“The “Seattle House”. Just casually referencing not just owning a home, but having a house for when you want to go to another city.”

“Sorry.” He grimaced. “That’s kind of rude of me.”

“It’s fine, you’re used to it. It just feels like you guys are going to say something like “on our last trip to the moon” one of these days.”

“We’re not that bad.” It felt nice, just talking to her again. “So have you not played against Hazel before? I could’ve sworn we’d all played against each other before.”

“Not that I can remember. She was usually just standing guard. But for Helena’s big vertical hits, I’ve found that it’s easier to try and find where it falls and just wait for it there than to try and break its momentum.”

That felt strange. She hadn’t seen either of them in over a year, but she sounded like she was more experienced playing against his stepsister than he was. “You remember that after so long?”

“So long? It’s only been a week or two since she took me to Montauk.”

Things were only getting more confusing. “What were you doing in Montauk?”

“That’s where she wanted us to have our last match.”

“You guys are still playing together? I didn’t realize she was still spending time with you after we broke up.”

His ex just rolled her eyes. “After you needed a break, Helena started spending almost every weekend with me. A lot of tennis and me taking places I’d never seen before. It was nice of her, but I felt like I barely had time to see my friends and Ms.Gentille.”

Helena had never told him she was doing that. It seems like she hasn’t told me a lot of what she’s been doing. “How’s she doing?” He didn’t miss that her old teacher had gone from Mrs. to Ms..

“Not well. Her husband died of a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry. You said you’re still visiting her?”

She nodded. “Pretty much every Sunday.”

“It’s good that she has you around at least. I’m sure it would’ve been even harder for her without you.” Aubrey had always idolized Ms.Gentille, one of her teachers from primary school. Even when Aubrey had that stint where she’d been skipping classes to spend more time with him, she’d never given up her appointments with her favorite teacher. “If you want us to stop so we can talk about her, I’m sure they’d understand.”

“I’ve missed having us all together as a family, I want to keep going.”

“Cool. You said you’ve been practicing with Helena?” She nodded. “Do you think you can move fast enough to keep up with her trick shots?”

“I should be able to. They’re not actually that fast most of the time, just unexpected.”

“I have an idea that might help us keep up. What if instead of trying to stay on different sides of the court like doubles partners usually do, we both stay on the middle line? I think that after my sessions with Ava I can keep up with Hazel more, so we both can just react when our match is moving. Does that sound good?”

She shrugged. “If that’s what you want to do, I’m willing to try it.”

They both sat up and tried to turn back to the court. Hazel was waiting for them at the net. “Sir, Ms.Turner asked to meet you in the hall.”

He looked at Aubrey in the eyes, who’d been holding her hand on his thigh. “Is that alright with you?”

“I know you’ll come back.” She reassured him. So he went into the hallway, escorted by Hazel. There he found Helena waiting, the fury in her eyes burning as bright as he’d ever seen. “What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to hold off on asking this, but I need to know. How did your friend Felicia get twenty-five points yesterday?”

“She earned that much?”

She pulled out her phone and showed him the updated scoreboard. Apparently she’d taken a picture of it while Aubrey had busy showing off to him how she looked in her skirt.

“She did. How?” Her voice was tight as she spoke, like a rubber band about to snap.

“How much detail do you want?” He asked. He didn’t think that she’d want a full description.

“I assume at least something sexual happened, to get that many points at once.”

“It did.” He hadn’t expected this interrogation when he’d agreed to come out here.

“Did she hurt you, or do anything that you weren’t comfortable with?”

“No, not at all. She was careful to make sure I was able to back out.” Even if she had, he probably would’ve defended her.

The tension in her upper half visibly melted. “Good. If that ever happens, you can tell us. As far as my second concern, do you think you’re interested in her?”

He wasn’t entirely sure how to answer. “I don’t know yet. It’s all kind of a new thing.”

“That’s understandable. If you think you might be interested in multiple people here, you owe it to them to have a conversation about what they’re willing to do. I know from talking to Hazel that you haven’t had that sort of discussion with her.

Hazel chose that moment to speak up. “We haven’t had a chance to discuss it, but I’m comfortable with Richard dating the other women here at the same time as me.”

Helena looked at her assistant and bodyguard in confusion, her hand drifting to her auburn hair like Dick recognized his own hands doing when he was stressed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

The mogul turned back to her stepbrother. “Not everyone will be so quick to accept less than they deserve. You need to have this talk with Aubrey soon, as I think she’s forgotten again that the show expects her to share you.”

The conversations today had drifted to increasingly strange places. “Why do you suddenly care about how Aubrey and I are together?”

“She’s a nice girl, even if she’s a bit flighty. I know you’re still interested in her, and since there’s no **** on the island, this can be a good trial run until I can get us away from Genet. She’s probably going to notice the scoreboard on the way up like I did and so you need to be honest about your intentions.”

She doesn’t know? “Hel, she bought a copy of Murphy’s to put in the forest.”

“That old bar you two used to visit?”

“Yeah. She’s paid to have both hers and my favorite drinks available.”

“Godamnit.” I really am in Hell. “Ignore everything I said then. I’ll help you hide the scoreboard from Aubrey when we leave.”

He knew that she was trying to be helpful, but something set him off after learning about what she’d been doing with Aubrey and her secret files. “How are you so quick to hide things? You were lecturing me about the need to be honest less than a minute ago. Between you invading my friends privacy and hiding your friendship with Aubrey from me, how do I know you’re not hiding something else important?”

“I’m only hiding this from Aubrey to help you.” She assured him.

“But I hadn’t even asked you to do that.”

“Do you want to tell her now?” She asked.

“That’s not the point. Yes, I don’t know how to discuss this with her and I’d appreciate more time. But how do I know that you’re not hiding more from me?”

Helena sighed. “We’re family. I promise, I’m not lying about anything else.” She lied.

“Fine.”

Hazel spoke up again. “If it would make you feel better Sir, I can give you my own file tomorrow. Since this is a point of contention, maybe you could discuss further what to do with the files of the other women when you two have your day together?”

`“Are you sure? Yours is the most detailed other than mine.” Helena asked.

“I know much more about him than he does about me. It’s only fair for him to see what I was doing before I met you both.” She gave her boss a look, hoping Helena would understand what that meant.

She did. We can figure out what needs to be purged tonight. “If you’re comfortable with that, then you can go over it with him.”

Richard turned his head towards Hazel. “Thank you for trying to be honest at least.” He started towards the court to see Aubrey and start the second set when they all heard a familiar clacking of heels coming from the direction of the elevator.

Genet turned the corner of the sub-basement and saw them. “Hey everyone! I hope I’m not interrupting anything important, but I was hoping to speak to Helena alone for a moment.”

Both Richard and Aubrey looked to Helena for her reaction. “Are you comfortable with me leaving you with her?” Hazel asked her quietly.

“I’ll be alright. Just get him back into the room. I’ll tell you what happens later.” She whispered back. So her assistant left with Richard as he went to go relax with Aubrey.

“Nice skirt.” Genet complimented after they left, looking the elder Turner up and down.

“Thanks. But you almost exposed me this morning.” Helena accused her.

“Nothing I said was suspicious until you put up a fight about it. He didn’t notice either of us though, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Are you here about my TF? I noticed that the only time it hasn’t sprung itself unexpectedly so far was when Hazel took it for me.”

“Indirectly. All the advertisements I’ve tried to put together for the show so far have you in pretty much the same outfit. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with your wardrobe of course, it’s very “girlboss”. But I’d like some more fun footage, and this is a new outfit. Do you think you’d be able to ask Richard to turn it back on for a little bit so we can get some shots of your ass. Maybe you could even flash him a little?”

Hazel bristled at the suggestion. “You want me to “flash my stepbrother a little”? I say this with all due disrespect, what is wrong with you?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just don’t fully understand the issue.” Genet apologized. You two aren’t even blood related. “If it would make it easier, you can ask him to let it trigger in front of Hazel.”

“I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.”

This is so cute. Saying anything would ruin it. “I don’t think it’d bother her as much as you think.” She said instead.

“She has handled all of this better than I have.” Helena mused. “Is it the scandalous footage that’s important, or the transformation being shown off? If it’s the former, I’m willing to give you what you need without telling Richard if that works for you.”

“You’d be willing to do that?” Genet asked. This was going better than expected; Helena was considering it after throwing only two barbs.

“As long as I’m properly compensated first.” The businesswoman said, inviting an offer.

“I had planned on offering you one BP for the inconvenience.” She’d originally wanted it to be a surprise.

“You gave his friend Stella a preview of what would happen if she upgraded her TF. I want two BP and a preview of upgrading Hazel’s TF.”

“Why do you want that?” Genet inquired cautiously. She normally wouldn’t be comfortable with giving out other contestants information, but they were the closest this season.

“Since I’m incorporating her into your scheme, I want to do something to lessen the transgression.”

“I can do the preview and one point once you’ve given me enough material.”

“Deal.”

Genet tried to go in for a hug before being rebuffed by Helena, who ducked back to the court.

***

The score in the second set was five games to four. Between Helena easing up after their conversation in the hall and he and Aubrey’s experiment, they were doing a lot better. But they were still losing. Hazel was still better than him, and Helena was still more experienced than Aubrey. He suspected that at least one one of their four wins was just from Helena trying to go easy on them both.

Just like how the last set had ended, it was Hazel’s turn to serve this game. She hit it in and it arced towards him. He returned it and Helena intercepted it right as it went over the net, hitting it low. Aubrey had to bend to hit it, and Helena caught it when it was at the net again and aimed it into the corner away from both of them.

“Fifteen-love.”

Hazel served again. Helena caught it again when he returned the serve, and sent it straight to him. She must have noticed how they were trying to let Aubrey focus on her. He took the shot with a backhand swing back at her that she needed to backpedal to get into position for. Aubrey was ready when it came with the same kind of low drop shot that her friend had taught her.

“Fifteen all.”

The next serve came faster. He was able to hit it, but he didn’t have time to aim well and it went out of bounds

“Thirty-fifteen.”

When Richard intercepted the next serve, he was able to aim it down the middle this time. Hazel took the shot and she directed it towards Aubrey, who staggered back as she was barely able to reach it. Helena moved to the center line to hit it… right into the net.

“Thirty-all”

“Do you mind if Aubrey and I talk before the next point?” He shouted across the court.

“Go ahead.” Hel yelled back. It looked like she was going to talk to Hazel too.

“What’s up?” Aubrey asked him.

“Does it feel like Helena’s not actually trying to win?”

“I was worried that I was imagining that. The last time I scored so many points against her was back when you pretended to break up with me.”

He gave her a long look. “Aubs…”

“When you needed a break.”

That was good enough. “Do you know of any reason she might be doing that?”

She shook her head. “Are we winning?”

“No, but we’re pretty close to tying up with them.”

“Is there anything you want us to do differently?”

“I just wanted to figure out why she's not trying. You're doing really well.”

“Thanks Baby.” She blushed and kissed him on the forehead before breaking out of their little huddle. They both prepared for Hazel to serve again. She tossed it in the air, and hit it into the net. Everyone faults on their serve sometimes, right? Both he and Aubrey had faulted on their serve at least three times today. The tall woman threw it in the air again, and as she slammed it down it went into the net harder. Yeah, they’re definitely sandbagging.

“Thirty-forty”

Hazel served one more time, clearing the net like usual this time. It came to him and he swiped it down the middle. Helena hit it towards Aubrey with a bit of spin, and she struggled but was able to return it. His stepsister sent it towards him next harder but more directly, but he was able to hit it back without too much difficulty. She sent a drop shot to Aubrey that the blonde was able to keep up, then another harder shot to him.

Helena started another drop shot to Aubrey, but then she twisted her racket to hit the ball to head height instead. Aubrey had started to lean in to chip it up again but realized the fake out just in time to stretch back up. Then the ball came towards him faster still, almost as fast as one of Hazel’s serves. Where is Hazel? He looked around while Aubrey was getting the next of Hel’s trick shots. He saw her off the court, with her racket being held in both hands, watching the three of them with a small smile. She’s not even playing anymore? But then he couldn’t think about it more, because the next shot had sped up again and was coming at him. It almost felt more like a training drill than a doubles match. Helena stayed at the middle line, taking their best swings and alternating who she was aiming towards. Aubrey caught the same shot that he’d missed at the end of the first set, then their opponent spiked down the same vertical shot towards him. He considered moving, letting Aubrey take the shot since he knew she could. But that felt against the spirit of whatever his stepsister was trying to do. He’d seen Hazel smack it out of the air before. He used to be able to do that. But that’s not how Aubrey did it. Just find where it falls and wait for it there. He took a few steps back, then another step forward. His racket caught it, and the ball bounced off gently across the court.

Helena let it pass and just walked forward to the net. “Good job, both of you.”

“We’re all tied up.” Hazel said as she met the three of them back on the court. “Five games to five. We’ll need at least two more for anyone to win.”

“You should’ve beat us already, if you weren’t trying to let us win.” he pointed out.

“We weren’t trying to let you win.” Helena blatantly lied.

“Of course you were. Just between you letting my point in just now and Hazel’s double faulting it was obvious.”

He was raising his voice, but his stepsister was the most relaxed he’d seen her in a week. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She turned to Hazel. “Were you trying to let them win?” She asked with a smirk.

“No ma’am.” Hazel said, the picture of innocence. “But since we need to keep playing, I believe that it’s his turn to serve in the next game.”

So Helena had lied to him one more time. But this time it was just so they could all spend a little more time together before going back to the demands of the show.