An Embarrassing Compromise

Zachary’s hands were having a great time, fondling two large soft mounds. Zachary was still asleep, but his hands rarely rested all night long. Melinda returned to consciousness again. This is the fourth… wait, fifth time? I should have known better. God, I’m so tired. Melinda wanted to get up to change, but couldn’t. She didn’t understand at first why she couldn’t, but figured it out during the second time she woke up and was trying to fall back asleep. If she got up to change and woke Zachary, and he saw she was changing, it would be as good as saying ‘I’m tired of you groping me all night’.

Her rescue ultimately came in the form of knocking on the suite door. Melinda swiftly got up out of bed and went to open the door. She found Heather fidgeting on the other side. Melinda asked, “Why are you here?”

Heather’s hair was still wet, and she looked like she had rushed to dress to get here. Heather said, “I need to talk with Zach.”

Melinda looked over her shoulder and saw he was still somehow sleeping. Melinda asked. “About what? I’m not inclined to let you ruin my morning with him after yesterday went surprisingly well. Plus, I’m tired and not in the mood for bullshit or drama.”

Heather hesitated to respond but relented, “So… the tentacle slime… from my room. The way to expel it is to climax. Except it… Well, it squirts out of… down there.”

“I’m tired. Get to the point.”

“It’s getting reabsorbed down there because of the chastity belt Zachary has me wearing. Piper said there could be a permanent increase in my sensitivity down there.”

Melinda groaned, “Fine.” Heather took a step forward to enter the room, but Melinda stopped her. “No. You wait here. I’ll get Zachary.”

Heather wasn’t happy with that but nodded her acceptance. Melinda walked back to the bed and gently woke Zachary up. “Hey, Zachary.”

Zachary slowly blinked his eyes open. “What? How early is it? Why are you up already?”

Melinda quietly said, “There was a knock at the door, so I went to get it.” Zach started to rub the sleep from his eyes. “It’s rather early, and Heather is at the door and wants to speak to you.”

Zach pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance as he firmly closed his eyes. “I’m way too tired to deal with her. Tell her to come back later.”

Zach was about to flop his head back down on the pillow, but Melinda said, “I will if you insist, but I think you should at least talk to her about this now.”

Zachary groaned and swung his legs out of bed. As he stood, his hand involuntarily moved to smack Melinda’s butt as he passed her.

Melinda bit her lip to keep from making a sound. At least that was a bit gentler than before. Melinda wanted no part of the drama at the door and went to take a quick shower.

Zachary trudged over to the door, bleary-eyed and groaning, “What do you want, Heather?”

Heather was even more embarrassed to be telling Zach this than she had been telling Melinda.

Zachary was getting tired of waiting. “Heather, either you tell me what you want, or I’m shutting this door and going back to bed.”

“I need your help. I understand you know how the tentacle slime gets expelled.” Zachary gave a weary nod. “Well, it’s… I can’t get it out of my privates. It’s getting reabsorbed.”

Zachary stood there nonplussed.

Heather continued, “I… I was hoping you’d make an exception and take the belt off just long enough for me to clean down there.”

Zachary opened the door and gestured towards the dining table. Heather took that as a positive sign and moved swiftly. Zachary didn’t directly follow her; instead, he headed to the bathroom. As Heather watched the bathroom door close behind Zachary, she walked well past the table and into the kitchen. What the? Oh… I guess that makes some sense. Heather started making coffee for Zachary, Melinda, and herself.

A few minutes later, Zach and Melinda had both come out of the shower. Melinda had her hair wrapped in a towel and was dressed in a sexy nurse outfit, with a skirt that went down only to mid-thigh, and a neckline that plunged nearly to her belly button, paired with white thigh-high stockings and three-inch heels. Heather poured them all coffee, and for some reason, she realized how Melinda took her coffee.

Heather brought the coffees over and sat across from Zach and Melinda. Heather gave them both a minute to start on their coffees before saying anything more. Eventually, though, Heather asked, “So… will you make an exception, Zach? Please.”

“Why should I exactly?” Zach asked coldly.

“Piper said it could cause a permanent change if left in my system for too long.” Heather’s voice was pleading. “Please, Zach.”

“I’m not particularly interested in doing this each day. Because it would be something to do each day. Besides, what exactly is the issue? Your vagina gets more sensitive, so what? It should be pleasurable for it to be touched.”

“Please, it’s hard to concentrate with how sensitive it is.”

Zach tapped the fingers of his right hand on the table a few times while clearly thinking. He glanced to the side and noticed that Melinda seemed to be looking at him as discreetly as possible, but was quite interested in what he was going to do. “Melinda, you seem to have some thoughts on the matter. What are they?”

Melinda felt compelled to be honest with Zachary thanks to his command during their date last night. “I think you should help her, but not for free.” Melinda clapped her hand over her mouth as she finished saying that. Melinda was mortified that she had actually said that and meant it, and rushed to explain. “I mean… It’s just that… Assuming I understand your deal with Heather, she’s asking for you to make an exception every day for the rest of the round. Otherwise, it would be moot anyway since she’ll get more of that gunk on her tonight.”

Heather was staring at Melinda intently with her lips pursed and was really trying her best not to glare since Zach was glancing between both of them.

Zachary nodded, “And what do you think that cost should look like?”

“Fuck. I’m not sure exactly, but I have several ideas, like she needs to agree to something in exchange.” Melinda turned towards Zachary. “You realize I’m being compelled to answer you, right?”

Zach nodded while keeping a neutral expression. “Yes, but only honestly.”

Melinda sighed, “You’re going to ask again if I don’t give a better example, aren’t you?” Melinda didn’t bother waiting for a response to her rhetorical question. “I assume this entire thing with the belt is about ensuring her loyalty? Then why not make her prove it?”

Zachary seemed intrigued. “What does that look like?”

“First, you give her the key.” Zachary's interest visibly dropped. “Hold on, let me finish. Give her the key, and she can ask anyone else to remove it for her, but she’s not permitted to do it herself. She can only have it removed once per day and only for this purpose. Afterwards, she has to lock herself back into it. You wouldn’t even have to enforce that with your commands, since you could just use one in the future to see if she followed the agreement.”

Zachary asked, “How exactly does that prove anything?”

Melinda automatically replied, “Since she has to ask others for help, and is going to have to each day, it shows she’s wearing that belt by choice. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the others doubt how voluntary it was for her to wear that. This way, everyone else knows she has the key and could take it off, and is choosing to wear it.”

Heather pursed her lips and remained quiet.

Zachary thought about it and asked, “That work for you, Heather?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Heather nodded enthusiastically.

Zach slid the key across the table to Heather. Heather immediately stood to leave, but Zachary said, “Wait a second. Since you’re here, I’ve got the command I want to test.” Heather paused and turned to face Zach, but eyed the door, clearly wanting to get a move on. Zach got out a piece of paper and a pencil. “This time, I want to test if I can give you a command where you don’t know the full contents of the command.” Heather seemed confused, so Zachary continued. “The command will be that you will get an intense spike of pleasure when you hear certain words spoken by certain people. I’m going to write down the words that will cause it with each person.”

Melinda asked slightly worriedly. “You can do that?”

Zach shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m doing this with Heather. I’m experimenting with what the boundaries of my commands are. This might not work if she isn’t aware of what the words are. Then again, she couldn't have known when I was aroused yesterday either. I’ll let you know now that I intend to alter the list throughout the day. As I also want to see if a command referencing something written down can be altered if the document is altered.”

Heather considered refusing, but decided this wouldn’t be too bad and she could always shut herself away from others. “Okay, I accept.”

Zachary took a minute to write down all the contestants' names as well as his own, and then words next to each name. “Heather, you’ll receive an intense jolt of pleasure anytime a particular individual mentioned on this paper says one of the words next to their name on it.”

Heather shuddered as she felt the command take hold. “I’ll be going now. Thank you, Zach.”

Heather stumbled forward and caught herself on the table. As she finished saying Zach’s name, she felt a jolt of pleasure. Heather was breathing heavily. “Seriously!? If I say your name? God damnit — AH!” Heather felt another intense jolt of pleasure. She glared at Zach and, through gritted teeth, said, “I hate you right now.”

Zach leaned forward across the table. “The feeling is still quite mutual. Now leave. I thought you had something you needed to do anyway.”

Heather took a few deep breaths, stood up straight, and quickly exited the room. As soon as she left, Zach leaned back into his chair, feeling exhausted. Melinda sat next to him in silence for a while, just staring at the small amount of coffee still in her mug. Zach eventually noticed her staring off into her thoughts and asked, “What’s on your mind?”

“I was thinking about how much control you have over us. Delilah called you our Master and said we were your property, but… I don’t think it really hit home until now. You could do whatever you want to me, and I couldn’t stop you.”

Zachary sighed, “Yeah, I probably could. It’s why I haven’t really used the commands much without permission, and most of that has been to compel honesty or to get someone to shut up. I’m fully aware that power corrupts. I’m also quite aware I’m not immune to temptation.”

“Yet you are using the power?”

“Yes. I need to know how it works. I also don’t exactly trust most of the people here.”

“Why do you need to know? I get not trusting us, but why the need?”

“Let’s use the command I gave you yesterday as an example. I ordered you to be honest with me and answer my questions. What if instead of honest, I had said, ‘not to lie to me’?”

Melinda considered it and quickly said, “I don’t see how that would really be different.”

“Because you could still say something true with deliberately misleading intent.”

Melinda nodded, “Okay, I guess I get that. So do you really hate her?”

Zach was a little surprised by the sudden change in topic. “Yes. Does that surprise you?”

“A little. You married her after all.”

Zach shrugged, “I had heard that love and hate aren’t that far apart. I didn’t believe it until I experienced the shift myself.”

Melinda asked critically, “Then why are you even pretending to give her a chance?”

“I’m not pretending, and because Lynn asked me to. I’m seriously trying not to simply torture her or ignore her when she comes to me, but I’m not going to simply act like things are better between us because they aren’t.”

“You’re really giving her a chance just because Lynn asked you to?”

“Yes,” Zach replied matter-of-factly and didn’t explain further.

“Is that why things went so well yesterday? Because Lynn told you to give me a chance, too?”

“Partially. Not totally, though.”

“Would you have given me a chance without her asking you to?” Melinda asked, clearly dreading the answer.

“Yes, but I would have grilled you a lot more before we did anything, and you only would have gotten the chance had I liked your answers.” Changing the topic of conversation himself, Zach said, “I see you’re wearing a nurse costume this morning.”

“Yeah…” Melinda wanted to say more, but found herself stopped by her transformation.

“How bad was it sleeping in regular clothes?”

“Well… you didn’t make me climax, unlike my roommate.” Melinda covered her mouth in embarrassment.

“You’re telling me Caroline got you off?” Zachary asked disbelievingly.

Melinda tried not to answer, but it was forced out of her, “Yes.” Her hands immediately clapped over her mouth after uttering the one word.

Zach got up and headed towards the kitchen. “You want anything to eat?”

“Um… sure, I guess, but… won’t that force Heather to come back up here?”

“If I order something, sure, but I was just going to make something quick.” Zach refilled his coffee as he grabbed a few bagels, cream cheese, lox, and some sliced onion and tomato. He went ahead and toasted two of the four bagels, then brought everything back to the table.

Melinda was messing around on her phone when he came back and looked up. “That was fast.”

Zach put down the food on the table.

Melinda asked, “Is… is that raw salmon?”

Zach replied, “It’s lox, so sort of? It isn’t cooked but brined. So, not sure if raw is the correct term or not.” Zach grabbed a toasted bagel and started spreading cream cheese, and then added all the toppings. He wordlessly dug into his sandwich as he gestured for Melinda to have at it.

Melinda hesitantly made herself a similar bagel, leaving off the tomato. She skeptically bit into the food as Zach was already making a second one for himself, this time really piling on the lox. Melinda scrunched up her face while considering what she was chewing. I guess it’s fine. I mean, not something I would have ever thought to put together, but not bad.

Melinda swallowed her food and asked, “Where were you introduced to this?”

Zach finished his bite and then replied, “There’s a kosher deli that was within walking distance of the dorms I stayed in during undergrad. First had it there.”

“Huh.” The two continued eating in silence until all the food was finished. Though it wasn’t an uneventful meal, as Melinda was getting rather turned on. She kept feeling Zach’s gaze on her cleavage anytime she wasn’t looking directly at him. How is he doing that? I mean, seriously? I know he’s looking, and I can’t even catch him looking away. Melinda let out a light cough. “Zachary, you do realize that I can feel you staring at my breasts, even if I can’t catch you doing it.”

“What are you talking about?” Zach coyly replied.

“My transformation. When you stare at my new curves, I get turned on regardless of whether I see you looking or not.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Did you want something from me this morning?” Melinda asked.

“Not really, they’re just quite nice. I’m admiring the view.”

“Well, I would appreciate it if you would admire it less unless you intend to do something about my arousal.”

“Huh, you told me off.”

Melinda frowned at Zach. “That’s what you took from that?”

“Well, it’s different.”

“My transformation only prevents me from protesting about anything while not in a sexy nurse outfit.” Melinda seemed to clam up as she tried to say more. Eventually, she sighed, “Guess that would constitute protesting even after the fact.”

“What does?”

“Can’t say,” Melinda replied automatically.

“Interesting, but no, I’m not looking to do anything with you this morning. Actually… I wouldn’t mind going for a workout.”

“Sure, let me get my things, and I’ll need to change. This won’t stay on through everything.”

“Fine by me,” Zach said, smirking.

Of course it would be, Mister Gropey.

With that, the two of them headed off to the gym.

---

Caroline woke up as her sleeping pod opened. “Wow, Melinda wasn’t wrong; that is much better with just one person inside.” She felt surprisingly refreshed compared to the previous evening with Melinda. Caroline didn’t bother rushing to get ready. She had already discussed things with Piper the previous night after Piper and Heather had decided not to go exploring.

Heather and Piper were going to get out of their rooms as soon as possible, which was around 5 am. Whereas her pod opened at 8 am. Piper also mentioned it might be good for the two of them to spend time with the others since they already knew they could count on one another. So Caroline was considering what to wear and how she wanted to approach things this evening. The reminder that she didn’t have any points and that she could wind up hurting Piper if she messed up reined in her immediate plan considerably.

Well, I had every intention of seducing him to protect Piper already. Guess I should go all out.

With that decided, Caroline started figuring out just how risqué she wanted to be for this evening.

---

Xin was confused about how this had happened again. She had discussed it with Lynn as well, the previous night before going to bed. Lynn’s arms were currently wrapped tightly around Xin, and Lynn had her face in Xin’s breasts. Lynn had apologized when Xin brought it up, and they had even built a wall of pillows between the two of them. It hadn’t helped, apparently. Xin started poking Lynn’s cheek to wake her up.

It was Charles who got Lynn to get up with his regular morning greeting, “Good morning, Lady Bowen, Miss Lee, it is time to get up.”

Lynn absently stretched and started to get up, knowing that Charles would rip the covers off if she didn’t start moving. It took a minute for Lynn to realize that she had been using Xin’s breasts as a pillow. Lynn blushed slightly. “I’m sorry, Xin, I really don’t know why this keeps happening.”

Xin sighed, “It isn’t that big of a deal. It’s just… well… you’re really attractive. Imagine how you would feel if Zachary did to you what you did to me.”

Lynn thought about that and got a dreamy expression on her face, and she wrapped her arms around herself, enjoying the thought immensely. Coming back to reality, Lynn replied, “I could see how that would be frustrating since I’m not particularly into women. I really am sorry. We’ll have to think of something better than a pillow wall.” Lynn then turned to Charles. “So Charles, what’s on tap for today?”

“For you, Lady Bowen? Just your morning routine and exercise. Otherwise, you have the whole day free to yourself.” Charles then turned to Xin with a smile. “As for Miss Lee here…” He paused for a long time, deliberately watching her squirm. “She, too, has a lighter schedule than normal today. Her punishment lesson has been served, so she just has a similar morning routine to you, Lady Bowen, plus her afternoon practice, and then her usual evening ritual.”

Xin frowned, “Why did I get such a ridiculous task, and Lynn didn’t? Not that I want Lynn to get one too; I just want to understand why.”

Charles smiled delightfully, creeping out both women. “Because your Master clearly wanted you to.”

Lynn countered, “There is no way he wouldn’t have removed it from her schedule if you had allowed him to, meaning you are keeping it on there.”

Charles continued to smile, “Sometimes the young don’t know what they truly desire, and need a push. Now, Lady Bowen. I have prepared three outfits for you.”

Charles displayed each, and Lynn immediately noticed that every option had a blonde wig matching her original hair colour. I guess Zach’s comment about my hair feeling off caused that. She looked over the options, finding the first option to be her old middle school uniform only slightly resized to fit her current body. Then she had another nice pink dress, reminding her of the 1950s. Finally, she saw what she could only think of as a dominatrix suit.

Xin immediately asked, “What is up with her choices today? Those are rather ridiculous!”

Charles replied, “I had more time than normal to make selections for Lady Bowen, as the little imp took over selection for your outfits, Miss Lee.” Charles gestured to a rack where Xin’s options were. The first was an identical outfit to Lynn’s schoolgirl option, including the wig. Then, one of the skimpiest cheerleader outfits she had ever seen. Finally, the frilly white apron she had worn yesterday. Charles said, “I’ve been told to let you know, Miss Lee, that the third option is yours to keep, regardless of whether you select it today or not. The little imp sends her compliments and thanks you for the cookies.”

Lynn wrapped an arm around Xin’s shoulder and pulled her in close. “Well, how about it? Want to be twinsies today? Or are you going to be daring and go with the apron?”

“I could go with the second one,” Xin said defensively.

Lynn side-eyed her, “And I could take the third one, and make some of the thoughts I’ve gotten from your arousal being shared come true for you. Now let’s be serious, as we both know that isn’t going to happen.”

Xin blushed and squirmed, knowing she’d likely be thinking about that on and off for a while. “Fine, we can pick the matching outfits.”

Charles replied, “Excellent choices.” He snapped his fingers, and the outfits disappeared along with him.

Xin asked, “He seemed in a better mood today. Should we be worried? Our schedules are even lighter than normal.”

Lynn started getting dressed. “Not sure, but don’t go borrowing trouble when we have plenty already.” Lynn pulled on the wig and felt it attached to her scalp, and it felt like her real hair. “So, want to go find Zach and tag team him with me?”

Xin had just finished pulling up her skirt and blushed profusely, “What!?”

“Well… you practically look like you could be my little sister… maybe half-sister right now. I’m sure we could drive Zach wild and earn you some points.”

Xin’s mind was racing, and she was quickly getting turned on. “LYNN! You’re getting me worked up on purpose!” Xin stamped her foot on the carpet.

“Guilty as charged. You do need the points, though. Also, I think a push to get them.” Lynn seductively sauntered over to Xin, who backed away slowly as Lynn approached until her back was up against a wall. Lynn put a hand on the wall beside Xin’s face and leaned in to whisper in Xin’s ear on the opposite side. “Don’t worry, I’ll listen to you play this afternoon if you decline still, but I wonder… are you going to last until then?”

Lynn already knew the answer from Xin’s heavy breathing. Xin swore, “You bitch! You know I could just find someone else to listen to me play.”

Lynn was still quite close to Xin, with their bodies pressed up against each other. “Oh? Who? I doubt Caroline will do it as she’s likely preparing for tonight. Heather and Piper are already dealing with the tentacle slime, and I doubt that they would be inclined to pile on top of that. Besides, would you really go to Heather of all people? And who knows how long Melinda will stay up in the suite with Zach. She earned quite a lot of points yesterday, so things must have gone well for her. Can’t say I’m not envious, but I’ll be out in front of everyone after my date night, so I’m not worried.”

Xin bit her lip as she realized that Lynn was likely right. “Have… have you just been taking pity on me?”

Lynn put her free hand gently on Xin’s cheek. “Oh, no. I’ve been doing nothing of the sort. I’ve been helping you because I don’t want you to become a quivering mess… well, at least too quickly. I believe I already mentioned this to you, but out of everyone here besides myself, I like you the most. I think you’ll be good for Zach. So I don’t want to see you ruined.”

Xin was shocked when Lynn leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. It wasn’t a quick peck either, but it felt like Lynn was trying to taste her and determine how she felt about it.

Lynn pulled back in a smile, “Not bad, cherry chapstick. So what do you say, little sis? Want to come with me to find Zach? After our workout, of course.”

Xin hesitated but slowly nodded her head, as she knew there was no way she’d last until the afternoon with how horny she was already feeling.

---

As soon as Heather had left the suite and was on the elevator, she texted Piper for a meet-up. They decided on the library, so after an excruciatingly long elevator ride, Heather practically sprinted into the library. “Piper!?” Heather called out as she entered.

Piper immediately flagged Heather down, and when she got close, jokingly whispered, “Shhhhh! We’re in a library.”

Heather actually took it far more seriously than Piper did and halfway expected Delilah to appear next to them to punish her for shouting in the library.

Piper asked, “Okay, what’s the rush?”

“I need your help. Please.” Heather pleaded and bit her lip.

Piper pursed her lips. “Look, I’m somewhat sympathetic to your situation, but I’m not going to get involved between you and Zach.”

Heather let out a surprised moan as a jolt of pleasure soared through her body.

Piper immediately asked, “What the fuck was that?”

Heather panted out, “New command, he—” Heather stumbled forward as another jolt of pleasure rocked her.

Piper said, “Maybe you should sit down first.” Piper pulled out a chair for Heather, who gratefully took it. “So, Zach—” Heather let out another moan of pleasure. “Gave you a new command. Explain what it is.”

“I’d really rather not,” Heather said, panting.

“Okay. Well, good luck with whatever you’re dealing with.” Piper stood to leave.

“Wait! I’ll tell you. Please, I need your help.” Piper sat down and waited for Heather to explain. “So…” How to explain without triggering it. “When certain people say certain words, I get a surge of pleasure.”

“So when I say, Z—”

“Don’t say his— AHHHH!” Heather shuddered. “Seriously!? Pronouns!? That bastard.”

Piper couldn’t help but begin laughing uncontrollably.

Heather scowled, “What’s so fucking funny?”

“It’s just he must think you’re really a bitch. Training you like a dog, so you have Pavlovian responses to thinking about him. You’ll notice male pronouns don’t trigger the response when I say it, just you, but hearing his name even from my lips pleases you.”

Heather tried to rein in her anger as she remembered she needed Piper’s help. With more heat in her voice than she would have liked, Heather said, “Yes, my humiliation is hilarious. Now could you please help me?” Heather held out the key to her belt. “Could you please unlock me so I can clean off the slime down there?”

Piper took the key from Heather’s hand. “Okay, explain.”

Heather took a moment to consider her words to avoid saying anything she knew was a trigger. “I was given permission… to have my belt unlocked once per day so I could deal with the slime—” Heather lurched back in her chair. “Mother fucker!” Seriously? He changed the words right now? Heather took a moment to compose herself. “I have to ask someone else to actually unlock me, though.”

Piper looked at the key. “So, if I tell you no?”

Heather scowled, “Then I’ll have to find one of the others to ask for help.”

Piper smirked, “I see… and if I simply decide not to give this key back to you?”

Heather’s eyes widened, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I mean, I don’t see why I wouldn’t. I doubt that Zach—” Heather doubled over in pleasure. “Would mind if I kept it. You also can’t take it back by force. Delilah was rather clear that violence would be harshly punished.” Piper then put the key down on the table and slid it back to Heather. “But then again, I’m not actually an asshole.”

Heather quickly scooped up the key.

Piper continued, “You can only be unlocked once per day?”

“Yeah.”

“Any other restrictions?”

“Only that it is just for the purpose of cleaning the... stuff off. Then I have to put the belt back on.”

Piper asked, “Why not just leave it off? You have the key. Plus you’re clearly under a different command, so why put it back on?”

Heather blushed, not wanting to answer, but sighed, saying, “I don’t want to just be a servant. That was part of the deal. I would be given a shot at a real relationship if I agreed to wear the belt.”

“Okay, I’ll unlock you.”

Heather perked up, “Really!?”

“Yes, but you’re forgetting something. You were permitted to clean off down there, not play with yourself. So you need to climax first so you expel the slime.”

“Damnit! How am I supposed to do that without being able to touch myself?”

Piper rolled her eyes sarcastically, “I don’t know, I’m sure Zach—” Heather quivered in pleasure. “Would have thought about that. I mean, Zach—” Heather gripped the edge of the table. “must have thought up something. Maybe you could go ask—”

“OKAY. I get it. Stop saying the name, please.”

Piper smirked, “Okay, go find someplace to get off yourself and then come back.”

Heather grumbled, then stood, went deeper into the library, and found a private reading room. There was a nice, comfortable La-Z-Boy chair that she flopped down in. God damnit, I can’t believe he would do this. At least thinking the words doesn’t trigger the command. “Damnit… what the? Oh, come on.” So he removed that one. Guess that proves his idea is correct. She whispered, “Zach.” She immediately pressed herself into the chair and straightened her legs as she was rocked with pleasure. She reclined the chair and closed her eyes and started imagining that he was actually pleasuring her as she started to slowly repeat his name over and over. It took several minutes of repeating his name and playing with her breasts before she climaxed. When she finally did, it was one of the more powerful orgasms she had had. She lay there content in the afterglow until there was a knock at the door.

She didn’t get up, but Piper entered. “Judging by your moans, you’re done. Come on, get up. We don’t have time for you to lie here.” Piper moved over, pulled up Heather’s skirt, and unlocked her belt. Then she pulled Heather up out of the chair. “Go, now.” Heather nodded, but her legs were wobbly. Piper sighed as she helped Heather to the nearby bathroom. Once there, Piper pulled down the belt and wet several hand towels in the bathroom sink for Heather to wipe herself off with. Piper threw the belt in the sink and started running water over it.

At this point Heather was getting back to normal and grabbed a few dry towels and finished cleaning up. She also noticed that it felt like there was an odd emptiness inside her with the dildo removed. Oh, that’s just great… She dried the belt off and stared at it. I don’t have to put it back on… but then what do I even have left to me if I don’t?

“Considering if it’s worth it?” Piper asked.

Heather nodded.

“In your place, I think I would put it back on.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because he wants to give you a chance. He hates you and himself for that, but he does.”

Heather stared at Piper in utter disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. From the interactions you two have had in front of me, and what I’ve learned, yes, I am. Don’t get me wrong, he hates you. Probably more than anyone else here, even Melinda. The thing is, to hate someone as he does you, you have to really love them first. Lynn even said it last night; he would likely regret letting you simply get eliminated. He wants some of what was lost between you two back.”

Heather looked up at Piper, “You really think so?”

“I don’t know what happened on your date with him, but even his punishments with the belt and commands, if that is what they are, give you pleasure. Do they embarrass you? Yes, but he could have made it so you couldn’t actually get off, so you would be left unsatisfied or have you be in pain if you considered disobeying him. He’s clearly trying to get you to associate him with pleasure. Whatever you end up with won’t be the same as before, but if you’re lucky, that could be a good thing.”

Heather looked at the belt and sighed. Then she stood and slid it back on and locked it in place. The emptiness she felt was now gone. “Thanks now, can I have the key back?” Heather held out her hand for the key.

Piper handed over the key. “Paranoid much? You really think after already giving you the key back, I would try and keep it now?”

“If you thought it would help you? Yes.” Heather adjusted her skirt, then continued, “Honestly, I’m the same, so I don’t hold anything against you. But it isn’t like you wanted to help me when we first arrived here, and it was obvious as to why that was the case.”

Piper shrugged, not apologizing for, admitting to, or denying the accusations.

“Which begs the question, why are you willing to help me now?”

Piper replied, “Lynn. Since she’s willing to help you, it can’t be too bad to do the same. Plus… the tentacles. I’m not so stupid as not to realize that you helped pull me out of there and got me help. I’m not going to let you suffer that crap more than I can help.”

“You owe Xin a lot more than me regarding that,” Heather replied.

“I suppose, but at least right now, Lynn’s not really paying attention to me, and I think I would prefer to keep it that way. I’m afraid once she does start paying attention to me, her transformation is going to push her hard into encouraging… him, to do whatever he wants with me. And Lynn and Xin have been all chummy so far.”

“Fair enough. Do you think your mom is going to be okay tonight?”

Piper sighed wearily, “I really hope so, but she’s going to do whatever she’s going to do, and nothing I say is going to dissuade her.”

“Well, want to do that exploring we didn’t do last night?”

Piper nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Any place in particular you want to start?”

Heather nodded. “Yeah, the lobby. I’ll explain on the way.”