And I had you dance out on the railroad tracks, to find out you ain't coming back

“…So, let me get this straight.” Dani rubbed her temples and exhaled a sharp breath of air out of her nose.

“Dani getting things straight? Can’t imagine,” Holly teased from the sidelines.

Mary shot her a look.

Dani raised her head and looked at Cinder, who was squirming nervously on the couch. She had a very complicated expression on her face- it looked like a mixture of Ella’s usual trepidation and nervousness but with plenty of Cinder’s natural hostility bleeding through. If Nick didn’t know any better, he’d think that she really was Ella right now.

But it was Cinder looking up at Dani, chewing impatiently on her lip as Nick, Dawn, and Sylvia took turns explaining the situation to the tomboy.

“…Because of the punishment transformation you’re stuck with, you’re blaming yourself, I get that part,” Dani said, slowly working through the situation as best she could. “But, after putting up a huge fuss with Nick, you’ve now decided… what? That you’re willing to have sex with him now?”

Cinder blanched and her mouth morphed into a screaming visage of silence. “WHAT?!” She roared, leaping to her feet. She balled up her hands into fists. “NO! That’s NOT what I-yaaaggh!”

A burst of pleasure shot through her body in response to her hostility and she stumbled back, landing on her butt and quivering with ecstasy. Her face slackened and the rage drained away from her expression as her eyes rolled back up into her head.

Dani didn’t know what to make of what she was seeing right now. She just stared at the other girl until Cinder regained her senses.

“No, that… that’s…” Cinder rubbed her forehead and groaned. “That’s not… what… what I… …What I meant,” she mumbled. “It’s not, I just… I… I’ve…”

She was still in a bit of a daze. And this wasn’t exactly something that was easy for her to admit even in the best of times. She raised her head weakly and looked up at Dani, who was giving her a considerate look back in response.

Cinder bit her lip and hung her head.

“…I don’t want Ella to have to go through this because of my mistake,” she mumbled out. “Okay? It’s not… it’s not fair to her. To have to suffer for something I did.”

Dawn kept her mouth shut, but she was pretty sure that Ella wouldn’t consider this situation to be suffering. She wouldn’t be thrilled about it, and would definitely be very embarrassed to be subjected to that much direct pleasure in front of everyone, but she didn’t have her alter’s hangups about sexual pleasure.

But she figured that Cinder didn’t need to hear that right now, so she didn’t say anything.

“Okay, okay, sure,” Dani nodded. “So… what? You want… to have sex with Nick, then?”

“NO!” Cinder objected again. “Why do you keep going there!?”

“I don’t know, where am I supposed to go, huh?!” Dani asked. She was really starting to get annoyed with the other girl. This whole thing was supposed to be HER night with Nick (not that she really cared about that) and instead of chilling out in the Master’s Suite and playing video games or something fun like that, she was forced to wade through Cinder and Ella’s emotional drama, which she did NOT sign up for.

Sylvia, sensing an opportunity, stepped forward and held up her hands. “Listen, listen, my girls, as the only person here who has actual experience as a therapist-”

“Sylvia, shut up.”

Sylvia shut her mouth and decided that she didn’t want to argue with Dani, either.

“I don’t want to have sex with him!” Cinder screeched. Her face was practically on fire at this point. “B-but… but… I-I need to get this collar off of me before Ella takes over again…”

She tugged at the collar around her neck in irritation and started grinding her teeth. “It’s not fair, I just… I don’t… I don’t know what to do!”

If there was one thing Cinder didn’t want to come from this, it was for Ella to surface while this collar was still fastened around her neck. Thankfully, she couldn’t feel the pressure of her other self at the moment, but that was a cold comfort given what she was going through at the moment.

Simple put, Cinder felt trapped. And she didn’t like feeling trapped. In fact, she hated it.

But there was only one way she could think of to get out of it.

“I don’t… I’m not used to this sort of thing,” she mumbled, her face ablaze. “Every time I get angry or think about hurting someone, this damn thing triggers, and it’s so severe I can barely stay standing! B-but… if, if I… if I, uh… take care of things… another way, then maybe…”

It was a difficult statement to put forward. Especially because Cinder would basically be confessing to a desire to… …Achieve orgasm.

Which was a pretty blunt way to put it.

“…So, in summary, you want to cum, so you can get the collar off, but you don’t want orgasms so intense that you cum your brains out, did I get that right?” Sylvia asked, ignoring Dani’s previous request to shut up and stop talking.

Cinder’s mouth fell open and her eyes bulged out behind her bangs. She stared furiously at Sylvia and balled up her hands into fists again.

“…I never did thank you for locking me in that bathroom,” she growled at the other girl.

Sylvia batted her eyelashes innocently.

“Sylvia, settle down,” Nick said, putting his arm in front of her to keep her back. “Leave Cinder alone, this is tough enough for her without your teasing.”

“I was just trying to help!” Sylvia protested. She lowered her head. “But… okay, Daddy, I’ll let you handle things.”

She winked at him. “Do your best, okay?”

Nick frowned. He had the distinct feeling that Sylvia had just tricked him into something, and he didn’t like it. He turned around and looked at Cinder, who was giving him a sulky stare.

“What?” She spat. “Got something to say?”

There were a lot of things he could say. Some of them might even be appreciated by the woman in front of him.

“…I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable,” he told her. “So, please, whatever you need, just let us know, alright?”

“Exactly!” Mary nodded enthusiastically. “I feel the same way!”

“Yeah, same here,” Holly said with a grin. “If it’s about fighting off orgasms, then I’m the expert on the subject.”

“Holly, just… could you not? Please?” Dani sighed in exasperation. She turned to Cinder again. “…Look, I think what you’re asking for is if you can tag along tonight, and, uh… …Join in?”

“Rrrggh…” Cinder didn’t like it being put that way. But when you stripped away all of her couched explanations and justifications, that was fundamentally what she was asking. Annoyed, she bobbed her head up and down.

“Well… we can help with that,” Dani said, looking to Nick. “If you’re really okay with this, I mean. With Nick.”

“It’s not like I want this, either!” Cinder exclaimed. “But… it’s the only way, the only way I can… I can… …Control things.”

What Cinder wanted most right now was to be in control. The collar had taken away her control over her body’s responses, and she couldn’t stand it. So, if she could, she wanted Nick to let her be in control in some way.

But she couldn’t bring herself to ask for it, even though she knew that he would probably grant it for her without blinking.

Just knowing that was enough to burn her up.

“…What do I need to do?” She finally muttered out. “What do I need to do so that I can get this stupid thing off me before Ella gets back in control?”

Nick knew that he had to be very careful with this. He slowly approached the couch, and paused when he saw Cinder stiffen up. But a few seconds later she relaxed and averted her eyes, and he sat down next to her.

“Cinder, look at me,” he urged her.

She shook her head firmly. “No!” She sounded just like a petulant child. “Whatever you’re going to do to me, I don’t want to see it!”

Nick sighed. “I’m not going to… do anything to you, Cinder.”

She snapped her head around and looked at him with wide eyes. “What the fuck!?” She screeched. “You’re not?! Then what’s the fucking point!?”

“I think the point is for you to do whatever you feel comfortable with,” Dawn said. She moved closer to the couch, watching intently from behind her glasses. “He doesn’t want to force you into anything, okay? He wouldn’t do that.”

Cinder chewed on her lip, her frustration evident on her face. “But… I’ve never done anything like this before,” she muttered. “I don’t… I don’t even know where to start!”

She could, in theory, handle her body herself, through masturbation. But Cinder felt like doing that would be even more humiliating than taking part in something like this. She doubted that she could pleasure herself enough to get the collar off.

And she doubted that Echo would be satisfied with it, either.

“Knowing Echo, I doubt that this collar is going to come off with just some arbitrary threshold of orgasms,” Dawn theorized, studying the metal collar encasing Cinder’s throat. “No, she’s probably going to keep it on until you show her that you’re willing to comply with her demands. Does that make sense to you?”

Cinder hated how much that made sense to her. Yes, it was EXACTLY like that bitch Echo to not let her masturbate the collar off of herself- she would want to make sure that Echo either got those orgasms by Nick’s hands, or until she shook herself silly through punishing shocks.

Between those two choices, it was hard for her to say which one was worse. But she’d made her decision now.

“…So, wait, does that mean Cinder is going to stay the night?” Mary suddenly asked.

Dani shrugged. “Uh, yeah, I guess so,” she admitted. “…And in that case, we should probably get dinner ready, huh?”

She and Mary had already finished cooking, and had been ready to come out and serve the others before they’d been forced to deal with this mess.

“I… do I… …No, I have to, don’t I?” Cinder muttered, hanging her head. There was no getting around it. If she wanted a chance of getting this collar off of her before morning, she’d need to spend the night and have as many orgasms as she could force out of her body.

Whether she liked it or not.

“Hmm… so the question becomes whether I should stay or not…” Sylvia pretended to think it over, tapping her lips. “…I think this is about the time I should excuse myself,” she decided.

As much as she would have liked to join in on the “almost-definitely-an-orgy” that was going to start after dinner, she knew that would just make everybody uncomfortable. And if Cinder was going to have any chance of actually getting that collar off of her neck, she’d need to be able to relax.

And her Daddy wouldn’t want her there anyway. At least, not yet. So, with a spring in her step, she flounced to the door and slipped out right before curfew began.

Cinder’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched the golden grandfather clock. It kept ticking, ticking, ticking, until…

“GONG! GOOOONNNNGGGG!”

The hour bell chiming felt like a strike to her chest. There was no going back now. Cinder was going to be here for the rest of the night. And that meant she was now a willing participant in whatever depraved sexual acts Nick and his harem would be getting up to!

Her chest burned in immediate regret. She couldn’t properly describe the emotions she was feeling, but she knew it had to be disgust.

She didn’t want this! She was being coerced! That was why her cheeks were burning and her heart was pounding, there was no other explanation that she would accept!

Any feelings of excitement that she might be experiencing right now? Those belonged to Ella, not to her! No way!

Cinder would never accept that. And yet, her body felt hot in spite of her insistence, in spite of what she knew- and wanted- to be true.

A bitter feeling welled up in her chest as she looked at Nick, like she wanted something from him. But what could she possibly want from a guy like that?

She was too afraid of the answer to that question to properly express herself. Seething, she just lowered her head.

Almost like she was apologizing.

“…I’m hungry,” she managed to let out, looking up at him. “Can… can we eat?”

Nick saw just how badly Cinder wanted to avoid the situation she was in. Not sure what else he should do, he nodded, and helped her to her feet.

He was actually surprised when she accepted his hand without pulling away from him, he didn’t expect that from her.

They walked to the dinner table without a single word, and all Nick could do was hope that her silence was a good sign, and not a bad one.

Cinder didn’t engage much through the dinner. And her presence created an awkward tension in the air that Dani didn’t appreciate.

This was a meal that she’d worked hard on! And all Cinder was doing was picking at her plate with her fork, obviously too unsettled to even bother trying it!

“…Okay, can I just say something?” Dani asked, setting her fork down and raising her head. The impatient tone in her voice startled Nick and Dawn, but Cinder just tuned her out. Even though she was the one Dani was leering at.

Sighing, Dani continued, “I put a lot of work into this meal, you know,” she pointed out. “I cut up the steak tips and potatoes myself, and Mary here washed the string beans. We really did our best to make it taste good!”

“And it does taste good,” Mary said. But she knew that wasn’t what Dani was driving at.

The tomboy shook her head. “So, what do you think, Cinder?” She asked, looking at the dull-eyed girl. Do you like it?”

Cinder twitched. She’d been hoping to keep her head down and not draw attention to herself, but that seemed to have had the opposite result.

With reluctance, she jabbed the tines of her fork into a chunk of steak and popped it into her mouth. She chewed slowly as a burst of delicious flavor flooded her mouth.

Even though she was trying to keep her composure, she found herself enjoying the food a lot. “…It does taste good,” she admitted, looking sheepishly up at Dani.

Dani was surprised to hear that. A direct compliment from Cinder? It caught her so off-guard that she didn’t know what to make of it for a second. With wide eyes, she looked at the other girl, and fell silent herself.

“…Well, uh… …Thank you,” she mumbled, smiling a little. The praise had shaken her out of her anger, and she just went back to her meal.

“I-I really like the potatoes!” Dawn cut in, not wanting things to return to an awkward silence. “They’re delicious! And the sauce is really good, too, don’t you agree, Nick?”

“Yeah, it is,” Nick said, catching onto what Dawn was getting to. “This is portobello, right?”

“…Yeah, that’s right,” Dani said, taking a sip of wine. Mary might not have been able to indulge, but she certainly could.

“Don’t fill up on your dinner,” Holly chirped. “Make sure you guys save room for dessert!”

Everybody looked at her. Nobody knew for sure what to make of her declaration.

Holly looked around the table and scowled. “…What?” She pouted. “I meant an actual dessert! I baked cookies! Chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin!”

“Aww, thank you, Holly!” Mary chirped. “That’s so sweet!”

“I could go for some cookies,” Dani agreed. She glanced over at Cinder and saw that she was still picking at her food. “Cinder? What about you? Do you like chocolate chip cookies?” She knew it was unlikely that Cinder would like oatmeal raisin flavor.

“They’re fine,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Look, do you really care about my opinion about the food?” She snapped. “It’s fine, okay?!”

“Yes, I really do,” Dani said gently. “I care about your opinion, Cinder, even if you’re just going to be complaining.”

Cinder clenched her teeth. She didn’t have anything to say to that, so she just jammed her fork into another chunk of steak and started devouring her food. If Dani was going to be like that, then who cares?! She certainly didn’t! She’d eat her fill until she got sick!

…Well, not really. She didn’t want to puke and ruin the whole evening.

Then, she spotted the wine glass.

“…Give me that,” she said, grabbing the bottle and filling the glass up to the top.

The table fell silent.

“…Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mary asked quietly. “Having wine?”

Nick didn’t think it was. Cinder was a handful enough as it was, but intoxicated?

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything, though, knowing what Cinder was going through right now. She was probably intending to get drunk in order to suppress her negative feelings.

“I’m an adult!” Cinder snapped before anyone could say anything else. She wasn’t about to humor any suggestions that she not drink. “I’m 21 years old! That means I can drink alcohol if I want!”

Then she took the glass and tilted her head back, and drained the glass dry.

The table watched in shock.

“Uh… okay, uh… you go, girl,” Dawn said, trying to present her support for Cinder as best as she could, even though she was just as apprehensive as everyone else.

Holly whistled.

Cinder wiped her lips and slumped forward. She had a tired gaze in her eyes, and she let out a tiny burp and a hiccup. “…Okay, that… that was stronger than I thought,” she mumbled, reaching for the bottle again. “But I can handle myself!”

Nick wasn’t so sure about that. He knew that Cinder and Ella had a complicated relationship with their consumption, and he wasn’t thrilled about it.

“Delicious,” he said, nodding. “Just be careful.”

“I’m always careful!” Cinder snapped as she filled up another glass almost completely out of spite for Nick’s worries.

Nick tried not to let it bother him, and just hoped that she wouldn’t mess up the rest of the night with her drinking. Hopefully, she’d listen when he tried to cut her off. But he really doubted it, knowing how Cinder could be.