And I guess it makes a whole lot more sense now

There was a tense atmosphere around the dinner table. Nick and Dawn were hyperfocused on Cinder at the moment.

“Ugh… I hate the taste of alcohol,” the latina muttered, rubbing her forehead in frustration. “I feel like I’m going to throw up…” Her cheeks were flushed darker than usual, an even deeper blush than she’d had in the bathroom. And her eyes were a little glassy and unfocused.

Dawn was immediately on edge, because she knew that was a very real possibility when it came to Cinder. She glanced over at Nick, who looked tense as well, but when their eyes met, he relaxed slightly and nodded.

“Maybe you should stop, then,” he suggested. “If you don’t like the flavor.”

Cinder shot him a look. Indignation etched itself across her face, and she reached for the wine bottle again just to spite him.

Dani’s hand snapped out and grabbed her by the wrist. “Okay, that’s enough for you,” she said sternly, narrowing her eyes.

Cinder scowled. She shot an intense glare at the tomboy, and tried to pull her hand free. But Dani’s grip was much tighter than she could break.

“…What hypocrisy,” she spat, shaking her head in disdain. “I can’t use violence without getting a collar over my neck. But you get to just grab my wrist and squeeze like this without Echo saying anything? How is that fair?” She taunted Dani.

But Dani didn’t take the bait. “Cinder, if you’re going to take part in what happens tonight, you need to stop drinking,” she said sternly. “If you’re too intoxicated, Nick won’t be able to properly obtain your consent. And that’s already on shaky grounds as it is.”

Everyone at the table knew that Cinder was far from a willing participant in this. If it wasn’t for the collar and her need for orgasms, she wouldn’t be anywhere near Nick’s bedroom. That was reason enough for Nick to be hesitant about what was going to happen, but he was willing to give her some grace.

But if she was drunk on top of that?

“So, you’ve never gotten intoxicated to make a bad situation more tolerable?” Cinder prompted the tomboy.

“Have you?” Dani asked right back.

Cinder’s eye twitched. Her lips twisted into another irritated scowl and she shook her head. “Never fucking mind,” she muttered, lowering her head. “Fine, I won’t drink anymore!”

She shook her head, and it looked like her eyes were swimming in her skull. “I think it’s already working plenty well as it is…”

“…Who wants cookies?” Holly jumped to her feet. “I think now’s as good a time as any for dessert! Nick, can you come help me?”

Nick took his eyes off Cinder for a moment and turned to Holly. The insistence of her stare gave him pause. His eyes slid over to Mary, and she nodded hesitantly.

One more glance over to Holly sealed the deal.

“…Yeah, maybe that’s a good idea,” he said, standing up and giving the table some room to breathe. He followed Holly into the kitchen, and as he expected, she hadn’t brought him here to talk about carrying out the cookies.

Holly turned on him the second the door slammed shut.

“You can’t have sex with Cinder tonight,” she said firmly.

Nick was expecting to have a conversation like this. But he wasn’t expecting the conversation partner to be Holly, of all people.

“I’m serious, Nick,” Holly said, shaking her head. Her eyes had a fierceness to them that Nick seldom saw from her these days. “She’s drunk as shit! And not only that, she didn’t want to take part in this in the first place! You saw how she was earlier. If it wasn’t for that collar, she would have been right out that door on Sylvia’s heels the second Echo let her leave!”

“Yeah, I know that,” Nick said, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. He paced back and forth through the kitchen, trying to figure out what to say and how to explain himself. “But what do you want me to do? It’s not like she’s going to take no for an answer here! Am I supposed to just turn her down? How’s that going to work?”

Holly groaned. That was the annoying part. “Well… look, I can understand the argument that because we’re on Harem Hotel, none of us started out in a position to give our full-throttled consent. So I understand that perspective.”

“You should,” Nick said, raising his eyebrow. “You were one of the people who argued that point with me, or have we forgotten?”

Holly cracked a lopsided grin. “…Boy, I was really high and mighty about this whole thing back then, wasn’t I?” She joked, and then she shook her head. “…But I’m still right about this. Maybe if it was JUST the collar, but the collar AND wine? She’s using it to dull the pain, she said it herself! Because she doesn’t want to do this, and is just trying to make it as easy on herself as possible!”

Nick was happy that Holly was arguing with him about this. Everything she said, he agreed completely. It reminded him of the long conversations that they used to have.

But…

“…What do I do, then? It’s not like we can kick her out of the room,” he reminded her, drawing the conversation back to his previous point.

Holly may have been correct when she said that Cinder didn’t want to have sex with him. The problem was, Cinder didn’t care about that herself. Given her hostility and her attitude, Nick had no idea HOW tonight was going to go.

And if he told her he changed his mind, that would probably blow up in his face, more likely than not. He didn’t like the situation, but he felt stuck.

Holly bit her lip. She felt just as stuck as him.

“…I wish I knew what to tell you,” she said with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “But… I don’t. I just… hate this situation so much!” She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled in irritation. “This whole thing-! Sex is supposed to be wonderful, something that people take pleasure in, and that stupid collar ruined it!”

Before she saw the effect that the collar had on Cinder, she’d actually thought it was an amazing “punishment” transformation. But now, seeing Cinder’s reaction, she realized just how insidious it really was.

And she hated it.

Nick sighed. “All we can do is try to make the best out of this shitty situation,” he told her. “It’s not going to be easy, but-”

“Oh, yeah, no,” Holly interrupted him with a shake of her head, “we are WELL past the point of things not being easy.”

That was the understatement of the evening, to say the least.

“…So, what do you think I should do?” Nick asked. Holly may have been the one and only person in his life he could actually have this conversation with. For as much as she loved sex and embraced the sexual side of herself, underneath the boundary-pushing and the lasciviousness she was still an earnest and well-meaning woman who would immediately and fiercely stand up to defend people, and call him out when he deserved it.

If he was going to go to anyone in his harem about his fears about going too far and pushing boundaries with another girl, Holly’s name was at the top of that list.

But unfortunately, Holly didn’t seem to have a much better idea of what to do than he did at the moment. She scrunched up her face and then sighed. “…I really wish I could tell you,” she said, shaking her head. “But I think the first thing we need to do is get a track on how she’s doing when we come out of the kitchen. If she’s so intoxicated that she can’t even stand up straight? Right to bed with her. If not, well… we’ll reassess.”

She narrowed her eyes. “But I think we can both agree that she’s not in any position to go all the way with you.”

As much as Holly’s inner (and outer) pervert got off on the idea of a collared woman being forced to have sex with Nick under duress, the part of her that could separate reality from fantasy (small as it may have been) found the situation repugnant.

Nick’s first time with Cinder (and Ella) should be meaningful. Something that held the space for the troubled girl to fully and completely explore her own sexuality in a way that she was comfortable with, and that wouldn’t scare her off or damage her even more.

Sex was something to be cherished in Holly’s eyes- doing things like this just left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she couldn’t stand it!

Nick was so relieved to see how Holly was handling this whole thing. “Thank you,” he said, taking her hand and squeezing it. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips that made her yelp. “I’m glad I’ve got you in my corner.”

“Y-yeah, well… of course!” Holly’s face was burning, and she tried to pretend like what just happened wasn’t all that big of a deal. “I’m, well, I’m always here for you, Nick, there’s no doubt about that! So… you just go and do whatever you think is right, and I’ll back you up! Every time!” She assured him, crossing her arms over her chest while her face glowed like a ripe strawberry.

Nick laughed. It was nice to know that he could still do that even in a situation like this one.

“…Okay, let’s bring these cookies out there,” Nick said. Holly had even gone to the trouble of taking them off the baking sheet and putting them on two separate trays, varying by type. He picked up one and she grabbed the other, and the two of them headed back to the common area.

Things were quiet at the table when they returned. That could have been a good sign, or a very bad one. Nick wasn’t sure which.

Not until he saw Cinder turn her head.

“…Well, hello there,” she said, leaning back in her seat and pressing her lips together into a smile. Her eyes had lost their glassy sheen, and she was now staring at him with a razor-tight focus as she rose to her feet and sauntered over to him with a sway in her step.

Nick was immediately on edge. He didn’t know whether or not he should be concerned about Cinder coming over to him, all he knew was that he couldn’t do anything about it while he was still holding a tray of cookies.

He tried to ignore the girl’s approach and look over at the table. Mary’s brow was furrowed with concern, which wasn’t unusual, and Dani was concerned as well, in her own “slightly-angry-but-mostly-worried” way. Dawn was the real signal, though. Her tense, confused look told Nick that whatever was happening hadn’t been anticipated by any of them.

Which wasn’t the best sign.

“Hey, uh… Cinder, you feeling better?” He asked, trying to maneuver around her to go put the cookies down.

Cinder’s breath hitched slightly and she stepped aside to let him pass. “…I’m feeling just fine,” she coolly replied, looking at him through lidded eyes. “Nothing to worry about on my part, Nick…”

She pressed her lips together into a tight smile and fluttered her eyelashes. Again, Nick felt a distinct need to be worried, no matter what she said.

He didn’t push the issue, though. At least, not yet. He set his tray down on the table and turned back towards her, only to find that she had followed him and now she was looking up at him directly, less than a foot away.

Nick couldn’t help himself. His eyes dropped to her hands, just to check and make sure that she wasn’t holding a knife. Fortunately, they were both in plain sight, completely empty.

Yay. Small miracles.

That still didn’t tell him what exactly Cinder was plotting at here. Nick wasn’t an idiot- he suspected that her behavior wasn’t entirely natural and normal. No, there was something she wasn’t telling him, something she was holding back.

But what was it?

This wasn’t really how Cinder acted when she was drunk, right? If Nick didn’t know any better, he’d think she was being flirtatious- or even downright seductive.

That notion was absurd on its face.

“Okay, Cinder, what’s going on?” Nick narrowed his eyes and studied her closely. “I don’t think you just suddenly decided to start being nice to me.”

“Nice to you?” Cinder narrowed her eyes. “How exactly am I being ‘nice’ to you?” She asked with a purr in her voice.

She poked him in the chest. “I’m just… doing what I want to do, that’s all.”

Then she hiccuped.

Nick looked over at Holly and their eyes met. He saw the warning in her gaze and understood that she was just as concerned about what was going on as he was, considering their conversation earlier.

With Cinder, it was difficult to get a grasp of what exactly she was feeling, unfortunately, and Nick didn’t want to push things.

So, he did what came naturally for him at this point, and deferred away from her.

“Cinder,” he said, moving away from the table and putting some space between the two of them, “I’m glad you’re in a better mood now.” He was careful to phrase his statements in a way that wouldn’t run the risk of upsetting her. He couldn’t miss how she kept following him with her eyes even if her body remained where it was.

It was a little unnerving.

Cinder’s lips curled up into a smirk and she narrowed her eyes at him. “There’s nothing to be alarmed about,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I’m in a much better mood.”

“How about we all sit down and have some cookies?” Mary desperately threw out, wanting to put a stop to whatever “this” was. “They’re really much better when they’re hot, aren’t they, Holly?”

Holly blinked, returning to reality. “O-oh, yeah, that’s right, they totally are,” she stammered out, calming down when she saw that Nick was no longer in danger. Mostly. “Cinder? What do you think? You said you like cookies, right?”

Cinder kept her eyes trained on Nick the entire time. “…That’s right,” she said, nodding slowly and returning to her seat without taking her eyes off him for a second. She didn’t even blink. “I like cookies just fine.”

If Nick thought he could breathe easy now that she’d taken her seat again, he was in for a rude awakening. Cinder kept her eyes trained on him as she carefully removed a cookie from the platter, and brought it up to her lips.

Then, maintaining eye contact the whole time, she snapped the cookie in half. Then she broke the pieces in half again, and the remaining chunks slowly dribbled down into crumbs on her plate.

Nick gulped. It felt like she was threatening him, but a threat using cookies? He honestly didn’t know how to respond to that.

“My favorite cookies are chocolate chip,” Cinder said, digging through the chunks of cookie crumble on her plate. She pinched one of the more sizable pieces and popped it into her mouth. “Dawn, do you have any favorite kinds of cookie?”

Even though she was talking to Dawn, she was still staring at Nick. So it took the cat girl a couple seconds to process that she was being addressed.

“…Oh, uh, y-yeah,” Dawn mumbled out, nodding. “I-I really like cookies with nuts in them, so… yeah, that’s… a thing.”

“I know what else she likes that has nut in it,” Holly couldn’t help but blurting out, recalling their previous dinner with Rose.

Mary kicked her lightly under the table. “Excuse me?”

“…Right, well, anyway, macadamia chip is my favorite flavor,” Dawn said, very confused and weirded out by this strange conversation topic as Cinder nibbled on the chunks of cookie like a little hamster devouring seeds.

Nuts. Seeds. Holly was putting weird images in her mind now, just great.

“These cookies are really great, Holly,” Cinder said, cleaning off her plate. “…What? No one else gonna have any?” She finally took her eyes off of Nick to look all around the table at the others, who were so confused by Cinder’s behavior that they didn’t even attempt to try any of Holly’s cookies themselves. Not even Holly had taken one.

But once she put it out there, they suddenly couldn’t get enough of them. All the girls grabbed cookies, mostly the chocolate chip ones, though Dawn preferred oatmeal raisin.

Only Nick was hesitant to grab a cookie of his own. And that was because Cinder had returned her gaze to him from across the table.

“Not gonna have a cookie, Nick?” Cinder asked, a mocking tone in her voice. She grabbed another cookie from the tray and crumbled it up into pieces again. “That’s rather rude, don’t you think? Holly put a lot of effort into making these.”

Holly wanted to tell Nick not to bother for her sake, but she wasn’t sure if interrupting (or contradicting) Cinder would go over well with the girl.

Right now, she didn’t feel comfortable doing anything other than sitting back and waiting. Fortunately, that was something Holly had a lot of experience with.

She glanced at Nick, and worried that he was going to be bothered. But he was actually holding up very well under Cinder’s mocking smile.

“…You’re right,” Nick agreed, reaching out for a cookie. “I should really have a couple of these to try for myself, huh?”

Cinder waited until Nick extended his hand across the table.

Then she stood up quickly and darted around the other girls, until she reached his seat. She pushed her face right up towards his, and Nick recoiled in surprise.

“I hope you like them,” she whispered into his ear, freezing his blood in his veins. She licked her lips playfully and pulled back, clasping her hands behind her back.

“They’re very… sweet.”

“Cinder, what’s going on?” Holly couldn’t take it anymore. She didn’t want her cookies to be used against Nick like that. “Why are you acting so-”

“Acting like what?” Cinder snapped her head around and glared coldly at the shorter girl, freezing Holly’s voice in her throat.

Holly scowled at her.

“…Acting like you’re trying to mess Nick up,” she said. “He’s just trying to be nice to you and have a good night tonight.”

“Well, good!” Cinder chirped, tilting her head to the side and flashing a smile that was so fake that if it was a breast it would look like a beach ball. “That’s what I want tonight, too!”

Nick believed her. And yet… he couldn’t help but feel unsettled. Especially because Cinder placed her hand over his and squeezed it tightly. He felt her hot breath in his ear and shivered.

Whatever was going on with Cinder… he felt like this was just the tip of the iceberg.