You came into my heart, so tenderly

Dani was cursing to herself as she stormed up to the Master’s Suite. She knocked on the door, and Holly poked her head up.

“Dani… just finished showering?” The petite woman asked, glancing over Dani’s figure. She’d been in such a hurry to get up here that she hadn’t even bothered fully toweling off; her clothes clung to her wet frame and her hair was still dripping.

“Is Nick here?” Dani asked, rolling her eyes.

Holly’s own eyes widened when she heard that, and she gasped, touching her hand to her mouth. “Oh my gosh! Is this…? No! A booty call?! You?! Finally!”

“No!” Dani exclaimed, her complexion turning flush with equal parts embarrassment and rage. “This isn’t a booty call! I’m trying to find that idiot because I feel really crummy, and I need him to comfort me, damn it!”

Holly snickered, shying away from Dani a little bit. “Sorry, but… master isn’t here right now. He hasn’t been back all morning, didn’t you see him at breakfast?”

Dani scowled. She’d been afraid of that. This was one of those times when she wished Nick was a little bit more like he used to be, staying cooped up in his room like any decent introvert should.

“Do you know where I can find him?” She sighed in exasperation.

Holly shook her head. “Good luck, though,” she said, slowly closing the door. Then she swung it open as Dani turned to leave.

“Oh! I almost forgot! Mary wants to hold today’s cooking class in about an hour! You’re gonna be there, right?”

“Try my best,” Dani grumbled. Then a realization hit her. “Oh, wait! Thanks, Holly, you’re a genius!”

Holly smiled a dazzling smile. “I know,” she beamed. Dani turned and headed out, knowing who Nick was probably with- the only question would be where they would go.

Dani hadn’t needed to look that far, not that she’d bothered to check. Because Mary was busy anointing her bedroom sheets with her new husband.

“Hah… that… was great…” Her naked skin was practically glowing as she stared up at the ceiling, flushed as red as the furnishings of the southern room.

“I’m surprised,” Nick said, turning over beside her to look at her in profile. She really was lovely. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I didn’t expect that you’d be so full of energy like that, at this hour of the day… it’s barely even lunchtime.”

After his confrontation with Dakota, he’d been rather shaken. So the first thing he did was talk to someone he knew he could confide in. The woman he loved, who would help him deal with his troubles with an open and honest heart.

Hearing what the two of them said to each other had moved Mary to tears. Then, she was happy to do her part to make him feel better, as a “good wife” should for her husband.

Mary turned back to him and batted her eyelashes innocently. “I just couldn’t help myself,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her belly. “What if last time didn’t take? We have to make sure, after all… it could be a hundred times before your seed takes root.”

Nick’s heart flipflopped, hearing that. The way Mary was so eager about having his children… it was just slightly insane.

But there was a lot of insane going around, and he was perfectly happy to embrace this part of it. He grinned, sat up, and kissed her on the lips this time.

“So what I’m saying is that you want to make sure again?” He asked.

Mary laughed incredulously. “I have a cooking class in like… oh, gosh, an hour!”

Nick blinked. “Oh. Well… that’s not nearly enough time at all, then,” he said, sounding a little disappointed.

Mary grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down, practically burying her face into his lips.

“I know…” She panted, tearing away from him. “That’s barely three more tries, if we’re lucky.”

Nick was fine with that math. But in the back of his mind, he was still thinking about what Dakota had said before. That outburst she’d made, about Nick questioning his own happiness.

Did she have a point about his hypocrisy after all?

Dani was growing increasingly frustrated that she wasn’t able to find Nick.

Knowing that Sylvia wasn’t mad at her should have kept her transformation from bothering her that much… but it still did. It felt twisted. She could understand, intellectually, that the matter was settled; she’d done a dumb thing, apologized, and the person she’d victimized hadn’t even been bothered by it in the first place.

But she was still unsettled in an emotional sense; and Nick was the only person who could re-settle her feelings.

What a pain in the butt.

“Oh, it’s Dani! Bonjour!”

Dani heard Rose’s familiar French accent and sighed. She turned, and then froze when she saw that the blonde wasn’t alone. She’d brought Carly and Marley with her, and while Marley looked pensively exasperated, her sister…

Carly looked just as stunned with awkwardness as Dani.

“Hello!” Rose greeted the tomboy with a chirp, not at all fazed by the awkward atmosphere in the hallway. “Everything okay? You seem kind of distracted.”

“Uh… yeah,” Dani said, glancing away from Carly. Her friend was dressed up in a particularly-alluring style of fashion this time, clad entirely in black leather with a long leather coat. It looked like she’d stepped out of some dystopian sci-fi movie, and her slicked-back short dark brown hair only furthered that image.

Oh! She’s Trinity, from the Matrix, Dani realized, only to then realize that her attention had, for the second time in less than a minute, slipped back to the cosplayer and not the woman who was actually talking to her.

Rose didn’t seem bothered by that, though. If anything, she was amused.

“Hello?” She snapped her fingers in front of Dani’s face a few times. “You good there, Dani? Back to earth now? Or… wherever this place is?”

Dani frowned. “Yeah, I’m fine. What’s up?”

She wasn’t exactly fine, and anyone with eyes could see it. Carly frowned.

Rose didn’t seem to mind, though. She was more asking just out of curiosity. Although she’d been Dani’s buddy for the previous round, she didn’t have any qualms about jumping to a new bed the second the opportunity presented itself- after all, it was just the way the game worked.

“I was just telling Carly and Marley here, that they might have fun tagging along to Mary’s cooking class,” Rose explained. “What do you think? That sound like a fun event?”

“Riveting,” Carly grimaced. Her unpleasant expression only lasted for a few seconds, though, before she **** a smile back to her face. “Look, I’m just… not that big on cooking, you know? I’ve got other stuff to do.”

“I wasn’t either,” Dani said, a little louder than necessary. She was **** to get things to a more natural tone between her and Carly; they’d been a little awkward and uncomfortable ever since their blow-up in yesterday’s challenge.

Now, it was like Carly couldn’t even look her in the eye.

Wait… maybe she could use this.

“Actually, I’m looking for Nick for something,” she confessed.

Rose’s expression brightened. “Oh, a booty call?”

Carly’s head snapped towards Rose and her mouth fell open. Marley kind of half-gasped half-snickered, and Dani herself…

Her eye twitched.

“…No,” she seethed. “NOT a booty call. Why does everyone think that’s the only reason I could be looking for him!?”

“Uh… because you never look for him,” Rose pointed out. “You hardly even talk to him. So I don’t think any of us really know why you would be doing so now. …Plus, it’s really fun to tease you sometimes.”

Dani narrowed her eyes into an icy glare. “Well, don’t,” she said. “There’s been enough teasing and pranks going around here as it is.”

Rose just shrugged noncommittally.

“And besides, you’re wrong,” Dani continued. “Nick and I, we hang out all the time! I’m, like, his best friend. So it’s totally normal for me to be asking him to hang out.”

Rose nodded, barely able to keep a straight face. “Yeah, definitely,” she said, holding her hand over her mouth to keep her amused smirk from showing.

Dani scowled.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She demanded. “We do hang out! It’s normal! I just… you know, haven’t done it in a while.”

Every word she spoke felt like she was digging her own grave deeper. “…Well, I mean… so… okay, so what if I have a reason for looking for him? I could always go hang out with him just because! Not because I have a reason, but because we’re friends! I don’t need… a reason.”

She realized that maybe she was talking a bit too much. Her cheeks flushed and she looked down, a sour expression on her face.

Okay, so… Nick and I are friends. But… I haven’t been hanging out with him like a friend should. That’s… okay… isn’t that exactly what happened before?

A familiar murky feeling welled up in her stomach.

No, no way! She suddenly shook her head, startling the other girls. She was shaking her head so vigorously Carly was afraid she might tear it off!

“Dani, are you okay!?” She cried worriedly.

“I-I… I just… I need to talk to Nick,” she stammered. Now there were two intrusive thoughts digging into her skull. “This is important! Do you have any idea where he is?”

“Sorry, we haven’t seen him since we left breakfast,” Rose said, shaking her head. “We wanted to go set up some shots for Carly to take some cool pictures tonight, against the sunset… you want to come to that, maybe?”

“Yeah, sure, maybe,” Dani said, not committing to anything at the moment. Unlike the issue with Sylvia that had mostly resolved, this was a problem that she actually needed to fix for herself. “I just… I need to see Nick, as soon as possible.”

“I know where he is.”

Everyone turned, surprised, to see Gina leaning against the wall with a scowl on her face.

“Gina? What’s up? You know where Nick is?” Carly asked curiously.

“…I got an idea, yeah,” Gina nodded, already walking back her previous declaration. “Thing is, though… he’s a little… busy.”

Dani narrowed her eyes. “…Busy how?”

A twisted, amused smirk spread across Gina’s lips. “Let’s just say that he and Mary told me not to come back to my bedroom until after the cooking class was over…”

It took a minute for that to settle.

Everyone knew exactly what she was talking about, but… it was Mary. The thought that the pure and sweet redhead would kick someone out of her bedroom to bang Nick until the clock turned to afternoon was a little…

Yeah.

“Whoa,” Rose whistled. “Way to go, red.”

“I didn’t think she had it in her, honestly,” Carly said, cracking a grin.

“I’m surprised myself,” Gina nodded. “With how much I sucked him dry this morning, I’d have thought that he-”

“Okay, I think that’s enough!” Dani exclaimed. Her face turned red. “This… you guys, this doesn’t seem weird to you?! Any of you?! It’s… this isn’t normal! Mary and Nick fooling around like a couple of teenagers, Gina talking about waking up and going to give a… a that-”

“Actually, that was pretty normal for me even back home,” Gina cheerfully piped up.

Dani wasn’t amused by her outburst.

“This hotel, it’s… it’s changing people. Making us do things we wouldn’t do otherwise!” Dani asserted, like she was summarizing the mystery of a **** novel.

Rose’s mouth fell open. “No… no, that just can’t be! I don’t believe it, you’ve got to be lying! Can you believe it, Marley!?”

“…It strains credulity,” Marley said, her tone as dry as the desert and as sardonic as sin.

Dani wasn’t amused. “Okay, look… I mean… I know that’s the point,” she muttered, shaking her head. “It’s just… I don’t know, it feels like everything’s going crazy! And I’m going crazy, too! Rose… you said that you care about stuff like love and affection, right? Are you really onboard with this whole ‘we’re all women in his harem’ thing?”

Rose winced. Dani had struck a nerve.

“I can’t say that I’m thrilled with it, no,” she admitted, shaking her head. “I’ve got a wonderful fantasy planned out for tomorrow, and you’re right, the fact that I know that when the 24 hours is up, he’s going to be with another woman… a part of that does sting a little, I won’t deny that.”

“There, you see?” Dani placed her hands on her hips.

“But… is that really what’s bothering you, Dani?” Rose asked quietly. “I mean, really? Because this is something that’s been happening for weeks now, and you’ve said nothing. So… what’s the big deal?”

Dani frowned. Then she turned and stormed away, muttering a “thank you” to Gina for the valuable information.

Getting off the elevator, she walked over to the red door and raised her hand, only to catch herself. Was she really going to do this? Interrupt them in the middle of having sex? She couldn’t hear them through the soundproof walls, but it was pretty obvious that’s what was going on in there.

No, that’s not right, she finally relented, lowering her hand. It wasn’t like she was really in a big hurry. She’d been dealing with this uncomfortable stuff all morning, and unlike she’d dreaded, it didn’t completely overcome her like the bad dreams she’d had from her punishment had done.

She could put up with this just fine.

Dani paced back and forth, and did a few push-ups in the hall just to pass the time. Simply because she could, she went through her whole workout routine with Kim all over again, and added in a few extra exercises for good measure.

She was sweaty and doing sit-ups against the wall when the door finally cracked open and Mary stepped out, her skin glowing with satisfaction.

Then she looked down and saw Dani staring up at her, and her eyes bugged out of her skull.

“Oh! Um… I, uh…”

She frantically looked back and forth between the tomboy and the room behind her. Dani just sighed in exasperation.

“I’m looking for Nick. Is he in there?” She asked out of courtesy, even though Mary was obviously well aware that Dani knew Nick was in her bedroom.

“Uh… he’s still in the shower…” Mary mumbled, mimicking a tomato.

The fact that her own orange locks were clearly dripping didn’t go unnoticed by Dani.

“Well… just let him know that I want to talk to him, okay?” She said. “I don’t want to bother you… and also, I need to have a talk with him, so… I won’t be able to go to the cooking class today, if that’s alright with you?” She was babbling a little, not really sure how to talk given the circumstances.

“Oh…” Mary looked a little disappointed.

“How about we catch up with a private lesson tomorrow, then?” Dani asked. “I don’t have to work out with Kim, so I should have the time.”

“Really? Oh, that would be great!” Mary brightened immediately. “…Wait, where are my manners? Come in, come in! You don’t have to wait for him out in the hall,” she giggled, leading Dani into her room.

Dani gagged a little as the scent of sex flooded her nostrils. She waved her hand and scowled. “Can’t you crack a window or something? Or use some spray?”

“The, uh… the only air freshener we get in the rooms, is the… special kind,” Mary said, gesturing to a couple canisters on the dresser. “One’s an aphrodisiac, and the other…”

Dani picked up the other canister.

Nick’s Musk

“Eww, yuck,” she gagged, dropping it like it was radioactive. “Seriously, that Sylvia…”

“…Dakota’s the host now,” Mary quietly reminded her.

Dani groaned. “Right, damn it… I keep forgetting…” She sighed, shaking her head. “Still, Sylvia probably had these in her back pocket, just to be safe.”

“Let’s leave the door open,” Mary suggested, seeing Dani pinching her nostrils shut. “It should air out the room that way.”

She walked over to the door and opened it again, as Dani went over to sit down on the bed.

There was a rather big wet spot right in the center of it though, which suddenly made that seem like a bad decision.

“Oh! Uh… yeah, don’t sit there,” Mary said, shaking her head. “We, uh… we kind of… well… I think you get the idea.”

“Right, yeah,” Dani scowled, making a face. She was relieved that she’d never had to change rooms; Nick had never had sex in the bed she slept in, and she planned to keep it that way. (Except when she was in the Master’s Suite, but there was no helping that.)

With a sigh, she sat down on one of the armchairs. “Okay, Mary-”

She looked up to see Mary wincing sympathetically.

“…What?” Dani asked, frowning.

“Well, it’s just… that chair, we-”

“Eeeewwww, gross!” Dani catapulted out of the seat, wiping down her butt the best she could. “You just let me sit in it!?”

“You were too fast!” Mary wailed. “I didn’t have time to say something!”

“Fine, I’ll sit on the floor then, okay?” Dani groaned.

Mary winced again. “Okay, but, um, that part of the floor specifically-”

“Pick a surface, Mary, just one surface where you two didn’t have sex!” Dani begged.

Mary scrunched up her face thoughtfully.

“…So, it might be better if you stayed standing…”

“Unbelievable,” Dani sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Hey!” Mary put her hands on her hips. “I didn’t even have time for a proper honeymoon, you know! One night isn’t nearly enough!”

Dani was going to open her mouth to say something, but Mary’s pouting face was just too adorable to deny.

She sighed and shook her head. “Okay, that’s fair,” she admitted. “Hey, at least you’re enjoying yourself, right? I’m glad. You seem more… I don’t know. Composed, I guess.”

Mary blinked, and then blushed, smiling bashfully. She played with one of her pigtails. “You, uh, really think so? Thanks…”

“I’m serious,” Dani said. “Marriage looks great on you, Mary. I’m happy, I really am. And you’re obviously making Nick happy. Congratulations, really.”

“Oh…” Mary’s eyes widened suddenly.

“Hmm?” Dani was confused by her expression. “What’s up, what is it?”

“Nothing, I just… I think you’re the first person to congratulate me on my marriage, is all. You know, after the fact. And not… well, not making fun of me the way Sylvia and Dakota have been doing,” she explained. “So… thanks.”

Dani grinned. “Hey, thanks for loaning me your room for a little bit and teaching me to cook.”

“Ah! That’s right!” Mary gasped. “The kitchen! I’ve gotta get class started!”

She rushed for the door, glancing over her shoulder. “Talk to me tomorrow about the private lesson if I don’t see you later!”

And with that, she was gone, leaving Dani alone in the room, with only the sound of the shower for company. A sound that was shut off all too soon for Dani’s comfort.