Then the beat gets louder, and the mood is gone

It was close to the deadline when Nick and his entourage returned to the Master’s Suite, with varying degrees of anticipation, apprehension, and comfort. It was so late that Ella had already finished up her duties in the suite, and was heading out just as they ran into each other.

Only, it wasn’t Ella that met them at the door.

“Eh?!” Cinder recoiled in surprise. Her stunned expression only lasted for a couple of seconds before shadows spread across her face and she narrowed her eyes coldly at the group of four, zeroing in on Nick in particular. “…So, you were coming, then,” she grunted.

“…Yeah,” Nick said, not sure what else to do. He regarded Cinder as gently as possible. “How was your evening?”

Cinder placed her hands on her hips. “Oh, it was just fine,” she sniffed. “I cleaned up your room. Love it, love everything about it!” She stormed past him, towards the elevator. “Fucking puta…”

Nick had learned enough about her to know that in a situation like this it was best to just step aside and let her be grumpy. Easier than making a scene in front of everybody.

“Oh!” Cinder stopped at the elevator and turned around. Her eyes were still cold, but there wasn’t as much anger in them this time. More like condescension. “And before I forget…”

She gave him the finger, much to his confusion.

“Uh… excuse me?” Carly frowned. “That was really rude of you.”

“You know what’s rude?” Cinder snapped at her, “I think what’s rude is a bunch of girls hogging his time, when he has other obligations! You know, he’s supposed to be here when I’m working, don’t you? Otherwise, it doesn’t even count!”

Morgana bit her lip. She was friends with Ella, but when it came to Cinder, Ella’s other self, she had much lower self-esteem. She didn’t know whether or not she should say anything, either, so she didn’t… but she felt bad about it. Since it was her fault that there were so many people coming up to the Master’s Suite all at once.

Which was what she assumed Cinder was actually upset about.

Is she… jealous? Morgana wondered. Did she want to be invited, too?

She knew better. She really, really knew better. But she couldn’t help but ask anyway, because she cared about him.

“Cinder…”

“What?” Cinder whirled towards Morgana, and then stopped herself. Her heart softened ever so slightly. Morgana’s friendship with Ella gave her pause, and kept her from laying into the goth girl the way she had with Carly.

Morgana chewed her lip.

“I think… that, um…” Morgana fidgeted awkwardly in place. “If you… if you really, uh… if you’re feeling… like… …Would, would you want, um, to… to join… us?”

Nick immediately flinched at the offer. He and Ella (and Cinder) had only gotten as far as kissing so far. He hadn’t done anything more intimate than that. So, for Morgana to suddenly extend an offer to join them in bed, that was a little…

“Are you crazy!?” Cinder screeched, jerking backwards. A scandalized expression flashed across her face. “Do you have any idea what you’re suggesting, you lunatic!?”

Morgana winced. “I… …S-sorry,” she stammered, looking down. “I just thought, uh…”

“I’m not going to be doing any of that!” Cinder’s face burned hot as her eyes flickered over to Nick for a second before jumping back to Morgana. “There’s no way! You bunch of deviants can go fucking screw each other’s brains out, for all I care!”

Luckily, the elevator opened at just that moment, so no one was forced to dwell on the awkwardness of the situation or deal with the tension in the air. Cinder slipped inside, wishing more than anything that you could slam an elevator door. It would have been the perfect way to punctuate her feelings, but alas, there was nothing she could do…

And Morgana felt completely slighted and cursed her own idiocy.

“I’m so dumb,” she mumbled, looking down. “I never should have said something like that, what was I even thinking?”

Luckily, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin couldn’t talk. Because of her lack of a voice, the only way she could reaffirm Morgana that, yes, she WAS an idiot was by nodding, and since Morgana wasn’t looking her way, it went right over the other girl’s head.

Carly, thankfully, was much nicer. “Hey,” she said, coming over to Morgana with her hands clasped behind her back to avoid from giving her a comforting pat on the shoulder that might have led to some inadvertent contact. “It’s fine. I’m sure she appreciated what you were trying to do. She was just a little embarrassed, that’s all. You can’t spring ‘Hey, would you like to join an orgy?’ on a girl who’s never even had sex before.”

Nick couldn’t help but agree. Especially a girl like Cinder with such a mercurial personality and sensitivity to intimacy. She was probably the worst person Morgana could have invited to join. Except for maybe Amelia. Or Sylvia.

…Wow, Dani would have actually been a safe option for once, which was quite a surprise. It spoke volumes about how some of the women in his harem struggled with intimacy and were having difficulty getting close to him and to other girls.

“I think it was sweet of you to ask,” Nick said. Unlike Carly, he had no issue patting Morgana on the shoulder and giving her a comforting squeeze. “Deep down, Cinder probably appreciated being included. I know Ella would. So don’t feel too bad.”

Morgana smiled a little, recovering from her initial feeling of doubt. “Yeah…” she murmured, nodding softly. “Yeah, you’re… you’re probably right…”

She felt a lot better after hearing that. She looked gratefully at Nick, and wished that everything in her life was as easy as getting comforted by him.

Sadly, she also knew that she would be really awkward around Cinder for a while after this. And probably Ella, too. But that was nothing new.

Then Morgana felt a tug on her hand. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had grabbed her by the wrist, and was pulling insistently at her. It seemed that she was the one who most wanted to get things started.

Nick wasn’t exactly surprised.

“We should probably head in,” Nick said, glancing over at the door. “We’ve probably kept Mary and Holly waiting long enough.”

He had let them both know before they went out to eat that they wouldn’t need dinner, and that the girls could take the night off. But they were still in the room, presumably.

“Oh, yeah, I totally forgot,” Carly said as they headed towards the door. “Your wife’s going to be here, huh?”

She looked over at Morgana hesitantly. “That isn’t going to be a problem, is it?” She asked the younger woman, knowing how self-conscious Morgana could get.

“Um… no, it-it shouldn’t be,” Morgana said, shaking her head. She bit her lip nervously all the same, though. “I mean… it’s not like… I have a problem with it, o-or anything… so I just, uh… just think, um… …Yeah.”

Nick wasn’t sure if she’d actually said anything of substance or not, and wasn’t sure if he should push matters. He decided it probably wasn’t a good idea.

Better to just face whatever was coming their way, and decide from there. That was his opinion about things, anyway.

They headed into the Master’s Suite. Mary and Holly were indeed taking things easy, just as he’d hoped. They were sitting on the couch, watching a touching romance movie.

Not too different from the one that he, Morgana, and Carly had “watched” in the movie theater, the memory of which made his face start to heat up.

“Uh… so, yeah, we’re back,” Nick said, waving to the two of them. He would have thought that by now he’d be more comfortable bringing women up to his room to have sex with him while his wife was here, but apparently not.

Then again, this was probably the most women he’d ever brought up at once who didn’t already live here. Not that he was counting.

“Oh, Nick!” Holly turned off the movie and skipped over to see him. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. “Finally back, eh?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, nodding. “Finally. And, uh…”

“And look at who you’ve brought with you…” Holly wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and flashed a smile. “You naughty boy.”

“Oh, come off it,” Carly said in a teasing tone. “Don’t pretend you’re not loving this.”

“How’s the new transformation going?” Holly turned to Carly with a cheeky smile on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest and showed off the skimpy maid costume that she wore like a second skin. “Having any fun with it? Got a new fetish?”

“Actually, Morgana and I fooled around with Nick for a bit in the movie theater,” Carly informed the perverted girl.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes bulged wide and she turned to Morgana in surprise. Morgana wasn’t even looking at her, though.

She was too mortified by what Carly had just said.

“Carly!” She exclaimed, what little color left on her face draining away in horror. “How could you say that!?”

“What?” Carly looked at Nick for a second, confused. “Did I do something wrong? Was I not supposed to mention that?”

“I think it’s a little personal,” Nick said, looking at the scandalized expression on Mary’s face. Carly had said that just as she’d been about to greet her husband, and hearing that had made her brain stop working for a second.

She closed her mouth and her blush spread across her freckled face.

“It’s not like it was a secret, or anything,” Morgana mumbled. She looked down sheepishly. “It’s just… really embarrassing, is all…”

Nick could understand her being embarrassed. He felt embarrassed.

“I think it sounds sexy,” Holly said. She looked over at Carly. “So, if you’re interested in borrowing any other fetishes, say, from me-”

“Holly, don’t you think we should give them some space?” Mary stepped between the two women before Carly could be tempted to take the other girl up on her offer. “The four of them just got here. They need a bit of time to unwind.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Holly agreed. “I honestly kinda thought that you guys would, like, I don’t know, just come in already hot and heavy in the middle of a make-out session or something, you know what I mean?”

Nick kind of assumed she’d think that way. He didn’t say anything about it, though.

“And, I definitely didn’t expect Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin of all people to be joining you tonight!” Holly added, giving the assassin a cursory glance. The guarded assassin eyed Holly with cautious suspicion as well.

“Well… as long as you’re all in agreement about everything, and nobody’s getting hurt, I say, the more the merrier,” Mary said quietly. She looked over at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. It was the first time they’d seen each other since the confrontation in the hallway, when Vivian bailed her out and helped the other woman when she couldn’t.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked back at her. Neither one of them quite knew what to say to the other, and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin couldn’t say anything, so they just stared in awkward silence for a moment.

“You guys don’t need to go, or anything,” Nick said quickly, sensing that Mary was about to drag Holly off into the kitchen. “We’re fine having you stay and keep us company for a bit. Right, Morgana?”

He looked over at Morgana, hoping she was fine with it.

Morgana’s eyes slid over to Mary, and she took in the other woman for a brief moment. Her feelings were conflicted, if she was being honest. Her fantasy, after all, was about dominating the other women. That was what her dream had prompted her to do, and she had been fine with it as long as it was limited to Carly and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

But bringing Mary into things… that was a different story.

“Um…” Morgana chewed on her lip. “I… I don’t mind it, if, um, Mary and Holly… w-want to watch, that-that’s fine with me,” she said, nodding a shaky, uncertain nod. “But… only watching. Okay? I don’t think, um… they should take part.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and Carly were both surprised to hear that.

Nick wasn’t, though.

“Is it because of your dream?” He asked.

Morgana nodded. She turned to Mary, expecting to see a look of disappointment on the other woman’s face.

But Mary actually looked relieved.

“It’s okay,” she said gently, shaking her head. “I don’t mind. Really. That kind of stuff, it, um, it’s not really my thing… I think?”

Mary didn’t actually know what was going on. Just that there were a bunch of women here.

“…Can someone explain what’s going on?” Nobody had actually done that yet.

“Sure thing, I can.” Carly led Mary over to the corner with a hand on the back of her shirt. She leaned over and whispered in Mary’s ear, letting the other girl know just what they were planning to get up to together.

Mary let out a squeaky gasp of surprise.

“Wh-what!?” She stammered out, snapping her head around to look at Morgana in incredulous shock. “Really!? That… that’s the plan!?”

She couldn’t believe it.

“Yup,” Carly nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“Um… w-wow, and Nick’s… okay with this?” Mary was shocked to hear that Nick would be interested in something like that. Not that she had a problem with it, of course, but it just seemed so unlike him to be…

Like that.

“I’m fine with it, Mary,” Nick assured his wife with a nod. “I think it could be fun.”

“Well… in that case, I hope it is,” Mary said, smiling back at him. She may not have been interested in going along with it, but she was going to support Nick if HE wanted to do something like this with Morgana or the other women in his life. “I don’t know if I’d be comfortable watching that, though, if I’m being honest…”

Maybe if Nick was dominating the women, maybe then she’d be a little more enthusiastic about the whole thing. But watching Morgana dominate another woman didn’t really satisfy any sort of sexual itch for Mary.

Her focus was totally on her love for Nick.

Holly, on the other hand…

“Sounds sexy!” She said. “I’d love to see!”

Carly burst out laughing. “I’m not surprised,” she chuckled, and shook her head. “So, with that settled… Morgana? You’re in charge now.”

“Wait, what!?” Morgana’s eyes bulged out in surprise. “Just… just like that?”

It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

Carly shrugged. “What were you expecting?” She questioned. “I mean, it’s really not as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be. Just some fantasy role-play, right?”

“I mean… yeah, I guess,” Morgana said, nodding timidly. She glanced over at Nick. “Um… but I still, uh… well…”

“Morgana, it’s gonna be fine,” Nick assured her. He gave her the most accepting smile he could muster. “You just focus on whatever you think will be best for you. Alright?”

What Nick was most concerned with was making sure that Morgana had a good time today. That was his number one priority.

As long as she did that, he was happy.

Anything beyond that, and he couldn’t say. But this much he was sure of, at the very least.

Morgana nodded slowly. She wished that Nick’s support and encouragement would help her feel better, she really did. But sadly, it wasn’t so simple.

Now that she was actually here, and the task was ahead of her, Morgana found herself paralyzed with doubt and hesitation.

What exactly was she supposed to do?

“You’re taking this too seriously, Morgana,” Carly said, walking over to the bed and hopping onto it, flattening out her body. “Just get to ordering already! Trust me, everything’s going to be just fine,” she assured the other girl, tilting her head up and giving Morgana a coquettish smile. “You’re excited, too, yeah?”

Morgana bit her lip. She WAS excited, but…

Nick patted her on the shoulder. “You’re in charge here,” he gently reminded her. “We’re all here to do exactly what you want to do. Right, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?” He turned to the mute girl, hoping to keep her included.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked less than enthused. With a silent sigh she rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest. She gave him an exasperated half-nod, and begrudgingly agreed to go along with whatever Morgana had planned.

That should have made Morgana feel better, it really should have. But she didn’t. She felt more uneasy than ever, and looked around the room, not sure what to do.

“Can… can I take a break for a second?!” She blurted out, and scurried into the bathroom.

Once the door slammed shut behind her, Carly pushed herself up onto her elbows and let out a sigh. “That girl… she’s trying her best, but…”

“You can’t blame her for being nervous!” Mary pointed out. “You’re piling a lot of pressure on her, Carly!”

“I am? How?” Carly looked at Mary in confusion, not sure what the other woman was talking about. “I’m letting her go at her own pace!”

“You have to go slow when it comes to Morgana,” Mary said gently. “She works best when she has a framework to go off of. Just telling her to do whatever she wants will just make her freeze up with indecision and self-doubt.”

Nick didn’t want to say anything, but he felt the same way. Carly was the kind of girl who did as she liked, but Morgana wasn’t there yet. But he had confidence that she could get there.

In the bathroom, Morgana splashed some water on her face. “Okay,” she said to her reflection in the mirror, “you can do this. Don’t let your doubts get the better of you! Everyone’s here, helping you fulfill the dream you had last night! You just have to do your best!”

Telling herself that really did help her feel better. Morgana let out the breath she was holding, calmed down, and stepped out of the bathroom to get the night started for real.