Page 107 of Under His Heel

He waited too long, and Nick looked up. He smiled and waved. “Hey bro!”

Rage surged through Alex. He clenched his fists and stormed over, grabbed Nick’s shirt collar, and pulled him upright. “The hell are you doing here?”

And Nick, Nick didn’t even look scared. “Woah, calm your tits, bro. I’m here to see you!”

Calm your tits. Alex took hold of Nick’s arm and squeezed tightly. He had a nauseating thought of Nick seeing Alex when his body was deformed and soft—but no. It had to have been a coincidence. Nick always said stuff like that.

The pressure on Nick’s arm got him to take the threat seriously though. “Hey, hey, wait. Chill. I need to talk to you. Just hear me out, and then you can do whatever you want.”

“What I want is to kill you,” Alex growled. “I told you I never wanted to see your face ever again!” But he loosened his hold just enough for Nick to pull free.

Nick made a show of straightening his clothes and looking around. “Be careful, Alex. I think there’s security around.”

Alex took a look around, and yeah, one of the guards was eyeing them suspiciously. No wonder Nick hadn’t been scared. He was prepared to yell and get the guard involved.

Alex thought Tracht would probably back him up if things got down to it, but he wouldn’t be happy about it. And then Alex might end up sleeping in a cage or without food entirely.

Fine.

“You wanted to see me. You saw. I’m going now,” Alex said. He pushed Nick back and got a small thrill from how he stumbled.

He was ready to leave. He would just be bored on the ship, without risk of Nick showing up. Only—

“Hey, Alex. I’m sorry.”

Alex stopped. Slowly, he turned to face Nick again, and he saw the same expression on his face as when Parsons had apologized to him.

He didn’t know how to react, and in the end he just stood there, staring at Nick.

Nick rubbed his neck and gave a pained smile. “I thought a lot while we were apart. And it was hard, okay? I didn’t know how much I’d miss having you with me.”

“You abandoned me! And I told you I’d kick your face in if I ever saw you again!”

He tightened his fists and loomed closer. For a brief second, real fear flashed across Nick’s face, giving Alex a thrill of satisfaction.

Then Nick shook it off and grimaced. “I deserve that. I can’t expect you to forgive me, but I feel awful about how everything went down. But don’t tell me you didn’t miss me even a little bit?”

Was he lying? Alex couldn’t tell. But dammit, he couldn’t disagree. He did sometimes miss Nick, at the weirdest times, in between hating him.

Nick reached out and slowly patted Alex’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go have a few drinks and discuss this in private.”

“I can’t drink,” Alex argued. “I’ll get in trouble.”

Nick frowned lightly, but then shrugged. “No problem. A café then. You can have some water, I’ll get a spiked coffee.”

That wasn’t what Alex had meant, but sitting down wouldn’t do any harm. Tracht was going to be gone all evening, and wasn’t in a position to check where Alex was.

Besides, if Nick tried anything, Alex could always just leave. He shrugged off Nick’s hand and said, “Lead the way.”

Nick smiled brightly.

He took Alex to a café in a side hall of the shopping center, well away from the bustling area they’d been in previously. The café was fairly quiet, with prices on the higher end. Alex wondered if Nick actually intended to pay, or if he was planning to sneak out before anybody noticed.

They sat down, and Nick scooted his chair closer so that they could talk in low voices with each other. He flinched when Nick touched his shoulder again, but it wasn’t worth making a big deal over. Nick had always been a bit touchy-feely.

“So. What did you want to talk about?” Alex asked.

“Woah, what’s the hurry? Come on, let’s chat, catch up a bit. You look like you’re doing okay for yourself. Nice clothes.” Nick rubbed the fabric between his fingers.

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