Page 11 of Under His Heel

“Let me be clear: I enjoy you fighting me. I love seeing you struggle. Curse and scream all you want, because I will enjoy punishing you for it. But you will not, under any circumstances, physically harm me or my crew. What you did to Mr. Parsons was unacceptable, and I will not have violence on my ship. Understood?”

Alex grasped at Tracht’s leg and wheezed through his mouth, the pressure on his nose getting stronger. It would be easy to punch Tracht or kick free of him. His entire body was poised for it, adrenaline giving him a second wind.

What was the worst Tracht could do anyway, with the debt contract protecting Alex? But the answer was simple. The worst Tracht could do was annul the contract.

Alex mumbled, “Understood,” and was relieved that Tracht released his nose. He coughed a bit, and scooted away a few feet so he was no longer leaning against Tracht. Tracht smiled in apparent amusement.

“Is this why your last bondservant cut out on you? Because he saw what a f– what a sick freak you are?” Alex stared at the water bottle and tried to work out if Tracht would actually let him drink now.

“I think you misunderstood. I was the one that cut the contract, not him.” Tracht opened the bottle. “It turned out that he quite enjoyed pain and humiliation, which made the entire affair absolutely dull. After two months I had the contract cancelled.”

Alex froze. Tracht had annulled a contract for being boring? He swallowed hard and scrambled to say something that didn’t make him look like chicken shit.

Tracht pressed his fingers against Alex’s jaw. “Open.”

Oh fuck. Fuck. Alex broke out in a sweat again, as if his body wasn’t already a disgusting mess. He clamped his mouth shut, even though rationally he knew Tracht was –probably– not going to do anything.

Tracht chuckled at him. “Don’t be stubborn, Alex. You need to open your mouth to drink.” He waved the bottle lightly.

Right. Alex looked around the area and saw nothing that could be used to pry a tooth out. Be smarter, Tracht had said. With a lot of dread, Alex opened his mouth.

Tracht’s fingers hooked over his lower teeth and pulled Alex’s mouth further apart. Alex did his best to keep his tongue from touching those fingers, but he could still taste them, slightly salty and disgustingly familiar.

“Good boy,” Tracht murmured and began pouring the water straight into Alex’s mouth.

Of course he choked on it, coughing some of the water out past Tracht’s fingers. With horror he realized that if he wanted to swallow the water—and yes, now that he’d wet his throat, he desperately wanted more—he would have to close his lips around Tracht’s fingers.

“This is the only bottle you’re getting, by the way. I don’t particularly care if the water ends up in your mouth or on the floor. Though I might have you lick it up from the floor; would you prefer that?”

Suck on Tracht’s fingers or lick the floor.

He was sure that the better option was the floor. The less contact he had with Tracht, the better.

But the floor would mean less water, and either way he would have Tracht’s fingers in his mouth.

When Tracht poured the bottle again, Alex swallowed around Tracht’s fingers. That definitely pleased Tracht, filling Alex with anger and shame, but the rest of him was glad to get the moisture it needed.

The process was repeated until the bottle was empty.

Fuck you fuck you fuck you, Alex cursed in his mind. He chased after Tracht’s withdrawing fingers for those last few drops of water.

The fingers went on to trace Alex’s scar. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

“You’re sick,” Alex growled out.

“I know,” Tracht answered, and he pinched Alex’s cheek hard enough to make Alex yelp. “I’d hardly waste my money on a bondservant if I weren’t.”

“So, what, you canned the previous guy for liking it too much, and then you saw me and figured I’d hate you?”

Tracht went on to stroke Alex’s head, running his fingers gently across his scalp. “I saw that your creditors were the Nilsens, which meant you had great incentive to play nice. I saw that your contract was a full service one, not those wishy washy ‘labor and intellectual services only’ ones. And then I saw how hideous you were, and I figured nobody who looked like you knew how to be smart.”

“Like you’re such a fucking catch,” Alex countered and got a hard kick to his stomach in return. He doubled forward, his head landing against Tracht’s knee.

“What did I say about cussing?”

“To do it all I want because you like hurting me.” Fucking hell, Alex really was an idiot. His mouth started saying things before his brain could catch up. He wished he had Nick’s talent of talking around people, convincing them that they wanted the things Nick wanted.

“Mm, I really do.” Tracht kicked Alex again, but settled his boot on Alex’s chest. Then he did something to make the cock cage start buzzing again, and Alex couldn’t stop the pained moan that escaped his lips.

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