Page 37 of Under His Heel

Oh fuck no. Alex’s hands clenched. No way was he going to let Parsons tempt him with food again. But he was being ‘nice’ right now, so Alex nodded and followed Parsons into the lounge. They even ended up sitting on the same damn couch.

“Did Tracht put you up to it? Giving me the protein bars.”

Parsons scowled. “The captain talked to me. Said your diet was closely monitored and I shouldn’t give you anything to eat in the future. I didn’t—I didn’t get you in trouble, did I?”

“Yeah, you fucking did,” Alex blurted out, and three seconds later realized that probably wasn’t the ‘nicest’ thing he could have said, or the smartest. He glanced around the room and hoped none of the cameras or microphones had caught what he said, and that Tracht wasn’t watching right this second.

But Parsons looked horrified. Like, what did he think was going to happen if he went behind Tracht’s back? Tracht wasn’t the kind of person to forgive easily, even Alex had picked up on that.

“Wh—what did he do?”

“None of your business.” This was a bad idea. Alex really, really didn’t like Parsons. He shouldn’t have made that fucking bet with Tracht, except now that a single day of rest was on the table, he couldn’t let go of it. He stamped down on his anger and added, “Don’t want to talk about it.”

And now Parsons was looking at him like Nick sometimes did when things weren’t going according to plan. What the frick did Parsons have to worry about though?

“He didn’t... he didn’t take you to Dr. Singh again, did he?”

“No.”

“Oh. That’s good, at least.”

No, Tracht had just put Alex off of orgasms for the foreseeable future. But sure, so much better than his experience with Singh. Parsons really was fucking stupid.

Alex tried to remember how he usually got his girlfriends. The last one... the last one had been Maria. She’d been really hot. Kind of flat-chested, but a really pretty face and amazing ass. Nick had introduced them.

Come to think of it, Nick had introduced Alex to all of the girls he’d dated. Usually they were the ones that broke it off, or Nick mentioned he didn’t like them, and then that was it.

Fucking hell, Alex was starting to hate how right Tracht was all the time. There had to be someone Alex had picked up on his own. He wracked his brain, until he remembered the one blonde he’d fucked in the bathroom stall of a nightclub. Yeah, she’d been so hot for him. Like Parsons was hot for Alex right now.

Alex looked over at Parsons. “You wanna blow me?”

Parson’s face morphed into horrified again. “Excuse me?”

“You’re into me, right? You won’t leave me alone. And I’ve seen you staring at me. So like. You can blow me.”

When Parsons didn’t answer, Alex felt the first trickle of humiliation. Parsons just stared, and stared, until Alex turned away so he didn’t have to look at him anymore.

So. Parsons was too good for Alex after all, even though Parsons was the one to follow Alex around. Parsons kept butting his nose in where it didn’t belong. Parsons kept trying to get Alex in trouble with Tracht. Parsons—

“Hey, uh, no. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.” Parsons reached out and touched Alex’s shoulder. Alex immediately flinched away. “I’m sorry! It’s just. Uh, I’m, uh, flattered? But—how to put this. I’m monogamous?”

Right. Using big fancy words because he had a big fancy education and Alex was just so beneath him. He bristled and rushed to cover up his lack of understanding. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Um, on your end it wouldn’t work because you’re… something with the Captain. On my end… nothing really, because my wife passed away recently, but it’s just too recent. So it would feel unfaithful.”

Alex still didn’t get it. “How recent we talking? Like, right before we left Cadmus?” He glanced back and caught Parsons frowning.

“No, a few months before that. I guess it’s been around eight months?” Parsons shook his head and shot Alex a crooked smile.

“And you’re still sad about it? Sounds like you should definitely be getting laid.” Even as he said it, Alex knew that it wasn’t nice, that it was cruel, but he felt the burning humiliation of rejection and he kind of wanted Parsons to hurt.

For the first time, Parsons actually looked mad. “Are you—No, okay, I think I need to go before I say something I regret. I’ll see you around.”

Alex watched Parsons leave, feeling that tiny seed of satisfaction. He couldn’t punch Parsons, but he could get back in other ways.

Except now he’d screwed himself out of his day of rest. He went over what he’d said and wondered how he could convince Parsons he hadn’t meant it like that at all. He’d been trying to cheer Parsons up. But nobody would believe that level of BS.

There had to be some way to make Parsons want to blow Alex.

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