Page 59 of Under His Heel

“You had your chance.” Tracht made a show of savoring the last bite. “Out of consideration for your service today, I’ll let it slide. But today is it, Alex. Everything is back to normal tomorrow.”

Great. He’d kind of been hoping that Tracht would just be nicer all the time. “Can’t we come to an arrangement of some sort?” he needled.

“We have an arrangement. You provide any services I require, I have total control over your body, and in exchange, I pay off your ridiculous debt.” Tracht leaned forward a bit and rubbed his thumb against Alex’s mouth. On instinct, Alex’s lips parted, and he stuck his tongue out to lick a few traces of sweetness from Tracht’s thumb.

Tracht smiled and withdrew his hand. “Lovely. How did you enjoy the meal?”

Alex thought about it while the waitress came by to take Tracht’s card.

“Food was good but not enough. The wine was gross. I didn’t like getting spoon fed. And you made everything weird later. You’re always telling me to be nice, but you’re not that nice to me.”

“Surely allowing you an orgasm and bringing you to a high-end restaurant all in the same day constitutes as nice?” Tracht’s voice was laced with amusement.

“Maybe.” Alex did like most of what had happened that day. Full-body waxing aside, up until Tracht got mean again it had been a pretty good day for him.

The waitress came back with Tracht’s card, which was their cue to get going. Tracht insisted putting his hand on the small of Alex’s back, making it perfectly clear to everybody watching exactly what their relationship to each other was.

It was such a minor thing in comparison to everything else Tracht put him through that it barely registered. Alex remembered how it had bothered him those first few days on the ship. His old self should have appreciated that Tracht touching him casually was actually a good sign.

[Chapter 19]

“Enjoy today,” Tracht said in the morning, after Alex had dressed him, “Because you will not enjoy the evening.”

Alex looked up from where he was kneeling. “What?”

“The party. I can almost guarantee that you won’t like it. I have meetings to attend that I can’t take you to, so while I’m out feel free to entertain yourself. I’ll be back in the afternoon—make sure you’re back by then too.”

And he was out the door, leaving Alex feeling irritated.

Well, fine. Alex cleaned up around the room, then got properly dressed and headed out too.

He took a quick peek at the gym, but of course nobody was there. The canteen was similarly empty, and Alex wasn’t stepping anywhere near the bridge without Tracht.

So for the first time since his failed escape attempt, Alex left the ship alone. The guard on duty grunted at him, but Tracht must have said it was okay for Alex to leave because he didn’t try to stop him.

It hadn’t been that long since Alex had been on Atalanta—maybe two years or so. Probably more now, come to think of it, what with how long the trip took, but Alex remembered enough.

He definitely was going to stay near the docks and respectable parts of the station. Wandering around in the shittier areas would risk running into some of the people he and Nick had scammed or otherwise stolen from.

“Hey! Alex! Wait up!”

Alex jerked and turned around. Parsons was jogging towards him, waving like an idiot.

Since Alex had no real idea of what he was going to do on his own, he decided to just wait.

“I caught you. Great.” Parsons held his hand out for a fist bump. Alex considered leaving him hanging, but hanging out with Parsons had to be better than wandering around alone, so he returned the gesture.

“Where’re you going?” Parsons asked as they started walking again.

Alex shrugged. “Dunno. Have some time to kill.”

“We could have drinks—”

“No!”

Parsons startled at his outburst, then scowled. “Right. Probably too early for it anyway.”

You will not enjoy the evening.

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