Page 75 of Under His Heel

“No! Alex, no, Sorry!” Alex heard the sound of Parsons approaching. “Hey, I shouldn’t have judged. Everybody has different—” he broke off. “What the hell is that?”

Alex peered past the blanket and saw Parsons looking in the corner. Looking at the small cage.

“It’s a cage,” Alex explained. “Obviously.”

“No, I get that. I just mean, what’s it doing here?” Parsons backed away a bit, until he was leaning against the back of the couch.

With an annoyed sigh, Alex sat up and propped himself up against the headboard. “What do you think it’s for? Tracht sometimes locks me up in it.”

Parsons started shaking his head. “No. That’s. That thing is tiny. How would you even—what the hell? What the hell?”

Alex looked at the cage and considered it. The entrance was low so that he had to crawl to get in, and not long enough for Alex to stretch out comfortably. The floor was covered in only a thin mat, so sleeping inside wasn’t pleasant, but Tracht had definitely done worse to him than stick him in the cage. He mostly didn’t like that he didn’t get fed as much when he was in the cage.

He shrugged. “I dunno. Better than getting whipped or… whatever.”

Parsons turned his attention back to Alex. “This…. This is allowed? Under the contract you signed?”

“Yeah. He’s got full control over my body. No body mods.” That had been smart. Alex was so, so fucking glad that he hadn’t let Nick talk him into that. God, fuck Nick for having even suggested it.

“But the piercing. On your tongue. That’s a mod. You could report him for that.” Parsons stood taller. “We should do that, actually. Go to the authorities. Mention that he broke the contract, and—”

“No! Fucking hell, are you insane? First you want me to run away, and now this?” Alex clutched at the blanket and reminded himself that hitting Parsons wasn’t allowed. “If he doesn’t pay my debt, who the fuck will? You?”

That killed some of the fight in Parsons. “I… no. But you don’t deserve any of this. You were really out of it earlier too. What did he do?”

“None of your fucking business,” Alex growled. “And I did the piercing voluntarily, okay? So you can stop feeling sorry for me.”

“Voluntarily… But why? Explain it to me, because I don’t understand…”

Anger rose up inside him, bubbling in his blood and threatening to send him rushing across the room to hit Parsons. “Because it got Tracht in a good mood, and otherwise he would have canceled the contract, okay? And don’t you fucking dare tell anybody else about any of this shit, because I’m gonna—”

The door slid open and Tracht marched in. Alex shut up immediately and scrambled out of bed in his direction.

Tracht smiled at him. “Were you good while I was out? And don’t lie.”

“He was fine. His usual self,” Parsons answered before Alex could. “And I’ll be going now. My shift is going to start soon.”

“You’ll have the bonus included in your next paycheck,” Tracht said as Parsons walked past them.

Once Parsons was gone, Tracht snorted. “I assume there’s something amusing to see on the security footage.”

Alex tensed and tried to remember if he’d done anything worth getting mad about. “I yelled at him at the end. But he was…” and he shut up, because he didn’t want to get Parsons in trouble either. He ended up shrugging. “He was getting on my case.”

“Hmm.” Tracht cupped Alex’s face and leaned in to kiss him, surprisingly gentle for him. “I might take a look later. For now, I’m more interested in celebrating my successful negotiation. Let’s take advantage of the bath while we’re on station and have access to it.”

[Chapter 23]

Tracht didn’t look at the security footage until the next day. They were in his office, and after he’d finished his paperwork (Alex holding his cock in his mouth the entire time), he started up the video. He made Alex sit on his lap and watch it, too.

Tracht fondled Alex’s balls through his leggings while they watched the video, but he got distracted once Parsons took the call with Meilin. He paused the video. “What’s this school he’s talking about?”

Alex had to force himself to pay attention. “Huh?”

“The school. The one his daughter is attending—do you know which one it is?” Tracht absently tapped Alex’s thigh.

“Oh. Uh, I dunno. Some high end school that’s gonna get his kid into a university on Pylos someday.”

“Hmm. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, I’d agree with his brother-in-law and say the cost isn’t worth it. He absolutely cannot afford it on his current salary.” Tracht’s hand settled on Alex’s stomach. “Anna sends her children there.”

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