Page 76 of Under His Heel

“He really, really cares about the school thing,” Alex said. “You should have heard him at the toy store the other day. You’d think his kid was the smartest person to ever exist.”

“Anna was like that with her children at first, too. Then they actually grew personalities.” Tracht sighed. “Parents. I will never understand the need to procreate.” He was about to unpause the video when his tablet made a shrill sound. Frowning, Tracht nudged Alex off him, but Alex kept close so he could watch.

“This is Captain Johannes Tracht.”

The face on the other end of the screen was way too familiar. The security guard from the other day, looking all too pleased with himself. “Captain Tracht, hello. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gerald Messner, and I’m with security here on Atalanta station.”

The glance Tracht sent his way made Alex tense up.

“Mr. Messner, how can I assist you?”

“Well, you see—I ran into a known criminal two days ago. I saw that he was wearing a bond-collar, and I chased him back to your ship. I looked up a few records, and I saw that he was actually contracted to you personally?”

“Is there a point to all of this?” Tracht asked. He was enunciating very clearly, and Alex took a step back. This wasn’t going anywhere good.

Messner smiled. “This criminal—Alexander Stone, yes?—he swindled me out of twenty thousand credits about a year ago.”

“So?” Whatever good mood Tracht had been in was slipping away, and Alex wanted to reach through the screen and throttle Messner. It hadn’t even really been him! Nick had done all the swindling, and Alex had been there to keep Nick safe.

“The thing is, as his bond holder, I think you’re responsible for covering his debts. I know Stone can’t pay up himself, but I’d like to recover my losses from somewhere, if you know what I’m saying. Otherwise I might have to pull Stone in for his crimes, and then you’d be out a servant as well as whatever money you put up for him.”

Tracht narrowed his eyes. “Let me get this straight. You would like me to pay you off in exchange for not arresting my bondservant?”

“Sounds about right.”

“And if I don’t want to pay? I’m already paying off Mr. Stone’s current debts, I’m hardly so lush in funds right now that I can simply throw money willy-nilly at everybody who claims to have been wronged by him.”

Messner didn’t even seem to realize how mad Tracht was getting. Alex’s knees were ready to buckle, and the guy just kept smiling.

“Well, he’s a bondservant, right? I could be persuaded to lower the amount for a taste of his ass or mouth instead.”

Tracht’s eyebrows shot up. “Interesting. I’ll consider it. But we’re going to have to meet in person. I refuse to do deals over vid.”

After agreeing on a meeting location, Tracht closed the call. Then he swiveled his chair to face Alex. “Presumably he’s the person you ran into the other day?”

It didn’t look safe to get closer to Tracht, so Alex hung back. “Yeah. Nick conned him good. Once he figured out what had happened, he came after us, and I had to fight him. We got off station after that.”

“You really do bring nothing but trouble,” Tracht said. “I should let him have your ass just for that.”

“No! Please!” Alex got on his knees and crawled over to Tracht, danger be damned. “I can’t—”

Tracht grabbed Alex’s hair and sneered. “It’s not for you to decide.” Then he loosed his hold and traced Alex’s broken nose. “But it’s not his place either. And if he thinks I’m going to let myself be blackmailed… well. Let’s have some fun with him instead.”

The harshness in his voice made Alex’s breath catch, and he was so, so down to watch Tracht fuck this guy over.

===

They met with Messner at a mid-quality restaurant. Not as nice as the one in the hotel, but also not a fast food joint. Tracht had made Alex dress up a bit, fussing with his appearance until Alex was on the “thuggish” side of presentable.

“I really should take you with me to some meetings,” Tracht said. “You’ll be so distracting that they’ll agree to a higher fee.”

He had Alex stand behind him at the restaurant rather than sit at the table, and honestly that was fine with Alex. The further away he was from Messner, the less likely he was to just punch him in the face.

Messner, for his part, looked absolutely giddy, probably because he smelled a big payout on the horizon. Tracht treated him cordially, addressing him as “Mr. Messner” and generally listening.

“How did you lose your money, then?” Tracht asked after Messner was halfway through his second glass of wine. “I know some of Mr. Stone’s past, but he has been reticent to share.”

It was weird, Tracht calling Alex ‘Mr. Stone.’ It made it sound like Tracht respected him, was distant from him.

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