Page 79 of Under His Heel

[Chapter 24]

Despite the promised caning, Alex felt pretty good the next morning. Sure, he was sore, but whatever had been bothering him a few days ago must have passed.

Tracht was in a good mood too, because he took Alex out for a fancy breakfast, and after that he let Alex “enjoy himself” on station. He even gave Alex a card with some credit on it.

“The limit is low,” Tracht said, “and I’ll see if you buy yourself food. But feel free to find something you’d like to take on board.” He kissed Alex casually on the cheek before he left for his meetings.

See, if Tracht could just be like that the entire time, Alex would have no issue with the contract at all. Alex wasn’t sure if this was a reward for yesterday or what, but he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.

It felt kind of like the first time he and Nick had scored big. They’d cheated a large payout out of a granny who’d bought Nick’s sob story hook, line, and sinker. Alex couldn’t remember what they’d told her—probably something close to the truth, about how their mother had kicked them out—but naturally they didn’t mention all the mugging they were doing to get by.

So. A card with a low limit. A few possibilities crossed Alex’s mind. Since food was out, entertainment was probably the way to go. He didn’t need Parsons to go watch a movie. He’d do it by himself.

He was in line for the ticket—feeling only a bit self-conscious about the bondcollar—when he heard a woman call out to him.

“Hey! Alex! Hey!”

He turned around, and saw a pale-skinned woman jogging over to him. It took a moment to recognize her, what with the clothes and hat and lack of vibrantly colored piercings.

“Nadia.” Alex awkwardly raised a hand in greeting.

She stopped in front of him. Wow, it really was a different look. The beret made her haircut appear less extreme, and with the capris and blouse, he couldn’t see any of her body piercings. All the rings on her lips had been replaced with more modest studs, and where all of the jewelry had been bright colors before, they were now in silver or gold.

She looked preppy, actually.

“I barely recognized you,” he blurted out. “You look normal.”

Instead of taking offense, she laughed. “I get that a lot.” She hooked an arm through his. “You’re looking handsome this morning, too. You by yourself?”

“Yeah. Tracht has meetings or something. Thought I’d watch a movie in the meantime.”

“Ooh. Can I join? I was just doing some shopping, but Master and Mistress aren’t expecting me back until much later.”

Nadia was really, really cheerful. Alex somehow hadn’t expected that, though now that he thought about it—well, he didn’t actually want to think about the Party.

It wasn’t until they were sitting down in the theater, and Nadia had been talking about how much she loved the movie series and all the aspects she enjoyed, that Alex worked up the nerve to ask, “Why are you a bondservant?”

That startled her into silence, long enough that Alex thought she’d just tell him to mind his own business.

Her hand landed on his arm on their shared armrest. “I guess it’s okay to tell you. We’re all in the same boat, yeah? I had cancer. Bad luck to be a station brat, cus if I lived on Pylos that’d be an easy fix. I was going to a clinic that was… uh, I guess affordable is the nicest word for it.”

Oh god. Alex regretted asking.

“Well, long story short! I was shopping around for somebody who would pay for the treatments that would actually save my life and got lucky that Charlie happened to be the doctor on staff at the debt leasing center.” She smiled. “Y’know, Charlie was pretty incensed when he heard my situation. I think he would have paid for everything without even demanding my services in return, but I would have felt really bad about that. Good thing he and Lina had been thinking of getting a bondservant anyway. They’re both so… hot.”

Not exactly the word Alex would have used. “Singh creeps me out.”

Nadia laughed again and patted his arm. “Yeah, she has that effect. But if we’re gonna talk creepy, I think Captain Tracht has her beat in spades.” She shivered theatrically. “If only he weren’t gay. I’d love to have him punish me for something. I can see him being all cold and aloof, and me begging on my knees for just the tiniest scrap of affection…”

“He wouldn’t like you.” Alex pulled his arm away from Nadia and scowled. Tracht didn’t like chicks. And she was way too enthusiastic. Tracht would get bored of her super fast. Didn’t she get enough of that shit from Singh and Fontaine? Tracht was paying Alex’s debt, not hers.

“Yeah, I know. He’s completely not interested in women. Some people will play even when they aren’t sexually attracted, but obviously that’s not the case with him.” Nadia pulled Alex’s hand back and started giving him a hand-massage. “Don’t worry.”

She didn’t specify what he wasn’t supposed to worry about, and by that point the millions of ads were done playing and the movie started up. The 3D effects and exciting plot distracted him from further thoughts.

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They were both laughing when they exited the movie theatre. “I can’t believe they actually had her—”

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