Page 26 of Under Control

By the end of the story, Tracht was actually laughing. “You two were a pair of idiots.”

“No way. That was all Nick. I just did what he told me to do.” Alex scratched his chin. “Anyway, after that we stuck with the tried and true classic. One of us runs out with the goods while the other sat around in a public space with a bunch of witnesses as alibis.”

“And yet you never thought to say no to Nick’s silly plots.” Tracht started leading them through another part of the shopping center. “I am incapable of feeling anger about that, of course, since it led you straight to me. Do you know, it’s been almost exactly three years since we entered into this contract?”

During some of his darker moods, Alex imagined beating Nick to a pulp. Sure, he’d gotten his revenge already, but it didn’t seem like enough. Especially after one of Tracht’s shitty parties, or when he’d been paraded around the ship in skimpy outfits. But trying to imagine life without Tracht left Alex even more pissed off. So maybe he wouldn’t beat Nick to a pulp. Maybe he’d just break his arm a few times.

Not like he’d ever see Nick again anyway. “So, is that why you bought the jacket? ‘Cus it’s our anniversary or whatever?”

“I suppose you could say that. I simply liked how it looked on you.” Tracht pulled away from Alex’s embrace, but even Alex had to admit that walking with one arm around Tracht’s shoulders was impractical. He caught one dude giving them a judgmental look anyway.

Their wandering brought them to a fancy grocery store that boasted goods from “across the galaxy and beyond.” Mostly that meant Pylos, with weird multi-legged sea creatures in jars or every type of pickled vegetable known to man.

“What are we doing here?” Alex asked.

“You’ll see.”

Towards the back there was an aisle of Earth goods. Weird canned and jarred foods, as well as specialty cereals and grains. Apparently Earth even had specialty dog and cat food.

“Earth goods is such a broad category,” Tracht said. “Each continent and nation has its own specialties. But what I’m here for is the fruit.” He stopped in front of a selection of fruit. “Oranges and cherries. What do you think?”

Alex remembered the time they’d eaten those together, and how much fun they’d had at it. “Yeah. Yes. I mean, maybe not the oranges, those were gross. But cherries, yeah.”

“I’ll get an orange. And I suppose I might as well pick up ginger while we’re here.” Tracht put all the items into a nearby hand basket and headed towards the front.

“Ugh. I hate ginger,” Alex whined.

Tracht laughed darkly. “And that’s why I’m getting it.”

They paid for their items, and Tracht had them deliver everything to the Sigrun. He couldn’t be bothered carrying the produce around for the rest of the evening, and he didn’t want Alex carrying it either. “You’d probably destroy the ginger on purpose.”

Alex thought about it, and then nodded. “Yeah, I might have tried.”

After that it was time for their dinner, which Tracht had booked at the same hotel as their first dinner on Atalanta. It was different now that Alex was a bit more used to these fancy restaurants, and he’d gotten settled in his role as Tracht’s bondservant. He didn’t notice the stares, and didn’t even mind that the host only talked to Tracht, not him. The food still came in too-small portions, but it was good, and Alex had grown to like the taste of wine.

He liked listening to Tracht talk as well. These little moments when Tracht was acting like a totally normal person, sharing stories of his past or talking about some bad client, made Alex feel like Tracht liked his company.

“Can we do this again next year?” Alex ed out during a lull in the conversation. “The anniversary thing. It was fun.”

Rather than mock Alex, Tracht looked startled, then one of his rare nice smiles spread across his face. Alex had the smiles all classified. There were mocking ones, and amused ones, but every so often Tracht smiled in a way that softened all of his features, and Alex’s heart would beat extra fast.

“I suppose I’ve enjoyed your company today as well.” Then the smile turned harsh. “I’ll enjoy it even more when we get back to the ship. Oranges, cherries, and ginger for dessert.”

“Why do you gotta ruin everything?”

“Dear Alex, surely you know the answer to that by now. Because I am absolutely enamored by your pain and suffering.”

Chapter 8

The movie Alex went to see with Nadia was okay. The action didn’t blow him away or anything, but he thought the three leads were hot and there were a bunch of naked scenes, so that was good. Nadia looked pretty into it too, squirming in her seat a few times.

“Too bad Charlie tied up my cunt,” she whispered to Alex.

Yeah, Alex’s cock was trying to get hard in the cock cage too, but he didn’t say so. “You’d get in trouble.”

Normally that would make Nadia laugh, but this time she pursed her lips and went back to watching the movie. After a few minutes she lifted up the armrest between them and settled her head on his shoulder.

That was weird. Nadia was touchy-feely, but usually not like this. Alex wondered if he should put an arm around her, but it didn’t feel right. Not that he didn’t want to touch her, but more that he didn’t think Tracht would like it. Tracht didn’t like it when Alex tried to fuck other people when Tracht wasn’t around.

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