Page 38 of Under Control

Naturally, Alex laughed, but Espinosa’s expression morphed into one of distaste. “Apologies for making you uncomfortable,” Tracht said, though he didn’t know why he bothered since they all knew he didn’t mean it.

The elevator stopped on their floor, and the doors slid open to reveal Iglesias and the same two men who had escorted Tracht around the building.

Stupidly, even the drugs couldn’t stop Tracht from shaking. He didn’t like Iglesias. He wanted Iglesias completely gone. “Alex, Alex. You have to kill him. That’s why we can’t leave.”

“What?” Alex’s face snapped to his for a second, but then he was looking forward again, putting his body between Tracht and the men.

“Just Iglesias. I mean, you shouldn’t. You’ll get in trouble, and I won’t be able to keep you. But I want you to.”

Iglesias laughed. “Man, he got real talkative after we put that collar on him. Had a lovely chat about how he screwed us over on the container. Had a lot more fun passing him around to some of the staff.”

Tracht winced when he thought of that. The drugs made the entire event—not pleasant, exactly, but he hadn’t had to worry about too much. But he hadn’t wanted Alex to know that.

Meanwhile, Alex had gone completely still. “You fucking what?”

Espinosa looked at Tracht with pity. He wished he could feel angry about it. They really had to get this collar off of him as soon as possible.

“You heard me. Now, I’m gonna say you’re pretty outclassed here. You can’t possibly think you can outfight all of us.”

“I don’t need to outfight all of you, asshole,” Alex growled. “I just need to beat you into a bloody pulp. They’ll think you’d gone through a meat grinder once I’m done with you.”

Iglesias rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Guys, put them all in their place. But leave them alive. We might not have all the collars we wanted, but surely we can find somebody who’ll take these three off our hands.”

“You realize—and I’ve told you a few times by now—that my brother-in-law and sister won’t stop until they find me, right? You could make Alex and Espinosa disappear easily, but you have to think these things through. And the Nilsens are going to be so pissed when they find out what you did to me.”

They weren’t listening to him though. The two thugs closed in on Alex, while Espinosa shrieked and scrambled towards the kitchenette.

Tracht stayed where he was, unable to decide what he wanted to do. Watching Alex proved to be very, very stimulating though, and any other thoughts fled his mind.

===

Fucking hell. Alex had never been this pissed off in his life, and he was counting all the times he’d tried to protect Nick. He even counted that night when Parsons had betrayed him. It was nothing compared to what he was feeling now, rage and anger boiling up and making it hard to think.

He couldn’t afford not to think. He knew Tracht didn’t believe he was smart, but Alex knew how to fight. He knew that pissing off your opponent was a great way to make them leave openings.

Of his two opponents, one was obviously weaker. Not just because he was smaller—Alex had seen smaller guys with the muscle mass to make up for it—but also because the way he held himself indicated he wasn’t all that comfortable fighting in the first place. Probably wasn’t used to getting into fights.

Neither was Alex, not anymore, but he did spar with some guys on the ship and the muscle memory was coming back to him. He had no problems driving his elbow into the smaller guy’s face, with enough force to send him stumbling into the wall. Hopefully that would keep him down for a bit.

The other guy got in a good punch to Alex’s side while he was busy with the first guy, but the thick leather jacket did absorb some of the impact. Alex countered with a punch of his own, which the guy managed to block.

Alex shuffled back and assessed the situation again.

The first thug was still lying on the floor, clutching his face. That looked like a broken nose, which Alex knew from experience would make it really hard to keep fighting. Not impossible, as long as you figured out how to breathe through your mouth and could see around the swelling.

Tracht was on the other side of the room, watching Alex with very blatant arousal in his eyes. His cock was even beginning to tent under the blanket-skirt. Better not think about that.

He couldn’t see Espinosa anywhere, but he was okay with that.

Iglesias, though, was shuffling towards Tracht. Like he thought Alex wouldn’t notice. Alex looked at his opponent again, and he noticed the tell just in time to dodge to the side. The guy’s swing missed; Alex grabbed the guy’s arm and used his momentum to slam him face first into the wall.

No time to check if that had taken him out though. Alex intercepted Iglesias before the fucker could touch Tracht, grabbing him roughly by the collar and throwing him to the floor.

“Alex! I wanted to help. But my hands—” Tracht said. “I’d be useless anyway. You’re the one meant for this though. You’re incredible.”

Iglesias tried to get up, but Alex stomped on his back, and the wail of pain was exactly what Alex wanted to hear. “How do you unlock the manacles?” Alex asked.

“Coded to his thumbprint,” Tracht said.

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