Page 15 of Under Control

Alex could be sneaky when he wanted to. Tracht thought Alex couldn’t, but he and Nick had played the part of one person often enough that Alex had a sense for sneaking. He did the checks—it would be suspicious if he didn’t do them—and while he was walking by Espinosa’s damn container, he shifted his eyes enough to look at the lock. Soon enough, the lock would be toast.

That bit of curiosity satisfied, Alex kept going, only to bump into Espinosa. Not literally; they both caught sight of the other before it got to that, but it was a near miss.

“What are you doing down here?” Alex asked. “Don’t you have a job to do?” He was pretty sure Tracht had told Espinosa to stay out of the cargo hold entirely.

“I’d ask you the same question, but…” Espinosa grimaced at him. “Regardless, while I am not required to do security checks, I do like to keep an eye on what the sailors are up to, and make sure that none of the crew is behaving in untoward ways.”

“What? Nobody’s down here.” Alex waved around. “Nobody is ever down here. Once a week, tops, to clean a bit. Oh, and me and you and Tracht, to check that everything is still secure. You want to check on the crew, you should be in the engine room or the recycling facility.”

He saw Espinosa stiffen, and her face flushed red. “I… yes. Sometimes the crew comes here to hide, but I suppose that isn’t likely given there are more easily accessible locations.” She nodded at him. “If you’re done here, we should get going.”

Was he done? Alex kind of wanted to say no, just to piss her off, but he figured Tracht wouldn’t want her lingering. Better to escort her out. “Yeah, sure.”

They didn’t say anything to each other after that, although Alex wanted so badly to gloat about how Tracht trusted him and not her. How she’d gotten Tracht mad at her and she didn’t even know it. If nothing else, though, being with Nick had taught Alex how to keep secrets. Couldn’t exactly be a con artist if you told everybody what you were up to.

They took the elevator back to the main deck and headed towards Tracht’s office. At least, that’s where Alex was walking; Espinosa was going in the same direction, which could mean she wanted to talk to Tracht or that she was heading towards the bridge.

It forced them to go past the medbay though, where Tracht was waiting.

“Alex, good timing,” he said, smiling in a way that set off all the alarm bells. “I was just about to look for you.”

“Captain,” Espinosa greeted. “Will you be in your office later today?”

Tracht nodded. “In about two hours or so. I have a few things to take care of with Alex first.”

Oh no. Alex looked at the medbay and saw Singh inside, waving at him.

“Very well. I’ll come by later,” Espinosa said, and she walked off without a backward glance. Alex wondered if she knew what Tracht had up his sleeve, and she just pretended not to. Or maybe she’d helped arrange this in the first place, and that’s why she’d insisted on escorting him out.

“Come along then, Alex,” Tracht said, placing a hand on Alex’s shoulder and drawing him into the medbay. “Dr. Singh and I were just discussing the fact that you haven’t had a proper physical in a while.”

“What? Didn’t we do that a few months ago?” Alex complained. “You drew all that blood and made me piss in a cup and gave me shots.”

“I see he’s still as unintelligent as ever,” Dr. Singh said, tapping away on her tablet. “Please take him into the exam room and have him undress.”

“Of course, Dr. Singh,” Tracht said, directing Alex towards the room with all the soundproofing. Yeah, not a normal medical exam. Dammit.

“Come on,” Alex whined. “It’s still morning. We don’t do this stuff until the afternoon. And I haven’t done anything to deserve this.”

The look Tracht gave him was too amused. “Alex, didn’t I tell you that you wouldn’t be able to get out of the punishment for your temper tantrum?”

Damn. Alex had kind of hoped that after all the fun they’d had devising a plan, Tracht would have completely forgotten about that.

Tracht shoved him towards the exam table. “Now undress and put the robe on.”

Alex stripped quickly, just to get it over with, but he grimaced when he realized that the robe Tracht wanted him to wear was at least two sizes too small. It fastened in the back, but he couldn’t get it to cover his ass, and it was so short that it only barely covered his junk.

“Nice,” Tracht said, slapping Alex’s ass. “I knew this would look good on you.”

“It’s too small,” Alex complained, although he knew it wouldn’t make a difference. Sometimes he felt better whining, but this time it made him even more miserable. He could feel the disparity in temperature between his front and his back, and he had the urge to cover his ass.

“One more thing,” Tracht said, reaching underneath the robe to grab Alex cock. He undid the cage and set it aside.

“Come on!” Alex whined. It was never a good sign if his cock cage came off in the medbay.

“The doctor is going to give you a very thorough exam, Alex,” Tracht said, grinning widely. “I look forward to seeing it. Now, shut up.”

Alex glowered, but he didn’t speak anymore. He did start to feel self-conscious though, standing in the exam room while Tracht lounged in the single chair. Alex could sit on the examination table, but he balked at that idea. He didn’t want to seem eager for this.

---