Page 36 of Under Control

“Oh my god,” Espinosa whispered. “This is the same as what we were transporting. That’s—that’s disgusting. Inhumane. How could anyone—”

Okay, this was gross, but they needed the collar if they were going to get anywhere. He looked at the passed out woman again, and he noticed the collar was still hooked into her skin at several points.

“You aren’t going to—you aren’t going to actually rip it out, are you?” Espinosa asked. “That could actually kill her. If you damage her arteries—”

Alex was fine with roughing people up, but he didn’t actually want to murder anyone. Fine, he’d do this the hard way. He picked up the chick and slung her over his shoulder. Good thing she wasn’t too big.

“Come on.” He walked as quickly as he could to the elevator, trying as best he could to keep the blood from dripping onto the floor. Espinosa jogged alongside him, turning her head in all directions, like she expected somebody to pop out of the walls.

As soon as they were in the elevator, Alex set the chick down.

“Why did you bring her along?” Espinosa asked. “I don’t think she should be moved. She needs a doctor, really badly. Oh god—”

Alex ignored her and hit the button for the third floor. Thankfully, the computer recognized the collar, or the subdermal chip, or whatever, and started moving up.

“Better she’s in here than alerting everybody. Maybe you can find her a nice comfy bed up here.”

Were elevators always this slow? Alex shifted from foot to foot. He made sure not to look at the chick and her fucked up neck.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Espinosa babbled. “That they’d do something like that to her. To—to you?”

“Tracht wouldn’t do that to me,” Alex said. He put his hands in his pockets and found the whip he’d put in there. He curled his hand around it. “That’s just violent. No finesse. Anybody could rip out chunks of flesh. That’s not art.”

“No, but... bondservants in general. You’d end up with the collar literally locked to you. You wouldn’t be able to take it off—”

“Wouldn’t want to take it off,” Alex muttered, and thank fuck the elevator finally hit the third floor.

The elevator doors opened up on a much cozier area—carpeted with paintings on the wall. There was a small kitchenette too. Beyond the kitchenette was a short hallway with doorways leading to other rooms.

Through the first door was a living room of some sort, but it was empty. Alex tried the next door, which was a study. Behind the third door was another office. Alex almost dismissed it, until he saw the figure sprawled across the couch.

Tracht.

Tracht, lying naked and bruised, his face sporting a giant shiner, his hair disheveled.

And around his neck, the same fucking collar as on the chick.

Fuck. Fuck. Alex crossed the distance between them and crouched down. “Tracht. Tracht, hey,” he said, and fuck, Tracht’s arms were cuffed together. Flimsy cuffs that dug into Tracht’s skin and were leaving cuts around his wrists.

“Alex?” Tracht said, voice slurred.

He gathered Tracht into his arms and held him tight, breathing in Tracht’s scent and knowing that the next person who walked through that door was going to get more than just a shiner. Was going to get more than just their skin ripped off.

“Um. Clothes. He needs clothes,” Espinosa squeaked. She walked around the room, going through all the cabinets. Alex ignored her.

“Tracht.” Alex kissed Tracht’s cheek. “I’m gonna make ‘em all pay. Every one of ‘em. Promise.”

Tracht chuckled and tilted his head, rubbing their cheeks against each other. “I do love you, Alex. You’re so perfect.”

Uh. Alex put a bit of distance between them so he could look Tracht in the eye. “You okay?”

Tracht gave him a dopey smile. “Absolutely not. I have a concussion. And—oh, the drugs. Kiss me, Alex. I know you want to.”

Well, yeah, Alex wanted to. He obliged, but it felt weird too, with Tracht sighing softly and grinding against Alex’s body. Didn’t feel right to be the one clothed while Tracht was naked, either.

“Captain, maybe you can wear—oh my god!” Espinosa trailed off. “Now is not the time!”

Alex broke the kiss and glared at her, but she had a point. They seriously needed to get out of here. He stood up and pulled Tracht with him, and Tracht stumbled into his body and stayed there.

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