Page 12 of Under His Skin

“And if we’re unlucky?” Bahjat crossed her arms. “There’s no money if a ship isn’t moving, and half our crew considers Atalanta their home. They aren’t going to want to stay here indefinitely.”

“I won’t be able to stop them from leaving. But I won’t give them references if they do, either.” Tracht chuckled darkly and squeezed Alex’s shoulder hard. “Though I suppose nobody’s going to want references from me right now.”

If Bahjat didn’t shut up, Alex was going to punch her. It didn’t matter that he normally liked her. He needed Tracht to be his usual self, and if that meant taking a whipping or caning or whatever, he’d happily do it. But none of that would happen out here, in public.

Bahjat seemed to finally notice Alex, and then her eyes shot up. “Weren’t you going to pay off the rest of the debt and get the collar removed?”

“Yes, and then everything came up, so that fell by the wayside. Why? Do you take issue with this?”

“Nah. But are you fine with that, Alex?” Bahjat asked him directly, something weirdly intense about her eyes.

Alex shrugged and edged closer to Tracht. “Yeah? Not like it makes a difference. Anyway, don’t you have things to do?”

Bahjat laughed and stuck her hands in her pockets. “Nope! I already told them never mind on the leaving early thing. The rest can wait. And now I’m going to shower, since I didn’t get to do that before I left that very pretty bartender’s bed. Captain, don’t call me again unless we’re actually getting ready for departure.”

She turned to leave, giving them a dismissive wave. Alex tried to imagine Espinosa in this situation, and all he got was her dour face. Good thing they had Bahjat now instead.

“She’s not wrong about the money, and the sailors.” Tracht pushed Alex into the elevator. “But I’ll deal with that later. If I try to do it now, I’m going to burn a lot of bridges.”

Alex wanted to see Tracht yelling at the sailors. He loved it when Tracht got mad at others and cut them down to size. But of course when Tracht was mad, the only person he wanted to take it out on was Alex.

That thought shouldn’t have warmed him the way it did.

“You gonna cane me?” Alex asked, mostly because he hated canes the most and Tracht went for the canes if he wanted to be an extra big dick.

“Unfortunately, there’s too much risk in causing damage.” The elevator stopped, and Tracht exited first. “Maybe I should have taken the thirty minutes to get your debt paid off after all. Who’s going to stop me from breaking all of your bones after you’re free of me, Alex?”

Alex froze, trying to figure out if Tracht was serious. “You… you wouldn’t. I could go to the authorities.”

Tracht raised his eyebrows and smiled wickedly. “Would you though? Officer, my former bondmaster caned me. Yes, I did go back to him willingly. Yes, I could have refused. Yes, I am bigger and stronger than him.”

The last point made Alex stop short. He really was bigger than Tracht, by at least 15 kilos, and he had so many opportunities to snap Tracht’s neck if he wanted. He could have done it in the bath, when Tracht was naked and vulnerable.

There was nothing to stop him, except…

“You still have my dick caged! With the weird zapper!” Alex complained. It had been a while since Tracht had made use of it, but Alex could live without ever experiencing shocks directly on his cock ever again. He remembered the time Tracht had done it for a really long time, and Singh had to treat the burns after. He could live without that embarrassment and pain.

“That’s a fair point. So, come here. Let’s remove it.” Tracht motioned for Alex to come closer.

He was still wearing his shoes, which Alex didn’t like. But he got close, conscious of his cock cage, knowing Tracht had to just tap a button on his wrist band to make it hurt him.

“Undo your fly.”

Under other circumstances, Alex would have been happy to get his cage removed. He hadn’t been allowed to go uncaged since before they’d left Atalanta. But given the shitty situation they were in, and given that Tracht was in a bad mood, nothing good could come of this.

Alex hesitated for a moment, long enough for Tracht to give him an impatient glare. General unease settled over Alex, and he quickly opened his fly and bit down his protests as Tracht removed the cock cage.

It felt ridiculously good to have Tracht touching his cock, though. Tracht wasn’t stroking it or anything, just holding it and staring down, but Alex felt his face heat anyway.

Tracht let go and backed up a step. “All right. Get your clothes off.”

While Alex stripped, Tracht took his own boots off. That wasn’t right, but Alex kept his protests to himself.

“The other day, Dr. Singh sent me a very interesting video. I’ve been meaning to put it into practice but was always too impatient.” Tracht walked over to his cabinet of torture devices.

Alex watched apprehensively. If Singh came up with the idea, it had to be awful. He hoped it wasn’t catheters or piercings. Nadia had detailed a scene to him recently involving piercing and suspension, which had sounded so freaky that Alex had deleted the message before he’d finished reading.

The first few things Tracht pulled out were the earplugs, blindfold, and a standard gag. That looked like a setup for sensory deprivation, which Alex hated, but it was normal enough that he relaxed a fraction. He frowned when he saw what Tracht pulled out next: a long roll of a shiny gray fabric.

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