Page 16 of Under His Skin

“Yes. Work often includes things I find utterly distasteful.” Kuroyama looked like they were about to say more, when one of the security officers shouted, “What the fuck?”

The man had opened the chest containing all of Tracht’s sex tools, and was now tossing them all out onto the floor. The expensive whips and paddles, the remaining roll of bondage cloth, chains and dildos and many, many gags. It honestly wasn’t even that much. Tracht was quick to cull the implements he didn’t need, since space was a luxury on a ship and he had no desire to hoard tools he didn’t enjoy.

“What kind of a sick fuck are you?” the security officer barked. On turning around, he must have spotted the cage on that side of the room, and his expression of disgust deepened. “Fucking hell. You use this shit on him?”

“I’ve never made it a secret that I’m in the BDSM scene, as it were,” Tracht answered calmly. He could feel Alex trembling, though, and was suddenly aware of the optics: his naked bondservant, quiet and afraid, while he loomed over Alex fully clothed.

With some trepidation, Tracht let go of Alex and went over to his strewn toys. “I wish you’d taken more care. Some of these were expensive.” He looked over at Kuroyama. “Did you come here to judge my sex life? I was unaware that BDSM was illegal on Cadmus now.”

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse,” Kuroyama snapped. “But no. I’m not here for your sex toys. This isn’t illegal.” They looked at Alex with a bit too much intensity. “Could you please get dressed, Mr. Stone? There’s no need for you to be exposed like this.”

Alex scowled at Kuroyama. “You’re not in charge here.”

“But I am,” Tracht interjected. “And I did ask you to get dressed earlier. So please, stop flashing the investigators.”

Tracht realized his mistake too late. He’d forgotten how shaky Alex still was in general, and Alex stumbled getting off the bed. It took him several times to stand at all, and when he was finally upright, he glanced blankly at Tracht, like he couldn’t remember why he’d gotten up in the first place.

Tracht quickly pulled out a robe from the closet—which was now in complete disarray—and handed it to Alex. He would have tossed it over if he had any confidence in Alex’s ability to actually catch it.

“Oh. Thanks,” Alex murmured. He made no attempt to cover himself. “Why are these people here? Are you having a party?”

“No. These people are investigators from the Department of Internal Investigations. I believe they’re here because of the whole Anna situation. Although I have no idea why.” Since Alex was still standing around dumbly, Tracht set the robe around Alex’s shoulders and shoved his hands through the arms. He tied everything off, intensely annoyed that he was forced to clothe Alex.

Kuroyama hmm’d disapprovingly. “Because, Captain Tracht, when one person is corrupt, they often share their wealth with their relatives. And you are a very big flight risk.”

“Allegedly corrupt,” Tracht corrected. “Anna has not been convicted of anything.”

One of the security officers scoffed loudly. When Tracht looked at him, the man shrugged. “You buy all these fancy torture toys on your captain’s salary?”

“I—Yes?” Tracht was so confused by the accusation that he couldn’t even be upset about the implications. “Are you unaware of how well-paid captains and their crew are? A large part of the cost of a shipping contract is to pay salaries. Unless you’d enjoy all of us taking our ships and never coming back to Cadmus, leaving this station almost entirely devoid of resources?”

“But it’s not all your salary, is it? You come from a rich family. Most captains do not keep a bondservant, and they don’t pay the penalties for canceling contracts early,” Kuroyama said. They looked more comfortable now that Alex was clothed, although they also firmly kept their gaze above eye level.

Tracht did think it was funny that Kuroyama thought they could get him to talk that easily. “I’m afraid I can’t say anything else without my lawyer present.”

“Of course. Please contact them and have them meet you at the central investigation station.” Then Kuroyama pointedly approached Alex. “Mr. Stone, let’s speak in private.”

Clearly Kuroyama thought Alex was a much easier target than Tracht—and they weren’t wrong. Tracht put himself between Alex and Kuroyama. “He’s my bondservant. He does not talk to you without me, and my lawyer, present.”

He caught the way Kuroyama’s eyes narrowed, but there was no further protest. “Very well. When does that contract expire, again?”

The way Kuroyama asked, they definitely already knew the answer to that question. Tracht did the math—another three weeks, which would have been well into their next trip if not for the bond-leasing center’s insistence on ending things early. He was glad now that he hadn’t gone through with it after all. Although if things dragged out, they might still be on the station when it expired either way.

“Just shut up.” Alex growled. He wrapped an arm around Tracht’s shoulders from behind. “We were having a good time, and then you stomp in here and ruin it. You don’t have the right to mess up Tracht’s things. Fu—leave us alone.”

Despite Alex’s bravado, his body was tense, and Tracht thought the arm wasn’t so much a protective gesture as one seeking reassurance. Tracht leaned back closer, and he felt Alex sigh quietly.

“Actually, I do have the right. I have a warrant. But I think we’re done with this room, at least.” Kuroyama nodded at the security officers. “If you’ve recorded everything, we’ll go investigate the main office.”

“A great idea. Let’s allow Alex to get cleaned up and dressed. I’ll open the doors for you,” Tracht said, squeezing Alex’s thigh and then stepping away from him.

Alex whimpered.

“Thank you. Do call your lawyers too. I’d like to conduct the interviews with both of you sooner rather than later.”

Thankfully Kuroyama didn’t wait for Tracht to follow him. It bothered Tracht that Kuroyama was stomping through his ship like he owned it, but he had to deal with Alex first. He turned around to face him.

“No matter what Inspector Kuroyama or their staff ask, do not answer. I don’t care if it’s a simple yes or no question: you say I don’t know or I’m not answering without my lawyer present. Understood?”

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