Page 6 of Under His Skin

Alex shook his head. “No. Sorry.” For good measure, he glared at Markus, who was wincing visibly.

“And this is what I meant!” Anna said nastily. “It’s just lucky I didn’t invite anybody else to join us tonight. I’m so glad this entire stint will be over soon.”

Tracht sneered at her. “You’ve been counting the days, have you?”

It took Alex a second to realize what they were arguing about. He instinctively reached up to fumble with his bondcollar. His hand curled tightly around it, and the urge to punch Anna was almost irresistible. What did she know? Tracht wasn’t going to throw Alex away. He wasn’t.

Just because Tracht had been kind of moody lately, and he’d stopped punishing Alex as much, didn’t mean Tracht didn’t want him.

It couldn’t mean that.

“Yes, I’ve been counting the days when I could see my brother without his pet thug hanging about. And anyway—”

“Enough!” Vasilis interrupted. “Anna, Johannes, please. I know we’re all stressed right now, but can we please have one single civil dinner?”

Stressed? Alex took a closer look at Anna, but all he saw was her being her usual bitchy self. She actually looked younger than the last time he’d seen her, owing to her having dyed her hair and probably a few facial treatments.

Tracht settled his hand on Alex’s thigh and said, “Of course. Apologies, Vasilis. The whole situation with the reporter has me on edge.”

Alex noticed that Tracht didn’t apologize to Anna, though.

From the way she pursed her lips, she must have realized it too. But she rolled her eyes and made a dismissive gesture. “Yes. Work has been… unpleasant lately. We should all attempt to speak a bit more carefully.”

Even Alex could tell she’d aimed that comment at him, but Tracht pinched him through the fabric of his pants. That was plenty of warning for Alex to keep his mouth shut.

Markus coughed loudly, breaking the awkwardness. “Uh, anyway. I was just asking Alex if he’d pose for me. Is that all right, Uncle Hannes? Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“…Of course. I just need to have a word with Alex, and then I’ll send him your way.” He stood up and inclined his head at Anna. “I’ll be right back. Come along, Alex.”

Confused, Alex followed Tracht. He half expected Tracht to break out a whip and punish him right there, but that would be too loud and messy. Thinking about it though, Alex realized he was definitely getting punished. He just hoped it was easy and would be over fast.

He was surprised when Tracht led him to the washroom. “Inside.”

As soon as the door closed, Tracht pushed Alex up against the counter and kissed him soundly. Alex was beyond confused, but he wasn’t going to complain. He put his hands on Tracht’s hips and kissed back, startling when Tracht pushed his leg between Alex’s thighs.

“Tracht?”

“Hmm? You don’t want to make out?” Tracht raised his eyebrows at him and smiled wickedly.

“I do! But… I thought…” Alex trailed off. Actually, if Tracht didn’t want to punish him, he wasn’t going to bring it up. He didn’t know what he’d done to warrant a reward like this, aside from maybe pissing Anna off.

That was probably it. Tracht was just happy to have annoyed Anna. Alex gave into it, leaning back a bit farther and ignoring the pain where the counter met his back. He opened his mouth eagerly for Tracht’s tongue, and groaned when Tracht bit down on his lip.

Alex was pretty sure that kissing didn’t used to turn him on like this. Or maybe everybody else just sucked at it. He pulled Tracht closer to him, wishing he wasn’t caged so he could feel Tracht properly against his cock, but also thankful that he didn’t have to worry about sporting a boner in Anna’s house.

“Hold on,” Tracht said, stepping back. He kept one hand on Alex’s chest, and the other one—

The other one started undoing Alex’s fly.

“Uh. Tracht?” Alex looked down and swallowed hard when he saw Tracht’s hand covering his crotch. The fingers started massaging his balls. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Even through the fabric, the touch to his balls was too much after two weeks without coming.

Alex’s breathing got a bit ragged. “You’re—you’re trying to get me hard? But the cage—”

“I’m sure you’re desperate and over-sensitized enough that you could come like this.” Tracht leaned forward and nipped the bottom of Alex’s jaw. “Why not simply enjoy yourself?”

“Take the cage off?” Alex gripped the counter hard and squeezed his eyes shut. His mind started hazing with arousal, and it wasn’t fair. He didn’t want one of those piddly, sort-of orgasms that sometimes happened when he was locked up. If Tracht was going to do this…

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