Page 32 of Under His Skin

Both Tracht and Anna shut up and looked at each other.

“They’re here for you,” Anna said coldly. “They aren’t allowed to investigate any more of me, I’m pretty sure of that.”

“The Sigrun is already being held under lock and key. I don’t see what they’d need me for.” Tracht reached down and squeezed Alex’s thigh underneath the table.

The intercom beeped, again, and Kuroyama’s voice followed. “Judge Tracht? Apologies for the early morning visit, but I’ve been sent to collect Mr. Alex Stone.”

Wait, what the fuck? Alex sat up and glared in the direction of the front door. “I don’t want to be collected. Leave me alone.”

Anna stood up and rolled her eyes. “They can’t hear you. I’ll go get them.”

“No, you won’t.” Tracht went to follow her. Alex didn’t want to be left sitting alone with Johan, so he went as well.

On the other side of the front door stood Kuroyama, two security officers, and… that guy with the punchable face who was on the news all the time. He looked extra slimy in real life, and Alex clenched his hands into fists. Punchable was actually the nicest word Alex could think of for that dude’s face.

“Thank you, Judge Tracht, Captain Tracht,” Kuroyama said. “I was told that the station’s prosecutors have been attempting to get in touch with Mr. Stone for several weeks now, and that since he’s been ignoring all official requests, I was to come collect him.”

Tracht and Anna both frowned deeply.

“What do you mean, he’s been ignoring official correspondences?” Tracht said, his voice clipped. “This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“Indeed,” Mr. Punchable said, stepping forward. “The missives were sent to him directly, but now we’re three days into the trial and it’s clear that there were barriers into him appearing in court.” He followed that up with a brief nod at Anna. “I’d say it was a pleasure to meet you, Judge Tracht, but I believe we both know that would be a lie.”

“Oh my god, why are you even here?” Anna said, throwing up her hands. “Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve been slandering me all over the media? And we were in the middle of breakfast! Can’t you people wait?”

This must have been the first time Alex saw Anna stand up for him, even though he would bet she only really cared about the fact that they were inconveniencing her, not about Alex specifically. Anyway, he didn’t need her to defend him.

“Whatever you want, I don’t care. I’m not going,” Alex said pointedly, folding his arms and giving them both the nastiest look he could—the one that was guaranteed to make kids cry and people cross the street to not be anywhere near him.

“Ah, yes. That’s the thing. We have a subpoena for you. You’re to testify at the trial.” Kuroyama held up their tablet, and this time both Tracht and Anna took a closer look. “

Then Tracht burst out laughing. “You want Alex to testify? Are you serious?”

Kuroyama kept a straight face and lowered the tablet. “Yes, completely. There have been a few matters that the prosecutor’s office believes Mr. Stone can shed some light on.”

Anna snorted in amusement and started shaking her head. “Oh, please. First of all, I think my lawyers would have mentioned if Alex was on the witness list. Second of all, Alex is Johannes’s bondservant. He can’t testify against me, not without Johannes’s permission. And that’s such a huge conflict of interest anyway. If he says anything to harm me, then Johannes could punish him. And anything beneficial he says would be rightly scrutinized, since there is no way to get an uncoerced opinion from a bondservant.”

Then Mr. Punchable stepped forward. “Yes, that’s why I’m here. You’re probably familiar with my work in the bondservant system. I’ve been asked to accompany Mr. Stone to the debtleasing center so that we may pay off the remainder of the debt. The state will cover it, although it’s barely even two weeks now.”

Alex stood, stunned. Cover the payment? Get it paid early? He could feel himself heating up inside, and he clenched his fists so hard that he thought he might bruise himself. Mr. Punchable apparently really, really wanted to be punched. Surely nobody would hold it against him if he lashed out. He’d make sure to only hit spots you wouldn’t see, and—

Tracht squeezed Alex’s arm and said, “Absolutely not.”

Mr. Punchable seemed taken aback by the refusal. “Excuse me? You don’t get to decide this. He’s been subpoenaed, and we’re going to go through with it.”

No. If Tracht didn’t want it, and Alex didn’t want it, and Tracht said no, then Alex was going to say no as well. Simple as that. “Fuck off. I don’t want anything to do with this trial bullshit.” He took a step back, pressing his shoulder pointedly against Tracht’s.

But Kuroyama sighed loudly. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. A subpoena is a legal writ. I am allowed to arrest you if you don’t cooperate.”

Alex’s eyebrows drew up in alarm. “Arrest? Is that right? Tracht, can they do that?”

It was Anna who answered. “Unfortunately, yes. That’s if you aren’t Johannes’s bondservant, which—I suppose, given the circumstances, you won’t be. Not even being Johannes’s spouse would save you, since that doesn’t make you married to me.”

“But I don’t want to,” Alex said, keeping his voice low and growly. Anything he could do to scare these two assholes, he’d do it.

Tracht’s lips thinned into a line and he squeezed Alex’s arm even harder. “I am going to call my lawyer.” He turned around to face Alex and gave him a hard look. “Play along for a bit. But remember, nothing changes.”

Then he kissed Alex, just this side of rough, which made Alex groan hard. He ended up pulling Tracht closer, because if Tracht wanted to give these people a show, Alex was happy to cooperate.

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