Page 59 of Under His Skin

Truth be told, Alex had no idea about all that stuff. He liked how it looked because it wasn’t all delicate or clearly a bondcollar. It wasn’t really a necklace either—the entire crew had known what was up as soon as he showed up wearing it—but it wasn’t super obvious.

“How come you don’t have one?” Alex asked after she’d pulled her hands away. He went back to eating his ice cream, the one treat he was allowed for the day while he was out.

“Honestly? Because Lina and Charlie couldn’t agree on one.” Nadia laughed a bit. She’d grown her hair out some, but shaved the sides, so it was a weird mullet style that suited her anyway. “Plus I don’t care either way. There’s enough piercings on my body from them, and that’s proof enough for me.”

The two of them sat quietly for a bit, eating, until Nadia said, “So I guess you guys are happy that Anna got off on appeal after all, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t we be? I mean, I don’t give a shit, but Tracht said that was less headaches for him.” They hadn’t found out about that until they’d entered comm space on the Atalanta side. Alex had sort of forgotten about all of it in the meantime, but it was the first bit of news Tracht had looked up. “Oh, yeah, did I tell you about that Galanis asshole?”

“Hmm? Was he the one, uh, agitating about bondservants and the like? I mean, it’s all well and good for him to talk about how the system sucks, but I didn’t hear him explaining how I could have afforded any of my treatments without it.” Nadia shook her head in clear disapproval. “I sort of get where he’s coming from, though. We were pretty lucky, in the end.”

Lucky? Alex had no clue what she was talking about. “Right, whatever. I just mean, apparently Anna and Vasilis went after him hard. I don’t know how they did it, but he pretty much got fired from his job and nobody wants to give him any airtime anymore. Tracht was explaining it all to me, but probably Galanis won’t be staying on Cadmus much longer.”

Nadia bit her lip suddenly, as if she had something to say to that, but her response was just a mild, “Guess that’s a happy ending for you and Tracht.”

“Well, yeah. What else is it gonna be?” Alex thumbed his collar, enjoying the way the ridges of the links rubbed his skin. “Anybody who messes with Tracht deserves it.”

“Yeah! That’s the right attitude to have!” She smiled at him, then waved. Alex was confused until he looked over his shoulder and saw Tracht walking towards them.

Before Tracht could join them, Alex quickly finished his ice cream. He knew he was allowed, but he had a mild panic that Tracht would eat the rest of the ice cream just to mess with him.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Sinclair. How are you?” Tracht said, taking the seat next to Alex. He settled his arm around Alex’s shoulder.

“Doing great! Alex and I watched that one movie, Guns & Guns? He said he saw it with you on Cadmus but didn’t mind watching it again.”

Well, yeah, because Alex could barely remember what had happened in it. Tracht grinned widely, probably knowing exactly why Alex didn’t mind rewatching it.

“Ah, yes. I quite enjoyed the lead’s love interest. Particularly the scene where he broke down crying. It reminded me of someone…” Tracht’s thumb ran over the skin of his neck, right beside the collar. Alex relaxed his muscles and forced himself not to react. He didn’t want Nadia noticing, even if she probably definitely knew what was up.

“Oooh, of course. But Alex is a lot hotter than he was! Maybe next time you bring Alex over to play, you can make him wear an outfit like that though.” She giggled briefly, then stood up. “Right, I think I should get back. Charlie and Lina are probably done with their private time and are missing me terribly. See you around, Alex!”

Yeah, she’d definitely noticed what Tracht was doing. Alex was glad though. If Tracht was here, that meant they’d probably go out for dinner or something.

“I have an appointment booked for both of us at a salon. Your hair is getting to be quite the mess,” Tracht said. “Not to mention the rest of your body hair.”

“I still think we should just laser it off,” Alex whined. He started to get up though, since there wasn’t much choice. “All the waxing is a pain.”

“The pain is the point.” Tracht smiled and got up.

Alex couldn’t help but be on edge at Tracht’s good mood. “Did something happen?”

“Hmm? Oh, Franziska attempted to mail you. Something about how sorry she feels for you, and she realizes she might have taken the wrong tactic, and that if you ever wanted to break free of your brainwashing she has some great therapists she can recommend. But don’t worry, I’ve deleted it and blocked her.”

That wasn’t really good news. Alex waited for the rest to follow, because there was no way that Tracht was happy about Franziska contacting either of them.

“I had a lovely chat with Anna after that. She mentioned that Franziska’s having a hard time finding invitations to anything lately. There’s a good chance she’ll be moving off Cadmus soon.” Tracht laughed to himself. “I’ve been imagining her trying to survive somewhere where she has no connections and her money isn’t worth half as much. It’s such a delightful thought. I hope the only thing I hear about her after this is a death notification.”

That explained the good mood a lot better, and Alex allowed himself to relax a fraction.

“Oh, and Dr. Singh told me about this event tomorrow night, so we really need you in perfect condition to be shown off. I have a few shops I want to hit up before then. I think you’d look very stunning in some panties—”

Of course there was a catch. Alex stopped walking and pouted. “Can’t we ever do anything nice? I hate parties.”

“I know you do.” Tracht gave him a sadistic smile and waved pointedly. “Now, heel.”

Alex heeled.