Despite the promised caning, Alex felt pretty good the next morning. Sure, he was sore, but whatever had been bothering him a few days ago must have passed.
Tracht was in a good mood too, because he took Alex out for a fancy breakfast, and after that he let Alex “enjoy himself” on station. He even gave Alex a card with some credit on it.
“The limit is low,” Tracht said, “and I’ll see if you buy yourself food. But feel free to find something you’d like to take on board.” He kissed Alex casually on the cheek before he left for his meetings.
See, if Tracht could just be like that the entire time, Alex would have no issue with the contract at all. Alex wasn’t sure if this was a reward for yesterday or what, but he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.
It felt kind of like the first time he and Nick had scored big. They’d cheated a large payout out of a granny who’d bought Nick’s sob story hook, line, and sinker. Alex couldn’t remember what they’d told her—probably something close to the truth, about how their mother had kicked them out—but naturally they didn’t mention all the mugging they were doing to get by.
So. A card with a low limit. A few possibilities crossed Alex’s mind. Since food was out, entertainment was probably the way to go. He didn’t need Parsons to go watch a movie. He’d do it by himself.
He was in line for the ticket—feeling only a bit self-conscious about the bondcollar—when he heard a woman call out to him.
“Hey! Alex! Hey!”
He turned around, and saw a pale-skinned woman jogging over to him. It took a moment to recognize her, what with the clothes and hat and lack of vibrantly colored piercings.
“Nadia.” Alex awkwardly raised a hand in greeting.
She stopped in front of him. Wow, it really was a different look. The beret made her haircut appear less extreme, and with the capris and blouse, he couldn’t see any of her body piercings. All the rings on her lips had been replaced with more modest studs, and where all of the jewelry had been bright colors before, they were now in silver or gold.
She looked preppy, actually.
“I barely recognized you,” he blurted out. “You look normal.”
Instead of taking offense, she laughed. “I get that a lot.” She hooked an arm through his. “You’re looking handsome this morning, too. You by yourself?”
“Yeah. Tracht has meetings or something. Thought I’d watch a movie in the meantime.”
“Ooh. Can I join? I was just doing some shopping, but Master and Mistress aren’t expecting me back until much later.”
Nadia was really, really cheerful. Alex somehow hadn’t expected that, though now that he thought about it—well, he didn’t actually want to think about the Party.
It wasn’t until they were sitting down in the theater, and Nadia had been talking about how much she loved the movie series and all the aspects she enjoyed, that Alex worked up the nerve to ask, “Why are you a bondservant?”
That startled her into silence, long enough that Alex thought she’d just tell him to mind his own business.
Her hand landed on his arm on their shared armrest. “I guess it’s okay to tell you. We’re all in the same boat, yeah? I had cancer. Bad luck to be a station brat, cus if I lived on Pylos that’d be an easy fix. I was going to a clinic that was… uh, I guess affordable is the nicest word for it.”
Oh god. Alex regretted asking.
“Well, long story short! I was shopping around for somebody who would pay for the treatments that would actually save my life and got lucky that Charlie happened to be the doctor on staff at the debt leasing center.” She smiled. “Y’know, Charlie was pretty incensed when he heard my situation. I think he would have paid for everything without even demanding my services in return, but I would have felt really bad about that. Good thing he and Lina had been thinking of getting a bondservant anyway. They’re both so… hot.”
Not exactly the word Alex would have used. “Singh creeps me out.”
Nadia laughed again and patted his arm. “Yeah, she has that effect. But if we’re gonna talk creepy, I think Captain Tracht has her beat in spades.” She shivered theatrically. “If only he weren’t gay. I’d love to have him punish me for something. I can see him being all cold and aloof, and me begging on my knees for just the tiniest scrap of affection…”
“He wouldn’t like you.” Alex pulled his arm away from Nadia and scowled. Tracht didn’t like chicks. And she was way too enthusiastic. Tracht would get bored of her super fast. Didn’t she get enough of that shit from Singh and Fontaine? Tracht was paying Alex’s debt, not hers.
“Yeah, I know. He’s completely not interested in women. Some people will play even when they aren’t sexually attracted, but obviously that’s not the case with him.” Nadia pulled Alex’s hand back and started giving him a hand-massage. “Don’t worry.”
She didn’t specify what he wasn’t supposed to worry about, and by that point the millions of ads were done playing and the movie started up. The 3D effects and exciting plot distracted him from further thoughts.
===
They were both laughing when they exited the movie theatre. “I can’t believe they actually had her—”
“No, but that bit with—”
Nadia was a surprisingly good movie watching partner, and Alex was glad she’d invited herself. Or that she’d even called out to him, because Alex would have ignored her if he’d spotted her first.
Seeing Parsons just outside the theater kind of dampened his enthusiasm. Alex stopped walking, and Nadia, her arm hooked through Alex’s, jerked to a stop, too.
“Huh?”
Parsons got up from the bench and walked over to them. “Hey.” He gave Nadia a glance. “Alex, can I talk to you? In private?”
“How’d you know I be here?” Alex was still kind of annoyed about Parsons being a big baby the other day.
Nadia pushed closer into Alex. “Is he a stalker or something? Because station security takes that shit seriously.”
No way did Alex want to deal with more security, but as much as he didn’t particularly want to see Parsons, he also didn’t want to get him in trouble.
“No, he’s, uh.” Alex floundered. “A… friend?”
Parsons nodded at Nadia. “Jeremy Parsons. I work on board the same ship as Alex.”
“Okay. Nice to meet you, Jeremy. I’m Nadia Sinclair.” Nadia turned her attention back to Alex. “However you want to handle this. I’m happy to stick around, but if you want to chat with him in private I can leave, or if you want me to keep watch, I can just go sit on those far benches and wait. And remember, just because you’re a bondservant doesn’t mean he gets to walk all over you. You’re contracted to only one person.”
Her indignant tone made Alex chuckle, and he saw Parsons scowl. “No, I think it’s okay. Parsons isn’t a threat. You should, uh. Get back to Singh and Fontaine?”
It was weird, but apparently Nadia actually liked those two creeps, and Alex sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her how she was supposed to feel about things. Unlike some people. Plus the more she kept Singh busy, the less Singh could bother Alex. Win-win, in Alex’s book.
Nadia gave Parsons another suspicious look. “Fine. But if anything happens, I won’t hesitate to tell Mistress about this entire encounter. It was nice hanging out with you, Alex.”
She walked away slowly, looking over her shoulder constantly, until she disappeared around a corner.
“Mistress?” Parsons asked.
“Singh, I guess. Singh and her husband hold Nadia’s contract.”
“Dr. Singh is married?” Parsons shook his head. “No, never mind. Come on. I wanted to go somewhere with you.” He took the arm Nadia had been holding and started leading Alex out of the shopping center.
Alex tugged his arm back in annoyance but kept following. “What’s your deal? And you never said how you found me.”
“I mailed the Captain and asked. His response was ‘according to the GPS in his bondcollar, he is currently watching a movie.’” Parsons slowed down a bit. “Sorry I didn’t come with you. I had to get some overtime hours in, and I found a single-day job on station yesterday.”
Because of the expensive school he was sending his daughter to. “Tracht says that the school isn’t worth it.”
“What?”
“He watched the security footage from when you hung out with me. He said the school wasn’t worth it.” Alex shrugged. “His sister sends her kids there.” The street they were walking along was leading away from the station docks, not towards them. He didn’t recognize them anymore. It looked less touristy, more business-y now.
“Tracht should mind his own business.” Parsons looked behind them and then all around. Like he was afraid they were being followed. “It’s just over here.”
‘Just over here’ was a large, blocky building with the words ‘Debt Leasing and Bond Services Center’ written over the entrance.
Alex froze. “Why are we here?”
“Because,” Parsons put a hand on Alex’s shoulder and tried to push him closer to the building. “No way in hell is half the stuff Tracht is doing to you legal. You heard Nadia. She said just because you’re a bondservant, doesn’t mean I get to walk all over you. That applies to Tracht as well!”
Fucking hell. Alex shook Parsons off, and it was a near thing that he didn’t punch him. “I told you the other day! I don’t need you butting in!”
“Alex, can’t you see—”
“No! Shut up! You’re the one who can’t fucking see.” Alex noticed the building security staring at them. He grabbed Parsons’ shirt and pulled him into a side street, away from prying eyes.
“Look. My debt is stupid high. Nobody else was willing to pay it. If that debt doesn’t get paid, I’m getting sent right back to Peter fucking Nilsen, who, by the way, is about twenty million times worse Tracht.”
Parsons shook his head. “You could work for the station. They allow for work contracts…”
“So you want me to do manual labor for the next twenty years?” Alex pushed Parsons against the closest wall. “No. And anyway, you forget how we met? I knocked you out running away. The station’s not gonna want me after that.”
“But if you tell them that you ran because Tracht is a monster—”
“I ran because I wasn’t planning on staying, you stupid fuck!” Alex’s voice echoed down the alley. “Me and Nick planned it from the start! We were gonna play Tracht for a shmuck, have him take my debt and we’d both fuck off to another solar system.”
Oh shit. He saw the surprise in Parsons’ face, and he could already see the disgust building.
Alex ran.
===
Lying on the couch in Tracht’s cabin wasn’t really much better, but by the time Tracht returned, Alex decided he didn’t give a shit what Parsons thought and that if he never talked to Parsons again, that would be fucking fine.
“Did you have a good time?” Tracht asked while Alex was helping remove his shoes.
“Yep. Watched a movie with that Nadia chick. She’s pretty cool.” Alex pressed his forehead against Tracht’s thigh. “I’m hungry.”
Tracht petted Alex. “I brought you a treat. Look in that bag.” He motioned towards the small cloth bag he’d set down on the table.
Inside were two round, bright orange fruit and a handful of small red ones with little stems coming out of the center. Alex took hold of the larger one and pressed down into the leathery skin. “What is it?”
“Our conversation about cherry oranges got me curious. The expense was just as high as I remembered—apparently it is incredibly hard to grow these on Pylos—but oh well. That’s an orange and the others are cherries.”
Earth fruit. Some people thought fruit from Earth was superior to the stuff elsewhere in the solar system, but Alex didn’t get it. Fruit was fruit. “How do I eat it?”
Tracht took the orange from Alex’s hand and pushed a nail into its skin. A smell not unlike the cherry oranges from the other day wafted out. Alex watched was Tracht peeled the entire outer shell away with his fingers. When he was done with that, he set the peel on the table and then separated the slices of orange out from each other.
Alex held out his hand for a piece. Tracht gave him an amused look.
“It was worth a try,” Alex muttered. He leaned closer and opened his mouth.
That first slice was sour. Acidic too, in a way the cherry orange hadn’t been. Alex was almost tempted to spit it back out, except—well, he was hungry. He chewed and swallowed, his nose curling the entire time.
“Hm. Is it not good?” Tracht popped a piece into his own mouth. After one bite, he spit the orange back out. “Why in the world did people eat this?” He looked at the orange in disgust. “I paid premium for this?”
Alex started laughing. “The look on your face!”
“Yes, the look on my face.” Tracht took hold of Alex’s nose and brought his half-chewed piece of orange up to Alex’s mouth. “Open up.”
Gross, but—Alex took the orange, and for good measure licked the orange juices from Tracht’s fingers. He saw that he’d surprised Tracht and counted it as a win.
Tracht let go and slumped back onto the couch. “No protest at all?”
“You’ve made me eat worse.” Or drink worse. Alex tensed up and hoped Tracht wouldn’t suddenly get the idea to piss in Alex’s mouth, but apparently whatever had Tracht in a good mood was holding up and Tracht just sighed.
“Fair enough. Bring the cherries over, and let’s hope these are a bit more palatable than the oranges.”
They did turn out to taste better, although Alex could have done without the hard seed in the center. Those got a bit messy, especially when Tracht forced Alex to hold all of them in the palm of his hand. But it was kind of fun too. Tracht petted Alex and fed him fruit and told Alex a story from one of his early days in the merchant academy with a classmate who had wanted terribly to try some vegetable from Khoina and then, after months of searching, finally acquired it... only to have a terrible allergic reaction.
“I guess we’re lucky that the only adverse effect from these oranges is unhappy taste buds,” Tracht said. “They’re growing a bit on me though.”
“Yeah, I think the first bite was the worst.” Alex opened his mouth for another piece. The last one.
Tracht popped it into his own mouth and chewed very loudly.
“You said they were a treat for me,” Alex complained. “You’re such a sadist.”
With his mouth still visibly full of orange, Tracht replied, “That should not come as a surprise to you.” Then he leaned down and kissed Alex and pushed the entirety of the mushy orange into Alex’s mouth.
Gross, gross, gross.
Alex worked to quickly swallow everything before the taste and texture could make him gag. Tracht kept a light grip on Alex’s hair, and from his pleased smile, he knew exactly how disgusted Alex was.
When Alex had swallowed completely, Tracht kissed him lightly. “Good boy.”
So, Parsons aside, it ended up being a pretty good day.