A Gilded Cage, Part 1 (Reader Plus Short) (Patreon)

“Card.”

I sigh as I dig through my satchel for my security pass while the dour faced guard glowers at me impatiently, as if had something better to do. Truth was his entire job was to sit here at this desk watching people coming and going. The straining buttons across his bulbous belly on his pale blue uniform shirt were doing more real work right now than he would do all day long. “Bill, you see me literally every single…”

“Card!” He snaps, getting up off of his ass to tower over me. The fat bastard just loved the fact that I was a smaller man and he could loom over me like he did. “You know the rules. We ain’t makin tiddlywinks here ya know.”

“Fine! Yes. Here.” I swipe the card across the reader. There comes the usual chime and green light and he gives a disinterested wave to move me along. Stuffing the card back into my satchel I mutter. “Good morning to you too, Bill.”

“What’s so good about it, Nathan?” He grumbles straight back, with an extra sneer as he speaks my name.

I try to ignore grouchy Bill’s attempt to sour my day before it had even begun but as I make my way to the elevator I find myself reflecting on the question and, sadly, come up lacking an answer. Even a couple years ago my innate optimism could have come up with something but today…nothing. It wasn’t that anything was ‘wrong’, per se, but over the past two years there was a growing sense that something wasn’t ‘right’. My life was full of blessings. I was 26 years old, I had a stable job, I had friends, I had a family that loved me, I had a quaint little house of my own, and, thanks to being a lifelong bachelor, I had the freedom to live as I liked. Deep down I knew it was that last point that was the source of this hollow feeling that had only grown as the months went by but I kept reminding myself about the benefits of an unattached existence. I could holiday where I liked, go out whenever or wherever I wanted, eat whatever I wanted, buy the latest and greatest gaming rigs, and the list went on. Sure, my sex life wasn’t anything to brag about but with porn and sex toys how they were I was definitely not suffering from blue balls. Unlike more and more of my friends as well as my brother who had all been drawn into the bondage of marriage and responsibilities, my life was still MY life. And I wasn’t going to give that up easily. Shaking my head I tell myself again that this was just a phase I had to get through. Tonight I’d head out to my favorite steakhouse for a nice ribeye to treat myself.

***

Two hours later I am clacking away on my keyboard as I wrote up the summary of a performance review for one of the new hires down in accounting. With Bill’s surly question still niggling at the back of my mind I found myself wishing that security fell under the internal HR umbrella for Prism Dynamics. Given the level of tech on the premises and the top secret work that happened in the lower levels of the building security was done by an independent and quasi-governmental agency, totally beyond the reach of a mid-level human resources drone like me. Not that I’d actually do anything of course, I was a professional after all, but I knew he wouldn’t talk to me with such disrespect if he knew that a few keystrokes by me could make him or break him at this company.

Just then a knock comes to my open office door and I look up to see Ryan, my manager. “Hey, Nathan, did you happen to…”

FLASH!

A blinding burst of white light with seemingly no source fills my office and the next thing I knew the world was spinning around me. Grabbing my desk I steady myself, though it takes a few seconds for my mind to stop spinning. I shake my head and look up at Ryan who was looking around just as confused as I was. I blink my eyes and force myself to focus, my eyes settling on his blue tie. Hadn’t it been red a second ago?

“What the hell was that?” He says.

I shake my head again. “I have no idea.”

“Hold on. I’m going to check this out.” He leaves and hurries down the hall in the direction of his office.

Getting up I wander to the door to find my coworkers also coming out of their offices and cubicles, all of us wondering what had just happened. Just then an announcement comes through the wall speakers. “Employees are asked to remain at their work area until further instruction.”

“Further instruction?” I say to Shannon, my older cohort from across the hall.

“I smell an afternoon off coming.” She grins. “That’s what happened the last time the lab had a cock up. It was before your time.”

“Ah.”

Ryan steps out of his office at the end of the hall and shoos us back into our spaces. “Come on. You heard the announcement. Back to work.”

Texts fly back and forth between us workers speculating what the flash, which had been seen throughout the middle floors of the tower, had been about. It was only about fifteen minutes later when I hear a chatter of excited voices coming down the hall. I look up to see a gaggle of folks in lab coats pass by my office door with the one in the lead holding a little device that looks like it had come off the set of Ghostbusters. Among them I see Kevin, my best friend in the company and regular lunch mate. They had no sooner passed when the whole group of them turn around and return to my open door. The woman turns and points the device through the door then says. “Here.”

The group enter the room and spread out. They begin to scan my small office with their little flashing doodads, one of them scanning me as if I were simply a part of the furniture.

I look to Kevin and quip. “Should have figured you’d be involved.”

“Ha, yeah.” He laughs, though there is no humor in it.

“What are you lab boys doing up here? Something to do with that light I’m assuming.”

Kevin glances to the others before saying. “Can’t really talk about it. But it seems your office was dead center of the phenomenon.”

“My office?”

“I’m picking up sub-plankian leakage across the entire D-brane.” Says one of them. “Definite rupture.”

The group mutter among themselves in grim tones. The tech scanning me says. “He’s clean. Get him to the infirmary and get him checked out, then to the lab for a full scan.”

“I’ll take him.” Kevin offers, to which his superior nods.

I am lead away through the looks of my curious coworkers. The moment we step into the elevator. The doors close, the reflective door interior revealing Kevin and I standing side by side. The top of my short, raven black hair only came up to just above his shoulder, behind the rectangular lenses of my glasses my moss green eyes revealed the worry I was trying to contain. Kevin’s face hid concerns of his own, though he seemed too distracted to give voice to them. Rupture? Leakage? Dead center of the ‘phenomenon’? None of that sounded good.

Taking a breath I adjust my tie to then turn to Kevin. “What’s going on, man?”

He hesitates a moment then says. “Experiment gone awry. The less you know the better. Classified shit. Something we were working on escaped containment. It was just for a few nanoseconds but…” With a serious look he pats my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re okay, Nat.”

“Uh, thanks. I think. Was I in danger?”

“Er…probably not.” He shrugs.

“Probably not!?”

“Hey, on the bright side, the data we collect will be invaluable. They might name a quantum event after you.”

“Gee, so glad I could help.” I quip. “I thought about a career in science, I just never thought it would be as the guinea pig.”

He laughs as the elevator opens. “I should head back up.” He says, holding the door open. “You can find your way from here.”

“Yeah, sure.” I say. “Hey, how long are you going to need my office?”

“Maybe days, probably weeks.” He guesses. “Possibly permanently.”

“Permanently! God damn it.” I groan, stepping out of the elevator. “I just got that office. It’ll be back to cubicle city for me.”

“You just have the luck, huh?”

“Right?” I say. “First you try to fry my nuts off with that ‘invention’ of yours, now this. What am I, a magnet for this stuff?”

“Hey, shhh.” He glances down the hall nervously. “I told you I could get into big trouble for showing you that.” He looks at me and says with his whole heart. “Again, I am SO sorry about that, Nathan. If I could go back and trade places with you, I swear I would.”

I look at him curiously, taken aback by the depth of emotion in his apology for the near miss that happened last year when he snuck me down to the lab and showed me the ‘trans-locator’ machine that he’d been working on. When he tried to activate it an arc of energy had ripped across the floor and right up between my legs to graze my inner thigh, missing my junk by just a fraction of an inch. It was something we laughed about now and I was surprised to see the topic seem hit him so hard all of a sudden.

“Hey, it’s cool. No biggie.”

“No biggie?” He says with a weak smile. “You’re a better and more forgiving man than me, Nathan.”

“Hey, do you think the two things are related?”

“Related?” He thinks a moment. “Nah. I can’t see how. Totally different phase…” His dark eyes narrow as calculations turn over in that brilliant mind of his. “I don’t think so anyway. That is an interesting coincidence though, now that you mention it. Huh.” After a long moment he says. “Nah. No way. I should be getting back. Sorry about all this, man.” His face brightens. “Hey, could have been worse. We’ll send a tech around in a bit to take you to Bio-Lab.”

“Sure.” With a fist bump we part.

As I am walking away he says. “Say hi to D for me.”

I turn just around in time to see the doors close. “D?” I whisper. As in, Big D? Dave from poker night? That was…random. I shake my head and continue on toward the infirmary.

***

The company doctor gives me a full examination and an entire suite of tests. In the end I am not taken to the lab and instead a pair of researchers ask me a bunch of questions which basically boiled down to “Do you feel okay?” and “Did you experience anything out of the ordinary?”. I told them I felt fine and that besides the flash of light I hadn’t notice anything peculiar. They seemed satisfied with that and told me I could go home if the tests all came up clean, though reminded me in no uncertain terms that the non-disclosure agreement I signed for this job included events just like this one. I assure them all was well and I’d keep my mouth shut. Just as Shannon had predicted it looked like I was going to get out early.

As I wait in the examination room for the results I am reflecting on that strange flash of light. Rupture. ‘Probably not’ in danger. God, had that been something more serious the lab had lost control off I might be dead right now. That thought shook me to the core. It wasn’t the dying that left me cold, but the…emptiness of what I’d leave behind. In my mind I can picture inside my little house sitting totally silent as its owner never returned. At my funeral my family would weep, at work there would be solemn looks for a day or two, and among my friends a beer would be raised in my honor. But…there would nobody who carried my memory in the core of their heart. No widow. No children. Nobody who truly needed me or relied on me. Nobody to mourn me as if they were mourning a part of themselves. The house, the car, my kick-ass PC, all of it would be distributed among my family and then I would just be a tragic memory.

I sigh and push these grim thoughts from my mind. I laugh a bitter laugh at myself. As if having a partner or children would somehow make it better. Why would I want to wish that sort of pain onto somebody? It was so much cleaner the way it was. Just one day Nathan would be no more. Simple. Easy. No fuss. What was happening with me lately? I knew women had a biological clock, but what was my excuse?

Needing a distraction I pull out my phone to check to make sure my bills had come out on time, as I’d been having trouble with the power company billing on the date we’d agreed to. When I open my banking app I nearly drop my phone.

“What the fuck?” I mutter, leaning forward in my chair and pushing my glasses higher up my nose to take a closer look. My main account was about 30k less than the last time I’d checked it just yesterday! First a near miss with meeting my maker and now this! Frantically I tap the account and begin to scan down my most recent transactions. The last one was a grocery store just an hour ago while I had been sitting in this room. Before that I see a purchase from a fabric store and an oil change that I hadn’t gotten. Someone was making purchases on my card! “Shit!”

Just then the doctor returns. “All your tests show nothing out of the ordinary, Mr. Kennedy. You are free to go.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

Slipping into my suit jacket I storm back to main floor with my phone gripped in my hand. The moment I got out of here I would be calling my bank. As I approach the security desk I see Bill standing up to face.

“God damn it.” I mutter, before saying. “Bill, I forgot my satchel up in my office. My card was in it. I’m not even sure if I’m allowed in there right now.”

A gentle breeze could have knocked me over as Bill…smiles! A big, warm, friendly grin! He waves me though. “It’s okay, Nathan. I’ll log your departure.”

“Uh…thank you?”

“No problem, bud.” He chortles then nods down to the hand holding the phone. “Lose your ring?”

“Ring?” I look at my hand and realize he must have been talking about my grandpa’s old signet ring, a family heirloom, which he’d given me when I got this job as a reminder that I came from a long proud line of clerks and bureaucrats. I was surprised he noticed it was missing and even more shocked that he cared, especially since it had been three months or more since I had misplaced it. “Yeah, actually.”

“Whoo!” He says, brows rising. “Yikes. Well good luck with that! I’ll let you know if I see it.”

“Er…yeah. Thanks again.”

“Have a good one, Nathan.”

“Yeah. You too, Bill.”

After passing him I glance back once to see him smiling after me. Stepping out of the building I bring my focus back to more pressing matters. After jogging to my car I get in and start it up. I place my phone in its holder and dial the bank. Without waiting for an answer I pull out and begin the short drive home. As I go I navigate through the maze of options, trying my best to find the one that would allow me to speak to an actual human being.

Waiting at a red light I watch a smartly dressed couple cross in front of me, the woman’s arm around her man and her hand brazenly gripping his ass, while the smooth jazz of being left on hold comes from my phone’s speaker as I waited for my turn in the queue. I feel a pang of jealousy for that man to have a woman who was so bold in her public display of affection for him, until I remind myself of what a gilded cage such ‘happiness’ required. Just then I catch a hint of…vanilla? Sniffing I start looking around the car and notice it was a lot cleaner than I remembered it. The hell? Had someone vacuumed and added air freshener to my car while I was at work? The lab guys? No, that didn’t make sense. Nothing happened in my car.

A honk from behind me jolts me back into the moment and I realize the light had turned green. I wave an apology and begin to drive again. As I cruise the familiar route home, waiting for the bank and praying I wasn’t drained completely by the time I got to talk to somebody, I spot a new billboard that looked like it had come straight out of the 50’s. It showed a smiling married couple, the man in a dapper suit and hat while the woman wore a retro skirt and blouse combo. Between them they held a platter with…his and hers body and balls powder?

“Mr. Kennedy?” A voice at last comes through the speaker.

“Yes! This is Nathan Kennedy.” I say, struggling to keep my tone even, as I take the final corner onto my street. “There’s something very wrong with my account. Last I checked I am over 30 thousand dollars light and there are purchases on there that I never made!”

“Okay, Mr. Kennedy. Let me look into this for you.”

As the bank person begins to dig into the details of my account I pull into my driveway. I grab my phone, leaving it on speaker for now, and go to my front door. I slip my key in the lock only to discover it was already unlocked. I stare at the knob. I could have sworn I locked up on my way out this morning, as I always did.

“Alright, Mr. Kennedy. I have your account up now.” The man says. “Now, what precisely is the problem?”

Stepping into my house and closing the door behind me I say. “The problem is that…”

I freeze, my voice cutting off, as I find myself in a house I did not recognize. The entry way, the living room, the hall, all of it had been completely transformed! Gone was the big desk with the three wide monitors and glowing monolith of a gaming PC that took up the whole north wall of the living room, it its place was a floral pattern loveseat beside a sewing machine and stool. My black leather sofa had been replaced with one that matched the loveseat. The coffee table and end tables had changed from the basic utilitarian black and glass ones to stylish pieces of polished wood. The neutral, slightly stale, aroma I was used to walking in was gone as now the air was rich with the scents of orange, cedar and roasting chicken. It smelled so good in here! And clean! There wasn’t a speck of dust for as far as the eye could see. For a moment I was sure that I had walked into the wrong house but in the corner I spotted the vase my grandma had given me for the housewarming and on the wall, among a number of beautiful oil landscape paintings, was an old family picture of mine. Beside that picture was a…wedding photo?

Clack, clack, clack, clack.

My head snaps toward the hall as I hear the footfalls of heeled shoes on the laminate coming from the kitchen. Stepping around the corner…is a goddess!

The woman was statuesque, looking to stand just over six feet tall in her low heels, with a full, curvaceous figure. Vibrant red locks wreathed her head in a curly bob style that just reached her shoulders. Her wide eyes were green, like mine, but where mine leaned toward deep moss hers shone like brilliant emeralds. Her face was simply…GORGEOUS! Her elegant chin and brow, full ruby lips, a fine nose and strong cheekbones, every feature was exquisite in itself but combined her beauty simply took my breath away. This ravishing angel was older than me, by maybe five or ten years, but by GOD she wore her age well. She wore a house dress in a shade of green that nearly matched her eyes in a style not unlike that retro looking woman I’d seen on the billboard. Cinched around her wide hips was an white apron embroidered with tiny green leaves and pink flowers. She was, quite simply, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

When she sees me her face lights up into a warm smile that melt the coldest heart. And the way she looked at me! My own mother had never gazed upon me with such…love!?

As I stand frozen, phone forgotten in my hand, she approaches me, her long legs swallowing the distance with long, powerful strides. “Nathan! You’re home early.” She comes to stand in front of me, invading my personal space. I gawk up at the much taller woman in nothing less than awe. Laying her hands on my shoulders she leans down…and kisses me!!! The kiss lasts but a moment yet it is given softly and intimately, a kiss unlike any I’d ever received. “What a wonderful surprise.” She says after our lips part. “There was no problem I hope.”

“Wh-Wh-What are you doing in my house?” I stammer.

“Oh, it’s YOUR house now is it?” She throws her head back and laughs a wonderful lilting laugh. Keeping her arms around me, her hands resting at the top of my ass and her large breasts atop my chest, she says brightly. “I know I said I’d be home later but Mom’s second appointment got canceled so I was able to come home in time to greet my little king like he deserves.”

“Little…king?”

“Mr. Kennedy?” Comes the banker’s voice from my phone. “Mr. Kennedy, are you still there?”

The woman’s smile fades as her eyes drift down to my phone, the lilt in her voice is replaced by the hint of a hard edge. “Who is that, darling?”

“Uh…” I look down at my hand at my phone, one of the few objects I recognized around me, then back up to her. “The…bank?”

Ever so slight, there is a flash of annoyance across her pretty face. “My love. How many times do I have to tell you not to worry your handsome little self about this stuff.” She ruffles my hair. “You’ve got no head for figures, you know that. Here. Give me that.” She takes the phone from my hand. “Hello. This is Mr. Kennedy’s wife.”

“Ah, Mrs. Kennedy.” The banker says.

“Please, call me Deirdre.” She says with effortless charisma. “What has my silly husband called you about today?”

“It seems there were some mystery transactions and his balance was less than he expected.” The man says. “From what I can see here everything looks to be in good order. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Nothing out of the ordinary? EVERYTHING was out of the ordinary!

“I was at a branch just today and everything seemed fine.” She says, shooting me a sharp look. After getting the balance she says and hearing the most recent transactions she says. “That all sounds right. You’ll have to excuse my husband. We’ve haven’t even been married a year yet and he’s still adjusting to having a wife to look after his finances for him.”

“Well, congratulations to the newlyweds.” The banker says, just happy to wrap this up. “You two have a nice day.”

“We will.” She hangs up. Rolling her eyes she slips my phone into my shirt pocket and pats it. “Next time, talk to me first. In fact I don’t want there to be a next time.” She says sternly. “You have enough to worry about at work without needing to fill your head with household things. You’ve got me now, darling. You do that again without letting me know we will have to remove your access.” Her tone warms and her expression softens as she leans down to gaze into my eyes. She smelled sooooo good! “Okay?”

“Is this…some kind of joke?”

She laughs and kisses my forehead, which she could do without angling up or down given our disparate heights. “No, darling. I wouldn’t want to cut you off from our money, but if you force me to I will. For your own good.” Teasing and fixing my hair she asks. “Was your allowance not enough this week?” She takes my hand and squeezes it. “What did you…” Her eyes widen and snap down to my hand. “Where is your ring!?”

“M-My ring?”

After a long sigh she says. “Did you lose your ring today, Nathan? Was that what you were talking to the bank about? You wanted to buy a replacement without me knowing, didn’t you?”

“Uhhh…”

“Oh, my silly little king.” Cupping both my cheeks in her hands that emerald gaze of hers delves into my very soul. “How many times have we talked about this? I love you, Nathan Kennedy.” I tremble at the power of her words. “I chose you. You are mine. Nothing you do will make me so angry that you can’t tell me about it. If you need another ring then I will chose it for us. And I will be the one to put it on your finger again.” After a tender kiss to my lips she smiles and steps back, her hands still on my shoulders. “Look at you. All this worry is pulling you down. Like when I met you, the weight of the world on those handsome little shoulders. We can talk about the ring later, darling. Come on. Stand tall. Head up. Show me my king. Tall and proud.” Without even consciously meaning to straighten my posture and raise my chin. “Good. Look at you.” She rubs my shoulders. “This stuff with the ring and the bank has you all tense.” Holding her skirt out a little she, without warning, sinks to her knees in front of me!

“Uh…wh-what are you doing!?” I stutter as she lets her skirt pool around her then proceeds to pull down my fly! “Deirdre!” I reach to stop her but she pushes my hands away.

“Shhh. Aren’t you feeling rebellious today?” She reaches into my fly then through the fly of my underwear. Gently she takes a hold of my penis and pulls it out into the open. “All this talk about ‘your’ house and calling the bank? Have you been listening to that men’s rights red pill nonsense again?” With just her thumb and index finger she strokes my soft, slender cock. “We agreed they weren’t good for you, darling.”

I shake my head no.

“Oh, good.” She smiles…then wraps those smiling lips around my cock! Engulfing my entire dick she seals her lips tight around my base and lets out a soft, happy hum as she begins to suckle. “Hmmmm.”

“Oh God!” I gasp as warm, wet heaven envelopes my manhood. This was so fucked up! I didn’t even know this woman! But holy shit did this feel good.

Holding my gaze in her she bobs forward and back, sucking hard as her tongue flicks and swirls around my knob. Quickly my cock grows to its full five inches and Deirdre has absolutely not problem handling every inch of it. My shaft glistening with her spit, the base of my dick ringed with crimson lipstick, I stand in a state of blissful shock as I received the best fucking blowjob of my life. The wildest thing of all was that it wasn’t the physical act that made it so good, though that was incredible, it was the way this goddess looked at me as she pleasured me. She stared up at me with love, true love, shining in her emerald eyes.

“Mm, mm, mm, mm.” Letting out a quiet moan on every stroke as she works my cock as if she knew it by heart. Every suck, every lick, every move it was as if she was reading my mind to glean what would give me maximum pleasure. I go to reach for her head but she gently intercepts my hand. Sucking off of my tip she kisses my palm and whispers. “I want to keep my hair nice until after our walk.” With barely a pause she returns to giving me head, faster than before. The intensity with which she looked at me and the urgency of her blowjob told me she wasn’t going to stop until I blew my wad. “Mm, mm, mm, mm.” The sucking gets harder, the bobbing gets faster, the tongue dances and twirls around me, and with her left hand, the one that had the golden wedding band on the ring finger, she begins to fondle my balls through my trousers. “Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.”

I stand in my front hall way breathing heavy and trembling as the pressure grew and my legs turned to jelly beneath me. “Ohhh.” A whimpering moan escapes my parted lips as my orgasm grew near. Looking down at this stunning woman who so dutifully and expertly was sucking my cock my reeling mind casts back. The flash. Ryan’s tie. Say hi to D. Bill. My clean car and the transformed interior of my house. My bank balance. HER. The accident! Something about that accident had changed everything! Any thoughts or questions I had are quickly erased by the sudden burst of euphoria from an intense orgasm. “Nnnnnngh!”

“Mmm.” Deirdre’s lips remained sealed around my throbbing dick as she begins to swallow my load. “MMM!” He eyes widen as she gulp, gulp, gulps down my hot seed one creamy wad at a time, not allowing a single drop to escape her lips to mess up her dress or apron. “Mmmmm.”

“Ohhhhh, fuck!” I groan as my climax gradually eases off.

After sucking me off to my very last drop Deirdre slowly sucks to my tip then releases it with a pop. “My goodness!” She says, her eyes gleaming with joy. “What a healthy load! You haven’t cum like that since before the accident. Nice and thick too. Mmm.” She nuzzles my dick, kisses it lovingly, then puts it away. Zipping me up she pats my groin. “Took those drugs awhile to kick in, but I’d say they’re working! We’re trying again tonight. No more waiting.”

“Trying again?” I huff, still reeling from the incredible orgasm.

She stands and straightens her skirt before kissing me deep enough that I can taste my own salty load on her tongue. She says with a laugh. “You know I’m at the peak of my cycle right now, darling.” Patting my cheek she adds. “Now, go get cleaned up and changed. That nice teal polo I got you last month and some khakis.” She laughs an almost giddy laugh and kisses me again. “My little king.”

With that she spins and strides back toward the kitchen, hips swaying hypnotically as she goes. Left alone in the entry hall I stand with a damp dick, empty balls, and a home I didn’t recognize around me while a wife I never met hummed happily in the kitchen as she prepared dinner for her and her ‘little king’. What in the HELL was going on!?

Part 2