Disclaimer: This story and the rest of its series are entirely a fictional fantasy. It focuses on themes which may be upsetting to some, most prominently cheating, male dominance and humiliation. I would also like to acknowledge that not a single word of this writing is intended to be plausible or realistic. It is, plainly and simply, a wish-fulfilling fantasy and nothing more.
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Although most would disapprove of his morals, few could deny that Nick Rodham lived the good life. There he was: tall and handsome for 30 (he looked at least 5 years younger), raking in millions as a stockbroker and with a happy marriage of seven years. He didn't look like the sort who could ever need more from life. But appearances can be deceiving.
We join Nick now on an average Friday. It's 4:45; he's still at work, but has plenty of reason to be happy: soon he'll be leaving to go out and relax with the love of his life. The thought of the night to come spreads a grin across his face as he crosses his legs and sits back, pretending to listen to the meeting he's attending.
Nick used to be the hardest worker in the firm by far. That's how he secured his position at the very top of the ladder. He held seniority and power over every other person not just in the room, but the whole building.
Thus he was able to gradually eliminate any need to do actual work over the last several years. He had started working at nineteen doing odd jobs and breaking his back for it. By twenty three he founded the firm, still young and spry, still exerting himself to keep his company together. At twenty five he finally solidified their success, and now it was just a matter of keeping their pace steady. So he hired assistants, slowly delegating responsibilities that used to be his onto them, until at last, at thirty, his job now consists of doing speeches, attending fundraisers, and signing the occasional form.
All of this scheming to avoid work was practically more work than the original job, but now it had paid off. He was finally free (as far as he was concerned): free to indulge the interests he discovered over the last decade, as he came into possession of more and more wealth, status and power. And that was what he intended to indulge tonight.
The day wound down soon. He personally said goodnight to as many employees as he could as he left, wishing them an enjoyable weekend and fine times with their family. Nick was proud to be well-liked by everyone in his business. It made everything around him run so much smoother. He could get away with the occasional error without undermining their respect for him, and he never had to put up with stubborn or unhappy coworkers.
To almost anyone around him, his life would appear perfect. And it almost was. But there was one major obstacle, one true difficulty, which he silently dreaded for the entire limousine ride home each and every single day: his wife.
To be clear, Nick loathed his wife for reasons that were largely outside of her control, and few of which justified the level of disdain he held for her. In truth, she was an entirely adequate wife, and if only she had any idea of the issues Nick had with her, she would've made an honest effort to please him. But Nick never wanted or expected her to change; she never stood any real chance of him so much as liking her, let alone loving and respecting her, because he already had other plans in mind.
Nick had married her purely out of convenience, almost straight of high school, simply as a basic symbol: to show others he was stable, mature, likeable and reasonably well-off. He feared others in the business wouldn't respect him if he wasn't even able to get a woman. Of course, the truth was he could get damn near any woman he wanted; too many for his own good, in fact.
Though she was acceptable enough for him to at least see her as an acquaintance prior to their marriage, it was immediately obvious to him that she was totally inadequate as an actual partner, especially a long term one. In high school, she been reasonably pretty, in her way, compared to the other girls, an appearance helped by her immense, disproportionate pride at being in a relationship with Nick, considered easily the most desirable boy at his school. She seemed to think that this attention affirmed her as his equal, and perhaps at the time it had. But the intervening years had not been kind: her once modestly-pretty face had become long and haggard, her features dull, her formerly petite body gaining flab without also gaining the curves that could have put it to good use. She seemed oblivious to all of this, and her arrogance and self-satisfaction only increased as the reason for them disappeared.
Initially, time with her was a necessity to maintain the charade of his respectable marriage and family. But as the years wore on, it became the most gruelling chore he'd ever had to maintain. Every moment he spent near her was a moment he wished he could be virtually anywhere else.
But today, Nick wasn't heading home. He was heading to what one might call his home away from home, his sanctuary, even his paradise. An escape.
Sitting in the back seat of the limo, he called Betty on his cellphone and began the usual spiel he had telling her for years.
"Hello, honey," she said as the call connected. He felt nothing at the sound of her voice or the affectionate word; any positive feelings he ever had for her had died long before they even married. She, meanwhile, remained naively convinced that Nick was merely reserved and stoic.
"Hello," he said.
