The CEO's Meal (Patreon Exclusive) (Patreon)

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“We need to talk about your performance.”

Riland Incorporated’s CEO, Dustin Hiley, turned to his subordinate with a sharp frown on his face.  “You’ve been severely lacking as of late, Ian,” the poodle said, sighing deeply.  “You’ve been missing deadlines, forwarding the wrong documents, arriving late--where do I even begin with you?”

Ian’s face looked sad, but in his eyes was a glimmer of rebellion.  The snake’s father was one of the biggest stockholders in the company, after all--that was what got him the job. The CEO couldn’t touch him. . . Or so he thought.  “I’m sorry, sir,” he said, though both he and Dustin knew those words were false.  “What do you want me to say?”

“Say that you’ll do better,” growled the poodle.  “As my assistant, I expect more from you, and you need to meet that.  /And/ say that you’ll stop hiding behind your father.”

Ian laughed.  “I’m sorry, sir.  With all due respect, I can’t do those things.”

“Oh really?  Are you sure.”

“Positive.”

“Alright.”  The poodle looked over at Ian, and his own rebellious glint appeared, lighting up his pupils.  “Then I’ll just have to change tactics.”

“Change tactics?  Wh--”

Before Ian could finish his sentence, Dustin pounced from behind his desk, and grabbed the insolent worker with both hands, squeezing him tightly.  The snake screamed and writhed in his grip.  “W-What are you doing?  When my father finds out about this, he’ll--”

“Your father is the one who’s allowing me to do this, Ian,” the poodle explained darkly.

“What?”

“I told him about your lackluster performance--and he knew you wouldn’t comply with changes.  So he told me to get rid of you, that ‘a burden in this family is no son of mine’.  Understand, Ian?”

The snake’s face sunk from disbelief to utter despair in a second.  “N-No . . . he wouldn’t. . .You’re lying. . . !”

Dustin laughed.  “He said to do what I want with you--so I think I’m going to have lunch.”

“What?”  Ian frowned, confused.  After a second, it dawned on him what the poodle meant.  “N-No sir, please sir, I’ll change, I promise you I will--”

“You told me a moment ago you wouldn’t,” Dustin said calmly.  “Why should I believe you now?”

“I--”

“I’ve had enough of talking,” the poodle interrupted.  “I’m hungry.”

His maw opened wide before the snake, and Ian got a good look inside: teeth and tongue dripping with drool, leaning forward to grab him, and behind it all, a dark, ominous throat loomed.  He tried to move his head away so he wouldn’t be chomped, but Dustin saw his movements, and clamped his mouth onto his food before it could escape.

“Mmmph!” Ian cried out as the maw descended onto him.  Suddenly he was in the center of his boss’s large tongue, which lapped him up like a piece of candy, with a ravenous hunger that made the snake shudder.  “Mr. Hiley, please, I’ll change, I’ll--”

/Gulp!/  A single swallow sent the snake down Dustin’s throat, and Ian found his head squeezed on all sides by a cylindrical tube.  He tried to pull his head out, but it was stuck inside pretty good.  Even worse, he couldn’t open his mouth to speak!

Meanwhile, Dustin was enjoying his meal.  He licked up the snake’s long, fleshy neck, but then he got to Ian’s clothes.  The poodle thought for a moment, wondering if he should give his meal a better taste, but then he heard his stomach’s growling--he needed food in there /now/.  So Dustin decided to swallow Ian down quickly, to get something in his belly, and to avoid the taste of fabric.

Ian was rapidly pushed downward as his boss gulped him down, and the snake started to panic.  From the throat there was only one destination, right?  Was there any way to avoid landing in the poodle’s--

/Pop!/  His head suddenly came out of the throat, and landed in a large, open space.  At first the snake was relieved, but then he smelled the acid around him, and knew that he had landed in the exact place he dreaded: the stomach.

“Help!  Help me!” Ian cried.  But nobody could hear him aside from the predator, who rushed to swallow more of the snake down.  Before Ian knew it, he was crammed right inside the belly, pushed up against squeezing, growling walls.

Above, Dustin was almost finished with his meal.  He took off Ian’s shoes and socks, and tasted the worker’s flesh, lapping up the last bite with reckless abandon.  Then his belly let out an impatient growl, and the CEO laughed, taking the hint.  Then he swallowed the last of Ian.

“No no no!” the snake cried as his feet were gulped down.  But he was helpless as the rest of him slid down the throat and joined him inside the stomach.  He was curled up in the fetal position in the grumbling belly, surrounded by oozing walls that dripped with fluids.  “Somebody, let me out of here!”

Dustin laughed, and gulped down Ian’s shoes and socks, preferring to leave nothing of his meals behind.  “I tried to tell you to improve, Ian,” he said sadly. “But you said no--and now, you’re my lunch.  And you know what happens to lunch?”

“What happens to--no, no, please.  Don’t digest me!”

Dustin smiled and sat back down in his chair, leaning back, savoring the snake’s cries of terror.  His prey moved around nicely in his stomach, giving him s great belly massage, and he was certainly pleased with how things had turned out.  Ian was a terrible assistant, but he sure did make a great snack.

Now, he just had to hire someone new. . .