[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 516 & 517. (Patreon)

Chapter 516: Wanting to return a favor.

Like always, that Thursday after school I went to the gym before I had to go to work. Honestly, I was finding the routine so comfortable that I was a little worried about how graduating and going to university would change everything. I found the thought uncomfortable, but I wasn’t anything I could stop, so it’d just be a problem future me would have to deal with. Good luck, sucker.

Anyway, I was really into my exercise routine that day. I forced myself to be, mostly. Running with the treadmill on a higher setting, adding a bit more weight to the dumbbells than usual, doing one more rep in everything… It didn’t solve the issue, but it felt good to let out that… Um… Let’s call it extra energy.

There was something odd that day, however. Something… eerie. 

The gym was a bit too quiet. I mean, yes, the usual regulars were there, all working out like always. The sound of the machines and soft chatter filled the place. I had grown used to all this background noise while I didn’t have my earphones on. But you know why I still call this an eerie silence? Because Mr. Carlos was there again now that he was back from his trip, and we weren’t hearing any of his motivational screaming at all.

I watched him doing his deadlift reps while I drank water and noticed a lack of enthusiasm in him. Not a lack of effort, mind you, just… He looked distracted even while focused on his reps, if that makes any sense.

I waited for him to be done and approached when I saw him also drinking water. I did that without really thinking about it, so when I was close, my mind went blank.

What should I even say? Mr. Carlos is an amazing guy, super friendly and helpful to everyone at the gym, but… I wouldn’t say we were friends. Again, that’s not to say I didn’t like and/or respected him, but he was a grown ass adult and I was just a kid. I still felt weird being so casual with Luke, and being with Diana was a whole different thing. Still…

“How are you doing today, Mr. Carlos?” I asked him, trying to sound all casual but unable to hide the concern in my tone.

I mostly expected him to… I don’t know, do the adult thing and just smile while telling me he was fine and that I shouldn’t have to worry about him. Instead, he let out a deep, frustrated groan.

“My daughter, my boy! I’m at a loss of how to support her in such an important time!” He rubbed his face with his hands, then put them on his waist and began to stretch. “She recently said she wanted to get a job, which took us by surprise, you know? She doesn’t NEED to have a job, and she’s a very introverted girl, so when she came back saying she’d found a job at a coffee shop, we were more shocked! Ah, but you probably know this, right? It’s your shop she’s working at.”

I chuckled. “Not MY shop, but yes, I work there too.”

“Have you seen her?”

I shook my head. “No, she works a different shift on different days.”

“I see…” Mr. Carlos sighed heavily while shaking his head.

“But what is wrong with her? I haven’t heard my boss complain about her at all.”

“At first I was happy that she was taking the initiative to grow out of her shell, but now she comes home looking exhausted and on the verge of tears. I try to ask her, but she says she’s fine and locks herself in her room again!” Mr. Carlos crossed his thick arms and tapped his foot on the floor with a deep frown of concern. “I hate to ask, but… You don’t think her boss is bullying her at work, do you?”

For a split second I almost got mad. Maria would never do something like that. At most she could be strict with some things, but overall she was the world’s chillest boss. Thankfully, it only took me that split second to tell myself Mr. Carlos was coming from a place of concern for his daughter and that he didn’t know Maria as well as I did.

I shook my head. “I really doubt it, sir. Maria is not that kind of person. But I’ll ask her if she knows anything later today. I have my shift in 45 minutes.”

Mr. Carlos smiled with some relief. “I see. Thank you, my boy. I’m sorry to have said that. If it’s not that, then I fear work may be proving too much for her, and if that’s the case…” He grimaced.

I think I understood what he felt. If she couldn’t handle a part-time job as a university student, then what would she do when she had to get a full time job?

“I’ll try to see what I can do, sir. Besides, if there’s anything wrong, I bet Maria is on the case already.”

“I’m very sorry to trouble you, Oliver, but… It would help me keep my mind at ease if you could at least ask and see what’s happening.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” I assured him with a smile. “I do owe you a lot, so it’s the least I can do.”

Mr. Carlos did seem a bit relieved after that. I was glad I could set his mind at ease for the moment, but now came the hard part: actually helping or figuring out how to help. At the very least I had a few ideas. If it came to it, I’d ask Maria to change my shifts to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for a while. That way I could help Mr. Carlos’ daughter in the same way I helped Isabelle.

I really did owe Mr. Carlos too much not to give it a fair try.

************

Chapter 517: The opportunity to do so.

“Ah, by the way, Oliver. Can you change your shifts to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for a while?” Maria asked while I was putting on my apron, just a bit after I greeted her.

“Huh? What? Why!?” Isabelle asked. “That means he won’t be here to help me!”

“Yes, but you’re doing well enough already. You just need more experience. I need Oliver to help me out with the other new girl.”

I knew Maria would be on top of it already, but still, taking advantage of the fact there weren’t many customers at the moment, I asked further. “What’s wrong with her?”

Maria sighed. “She’s getting overwhelmed. She’s not very good at this and she makes customers feel awkward, but that’s not the issue. The pressure is getting to her bad, and to top it all off we had an asshole of a customer yesterday that yelled at her for getting an order wrong.”

Ugh, those kinds of people. I somehow don’t deal with them a lot, but when I do I just keep a blank face, apologize for whatever went wrong and try to fix it. First time it happened it felt like I was about to throw up my heart, though. We haven’t had anyone make a big scene, thankfully.

“She’s really trying, but you can tell she’s not used to doing… Mmm… Much of anything, really.” Maria rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t want to dismiss her, though, so I’m calling the heavy cavalry for support. Think you can do that, Oliver?”

“Yes, I can. I know her dad and I promised him I’d try to help if I could. I was about to ask you if I could change shifts myself.”

“But I thought you were keeping her away from Oliver on purpose,” Isabelle said. “You know, to see he was the reason she applied here.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. Diana and the others will just have to forgive me for this one, but my shop comes before that.”

“Did they… ask you to keep her in a separate shift from me?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

“Nah, but Diana has told you she’s kind of on the fence about you getting closer to other girls right now, right?”

“Not in those words, but yes.”

“I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone like this. I cover more shifts and keep the lady killer away from a diehard fan of his to prevent him from claiming yet another victim.”

I winced. “V-Victim?”

Isabelle’s eyes shone like diamonds. “Diehard fan!?”

Maria laughed. “Oh yeah, I talked to her a bit. Asked her outright if she applied for the job because of Oliver. She wasn’t very clear, but from what I got, she kind of did. But I think it was… Mmm… I think it’s more out of admiration than wanting to chase her celebrity crush.” She grinned mischievously at me. “It took some convincing, but I had her play some of your songs on the speaker for a while. It seemed to cheer her up for a while.”

My face fell in horror at the realization that my music was played in public for all our customers to hear. No, no. Wait. At least they couldn’t have known it was me.

“And Fernanda gave the link to your channel to everybody who asked what music was playing.”

I’LL KILL HER.

“I LOVE HER!” Isabelle cheered with a small jump. “Holy shit, Oliver, you really have a fan! A real, flesh and blood fan! Oh my God!” 

I covered my face in shame.

People I saw regularly as customers here now knew about our channel. They’d see me playing my amateur music and…

…Probably not even care?

At best they’d go ‘Oh, that waiter plays music. That’s neat.’ and at worst they’ll go ‘Wow, he sucks. Anyway…’. Not like I didn’t get comments like that already.

I sighed in defeat as I came to terms with it. “I’m gonna have to charge you royalties for playing my music,” I told Maria.

“Yeah, yeah! None of that ‘paying you in exposure’ BS!” Isabelle added.

“How about you two stop crying and get to work? There are dishes to wash.”

“Ugh. This isn’t over!” Isabelle complained while heading to the sink.

I was about to follow her Maria stopped me. She gestured for me to lean in closer and she began to whisper. “Hey, about tomorrow…”

Prom was tomorrow. Normally I wouldn’t have had to work on a Wednesday, but… “Crap, I have to come, right? Prom is at 8:30, so…”

“Oh, no, forget about that. I’m closing the shop early tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

“No, this is about after the party. I bed Diana already told you Thomas and I have a reservation at Pleasure Lake Hotel, right?”

“Ah, that. Yeah, she told me. So?”

“Since you’re going there as well, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind if we traveled all together.”

That… left me thinking. “W-What? What do you mean? Can’t you go in your car?”

“Yeah, but… Oh wait. Shit, you don’t know!”

I blinked. “Know what?”

“Nothing! Nothing! Forget about it!” 

Maria turned around and suspiciously acted like nothing had happened, like she never asked me if she could go with us to the hotel. I didn’t even know what that meant! And what is this I apparently don’t know? I smelled conspiracy, and I would’ve pressed Maria for answers if Prom wasn’t literally the next day.

If there was a secret being kept from me, I’d find out soon. No use worrying about it. That said, though…

Ugh. Dammit, Maria. Now I was thinking about what would come after prom.

In just a bit over 24 hours, I would finally be able to let out all this pent up frustration, but in the meantime, that uncomfortable sensation between my legs remained, and now it was more distracting than ever.

…

Mating press with Mila, doggy with Grace, cowgirl with Sarah, against the wall with Alice, bondage play with Noelle, spooning with Diana. Big, soft tits everywhere, hands reaching and groping naked flesh in all directions, the sound of moans reaching even the upper and lower floors…

…

Before I knew it, I’d popped a boner while washing dishes, but I made a graceful escape before anyone noticed.

I hope.