[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 770 & 771. (Patreon)

Chapter 770: Here come the Knights.

It was almost like a deja-vu, since it was my third time standing by the entrance to welcome the parents of one of the girls to our house. Beside me, Alice let out a long, resigned sigh. She was ready for whatever came, but…

“I just hope they don’t cause trouble for everyone else.”

“You think they would?” I asked her.

“Not for the sake of causing trouble, obviously, but… yeah.”

I don’t know if it went for or against my better judgement, but I found myself echoing her sigh in both tone and sentiment.

The car that came in was, without a doubt, the most iconic and expensive one of the lot parked in front of our garage. In fact, the car alone was probably at least ¼ of the whole house, and that was me lowballing it and hoping it wasn’t more. It was A P. 911 in brilliant silver. A two seater  western sports car, as I remember Alice telling me her dad favored those. And maybe it’s because she also told me about it, but I think I could tell that one of the rear wheels looked newer than the others.

Alice’s parents parked and walked out of the car. Unlike most of the other girls’ parents, Mr. And Mrs. Knight are both a lot older. They’re barely over and under their 60s, unlike the others which are closer to their 40s. Mr. Knight had let his hair gray out, but Mrs. Knight seemed to have recently dyed hers in full black. The two of them are of very similar height, fairly average. They’re taller than me, but not like that’s saying much. Mr. Knight is on the overweight side, though mainly with a big front belly. Mrs. Knight was slimmer, though not by much. I’d say that their bodies spoke more of a lack of exercise than of overindulgence in anything. They dressed sharply, much like Noelle’s parents. Mrs. Knight also wore plenty of jewelry. 

I tried to hold back my judgment when I saw them walking up to us with their eyes on the house rather than us. It was clear they were… appraising it in a very specific way.

“Mom, dad. Welcome,” Alice said with a smile, hugging one after the other. For all her worries and complaints, she does love her family.

“How’s life so far as an independent woman, sweetie?” her mother asked, smiling back and cupping Alice’s cheek. “I know it’s only been a few days, but how are you handling everything?”

“It’s been smoother than I expected,” Alice said. “I can already see us getting used to things soon enough.”

“There’s not a big supermarket nearby, is there?” her dad asked. “You need to keep a shopping list so you won’t forget something after coming back all this way.”

Alice nodded and looked back to me. “That’s a good idea.”

“It is,” I agreed. “Mr. Knight, Mrs. Knight, welcome. I heard from Alice that you had an issue with a wheel. Are you feeling alright?”

Mr. Knight shook my hand firmly before he held his shoulder and rotated it. “Would’ve been no trouble if I hadn’t turned 61 recently. I swear, the years sneak up on you.”

“I offered to help, but you wouldn’t let me,” Mrs. Knight said.

“Mom, you get tired after a minute of cranking the jack,” Alice told her.

“Thank you, sweetie,” her dad said. “If I tell her that, she gets mad at me!”

Mrs. Knight scoffed, but didn’t argue.

“What caused the flat tire?” I asked.

“Oh, just me being stupid…” the man groaned. “I dropped a nail in the garage the other day, couldn’t find it, then it turned up today poking a hole in the wheel.” He shook his head, frustrated. “Sorry we’re late, Oliver.”

“I hope we didn’t delay anything,” Mrs. Knight said.

I shook my head. “Not at all. In fact, the barbecue is almost ready.” 

“Oh, that’s great to hear! I’m starving, actually,” the man said with a good-natured laugh.

“Please, come in. Would you like something to drink?” I offered.

“Oh, mom! Diana makes an incredible whiskey sour! You’ll love it!” Alice said.

As we led the older couple into the house, Mr. Knight finally asked me, “So, how was it that you got hold of this house?” He was asking for confirmation from my own mouth, since Alice had already told him the story.

“Luck, mostly,” I admitted. “Happened to meet Luke Allen and helped him with some stuff. I ended up working for him, and when I mentioned I was looking for a house, he gave me this as advance payment.”

I am very much aware of how shady this all sounds, but even if I wanted to lie and make something else up, which I don’t, I can’t think of anything that would be any more believable.

“And what exactly did you help Luke Allen of all people with?” Mrs. Knight asked. “No offence, Oliver, but I can’t imagine what a man like him would need help with.”

“Me neither,” I said, smiling at her to show I didn’t take offence. “It was random chance. I saw a woman getting assaulted and her purse stolen. I caught the guy and took the woman to the hospital. She turned out to be Mr. Allen’s girlfriend.”

“Ah,” both Mr. and Mrs. Knight exclaimed. “Yes, that makes more sense,” Mrs. Knight said.

“Still…” Mr. Knight looked around the house. “Some people do have cash to burn…”

“That’s the newest 911 model, isn’t it, dad?” Alice asked him. “Didn’t it come out two months ago?”

“...” Mr. Knight groaned. “Point taken.”

I swallowed a sigh. So far everything was going well. It wasn’t a secret to me that Alice’s parents were the type to believe money should be top priority. The type to believe that, so long as you had economical stability, everything else would be fine. Can’t say I blame them, and I see the logic, of course. But there’s a point where it’s not about ‘stability,’ but about having more than you need.

Then again, who am I to talk about wanting more than you need? Better keep my mouth shut.

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

Chapter 771: Families.

I might sound like a broken record at this point, but I still find it weird to think how I went from a friendless shut-in to hosting lunch at my own house for… Uh… 1, 2, 3… 

…

Oh, god there’s 20 people in here right now, what the fuck?

I guess I probably shouldn’t count my girls because they’re hosting this with me, but that still makes this lunch for 21 people if I include myself. I believe this was my second time in this sort of gathering, meaning one where I knew everybody. The first one was my birthday not too long ago, but now half the people here are adults. It makes things different, and more difficult.

We set the table, sat around it and served everyone. And the thing about having lunch with so many people is that, well, you can’t really talk to everyone. I ended up sitting at the head of the almost comically long table with Grace and Isabelle to my left and right while most of the adults were at the other end of the table with their kids in between.

“I… don’t want to prod an old wound, Grace, but are you okay?” Isabelle asked the busty brunette.

“You mean because my parents aren’t here?” Grace asked. Isabelle nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m…” She groaned softly and shook her head. “Look, I’ll admit that I wish I had a normal family like all of you, that my parents got along and didn’t ditch me for work or pleasure all the time,” she said with clear bitterness, yet I knew she was allowing herself that because, well, because it was us she was talking to. “But I don’t, so if my parents were here, I’d be stressing out hoping that they didn’t start fighting or something.” 

Grace looked along the table and we followed her gaze. Mr. West and Mr. Summers were having a lively conversation across from each other with Sarah and Noelle by their sides, while my mom, Diana and Mrs. Aliev talked about… I think I heard something about wine. Mrs. Summers, Mrs. West and Mrs. Knight were having a lively chat as well, leaving Mila to make sure the younger kids ate everything on their plates, or at least didn’t make a mess of it, her own little brother being the biggest threat there. Mr. Aliev ate quietly while Alice and her dad talked in lower voices across from him.

“I do sort of envy all of you,” Grace said. “But I think I’m happier that you didn’t have to go through some of the bullshit I did.” She grimaced. “Then again, your dad passed away really early, didn’t he? Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“Nah, don’t worry,” Isabelle said. “I don’t mean to be cruel, but… we don’t remember a lot about dad. We have a few vague memories, some images. Even then I think I remember more than Oliver.” I nodded at that. I really don’t remember much about dad. “But because of it, it doesn’t really feel like we’re missing something. Mom made sure of that.”

I caught Robert trying to give the pleading huskies some of the meat on his plate, and I had to call it out. “Robert, no,” I said, speaking up but not yelling. The boy flinched. “They’ll get used to it and cause trouble for my sister and my mother.”

“S-Sorry…!”

“It’s okay. Just don’t feed them, alright?”

I think I caught Cole flinching, too. He was definitely going to give one of the dogs something. Maybe give something to Cake.

Grace smirked at me. “My family might be a bit broken up, but I am looking forward to starting a new one here.”

It was my turn to flinch.

Isabelle laughed. “Come on, at least wait until you graduate university!”

“I know, but if I get pregnant after graduating, I won’t find a job until after a year or more, and I’d like to have something stable at least…” Grace sighed. “But I’m probably not high in the priority list, right? I mean, I was here earlier, but I’d still argue Diana should have priority. If she wants to, at least.”

“Oh, yeah,” Isabelle agreed, understanding where Grace came from. “If you wait even four more years, Diana will be in her 30s by then. That would be the right time for her.”

“And it’s super early to tell, but Fernanda is also older than us,” Grace said. “Though marginally so, so maybe age shouldn’t play a part there.”

I rubbed my face with both hands. It happened every once in a while. The girls would start talking about having children like it was a matter of when, not if. I suppose I’m happy that they’re as serious about this relationship as I am, but the thought of having my own kids still numbs my brain.

“Relax, brother. You’d be a great dad,” Isabelle told me, patting my shoulder.

“I don’t know if I agree,” I said. After all, taking care of a cat and talking to my girlfriends’ siblings wasn’t enough proof to be sure of it.

“You’re never going to get enough proof that you’d be,” Grace told me. “Hell, I doubt ‘proof’ even exists. But give off good vibes, and that’s more than some people can say.”

My ears perked up to another conversation, though. Alice suddenly raising her voice ever so slightly made me pay attention to her.

“Dad, I really I’m fine here, really.”

“I’m not saying you have to leave them,” her dad insisted. “Just… come back to see them every once in a while, like you would with us. Hyogen is not the best university for you.”

“It’s good enough for me. If it’s not enough for you, then I’ll drop out and do my own thing.”

I saw Mr. Knight grit his teeth as he groaned. “Alice…!”

They were a bit too far away from me to interject without raising my voice, and that would draw everyone’s attention. I was about to stand up and ask Mr. Knight if we could speak in private… but someone got ahead of me.

“Give it a rest, Frank,” Mr. Aliev said, calling Mr. Knight by his first name.