[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 837 & 838. (Patreon)

Chapter 837: Intermission - Diana’s day shift.

Diana hadn’t worked a wide variety of jobs, thankfully due to the fact she’d been lucky enough to keep almost all of them until she decided to leave of her own accord. If there was something she’d noticed, however, was the culture disparity between day and night shifts. It was like everyone had their own idea of how things should be done and believed the other shift did them wrong. 

This was Diana’s second day experiencing the day shift at the bar and she was somewhat disappointed. It wasn’t like the place was a disaster. Luke always made sure to hire competent people. But the atmosphere of the place was not just different, but way too casual. The part-timers here seemed to come from working at a sports bar. A lot of their work was also very inefficient, slow and worst of all, loud. 

Despite being an inappropriate flirt, Dylan was quick, highly competent and had good communication with the team. Oliver, of course, was incredibly quick on his feet. A customer was rarely waiting more than a couple of minutes, and if there was any task that either Diana and Dylan were too busy to do, Oliver would fill in without even needing to tell him. The day shift, however, seemed to believe their customers would wait for them as much as they needed to so long as the end result was good. And to be fair, it was. The group here was meticulous… but that wasn’t enough. They needed to both serve good drinks and serve them quickly, elegantly and respectfully. That was the atmosphere Luke Allen wanted for this place.

She hopped on her car, more tired than any other night despite the quantity of customers being lower than even the slowest nights. She knew she needed to fix things, but… she was afraid.

She had full authority on any and all matters regarding the bar. If she called Luke and told him she wanted to replace every single employee, he would let her do it. She had full power to put her foot down and demand her co-workers changed how they did things… but that would make her hated yet again. Like always.

Before, Diana would’ve told herself that she wasn’t at work to make friends and would do what was necessary to properly perform her tasks. But by now she understood that was the mentality that got her so… isolated. She had done it to herself.

…

What would Oliver do?

By the time she realized it, she had arrived home. Not her old house, but Oliver’s house. She parked her car outside the garage. Her legs felt heavy as she stepped out, her heart and mind troubled.

The front door opened before she even reached it. Red came out jumping and began to run circles around her while sniffing her legs and sometimes even hitting her with his aggressively wagging tail. Diana couldn’t help but smile, kneel down and pet her good boy.

“I thought he’d get used to the house quickly since he’s been fine on weekends,” Oliver said, looking at them from the doorway. “But he’s been missing you all day, apparently. At least since we got back.”

“That I was out during the day likely doesn’t help,” Diana said, scratching Red behind the ear one last time before standing up.

Oliver stepped out of the way to let her inside, but even before she knew what she was doing, Diana reached out, grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her, hugging him hard and sucking in a breath. Like always, Oliver understood immediately. He hugged her back without saying anything. He rubbed her back and gave her a comforting kiss on the cheek.

It was only at times like these that Diana really didn’t like being taller than him. She wanted to hide her face in his chest, but the height difference made even hiding in his shoulder a little awkward.

“I want a drink…” she muttered.

Oliver held her hand, squeezed it, kissed it, then led her to the bar on the first floor.

“What do you want?” he asked, stepping behind the counter.

“No, let me. You’re in the middle of making dinner, right? I can smell it.”

“I’ve got pasta cooking and that’ll be there for the next 15 minutes,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Let me make you something for once.”

Diana smiled and let out a heavy, tired sigh before she sat down at a stool by the counter. She looked at the rack behind Oliver, nearly full. Diana had brought everything she had at home and Maria had gifted them quite a few bottles of liquor. Not all of what they had here was full, but it was more than enough to make most of the classics.

“Give me a negroni,” she said.

She watched Oliver work with pride swelling in her chest. The way he moved now was nothing like it was in the beginning. He was smooth, quick, from the way he picked up bottles to how he handled the jigger. He stopped for a moment before he began stirring the mixed drink with the ice, however. He took a deep breath, then began. His eyes seemed to be looking beyond the drink itself, past even the ice inside. When he was done, he poured the finished negroni into a glass and garnished it with a freshly cut orange peel.

“If you feel anything unpleasant, I’ll make you a normal one,” he said.

Diana licked her lips in excitement. This was a cocktail made with magic. Not only was she excited to taste it, but it was even more exciting that Oliver deemed it worthy of serving to someone. He’d been against it since the harmless incident at her previous house some months back.

She tasted it carefully, wetting her lips on the cold drink before she took a sip. Her excitement faded, and in its place… a familiar sort of calmness washed over her. She took another sip and felt her body relax to the point she had to stretch and move her shoulders to keep herself from melting.

She grinned and looked at her boyfriend. “It’s… like the afterglow of an orgasm,” she said bluntly.

Oliver let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Then it’s a success.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’ve been trying to get an effect that’s… sexual in nature because that’s what I’m good at, but I didn’t want it to cause arousal because testing that can be… tricky. I still think it needs work, but…I think we can call it a success, don’t you think?”

Purely as a negroni, it certainly passed the quality test. Diana would’ve chosen another brand of vermouth, would’ve used more ice and wouldn’t have stirred as long, but it was still something they could serve at the bar. The lingering effect it had, though… It put it on another level, or perhaps another category entirely.

She took another sip, a bigger one this time. She felt her body warming up, and not from the alcohol. She felt a lingering, relaxing pleasure that coursed through her body from head to toes, and especially between her legs. It really was like the afterglow of a nice little climax.

“How was work?” he asked her, now finally letting his worry show.

Diana gently shook the glass in her hand, wanting to hear the ice clicking. She smiled. “I’ll tell you over dinner. With everyone else.”

Oliver smiled. “Okay.”

Diana’s chest felt warm, and this time it wasn’t from the drink or its effect on her.

Coming home from work to dinner with the people she loved… It was exactly what she’d been missing in her life.

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

Chapter 838: Helping Diana.

I really can’t stress enough how useful it is to be able to directly feel the girls’ emotions and general thoughts. Outright mind readings felt like taking it too far, so I avoided it, but the ability to immediately know when one of them was feeling down was worth more than our house’s weight in gold.

Thankfully, while Diana seemed troubled, she wasn’t outright depressed or angry. The cocktail helped cheer her up a bit, and that in itself was worth all the practice over these last few months. It was the only type of magical concoction I could consistently make at the moment, but I was now sure it was a good one to have in my pocket.

I stayed with Diana until she finished her drink, then we parted when she went back to her room to get changed. I went back to the kitchen to finish making a very simple pasta with bolognese sauce. Making a lot of pasta, I would later turn what was left into a pasta salad for our lunch tomorrow.

When we were all gathered at the table with full plates in front of us, I asked Diana how her day went again, and now she was finally ready to tell us.

“I’m… having trouble deciding what to do. Rather, I know what I have to do. I just don’t know how to best approach it.” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “The day shift is not working to provide the kind of atmosphere that Luke wants for the place. It’s not that big of a deal since there aren’t many customers during the day, but a part of me worries that’s part of the reason there aren’t.”

Alice nodded. “I can see it, but not many people would go for a drink in the middle of the day, right? Especially not on a weekday.”

“Yes. It’s my job to tell the guys in the day shift to not treat the bar as a regular pub, but…” Diana grimaced.

“You’re worried they’ll see you as the asshole boss who came out of nowhere to kill the vibe?” Sarah asked.

Diana chuckled softly. “Pretty much. Forcing them to change their attitude would be easy, but I like this job. I don’t want to dread having to go there and deal with people who hate me. Besides, telling them to do their job properly is difficult when there’s very little work to be done. I’m starting to worry Luke might get rid of the day shift and I’ll permanently go back to the night shift. That’d mean I’d keep missing you again.” 

Mila grumbled. “We can’t have that.”

“It’s only been two days, so it’s hard to tell, but I know I have to do something.” Diana turned to me with a small smile. “I’m taking ideas.”

I pursed my lips and set my fork down for a moment. “For the matter of customers… How about having the restaurant advertise the non-alcoholic cocktails more? It might sound obvious to us, but maybe they haven’t even thought about it.”

“You’re right… We rarely even get orders for those at night, but we kind of expect that then.”

“Natural fruit juices are really popular,” Mila said. “You know how lots of people love mint and ginger lemonade? What if you did something like that for other fruit juice?”

“If anything else, it would keep the other bartenders busier,” Grace said.

“It’s worth trying,” Diana said.

“Now, as for the other guys…” I continued. “You know… I don’t think it’s a bad idea to use Luke himself as an excuse to get them in line.”

“Use him as an excuse?” Noelle asked, tilting her head.

I nodded. “As in telling them that the boss won’t like it if he happens to find them doing things a certain way.” I crossed my arms and grumbled. “Or… maybe approach it in the opposite way. Remember how we got a raise since the bar was doing so well?”

Diana smiled. “So try to motivate them by telling them there might be another raise if we can get the day shift’s profits to increase?”

“Wouldn’t that be lying to them, though?” Noelle asked.

“No, Luke would do it,” I said. “So long as the increase in profits was considerable, at least. If that doesn’t work, then… I don’t think it’s wrong to put your foot down, even if they don’t like it.”

“I agree,” Alice said. “Like the saying goes. Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile, right?”

Diana nodded slowly.

I don’t think I really needed our connection to understand why she felt so conflicted and troubled. Telling them to get in line would be easy for her. She had the authority and the character to do it. She just didn’t want that to be her default option because that was what led others to find her unapproachable.

Contrary to the image she gave off, Diana didn’t want to push people away.

“Honestly, if I were in your shoes I’d just tell them to start doing their work properly or risk getting kicked out,” Grace said, sighing. “But of course, that would get you to where you don’t want to be, so don’t listen to me.”

Diana smiled. “I think I have a better idea of what to do. Thank you, everyone.”

As we finished eating, Noelle and Sarah were quick to take on dish washing duty. Not that they were particularly eager to do the task, but they did it to keep Diana from beating them to it.

I helped them get the plates from the table to the sink, then went back to the bar, remembering that I hadn’t washed the glass we’d used before. I caught Diana already putting it back in its place.

“You sure you don’t want another one?” I teased.

“Don’t tempt me. There’s a fine line between loving alcohol and becoming an alcoholic,” she said. We chuckled.

“So you’re feeling better?” I asked her.

“Yes. I’m not looking forward to it, but I can’t run from it and I think I’ll manage. If not, well… I’ll just be the bitchy boss who ruined their vibes. That’s nothing new to me.”

“I’m not gonna tell you not to overthink it because I have no room to talk. I’m the least qualified person to be giving that sort of advice. Just… remember that you’re not in that position out of luck or anything. You’re there because Luke knows how good you are. I know it, too, and so everyone else at the hotel. Keep an open mind, but have confidence in your vision.”

Diana smiled and let out a soft sigh. She walked around the counter and over to me. She grabbed both my hands and kissed them. “You really are the best thing to have ever happened to me, you know? You and these girls. I… convinced myself I was fine with who I was before, but I was just lying to myself. I don’t need to be a ball of sunshine like Mila and Noelle, but… I doubt I would’ve started thinking about changing if not for you.”

“Don’t give me so much credit,” I told her. “Growing always starts from oneself, after all.”

She chuckled. “I’m supposed to be the old and wise one, here. You’re making me feel like a child.”

“I’ve always been a 70-year-old grandpa at heart,” I said, shrugging.

She snickered. “You know, I can see that.”

I leaned in and pecked her lips. “I need to go practice guitar a bit more. Are you going to bed early?”

“In an hour or two. Say… Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Are you sure? You risk not getting any sleep tonight,” I teased, releasing her hands and giving her butt the lightest of pinches.

“I’m stressed, not tired. Sleep is not exactly what I need tonight,” she said, leaning forward and whispering in my ear. “I’m really craving that monstrous thing of yours pounding my pussy hard and deep.”

I felt the familiar tingle of arousal, particularly between my legs.

I groaned. “Now I’m gonna be distracted while I practice…”

Diana smirked and kissed my cheek. “See you in bed later.”

Well… At least she did seem in a far better mood now.