[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 124 & 125. (Patreon)

Chapter 124: Crashing a party.

“You realize not telling us only makes us more curious, right?” Kevin said, smiling as he drank from his can.

“I get we barely know each other, but is it really something you need to keep a secret?” Ben asked. “You said it all turned out well, didn’t you? Or do they have some dirt on you or something?”

I flinched. Considering the rumors about them, this was something I had to nip in the bud immediately. “It’s not that, okay?” I said, maybe a little harsher than I intended, but coming from me, it didn’t sound harsh in the slightest. What’s more, given Ben’s own tone, it was clear he didn’t believe it himself. “It has nothing to do with blackmailing.”

“Then why?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t come up with anything to say. We had agreed to keep things a secret, and even though I very much wanted to lie my way out with time and regret it later, no convincing story came to my mind.

“It’s complicated,” Thomas started, speaking casually, leaning forward with his arms on the table. “I know some of the story, but in the end it’s their business. If they’re not ready to tell, they’re simply not ready.”

I had already told Thomas what happened in some more detail. He knew I was dating those three. When I told him, the idiot couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of it all, and I couldn’t blame him.

“Okay, okay,” Kevin raised his hands in defeat. “But you can’t blame us for being curious. As far as I know, Milana’s never had a boyfriend, but the other two haven’t broken up with their exes on the best of terms.”

Ben nodded. “Lukewarm at best, pure hatred at worst. But then again, breakups aren’t a pleasant thing.”

“We’re just worried about what Oliver might be getting into. Or has gotten into.”

“...Whatever comes of this, I’ll deal with it,” I said with a strain in my chest. “But for now I’m… satisfied.”

Thomas snorted involuntarily, and he had to look away from the glare I gave him, hiding his smirk behind his beer. Still, ‘satisfied’ was a bit of an understatement, I agreed.

Anyway, I didn’t want to be the topic of the conversation any longer, so I changed the topic in a very subtle manner. “So when does tournament season start this year?”

Yes, yes. Very subtle.

Nevertheless, Thomas’ and Kevin’s eyes lit up at that, and for the next 15 minutes, neither Ben nor I could get a word in as they told us of the schools they’d be playing against and the places the matches would be held.

Some 15 minutes after that and over a round of hot pizza, Ben was telling me of his usual training routine as a boxer after I asked. In the middle of it, we all stopped to look at Thomas after he exclaimed “oh” while looking at his phone.

“What is it?” Kevin asked him.

“So… Maybe it was a good thing we didn’t go to the party tonight. It’s apparently boring enough that Grace is asking if she, Mila and Sarah can come over.”

The eyes of the other two guys glided over to me, smirks widening. Trying to ignore them, I fidgeted uncomfortably at my own indecisiveness. On the one hand, I wanted to see them. Oh God how I wanted to see them. Somehow, them leaving the party to come here made me extremely happy. But on the other hand, Ben and Kevin would start making connections. And on top of that, it was Thomas’ house. The guy whose girlfriend recently broke up with him. And my girlfriends would be coming over. It felt like rubbing my good fortune in his face.

But really, I should’ve known Thomas better by now.

“I don’t mind, by the way,” he said, shooting me his own smirk. “It’s been a while since I hung out with them, and they’ve been worried about my break up with Lyla too. So if you guys don’t mind breaking the sausage fest…”

“Yeah, tell them to come over!” Kevin said, eyes glancing towards me while he faced Thomas. “What’s a party without some girls?”

“Even if any one of them may or may not have a boyfriend already,” Ben said, fooling no one as he also grinned towards me.

It was so clear I could smell it. All these guys cared about was getting info out of us. It almost made me want to shout it all. Almost.

“So, Oliver? What do you say?” Thomas asked me innocently. “Don’t worry about these two. We’ll leave it up to you. The last thing I want is to make a guest of mine uncomfortable, so if you prefer they don’t come over…”

“...” Dammit, I wanted to see them. “I don’t mind,” I answered with a burning face.

***

You know, I didn’t really think it through. When the girls asked if they could come, the desire to see them swelled in my chest so badly I had to say yes. The problem is that once I saw them, the desire to touch them swelled in me as well. A desire I had to hold back for many, many reasons.

“Hello boys,” Grace greeted us as she came out of the house to the backyard, followed closely by Sarah and Mila.

The three looked at me with smiles that made my heart throb, but I instinctively looked away from them. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed to see them, but more like I was worried I’d give us away.

Thomas came further behind, carrying two more chairs and going back in to get a third one.

“I hope we’re not being a bother,” Mila told him.

“Not at all,” Thomas answered. “I like having people over.”

“Beer?” Ben offered, raising a fresh six pack.

“I’m driving tonight, so something softer?” Sarah asked, looking at Thomas, who nodded easily.

“I’ll take one,” Mila said.

“Me too,” Grace joined.

They went to get their drinks, and while they did, Sarah took her chance to come close and elbow me in the ribs.

“Hey!” I complained, mostly at the surprise rather than the pain. It hadn’t actually hurt at all. “What gives?”

“You’re stiff as a board,” she said, smirking teasingly at me before turning to the other guys. “What have you been doing to poor little Oliver?”

“Trying to get answers out of him!” Kevin shamelessly admitted. “But he’s like a turtle. You poke him and he retreats into his shell! He won’t admit anything!”

“Hm? Answers to what questions?” Grace asked.

“What’s going on between you four,” Ben said.

“Oh God, you’re interrogating him, too,” Mila groaned, moving her chair to sit down next to me. With seven of us, the order went like this: Me, Mila to my right, Sarah, Grace, Thomas, Kevin, Ben, then me again to complete the circle.

Ben chuckled. “Is that why you left the party? Everyone was asking you the same questions?”

“Guys…” Thomas sighed in an admonishing and disappointed tone. “What did we just agree to?”

“It was one reason,” Grace said, taking a little sip of her beer and keeping the can close to her lips to hide her little grin. Her eyes glanced at me. “The other one was that it got a little awkward. The guys from the volleyball club asked us out on a triple date.”

I winced as my blood seemed to turn to ice.

“Oh shit, so they really did it…” Kevin mused.

“Wait, you knew?” Mila asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ben told us the other day,” Thomas explained, gesturing with his hand to all the guys around.

“Well, I’m friends with them,” Ben said. “I thought they might, but…”

“I see…” Sarah crossed her arms with a deep frown. She looked at me for a moment and then looked at Grace. “You’re fucking scary.”

“Thank you,” the brunette took the compliment with a toast to herself.

I didn’t know what that was, and I didn’t think I wanted to.

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

Chapter 125: Now a party of seven.

“So you turned them down?” Ben asked.

“Yep,” Grace answered. “Nice guys, but… Sorry, not interested.”

“Brutal as always,” Thomas laughed.

“Hey, I tried to be gentle,” Grace said.

“Tried, yeah,” Mila snorted. “It was kind of unrelated, but she started laughing in their faces.”

I raised an eyebrow and my jaw half-dropped. Grace noticed and started the panic, her cheeks reddening.

“I did not! O-Okay, a little, but I was holding it back! And I didn’t laugh because they asked us out, and not even to their faces. I was laughing at something else!”

“What were you laughing at?” Kevin asked.

“Secret.”

You know, at first I felt a mix of fright and jealousy that someone asked my girlfriends out, but hearing this, now I just felt bad for them. When I asked them out, the thing I was most afraid of was that they’d laugh in my face. Grace had done just that to these guys. Though… it was also oddly flattering, in a twisted way? God, what a hotpot of emotions.

Grace was blushing madly by now. “Thanks Mila, now I’m a cruel bitch.”

“Oh, relax,” Sarah said, drinking just a bit of beer watered down on a lot of orange soda. “You were more gentle than I would’ve been.”

“What’s with the cruelty?” Kevin asked. “Why do girls need to turn us down so harshly?”

“You get the entitled asshole who thinks you’ll say yes just because he exists more often than you think,” Sarah explained. “At some point, you start losing patience.”

Even Mila agreed. “You try to be gentle and tell him that you’re not interested, but he keeps insisting and you have to plainly tell him to fuck off. Happens way too often.”

“...” I suppose I knew that. The girls were extremely attractive, so it wasn’t a surprise that they’d get hit on constantly. Hell, Mila was getting hit on by that door to the house just last week and she was bothered by it.

“I don’t know, you may have turned them down too quickly,” Ben said, also hiding a smirk behind his drink. “You could have given them a single chance at least. Or maybe you had another reason to reject them?” His eyes moved to me, and I think he was mostly trying to see my own reaction.

“Oh, we had a pretty good reason,” Mila said and left it at that.

“You guys are killing me!” Kevin groaned.

Silently, Thomas shot me an apologetic look. I had stayed even quieter than before since the girls got here, and I think he got that to mean I was feeling uncomfortable. Not all that untrue, admittedly. I didn’t enjoy this line of questions. But it was mostly that these people were all used to this type of social situation and could easily carry a conversation. It was difficult for me to get in or add anything of value.

“I mean, it’s not fair that you guys are asking all the hard questions, is it?” Thomas said. “You should reveal a few dirty secrets if you want your answers in return.”

“I have no dirty secrets, though,” Kevin said and Ben agreed with a nod.

“Don’t you?” Thomas’ grin was scary. “Then I have a proposal. Let’s play a little game. One in which we don’t have to answer anything explicitly if we don’t want to.”

“What are you plotting, Thomas?” Sarah asked.

“Never have I ever. What do you guys say?” Thomas finished.

We all shared curious looks.

“Okay, fine,” Kevin said. “I’ll play.”

“You know what? Sure,” Grace said.

“Are you sure?” Mila asked, now looking a little worried.

“Yeah, why not?” Sarah said. “I trust everyone here a little more than I do others.” She then pointed a finger at Kevin and Ben in particular. “If anything leaves this house, though, I’ll strangle you both.”

“That goes double for you Kevin,” Thomas agreed with a glare. “No telling anyone. This doesn’t leave my house.”

“Okay, I promise! Geez!”

“Um…” My voice suddenly drew all eyes to me, and I almost flinched under the pressure. Six sets of eyes on me was far more than I was used to. “H-How do you play this?”

“Never played? Well, I guess you wouldn’t have…” Thomas said and winced at his own words. “It’s kind of like truth or dare. Someone says something they’ve never ever done in their life. If any other around the table has done that thing, they drink. If not, they don’t drink. Simple, right?”

It was simple, but the implications weren’t lost on me. This was a more roundabout way to get the truth out of someone. Of course, nothing stopped anyone from lying, but… I suppose that was missing the point of the game, right?

“No shots, okay?” Ben said. “Just a sip of your drink.”

“Of course.”

Everyone agreed.

I swallowed. I was getting nervous.

“Do you mind if I start?” Thomas asked. “Then we’ll go to my left.” No one had a problem with that. “Okay. Mmm. Never have I ever… stood someone up on a date.”

So if I got this right, you drink if you’ve done the thing. That meant I didn’t have to drink because I’ve never stood someone up on a date. To my shock, though, I saw Ben and Sarah drink.

“Want to explain yourselves?” Grace asked teasingly.

“It was an emergency,” Ben said wryly. “My dad had a car accident and I forgot to call my date to cancel.”

Everyone nodded. “Understandable,” Thomas said. “Sarah?”

“Intentional. I was dating this guy and things were already bad between us. He told me -not asked- that we’d go on a date that weekend. I was so pissed that I didn’t go and broke up with him the next day.”

“Ouch,” Kevin winced.

“Ah. That guy…” Grace muttered.

Sarah had a deep scowl on her face. I thought I had an idea of what she was thinking about, remembering she had told me she had a really bad experience with someone before.

“Anyway,” Grace said. “My turn, huh?”