Page 4 of Leviticus
Honestly, our personality differences could have easily pushed us apart as we each had come into adulthood over the last decade. But a few years ago we found a new connection. Away from town, away from the church, and it had us closer than ever. Abditory had done that for us.
I took a longer swig of my beer and pushed all thoughts of Abditory away. I couldn’t think about it right now.
“So,” Malachi began, flipping the nearest chair backwards and plopping himself down at the table with us, “what do you need this week? What can we do?”
I took a deep breath, taking in the expressions on each of my brothers’ faces, before I answered. “Honestly... I’m okay. We made an agreement right here at this table nearly six months ago that we would do this. This is bigger than just us, and we all agreed. As the eldest brother, it’s right for me to be the first to wed.” I raised my beer bottle in a toast, resigning myself to the plan. “So, here’s to a new beginning.”
“Here’s to the eldest Temple brother being officially off the market,” Zeke added.
“Here’s to all the fucking Temple brothers being off the market,” Malachi grumbled.
“And here’s to getting the fuck out of this ridiculous religious hell once and for all,” Gideon added.
With our minds lost in somber though, we each drank.
“This has got to be the most pathetic bachelor party in history,” Malachi grumbled.
“Stop being such a grouch,” I chastised.
“Let’s be honest, here. This isn’t a bachelor party. We all know that yourpartywas hours ago at Abditory.” Ollie suggestively waggled his eyebrows.
“You’re not wrong.” I drank slowly, remembering the way Lorraine’s skin trembled under my touch and erupted into gooseflesh as the cool air hit her heated flesh.
“You know you don’t have to stop going,” Ollie chimed in, echoing Malachi’s words from earlier.
“But I do. We can’t leave until we are all wed and until then, I have to hold up pretenses. We have a plan to get out of here, and to get a few more out as well, if we can. I’m not going to deviate,” I stated emphatically, resolutely.
“Here, here,” Gideon agreed with absolutely no joy. No, this wasn’t a happy occasion. It was a necessary one.
Within the hour, each of my brothers had left. I cherished their support beyond measure, but I needed some space. These next few days would be my last days of freedom until the plan was fully executed. I cleaned up the kitchen, keeping my mind focused on each individual task until it was spotless once more. I locked up the house and grabbed my toy bag on my way to the staircase. It was time to clean up the rest.
As I made my way down the staircase into my own personal fortress of solitude, I finally let myself think about everything I had been pushing aside all day. Hell, all week, if I were being honest. I entered my playroom and began to unpack my toys and clean them each by hand, with loving care as the memories played in my head.
I had discovered the BDSM community six years ago, on a trip out into a nearby city. I was in search of a car part for Reverend Jacob and, while I did not remember what had led me to that particular spot, I vividly remembered that I had made a wrong turn. It took me two days to track down the stupid car part.
I had essentially been sent on a wild goose chase for this part and had taken a wrong turn somewhere — that doesn’t really matter. But instead of finding the weird back alley shop, I stumbled into an entirely different back alley establishment. Only this place was not back alley, it just presented itself that way. What I found when I entered was some of the richest delights and the most depraved interactions. It was an open night for the dungeon and something pulled me in. Something made me give my information, hand over cash for the cover charge, and suddenly, everything changed.
I found a world there that day. A world that made more sense to me than the damn church of Zion ever had. Sorry — the Followers of Zion. I couldn’t go there right now. I couldn’t think about the fucked up little world my brothers and I had been raised in. I wanted to focus on the world of acceptance and love I had found that day when I had found Abditory. .
That day, I watched these… experiences play out. They were depraved and went against everything I had been taught. They were acts of Satan if my upbringing was to be believed. I was floored standing there watching these acts play out. During most of these experiences — or scenes as they were being called — I realized that most of the people involved stayed at least partially clothed. The acts they explored together, and in front of an audience, no less, were intimate, connected, and more real than anything I had ever experienced in my life. It didn’t make sense. So I did the only thing I could think to do.
I researched.
I asked questions.
And I found reasons to come back to Abditory as often as I could without my absence being noticed. I gained a mentor early on, and I learned about dominance. More than anything, I learned who I am. I learned that this dominance inside of me was something real and tangible and could be expressed in a way I had never imagined.
I breathed heavily as I let images flood my mind like a barrage of sepia-toned photographs and darkened film of every scene I had partaken in. As I put away the last toy in my bag; as I looked around at the beautiful playroom I had built and had never been able to use, I sighed heavily and said my temporary goodbye to the only real part of me I had ever found.
My chest ached. My pulse quickened.
And as I closed the door, locking away my most treasured secret, I slipped on the mask, the well designed facade that I kept affixed for all to see here at Zion.
Time for Levi to retreat.
Time for Leviticus Temple to resurface.
If only on the surface.
