Page 83 of Leviticus
"The kit has things in it. Not always the same things, mind you. It depends on the person. And...and sometimes depending on the situation. You understand?" Gideon finished off with such awkwardness, I was sure that his face would be skewed weirdly for the next week.
"Not in the slightest. Maybe if you were to tell me what kind of items are in your kit," Ruth suggested. Her eyes darted to mine, and I knew that she was fully aware ofexactlywhat kind of a kit we were talking about. The woman was amazing.
"Yes, Gideon, what, pray tell, is in your kit?" Ollie seconded. His cheeks had to hurt he was smiling so wide.
"Can it, Ollie," Gideon seethed, embarrassment marking his cheeks.
"That's okay, Gideon," Ruth said sweetly. "I can ask one of your brothers instead, as it obviously makes you too uncomfortable." The woman was teasing him and I had never found her more attractive than I did just now. Malachi laughed out loud along with Ollie and a quiet chuckle from Zeke.
"Malachi, perhaps you could enlighten me on something that's in your kit," she tried again with a giggling smile of her own.
"Butt plugs," Malachi answered without a single second of hesitation. Ruth turned bright red, but joined us in laughter as Ollie slammed his fist on the table in triumph.
"Yes! I knew it was butt stuff."
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"She's something else," Ollie commented as the four of us sat on the back porch overlooking my property about an hour and a half later.
"Yeah, she is, Levi. I'm happy for you," Gideon agreed. "Even if she does have a smart mouth on her." We all chuckled, each of us pulling on our cigars.
"That's what sisters are for," Ollie responded, drawing a strange look from Malachi.
"Sister? Just like that, she's our sister?" he scoffed.
"Well, yeah, she is Levi's wife," Gideon agreed. I kept my mouth shut during the interlude, interested to see how it played out.
"Yeah, but the plan was to marry these women in name only and give them the choice at the end of it if they wanted to go or not," Malachi reminded. He was right. That had been the plan. I looked down, grinding a stray leaf into the wooden porch floor with the toe of my shoe.
"What if we didn't wait until the end to tell them?" I blurted out on a heavy sigh. I could feel each of my brother’s turn to face me, their gazes almost burning into me as I continued to look at the leaf my shoe had pummeled into the wooden flooring.
“Excuse me?” Malachi’s voice was laced with a mix of anger, frustration, and something akin to weary.
“What if I want to tell Ruth now? Tell her the whole plan?” I voiced my thoughts with caution.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Malachi swore under his breath.
“Levi, have you thought this through?” Ollie voiced cautiously.
“Obviously not! He’s thinking with the head on the end of his dick, not the head on top of his shoulders,” Malachi scoffed, and I looked up, noticing his hands fisted at his sides.
“I have thought about it, but I’m coming to talk to you all first,” I tried to reason. “Ruth isn’t what we thought would happen. She’s unlike any woman I’ve ever met.”
“You’ve met women of Zion and sluts from Abditory.” Even Gideon winced at Malachi’s harsh words.
“Easy,” I almost growled in warning. “Just because you’re all butt hurt over the fact that my wife ended up being a submissive doesn’t mean you get to talk shit about women like that.”
“I have half a mind to remind you who used to win our fights as kids, Levi,” Malachi pushed.
“I’m pretty sure we both remember well enough, Kai. Now, can you calm your fucking tits for two seconds and talk about this like a rational adult?” I countered, unafraid of Malachi’s empty threats — well, mostly empty. Malachi had always been the kind to talk with his physical nature over his words. A smack here, a shove there, even a few scuffles our parents had to break up when we were kids. As an adult? Well, there was a reason Malachi preferred to be alone in his cabin in the mountains most of the time.
“Levi’s right. Can we just talk about this?” Zeke murmured from his perch on the wooden railing. A man of few words, Zeke may have been, but he always had a way of getting through to Malachi better than any of us could.
“I’m not trying to make things difficult, but, Christ! I can’t help but think that I should tell my wife the truth,” I tried again.
“For someone who was certain that each of us would part with these women when we left, you are sure throwing the word wife an awful lot,” Malachi muttered, taking a pull on his cigar.
“Malachi,” Zeke chastised.
