Chapter 24 Magnolia #2
I lean into Levi with a smile. “Good thing I know my way around an icing bag.”
“Ha!” He throws his head back with a laugh. “You all are so screwed.”
The dining room table is cramped and covered with a mess of boxes, candy, and gingerbread pieces that, by this point, have all been broken or mixed together.
No one has a matching set, and I don’t know how Levi convinced every single grown man to sit down at the table and fuss with expired icing and gumdrops, but he did.
I get the feeling that he’s never really been told, no.
I wouldn’t blame them. Levi feels like lightning in a bottle, and if that’s true, then Bode is the thunder that follows him.
I look up from the corner I’m trying to hold together and find him delicately stacking gumdrops to look like little trees in front of his…
well, it’s not quite a house, more a shack, but it’s holding strong.
Ash’s tiny fingers reach over and steal the top gummy from his tree, making Bode frown, but as soon as Ash falls into a fit of giggles, Bode isn’t far behind.
Something flutters in my chest, something I’ve shoved deep down for years, watching him interact with Ash.
Bode is the biggest grump I know next to Ford, but I’ve noticed that no matter how frustrated he gets, Ash always gets his smiles.
“What the hell is this even made of?” Ford grumbles as his house falls over for the fifth time. His fingers are covered in icing, and I have never seen him look this angry over anything. Dot’s trying her best to help him through it, but she’s also trying not to laugh each time it falls over.
“None of you have finesse,” Levi barks out a laugh, dodging a peppermint candy chucked by Bode across the table. “Hey! Don’t be a grouch, brother! There are children present, be a good role model.”
“Listen to him, Bode,” Ford sneers with a grin. “He’s barely older than Ash, set a good example.” He carefully lets go of another two gingerbread walls, pulling his hands back slowly as he lets them stand on their own. “Ha–Damnit!” he curses when both walls fall over.
“You’re not letting it get sticky enough.” I chime in, pointing the icing bag at him.
Levi’s arm wraps around my shoulders as he leans dramatically into me. “Yeah, Ford. You have to let it get sticky, you know, like cu–”
“Levi Walker!” Dot scolds.
My cheeks turn an embarrassing shade of pink with the insinuation, and again, my eyes find Bode’s from across the table. He looks… angry, like really angry, and I can’t figure out why until Levi swipes the icing bag from me, leaning unnecessarily far into my space.
“Whatchya think, sunshine?” he asks. “More icing? More candy?”
I glance down at our lopsided house. It’s definitely not perfect, but it’s standing, which is more than I can say for Bode and Ford.
Crew and Ash have built the perfect gingerbread house, well, mainly Crew, Ash and Logan have been busy stealing everyone else’s candy while decorating the extra broken pieces of cookie.
“More icing?” My shoulders roll out a shrug and try to ignore Bode’s eyes boring into us from under his hat. Levi beams and squeezes out a dollop of icing onto his finger, the grin on his face turning mischievous. “Don’t you dare.” I laugh and push him away, but his grip is strong.
“What? You said more icing, so…” He sing songs, dragging out the last word. Before I can even react, he swipes his finger over my nose and cheek, barely missing my hair. “Even sweeter, not that you needed it.”
“Levi!” I gasp, hating the laugh that bubbles out of me as I fight him for the icing bag.
I almost have it before both of us end up covered in a mess, but I make the mistake of tugging too hard, and the icing bag explodes between the two of us.
Levi bursts out laughing so hard he ends up on the floor.
“Come on, man!” Bode growls and stands up, knocking over Ford’s gingerbread house as he leans over the table to stare down at his brother. “You’re making a mess for no reason!”
“It’s a mess anyway!” Levi breathes out between laughs as he pushes to his knees.
I frown and reach up to scoop a glob of icing from my hair. Levi looks up at me with big blue eyes that are almost apologetic until Bode moves around the table, hauling his brother up from the floor.
“Look what you did.” Bode points to the mess covering both of us. “Apologize.”
“Relax, Bode, it's just some fun,” Levi says, smearing a glob from his shirt onto his hand and looking down at me. “Don’t worry, sunshine, I’ll help clean you up.”
“I think I can manage on my own.” I let out a small breath and look to Logan for help as Bode grabs his brother again.
I can’t tell if it’s jealousy or just his exasperation with his brother that has Bode so tense.
I’m also not sure why the thought of him being jealous of his younger brother makes my stomach warm.
Levi frowns and steps back from Bode. “Don’t start something you don’t wanna finish, Bode,” he warns, but as Bode takes another step forward, Levi lobs the icing in his hand at him, hitting the side of Bode’s face and neck.
“You little–” Bode growls and lunges at Levi, wrestling him to the ground. I jump out of the chair as Ford and Crew do the same and move around the table to get to the two of them. Dot shakes her head as Bode wraps his arm around Levi’s neck in a headlock.
I feel someone tug on the back of my shirt to pull me away from the men and turn to see Logan’s face bright red, laughing with tears in her eyes. “What?”
She shakes her head, watching the four grown men wrestle, trying to force words out in between laughs. “I’m the one who broke the door,” she says under her breath to me, and my eyes widen.
“No.” I start to laugh and look over at the tangled bodies on the floor.
Logan wraps her arm around my waist. “They needed the break anyway before one of them actually ends up hurt.”
“You’re an evil genius.” I chuckle.