The Rampage MC #1: Levi/Chain and Genny

Chapter 12: Levi Is Dead

Two days after I told Levi I couldn't stay, I opened my door to Beard, startled to see the president of the Rampage on my front porch. He's getting up there in years, and Levi used to tell me he wouldn't be surprised if he gave up the presidency in the not-too-distant future. He'd always been respectful and polite to me when Levi and I had been together, but Beard and I weren't friends, especially friends who dropped by each other's houses. There was no good reason for him to be here.

Then it hit me: there's no good reason for him to be here.

Trying to not let my fears overwhelm me, I moved aside and asked him to come in. As soon as he stepped over the threshold, I noticed he was carrying a cut over his arm. My body immediately locked tight -- why was the president of the Rampage MC showing up at my house with a cut?

"I have something for you," he said, his voice even.

He held the cut out to me and I saw that it was Levi's. This could only mean one thing and I reached for the cut at the same time the tears just erupted. Holding that leather to my face, in seconds I was gasping and sobbing, making a fool of myself in front of this man I barely know but unable to stop.

Levi is dead.

Levi is dead.

On unsteady legs, I moved to the couch and sat down before I collapsed on the floor. I was trying to absorb the scent from his cut, a scent I knew so well. He always wore it, except when we were in bed or just staying at home. I'd been pressed against this piece of leather more times than I could count, and I'd know the feel and smell of it blindfolded. 

Not knowing much about the MC lifestyle when we first started dating, I asked him about it once. He'd told me his cut was a symbol of the only family he'd ever had, and every time he put it on, he was connecting to that family, proclaiming his loyalty to the first people who had ever cared for him. They had respected his strength, given him a place in that family and he wore his cut with pride as a part of the Rampage brotherhood.

There's only one thing that could separate Levi from his cut.

Levi is dead.

I felt Beard sit next to me on the couch, his beefy hand roughly patting my shoulder.

"You wanna tell me why you're crying like that?"

What? How insensitive could this man be?

I raised my head, trying to see his face clearly through my tears.

"Seriously?" I ask, sniffling, almost choking on the tears clogging my throat. "Levi's...not alive...and...you can...ask me that?"

The Rampage president fixed me with a look that told me he's questioning my sanity. "He's not dead."

My heart stopped, I swear, before resuming a double-time beat. "He's -- not?"

Beard scoffed. "No." 

"Then why do you have his cut?" I sniffled, still clutching it to my chest.

"He gave it up. Handed it back to me today. He's walking away from the MC, from his brothers."

Even repeating Beard's words in my mind four or five times still doesn't make them compute. There is no way Levi would ever give up his cut. The MC was everything to him, his family, his place in the world, his way of asserting his worth. His bike was his freedom but his MC was the grounding force in his life that made everything make sense. It also provided his livelihood both through income from the MC and from his job at the autobody shop. I could more easily believe he was dead than believe he willingly gave up his cut.

Beard had been watching the emotions play over my face and he shook his head. "I couldn't believe it either. That boy is rock solid, Rampage loyal to the core."

"Why is he doing this?"

Beard once again gave me the look that said he thinks I'm a few sandwiches short of a picnic. "He's doing this for you, Genny."

"No way," I protested. "He wouldn't, not for me, not for anyone."

"He did," he said simply. "Asked him why. He said you weren't willing to come second to the club and you wouldn't believe him when he said he'd never put club business ahead of you again. So this morning, he turned in his cut. Anyone else, I'd think it was the biggest pussy move and I'd tell 'em that. But this is Chain, and I know what the club means to him, so if he's doing this, there's someone that means more to him than the club. There's someone that's burned into him down to the bone, soul deep. He's giving up everything for you."

"I didn't ask him to." I felt a little defensive, but it seemed as if Beard was accusing me of forcing Levi to quit.

"You didn't have to. He knew he had to choose and he chose you. Even if he could stay with the club and keep you, he'd never let you come second again. That boy struggled every single day before and after you left. Most miserable son of a bitch I've ever seen. Thought it'd get better when you came back, but he couldn't get to you. He saw what club business cost him, looked at his options and made his choice."

I started to speak, but he held up his hand. "There's always going to be club business he can't talk about with you, but he would never leave you in the dark again if it affected you in any way. He straight up told me that when you came back to town. Chain was so pissed, he got in my face and said he'd turn in his cut if I wanted, but he'd never leave you hanging again, even if it meant disobeying a direct order from me, and he'd never do anything again to jeopardize your relationship. I thought it was all talk. Never believed it'd come down to him actually leaving the MC."

He walked to the door, then turned. "He loves you, Genny, maybe more than any man I've ever known has loved his woman. I don't think he fucked up since he was following orders and that's what's expected of you as a brother, but he thinks he did. He won't make the same mistake twice, not if it means losing you."

He stopped for a minute, as if he was gathering his thoughts.

"I took his cut but told him to take a few days to think about it. We argued 'bout that. He said he wasn't changing his mind, I told him to take a few days. Ended on a stalemate, but I'm president, so if I say I'm holding on to his cut for a few days, that's what's going to happen." Beard pierced me with a glare. "That gives you a few days to think about things. And from the way you reacted when you thought he was dead, well, maybe you should think real hard about things."

With a nod, he walked out of my house.

Still clutching Levi's cut, I sat on the couch, and just like Beard said, I thought real hard about things.