The Rampage MC #1: Levi/Chain and Genny

Chapter 10: You Wanna Rethink That?

When we were together, Genny used to like lying on my chest at night, tracing patterns on my skin.

"Barbed wire?" she asked. "Your great-Aunt Mildred's log cabin quilt?"

It was a game she played with me. She just didn't understand why, when my legs and back were covered with art, I didn't have one single tattoo on my chest and arms, so she suggested different options I should think about.

"No, Genny," I laughed at her. "It's for something special."

"Like what could be more special than your great-Aunt Mildred?"

I kissed her lips. "It's reserved for the woman I'm going to marry. And I'm saving my arms for any children."

I knew she kept waiting for me to get her name inked on my skin, but it never happened. Just about the time I would have tattooed her on my chest, Beard pulled me aside and told me no because he needed me to do a job and having that tattoo would be counter-productive. Just another way Genny got screwed by me but one I could easily fix.

"Now, brothers, you know that appearances can be deceiving." 

Beard loved riling up the brothers, so he hammed it up for the ones gathered around and they catcalled and whistled. We'd heard this speech a thousand times, but it never failed to get us going. 

"We know that the strongest ones are sometimes the biggest babies in this chair right here. And we know that the weakest among us can own that chair like a fucking boss. Am I right or am I right?"

More cheering and laughing.

"Hope you all have placed your bets. How long until he makes a face, that first indication he's gonna be a pussy about a little needle? How many times is he going to make a face, forcing us all to drink a shot?

"And for every shot we drink, all the girls lose a piece of clothing. Since they don't wear too much anyway, this ain't gonna take long!"

A lot of cheering for the naked whores.

"Chain here has all this virgin skin untouched by our brother, Buzz." he waited for the jeering and hooting to stop. "But not after tonight! What are we doing tonight, Chain?"

Beard held his beer bottle to me as if it were a microphone. "My chest." I never liked goofing around like many of the brothers and I was uncomfortable with the attention.

Rolling his eyes at my two-word answer, he moved on to Buzz, and Beard asked him what he was doing on my chest. "He wants GENEVIEVE across his chest in three-inch letters with a chain winding around and through it."

"You back with her, Chain?" one of the older brothers yelled.

"Not yet," I admitted. "Got a long road to get there."

"Fuck her!" another brother, Eyes, yelled. "She ain't good looking enough to be picky."

Beard grabbed for me but missed as I vaulted out of the chair, grabbed Eyes by the throat and propelled him into the wall. "You wanna rethink that?"

His hands came up since he couldn't talk and I squeezed harder. Beard was at my shoulder, telling me to let up. With one last push into the wall, I turned to face my MC brethren.

"Anyone else got anything to say about my girl?"

The clubhouse was damn quiet. 

"Maybe you know, maybe you don't, but I hurt my girl with the things I was saying about her being plain and me wanting to cheat on her. Never thought I'd have to explain to my brothers what was going on after it all came out, but I'll set you straight now. I was saying that shit to make Acid and Jerica think I'd be with them in their plans. Didn't mean a single lie I said about Genny. She's fucking beautiful and I'd never in a million years step out on her. Anyone ever see me with another girl once I got with her? No, you didn't. So you need to forget that shit you heard me saying because it was pure, one hundred percent bullshit. And if anyone ever says otherwise about my girl, you'll find out up close and personal how I got my road name. Any questions?"

Not one of the brothers said a word. Satisfied, I nodded to Buzz as I sat in the chair. "Let's do it, brother."

Just twenty minutes in to what would be a three-hour job, I made my first face. Buzz was probably under orders to make it hurt once in a while to keep the brothers drinking and the club whores stripping. By the time he finished the shading, the whores were naked and fucking the drunk brothers. I didn't care about any of that. All I cared about was setting things right and this ink was one of the steps to that.

My plan was simple: win Genny back by showing that I could and would be there for her. Since I wasn't exactly sure how you prove that someone is your number one priority, I just made sure I was with her every night and on weekends. Only twice in five weeks was I called in on club business, but I'd been upfront with Genny and told her why I couldn't make it over. Before, she'd see me get a text and all I'd say was, "Gotta go." Now, I was being more transparent, telling her I had to go out for club business, then I'd give her more information on when she could expect me back.

I figured missing two nights out of thirty-five was a pretty damn good ratio. There were few occupations that didn't require some extra hours. Plumbers, electricians, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, store managers -- they all had to put in extra hours at times, and I was no different. I hoped she wasn't lying when she said she understood.

Two weeks after I got my tattoo, I was at Genny's and we'd just finished dinner. Noodle was conked out on the floor, and she and I had just been talking on the couch. Sometimes, I just watched her lips moving as she talked and hoped I hadn't lost this beautiful woman. We didn't have to do anything big when we were together; with us, it had always been the simple things like talking on the porch, walking Noodle, going grocery shopping together, laughing over our days.

I stood up from the couch and started taking off my shirt.

"What are you doing, Levi?"

We'd been making out lately, but hadn't done more than that even though I left her every night with a dick so hard I thought it would shatter.

"Wanted to show you something," I said as I pulled my shirt off completely.

Buzz did incredible work. The shading he'd done around the thick chain that curved through the letters of her name made it look incredibly realistic and three-dimensional.

"Levi," she breathed and I couldn't tell if it was a good Levi or a bad one.

But she popped off the sofa and her fingers traced it.

"What do you think, Genevieve?"

"It's beautiful," she admitted, "but, Levi, what if --"

I leaned down and pressed my mouth to her lips quick. "I love you, Genny. Since the day I saw you in the clubhouse that first time. Looked at you and knew I wanted to spend my whole life with you. I should have done this a long time ago, but I fucked up. I want you to see that you come first with me. That's all."

Three weeks after I showed her my tattoo, we were sitting on Genny's porch. I was nursing a beer, and Genny had her iced tea. Noodle was behind us, sleeping on his side on the blanket she kept outside for him. She'd been chattering, but now we were just listening to the crickets. Full disclosure, I was thinking about when I could get Genny back into my bed. Things were going well between us, but we hadn't taken that final step yet because Genny still didn't trust me entirely.

"Levi," she said my name softly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"What is it?"

"My house sold."