UNDER REVISION - Road Rage, Dark Shadows MC (Book 1)

Prologue

6 months earlier...

Silver

The courtyard is quiet. Peaceful.

It's a direct contrast to the muffled sounds of the Dark Shadows MC–throbbing bass of music and loud voices that sneak past the closed door. I've come around here enough times that it all fades into the background, but being out here always gives me this strange sense of serenity.

I still think it's strange that an MC would've built a courtyard like this, smack in the middle of their clubhouse. It doesn't really fit with the vibe they throw out–leather, bikes, tattoos and illegal activities. This place...surrounded on all sides by the walls of the clubhouse, it's big enough that I could easily fit my entire apartment in here.

The cobbled path, lined with solar lights, curves the way between two doors–one that leads into the main section of the clubhouse and the other into Ash's private quarters. Garden beds, filled with different varieties of flowers of all different colors and types, cover each side of the path. In the middle, there's a grass area with a tree planted in the middle, its branches stretching out above my head, cutting into my view of the sky. In one corner, there's a dedicated vegetable garden that Tanya, an old lady, uses for all her cooking.

I love this place during the day, but at night? When the air is cooler and the stars are out in force...this place fills me with absolute peace, albeit a temporary one.

I've been coming around the clubhouse for six months now, but I always feel safest out here. Maybe it's knowing that if we're out here, me and Ash, no one else will come out. Not without his permission, anyway.

This might be the place I feel safest out of anywhere.

It's a sad thought that gets trapped in my throat. I swallow hard, forcing it down, not wanting to think about that sense of safety and who it's connected to.

Ash...he can't be my safe place. I know that.

It's strange that I'd find this oasis, something so unexpected, when I got caught up in a motorcycle club, and I'll be sad not to see it again. The urge to ask Ash about it, to find out who built it and why, has been on the tip of my tongue every time that we come out here, but I've always resisted the urge.

Our...relationship, for want of a better word, doesn't exactly invite questions. About a month ago, I'd overheard someone suggesting that they get rid of it about a month ago. They'd wanted to add another bar onto the clubhouse and had the terrible sense to talk about within the president's hearing. Ash's expression had turned stony, his voice low and calm, as he'd told the guy to shut the fuck up before he got himself shot. No doubt that it'd been a serious threat, especially the way the guy had run, practically leaving skid marks on the ground.

I don't know how I ended up here. I'm the girl who grew up in a trailer park in a shitty town an hour away from Willowbank. I got out when I turned eighteen by working two jobs while I was in school, knowing there was no way I'd make it to college, but I needed some escape plan. I caught a bus to Willowbank the day after graduation, but life didn't magically get better. Instead, I'd found myself working at a crappy diner, barely making enough to break even and sleeping in a studio apartment with a busted lock and a rodent problem. I was just surviving, day by day, until one day the Dark Shadows MC had gone for a ride before deciding to come into the diner. Ash had taken a seat in my section, his eyes trailing over my ill-fitting uniform as I'd served them all coffee. When I'd met his stare, I'd frozen, unable to look away, even when he'd smirked, rubbing his thumb over his lower lip.

I'm not the girl who ends up with an MC president. I never wanted to be, either. Growing up, the way I did, with the mother I had, all I wanted was normal and being with a guy who doesn't blink at threatening to shoot someone...that's as far from normal as I can get.