Jayden POV

“What are you doing here, Ashley?”

It wasn't my intention to lash out at her, but I was too shocked to find other words, so my tongue moved faster than my brain. She looked flabbergasted at my words, her face turning redder than a ripe tomato as she caught sight of me and my group of friends. Her lips parted and sealed, then parted again, but this time to my astonishment. She was stunned. Angry, too.

And hurting more than I'd ever seen her before.

“Jayden,” Tyler said hesitantly, breaking the silence down the hallway that had suddenly become eerily quiet. “Isn't she a friend of your family?”...