23

ASHLEY

I stopped breathing.

I couldn't feel the air in my lungs anymore, and it was like that for several seconds. My head pounded with a terrible headache that threatened to split my head into two, my eyes stinging with hot tears, and my throat clogged with sobs.

I was looking him right in the eye. The same man that stripped me of my innocence. The same man who was the first man to go in between my legs. The same man to whom my body reacted to his touch like I had known him for years. The same man that plagued my dreams and nearly ran me mad. The same man I thought I had escaped from, and would never cross paths with him.

The headlines in the newspaper flashed in my head and I groaned.

Jaxon Arden Gray. The Leader of the Vixen Mafia.

All his presence did was bring back unwanted thoughts that had tossed me into one of the darkest periods in my life. The guilt, the hate, the self-loath, and disgust, alongside utter regret. It didn't help that I couldn't even stop staring at him. I coul