Break Me (Caged Hearts Book 2)

by West, Heather

  It had been so nice to spend real time together doing things that normal couples do. It made her feel that maybe Jasper’s apology really was sincere, that this time things would be different between them.

  “Hey,” Jasper’s head appeared over the sofa as Kait flicked on the kettle.

  “Sorry,” she said quickly, “did I wake you?”

  “No,” Jasper stretched his arms and then smiling changed his answer, “yes.”

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  “It’s okay.” Jasper stood up, and Kait noticed the way he winced when he placed his weight on his knee.

  “Are you…alright?” Kait gestured to his leg.

  “I’ll be fine.” Jasper gave a dismissive shrug.

  “Okay,” Kait chewed her lip, unconvinced by his response. But they were finally in a good place; she didn’t want to start rocking the boat. “Can I make you something for breakfast?”

  “Yes, please,” Jasper came over and wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled in to her neck. Kait closed her eyes and savored the moment. This was what she’d wanted all along, to truly be with Jasper.

  “So are we really, truly, actually together?” She spun around to face him, needing affirmation that this was real this time, that it was going to last.

  “Yes, this is really, truly actually real,” Jasper teased with a smile. “Though I’m afraid I can’t offer you a certificate of authentication.”

  Kait playfully nudged him in the ribs.

  “Don’t tease me,” she smiled. “I just…I don’t want this to be over before it’s even begun.”

  “It won’t be,” Jasper reassured her as he leaned in for a long, sensuous kiss.

  Chapter 38

  “Mr. Duboix?” Jasper raised his head expectantly and then walked over towards the doctor in the white coat, leaving behind the sumptuous waiting room adorned more lavishly than his own apartment.

  “Thank you for waiting,” the doctor stated solemnly. Jasper could only nod. What choice had he other than to wait? Behind Carl’s back, he’d booked himself in to a private clinic to get his knee checked out. Whilst costly, it meant that there was no risk of his visit getting leaked to the press or worse, back to Carl.

  “So we did an X-Ray and an MRI scan of your knee,” the doctor explained, turning around his computer and gesturing to the images which were now on the monitor. Jasper recognized the familiar shape of a knee bone but little else. He couldn’t tell if there was anything wrong or not. But that was what he was paying the doctor for.

  “Your knee has suffered substantial damage,” the doctor said as he gestured at the images. “You’ve got a hairline fracture and muscle damage. If you don’t stop fighting, you’ll need an entire knee replacement which would end your career. I suggest you take at least six months off to rest and let your knee repair.”

  Jasper tensed in his chair. In six months, he’d be completely forgotten by the industry, a has-been. He couldn’t wait that long.

  “How much for the knee replacement?”

  The doctor didn’t seem impressed by the question.

  “Usually around five thousand,” he replied factually. “But Mr. Duboix, I urge you to consider resting as surgery can have complications, and it’s invasive-”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Jasper was extending his hand which the doctor cordially shook.

  Jasper was leaving the building on Harley Street when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Reaching for it, he saw Kait was calling. He was already smiling when he answered.

  “Hey, beautiful.”

  “Hey yourself,” her soft voice replied through the device. “What are you up to?”

  Jasper glanced at the street lined with cars and multimillion dollar houses around him. Luckily, there were no cars driving past at that moment, so it was relatively quiet.

  “I’m just at the gym.”

  “Will you be home soon?” Kait purred the words making her intentions for their evening later clear. Jasper checked his watch. His train was in an hour or so.

  “Yeah, I’ll be back around seven.”

  “Perfect. Want me to cook dinner?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great,” Jasper was nodding as he walked down the street, his phone pressed tightly against his ear.

  “So how was your day at the gym?” Kait enquired brightly.

  “Illuminating.”

  “Oh?”

  A double decker bus rounded a distant corner and began to come up the street.

  “Sorry, babe, I need to go. My trainer is riding me so hard at the moment.”

  “Okay. Love you.”

  “Love you too,” Jasper ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

  With some difficulty, he walked towards the tube station that he needed. All the while his knee continued to throb and the warning from the doctor echoed in his mind. He knew he couldn’t wait six months. He needed to be a champion now. Kait had fallen for a champion; she wouldn’t surely want some guy who was about to fall in to obscurity?

  Jasper rubbed his hand against his leg as he edged further down the street. Thankfully no one recognized him. He wished he’d thought to call a cab, but he couldn’t afford it. Thanks to his mounting medical bills, there was little he could afford. Money was starting to grow tight because sponsors didn’t want a fighter who dropped at the end of his fight. They wanted someone who could be left standing, proudly addressing the crowd. And Jasper was determined to win them back, to prove to Kait that she’d made the right choice in sticking by him. He was going to remain on top; he was going to be the best no matter what, but as he walked his knee burned in pain as his body clearly had other ideas.

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  Chapter 1

  Jasper fell down against the mat. He spluttered out a shower of warm blood as his entire body throbbed unbearably. His jaw ached from the punch that had just floored him. His mind was screaming at him to get up, to find his feet and throw his own crucial hit, but he remained lifeless on the mat, suddenly unable to co-ordinate his own limbs. He felt like he’d been drugged. How hard had his opponent hit him?

  He could hear the distant chants of jeers from the crowd, but they felt far away, like he was hearing them from underwater. Powerless, Jasper remained on the mat. The referee counted to ten excruciatingly slowly. It was over.

  “That’s your third loss in as many weeks!” Carl was shouting at him as Jasper was helped from the ring. Despite the pain medication he was overly dosed up on, his body burned with agony.

  “Seriously, Jasper, what’s going on?” Carl was by his side as they marched as quickly as they could back towards the dressing room. Cameras flashed like fireworks, capturing Jasper’s humiliation.

  “I don’t…I don’t know,” Jasper winced and tried to shield his eyes from the glare of the flashes.

  “You don’t know,” Carl replied sarcastically. “Well that’s just great, isn’t it?”

  Once in the dressing room, the sounds of the baying crowd almost faded away completely. With a sigh, Jasper dropped down on to the sofa. All he wanted to do was sleep. He was too exhausted to even be upset about this latest loss.

  “What was that out there?” Carl demanded, pointing towards the closed door. “You totally bombed out there, Jasper!”

  Jasper could only groan in response.

  “This isn’t like you!” Carl continued. “Haven’t you been hitting the gym as hard? What gives?”

  Jasper let his head fall in to his hands. He’d been training harder than ever. Despite his bad knee, he was at the gym seven days a week pushing himself almost to the breaking point. Even his trainer feared that Jasper was over doing it. But still he pushed. The first loss had spurred Jasper into action. He couldn’t risk another. But then two losses later, he was beginning to fear that he had nothing left to give.

  “Is it the girl, is she the problem?” Carl asked with a sour look.

 
“No!” Jasper instantly snapped, looking up. “Of course not.”

  Kait currently felt like the only good thing in his life. Each night when he curled up by her side, it made the pain of his earlier loss easier to bare. She was fast becoming his rock. Without her, he feared he’d succumb too easily to his own misery.

  “Because we need some wins,” Carl told him flatly. “And we need them bad.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Jasper winced as he spoke. It hurt to be angry. It hurt to even breathe. Every muscle in his body burned in protest with every movement he made. Perhaps it was time to step away from the ring, to think about what he should do next with his life.

  “You’ve got commitments!” Carl enthused, as if sensing Jasper’s line of thought. “You’ve got fans and sponsors relying on you, Jasper. Don’t you go forgetting that.”

  “I won’t,” Jasper felt his shoulders slump from the weight of it all.

  “Good,” Carl smoothed down his tie and glanced nervously towards the door to the dressing room.

  “She’ll be here in a minute,” Jasper told him. He knew who Carl was waiting on. When Kait arrived, it was his cue to leave.

  “She’d better not be the problem,” Carl threatened.

  “She’s not the problem,” Jasper sighed, “she’s the solution.”

  Chapter 2

  Kait checked herself in the mirror to ensure that she didn’t look too upset. The anguished tears she’d shed when she’d watched Jasper fall to the mat like a toppled tree had been carefully wiped away, her makeup reapplied. The crowd around her had held their breath as Jasper suffered another devastating loss. He looked so battered and broken as he fell at the feet of his opponent. It was killing Kait to see him go through it, to see him suffer like he was.

  Satisfied with her appearance, she left the toilets and walked in the direction of the dressing rooms. The burly security men let her by with a smile and a stiff nod.

  “He’s had it tough tonight,” they commented kindly.

  “Yeah,” Kait agreed. “But he’ll turn it around. He always does.”

  She felt the part of the loving, supportive girlfriend. People knew who she was and why she was backstage. She was no longer Jasper’s secret; he’d finally shared her with the world.

  Raising a hand, she knocked briskly on the dressing room door. When it opened, Carl was staring at her, looking angry. He always looked angry; she was convinced he just didn’t like her.

  “How is he?” Kait inquired politely.

  “How do you think?” Carl retorted as he stepped past her to leave the room. “He’s defeated.”

  Pursing her lips with concern, Kait walked over to Jasper who was sat on the sofa, still wearing his blood stained shorts.

  “Hey,” Kait carefully sat down beside him and placed a hand on his knee.

  “Hey,” Jasper greeted her in his deep, velvety voice.

  “You took a real beating out there tonight.”

  “Yeah,” Jasper sighed and turned to look at her, revealing a deep gash above his right eye which would surely need stitches.

  “I think we need to get you to a hospital,” Kait said anxiously as she peered closer to assess the wound.

  “I’m fine,” Jasper promised her unconvincingly, reaching for her face and cupping it in his strong hands. He didn’t kiss like a defeated man. He kissed her hard and deep like she was the oxygen he needed to survive.

  “Well, at least your spirits aren’t too dampened,” Kait gasped as their lips parted.

  “All I need is to see you to perk up again,” Jasper smiled. Kait wanted to lose herself in the moment with him, but she couldn’t stop fretting about the deep cut oozing blood down his cheek.

  “We’re going to the hospital,” she told him. “No arguing.”

  “Yes, Mum,” Jasper mocked.

  “I’m serious, Jasper. You need to take care of yourself. Especially…” her voice trailed off.

  “Especially when I’m getting my ass kicked every night,” Jasper completed her sentence for her.

  “I didn’t mean,” Kait lowered her head and folded her hands in her lap.

  “Yeah, you did,” Jasper said softly. “And you’re right. I need to glue myself back together so that next week someone else can pull me apart.”

  “Jasper - ”

  “I just don’t get it.” Jasper was staring blankly at the far wall of the brightly lit room. “I put in the hours at the gym, I eat right and sleep well. Yet the moment I step out in to the ring, it’s like all my energy just drains out of me, and I’m useless.”

  “You’re just overdoing it,” Kait stroked his arm fondly. “Give yourself a few weeks off to heal.”

  “I can’t,” Jasper shook his head fiercely and began to stand up. He wavered on his feet, and for a split second, Kait feared he might topple.

  “Hospital, now,” Kait said firmly, reaching for her phone and calling his driver before he could protest.

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