“Win or lose in the ring, you’ll always have my heart,” she promised him tenderly.
“If I go out, it has to be on top,” Jasper explained. “But right now, that’s not happening. Right now, I’m a laughing stock.”
Kait listened intently to his words.
“I have to get back on top,” Jasper told her. “I just need one more win to keep my sponsors, to keep my dignity.”
His knee burned with a sharp blast of pain, and Jasper winced and reached for it.
“You can’t fight in this state,” Kait noted with concern.
“I have to!” Jasper shouted. “Kait, I’ve no choice!”
She chewed her lip for a moment.
“Then let me help,” she quickly suggested.
“What? How?”
“Let me help you train.”
“Kait,” Jasper was shaking his head in refusal of her offer.
“You said it yourself; you’ve lost your trainer. Let me step in and help, please, Jasper. I had no idea you were going through such a hard time.”
Jasper looked over at her, feeling sheepish. He’d never accepted help from a woman before. Usually women only wanted to see him as strong and powerful; they never stuck around long enough to witness his weaker moments.
“I want to see you train,” Kait told him, her voice level and soothing.
“You do?”
“I think it would be hot,” she purred the words, and her eyes sparkled with desire.
“Well,” Jasper modestly flexed his bicep.
“I also want to be a part of your life. Of all of it. The good and the bad.” Kait added.
“What if all the good is over, and I’m just going to be left with bad?”
“I don’t care,” Kait leaned in close to plant a tender kiss upon his lips.
“Maybe we could start training right now,” Jasper whispered as he looped a hand around her slim waist and pulled her tight to him.
“I know some particularly rigorous exercises that involve two people,” he teased.
“Sounds good,” Kait said before kissing him hard and deep.
Chapter 84
“Are you sure this isn’t going to be boring for you?” Jasper wondered as Kait followed him out of the bedroom. His knee was thankfully feeling considerably less sore than it had the night before. He was able to walk on it relatively unhindered.
“Nope,” Kait said, shaking her head and smiling. “I’m excited to see you in your domain.”
“I can assure you that training isn’t all that exciting,” Jasper told her as he sauntered towards the kitchen. He stopped abruptly when he saw Carl standing before the large refrigerator, the click of it closing reaching his ears. “Carl?”
“Training is exciting, Jasper,” Carl enthused, grasping his hands together before him. “It’s all part of the process, which makes it thrilling!”
“What are you doing here?” Jasper frowned at him.
“Waiting to take you over to the gym,” Carl replied flatly. Jasper glanced at the refrigerator. Carl wasn’t holding anything which meant he must have put something inside. He was about to ask what it was when Carl spoke up.
“So who is getting excited about your training?”
“Me,” Kait spoke up, peering out from behind Jasper. She was wearing a pair of his boxers and a baggy t-shirt and lingered behind his strong physique for protection, her cheeks already blushing.
“Ah.” Carl smiled falsely at her.
“Well, today Kait will learn first-hand just how exciting training can be,” Jasper grinned. He wanted to go and grab a bottle of water from the fridge, but he resisted, sensing that Kait wanted him to remain where he was so that she could hide behind him.
“Oh? How so?”
“She’s coming along with me today,” Jasper explained brightly.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Carl was already shaking his head in a disagreeable gesture.
“Why?” Jasper challenged a little too fiercely. “Afraid she’ll get in the way of my trainer? Oh wait, you laid them off.”
“You just need to focus right now,” Carl replied sternly. “You’ve got a big match coming up, and you need to be on top of your game. You don’t need an… audience.”
“She’s hardly an audience,” Jasper scoffed. “She’s just coming along to support me.”
“Well, I don’t think she should.”
“Lucky for you, you don’t get to make all my decisions,” Jasper glared angrily at his agent, and then he turned to face Kait.
“Come on babe, we’ve still got time to jump in the shower. Carl will wait.”
Chapter 85
“Don’t you get along with your agent?” Kait asked as she towel dried her hair, standing in Jasper’s steam filled bathroom.
“What makes you ask that?” Jasper’s torso glimmered sexily with water clinging to it from the shower. Kait had to fight to tear her eyes away from it and focus on the conversation.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged casually, “things seemed a little…tense back there.”
Jasper gave a brisk nod of agreement. “Yeah, things can be tense between us.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t really know,” Jasper mused. “I mean, he’s been my agent for years, and we go away back. He’s just always been about the money I guess, and that’s never sat that well with me.”
Jasper slumped down on the closed toilet seat, his shoulders sagging.
“And now I risk losing it all,” he declared woefully.
“Hey,” Kait kneeled down so that she was at his level, gazing deeply into his dark eyes. “You can get back your sponsors,” she told him with such certainty that a part of him dared to believe her.
“You’re a fighter, Jasper, and you’ve come up from worse than this. You can win your next fight. I believe in you.”
She kissed his lips, and the electricity between them sizzled.
“Now,” Kait was smiling as she drew back from him, “let’s go over to your gym so that you can show me where the magic happens.”
Chapter 86
Jasper was concerned that Kait would find a day at the gym boring, but after an entire morning watching him work out on the treadmill and then lift weights, chatting casually as he went along, she still appeared engaged and interested, and it actually felt good to be sharing his training experience with someone.
“Now I understand how you have so much stamina,” she teased as Jasper approached a bench to lift some more weights.
“Very funny,” he smiled warmly at her. “Say, babe, can you hand me that drink?” He gestured to the plastic sports bottle resting nearby besides a towel.
“Sure,” Kait reached for it. She was wearing tight fitting jogging bottoms and a crop top and looked amazingly sexy. Jasper wished he didn’t need to work out all day. But if he wanted to have any hope of winning his next match, he needed to be in the gym as much as possible.
“Oh, it’s almost empty,” Kait noticed as she passed it over to him. “Want me to go grab you some water from the café downstairs?”
Jasper shook his head as he shoved the end of the bottle in to his mouth and drank deeply. She was right; there wasn’t much left. Gasping, he wiped a hand across his mouth.
“I don’t drink water,” he explained. “I drink this energy solution which Carl makes up for me.”
Kait tensed.
“What’s wrong with just plain old water?”
“Nothing,” Jasper shrugged, handing the now empty bottle back to her. “This just has electrolytes in and stuff.”
“So it’s a branded sports drink?”
“I don’t know,” Jasper admitted. “Carl imports it in from America or something. Apparently it’s amazing and better than any of the stuff we have on the market here. Hang on, I’ll call him and ask him to drop off some more. I won’t last much longer without it.”
As Jasper dialed, Kait discreetly raised picked up the empty sports bottle and lift
ed it to her nose. She sniffed long and hard, but couldn’t detect any scent. The liquid inside appeared to be water, but why would Carl say it was something else if that was the case? Certain that Jasper wasn’t looking, Kait squeezed out the very last drop onto her tongue. It was definitely water. How could he not realize that?
Chapter 87
Thirty minutes later, Carl strode into the gym cradling two sports bottles in his arms like two new born babies. He looked comically out of place in his shirt and trousers against all the lycra-clad bodies.
“Here you go, champ,” he passed the bottles to Jasper who ceased lifting weights to accept them.
“Thanks.”
“What exactly is in those?” Kait inquired, trying to sound interested rather than accusatory.
“In these?” Carl looked slightly alarmed by her question. “A sports solution.”
“Like a tonic?”
“Yeah.” Carl shoved his now empty hands into his pockets.
“What makes it better than say, water?”
“It contains vital nutrients and electrolytes.”
“Really?” Kait’s eyes widened. “That’s impressive considering it tastes like water.”
“It has a neutral taste,” Jasper injected in to the conversation. “That way it’s easier to drink in large quantities.”
“Huh.”
“How goes the training?” Carl spoke directly to Jasper, but Kait wasn’t done with him yet.
“What’s the brand called?”
“Sorry?” He turned in annoyance, frowning, to face her.
“The brand,” Kait repeated. “That makes the sports drink.”
“You wouldn’t know them,” Carl waved a dismissive hand at her.
“Try me.”
“That’s it!” Jasper stood up with an exasperated sigh. “All this talk about drinks is making me need to pee.”
He headed off in the direction of the bathroom, leaving Kait alone with Carl.
“You ask a lot of questions,” he told her flatly.
“I’m inquisitive.”
“So it would seem.”
“Mind if I try some of your miracle sports drink?” Kait gestured to the plastic bottles.
“Look,” Carl narrowed his gaze on her, his nostrils flaring. “I’m not entirely sure what your angle is, but all I care about is getting Jasper to win his next fight. He risks losing everything if he can’t claim back his title.”
“I know that.”
“So maybe stop giving me the third degree over a damn drink and actually support him, since that’s apparently what you’re here to do.”
Kait could feel her cheeks burning. She’d only ever been supportive of Jasper, hadn’t she?
“Hey,” Jasper smiled as he strode back towards them. “What did I miss?”
Chapter 88
That night, Jasper slept deeply. The moment his head hit the pillow, it was lights out. Kait sat up beside him, her iPad in her hands. Something was bothering her about her encounter with Carl at the gym. The guy was creepy for sure, but there was something else. With swift moves of her fingertips she entered Carl’s full name – Carl Santino.
The search pulled up a load of web pages. It seemed Carl had enjoyed a prolific career with his clients. Kait leaned back against the soft pillows and began to browse through the numerous entries. She wasn’t even sure what she was looking for; she just wanted to have a well-informed image of Carl in her mind.
It was around one in the morning when Kait came to the conclusion that Carl’s career followed a similar pattern. He took on new, upcoming fighters, guided them to the pinnacle of their discipline, and then their careers took a nose dive. There were countless losses. And when they were at their lowest, Carl walked away. Time and again, this had happened. He didn’t have a single client who remained at the top of their game. The more Kait looked, the more she wondered if this was just some weird fluke or if something more sinister was going on. Beside her, Jasper slept peacefully, oblivious to her mounting concerns. Whatever Carl’s deal was, Kait was certain that he wasn’t to be trusted. She just needed to make Jasper see that.
Chapter 89
“Babe, you’re being paranoid,” Jasper dismissed Kait’s findings the next morning as they sat eating an omelet together.
“But I’m not,” she insisted, shoving her iPad in his face. “All of his clients go on a downward spiral, and none recover!”
“You’re just looking for reasons to dislike him,” Jasper noted as he shoved a forkful of cooked egg into his mouth. “When really you just don’t get on with him and that’s fine. Carl is definitely an acquired taste.”
“Jasper, please, I think that there is something more going on here. Something we need to be worried about.”
“Kait,” he sighed wearily as he said her name. “Maybe you’re right, maybe something strange is going on with Carl, but I can’t think about that right now. My next big fight is tomorrow night, and I have to win. That’s all I can focus on right now, understand?”
“Yeah,” Kait nodded and drew her iPad back to her chest. “I know how important this next fight is.”
“Good. And you’ll be there, right?”
“Of course,” Kait smiled.
“No sitting up in the nose bleed section, I want you right at the front!”
Kait tensed, but managed to grin widely at her boyfriend. The thought of being close enough to smell the blood that was shed turned her stomach, but she wasn’t about to admit that to him. She’d sit on the front row and perfectly play the part of the adoring girlfriend because that’s what Jasper needed.
“And I’m going to win!” Jasper enthused. “I’m feeling strong!” He flexed an impressively large bicep to prove his point. “Just you wait! You’ll be cheering for me so hard you’ll lose your voice!”
Jasper seemed fired up and full of excited energy. Kait liked seeing him like that. There was something charming about his confidence. Kait wanted nothing more than to see him triumph at his next match. All he needed was a win to get back on top, and then he could start thinking about pulling away from the sport which was slowly starting to cripple his body.
“I can’t wait to see you win,” Kait smiled lovingly at him.
“Thanks, babe,” Jasper was still grinning as he reached over and squeezed her hand. “And I’m sorry you don’t like Carl, but he’s really not so bad once you get to know him.”
“Mmm,” Kait made a non-committal noise. She was certain that the more she got to know Carl Santino the less she’d like him. The guy had only ever been rude to her, and now she couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite protests to the contrary, he didn’t actually have Jasper’s best interests at all – that he actually might have a hand in orchestrating his downfall.
Chapter 90
Kait ignored the ache behind her eyes and continued to stare at the screen of the laptop which was resting upon her knees. She was back in her own apartment with just hours to go before Jasper’s big fight. She’d told him she wanted to head home to change, but really she wanted a chance to search for more information about Carl Santino and the strange energy drink he kept feeding to Jasper.
She researched tasteless energy drinks and found nothing conclusive. Then she researched banned energy drinks and struggling to find anything that fit the description of what Carl was giving Jasper. It looked and tasted like water, but then why was Carl so against Jasper actually consuming plain old H2O? It made no sense and left Kait feeling baffled.
Her head started to throb from the onslaught of information she was presenting it with. She felt like she was trying to put together a jigsaw with half of the pieces missing. If only she had enough to just get a glimpse of the whole picture, she’d know what to do.
The sound of her phone ringing made her jump. Pulling her gaze away from the brightly lit laptop screen, Kait answered the call.
“Hey.”
“Hey, babe,” Jasper sounded achingly close on the other end of the line.
/> “Hey, handsome. How are you holding up?”
“I’m feeling good.” She could hear the enthusiasm and determination in Jasper’s voice. He was a man on a mission. She almost pitied the guy who’d be stepping into the ring with him later.
“Are you nearly finished at your place?” Jasper asked hopefully. “I was kind of thinking we could head over to the venue together.”
Mason: Inked Reapers MC Page 44
