Break Me (Caged Hearts Book 2) (11 page)

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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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