Mason:Inked Reapers MC(55)

"You've got so many scars."



His chest was equally as adorned as his back. So many old wounds. Surely they hadn't all happened in the ring.



"True." Jasper replied stoically.



"How did you get them all?" Kait titled her head in interest as she addressed him.



Jasper inhaled sharply.



"You don't think I got them all from fighting?"



Kait shook her head as her eyes scanned across his exposed chest. Many  of the scars were long and hinted at deep wounds, wounds that could only  be inflicted by a sharp object rather than the dull blow of a fist or  foot connecting with his chest.



"Not all of them," she admitted.



"You're right," Jasper sat up and folded his thick arms across his chest, covering some of his scars from view.



"Some of them I picked up on the streets when I was growing up."



Kait thought of what she'd read about Jasper, about how he'd grown up in  the foster care system and lived a troubled life before he'd found  professional fighting.



"Were you stabbed?" In her mind she remembered the glint of the blade  the gold toothed man had held and the sinister sparkle in his old eyes.  He had meant to stab her, to gut her as though she were just a fish  being prepared at market. It was the first time she'd had to face down  such evil, and she had been terrified. She couldn't imagine facing such  an ordeal as a teenager or a child.



"Yeah," Jasper's jaw tightened. "Many times."



The scars suddenly seemed more troubling. Each told of a violent attack, a heated altercation got out of hand.



"Why … " Kait's eyes misted as she let her gaze fall to the bed, unsure of what she was even meaning to ask.



"My life was tough growing up," Jasper's tone was gentler than she'd  expected. She thought he was going to be defensive about his scars and  how he obtained them. Instead, he reached for her hand and pressed it  against his chest.



"Where I lived, people used violence to get what they wanted. It's why I was originally interested in learning to fight."



Jasper had placed her hand over a particularly large scar which ran all  the way from his shoulder blade to the center of his chest.



"I got this one for refusing to run drugs. I spent two weeks in hospital and lost a lot of blood."



Kait felt the rise of the scar. Now it was just a deep ridge upon his  skin, but it had once been a gaping wound so cruelly inflicted.



"I was twelve," he told her, and Kait thought her heart might break. She  removed her hand and began kissing each and every one of Jasper's  scars. He'd endured so much, and yet he was still finding the courage to  chase his dream, to get in the ring and fight every night. He could  have run drugs; he could have stabbed people to bend them to his own  will. But he rose above all that.



As she kissed his scars, Jasper groaned. They remained there for a few  more minutes before he scooped her up in his strong arms. She wrapped  her legs around him as he carried her towards the bathroom. She could  feel how excited he was. He lowered her gently in to the bathtub and  stepped in after her, pulling back the shower curtain. Kait quickly  turned on the water, and soon they were both being bathed in the hot  stream.                       
       
           



       



Jasper grabbed her wrists and held them above her head, pushing her back  against the wall. It felt strange to have the cool tiles at her back as  the warm water splashed over her front. As he held her wrists up he  kissed her deeply, his tongue desperately pressing against hers. Kait  eagerly kissed him back as she arched her back and ground her hips  against him. Jasper groaned again as they kissed.



Kait wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close. When he entered her, they both gasped in delight.





Chapter 14



It was dark outside as Kait walked through the living room towel drying  her hair and wrapped in a robe. Jasper was on the sofa wolfing down the  pizza they'd previously ordered. A movie was playing on the television  which he was half watching.



Kait dropped down beside him and reached for a slice of the still warm  pizza. Her stomach grumbled appreciatively at the sight of it. As Kait  took a bite, she realized that she hadn't eaten all day which was unlike  her. She also never ate pizza, always opting for a sensible salad or  pasta dish instead. But with Jasper, she felt like she didn't need to  care about all that stuff, that she could just be herself. Eating the  pizza reminded her of movie nights with her mother when they'd curl up  together on the couch and watch girly films. Kait struggled to remember  the last time she'd done something like that. She was always either  working or thinking about working. It was as if she'd forgotten how to  switch off. Until Jasper came along.



"What are you watching?" She nodded at the television.



"This movie where Denzel Washington is a pilot." Jasper quickly replied. Kait was impressed by his knowledge.



"You seen it before?"



"Twice." Jasper replied in between bites of pizza.



"Twice?" Kait asked with a smile on her lips, her tone slightly teasing.



"What?" Jasper turned and looked bashful, his confident demeanour having briefly fallen away.



"So I like movies? I'm not always training you know."



"So when you're not training you're watching movies?"



"Pretty much," Jasper agreed proudly. "I'm something of a movie geek."



"Good to know," Kait laughed.



"What about you?"



"What about me?"



"What do you do when you're not working?" Jasper eyed her expectantly.  Kait paused as she fumbled for a response. She could feel her cheeks  beginning to burn with shame. The truth was that somewhere along the  way, work had stopped being something she did and had overtaken her  life, bleeding out to all areas including her social life. She worked  long hours, and when she made it back to her apartment, she'd just drag  herself in to bed so that she could wake up bright and early for the  next working day.



"I've been a bit too consumed with my work lately," she told him sadly,  not wanting to lie and pretend that she was living some exciting,  enriched life.



"I know how that can be," Jasper nodded. "Fighting is my life; it can be hard to switch off."



"You switched off today," Kait told him brightly.



"So did you," Jasper grinned. Kait was smiling back at him when she  noticed the glimmer in his eyes fade. He straightened on the sofa and  turned his back on the television.



"But tomorrow it all starts up again," he told her. "You go back to  work, and I'm back to training. This," he gestured to the space between  them, "will be put on the back burner."



Kait struggled to swallow over the lump which had formed in her throat.  What did he mean? This was surely the start of something great,  something wondrous. Why would he want to take a step back from that?  Kait didn't want to return to who she had previously been. She didn't  want her life to solely revolve around work. When Jasper saved her from  knifepoint in the parking lot, he did more than save her from those  thugs, he saved her from herself. When she was around him, she was  remembering how to live, how to truly be alive. It no longer mattered  that she got a promotion or a bigger house; all that mattered was the  moment and that they were together in it. But now Jasper was taking all  that away again. What did it mean? Did he want to be involved with her  or not?



Cupping her face in his warm hands Jasper uttered the words Kait dreaded to hear:



"I mean, this has been great, so much fun. But my fighting comes first, Kait and it always will."





Chapter 15



The following day Kait struggled to focus at work. No matter how many  urgent emails flashed on her computer screen, she couldn't stop thinking  about Jasper. After telling her that his fighting would always come  first, he had left. With a pained expression, he told her that he would  call. Kait doubted that he would, but she needed to cling to the promise  that he would even if it had been made in vain.                       
       
           



       



She understood his drive and determination when it came to his fighting.  She admired the tenacity he applied to following his dream. But did  that truly mean that he also wouldn't have time for her?



Discreetly, Kait reached for her phone and checked Jasper's Twitter  account. As she'd expected, he'd already posted several updates  regarding his training even though it wasn't yet ten in the morning.



Been killing it in the gym all morning! @J_Duboix