Mason:Inked Reapers MC(61)

Showered she felt more human, but her head still pounded. In the  kitchenette, she reached for some aspirin and hungrily knocked them back  with a glass of water. As she stood by the sink, she noticed that  something was missing. The sides were more bare than usual. And then it  clicked. The flowers Jasper had bought her were gone. A quick search  revealed that the now empty vase was in the dish washer but the flowers  were most definitely gone. Had she thrown them out in a drunken fit of  rage? Kait wanted to peer out from the window but shame prevented it. If  the sad wilted cluster of flowers were on the ground by the first  floor, she didn't want to see them.



Heading over to the sofa, Kait grabbed her phone and called Anna who  after a record number of rings eventually answered sounding extremely  groggy.



"Hello?" she mumbled sleepily.



"Anna, hey! Did you get home okay?"



A slight pause. "Uh huh."



"Are you at your place?"



Another pause.



"Uh huh."



Kait couldn't help but notice that even with a hangover, her friend was being uncharacteristically quiet.



"Anna, are you alone?" Kait sounded like a concerned mother.



A longer pause.



"Nope." She could hear the giggle in Anna's voice as she spoke, the word barely above a whisper.



"Is there a guy there with you right now?" Kait was also whispering.



"Uh huh." More giggles.



"Anna!"



"Oh, hey, I've got to go."



And then the line went dead. Kait stared at her phone in disbelief. Anna  must have gone home with the dark haired guy she'd been kissing. Maybe  it would be the start of something, a beautiful relationship. Or maybe  it would end up being just another scar she had to wear. Kait realised  that she was becoming bitter. Her experience with Jasper had burned her  in more ways than one. It wasn't like her to be so cynical about  relationships.



Biting her lip, Kait eyed her phone suspiciously. Then before she could  change her mind she checked Jasper's Twitter account. She wasn't  surprised to see that he'd won his big fight the night before. What did  surprise her was how much it pained her to have not been there to  witness his victory. Her head banged despite the aspirin she'd taken as  she held back tears. She was about to go and get the remains of her ice  cream when her phone chirped with an incoming message. It was from  Jasper.                       
       
           



       



I feel like celebrating today. Any ideas what I could do? ; ) xxx



He was flirting with her. After everything he'd said at the gym, after  he'd basically told her goodbye, he was now trying to worm his way back  in to her life. Kait gripped her phone in anger, grinding her teeth  together as she contemplated whether or not to even respond.





Chapter 27



Eventually Kait opted to meet Jasper at a local park the following  morning. She reasoned that in meeting in a public place she was less  likely to lose her head and end up in his arms. But even as she walked  over to meet him, she kept thinking about how good it felt to kiss him,  how amazing it felt to be within those strong arms.



Jasper was sat on a bench waiting for her. A white t-shirt struggled to  contain his muscular shoulders and chest. He lifted his head as she  approached and smiled. Tentative rays of sunlight warmed Kait's bare  legs as she instinctively smiled back at him.



"When you told me to meet you today instead of last night I thought  maybe you were blowing me off," Jasper remarked as he leaned back on the  bench.



"Congratulations on your win," Kait kindly said from where she was  standing just before the bench, her hands neatly clasped before her  waist as though she were a formal school girl.



"It was hit or miss for a while," Jasper nodded thoughtfully to himself. "But I pulled through in the end."



Darkness gathered behind his swollen right eye; the promise of an  imminent shiner. As Kait took him in, she noticed the tension in his jaw  as he spoke and the way he was already sitting down when she arrived.  How badly had he been injured during his latest fight? Was he now  struggling to stand? Was he gritting his teeth through the pain?



"I … um, I'm glad it went well for you."



Kait felt awkward in her own skin as she addressed him. How was this  even meant to go? Was she breaking up with him or just saying goodbye?  She didn't even know anymore.



"Did you watch?" The flash of a cheeky smile illuminated Jasper's handsome face.



"No," Kait replied a little too sharply. "I was out with my friend."



"Oh," Jasper's disappointment was obvious as his shoulders slumped.



"Look, about what you texted me last night," Kait lifted her chin and summoned all her courage. She had to do this.



"Oh, yeah? Shall we go back to your place?" Jasper began to struggle to  his feet. As Kait suspected, he seemed unable to put all his weight on  his right knee.



"No, no, you can stay sitting," she extended her hands to him, quickly  gesturing for him to remain where he was. Bemused, Jasper ceased trying  to stand up.



"I … um … look," Kait released an exasperated sigh. "Whatever this is,  Jasper, I can't do it anymore. You blow hot and cold, you tell me I'll  always come second to your fighting and then you expect to be able to  come round as and when you please."



Jasper opened his mouth to speak, but Kait continued before he had chance to get the words out.



"I thought there was something special between us. I was wrong."



Kait could feel the tears gathering behind her eyes. She wanted  desperately to just cry them out, to shed waterfalls down her cheeks,  but somehow she managed to remain composed.



"You're passionate about what you do, and I admire that, truly I do,"  Kait sniffed. "I wish you the best of luck with your continued career as  a professional fighter," her lips were trembling she wasn't going to be  able to carry on much longer. "That night in the parking lot, you saved  me. I'm eternally grateful for that. But I'm not prepared to pretend  this is anything more than it is. So, this is goodbye. I hope we can  part on friendly terms."



Taking a breath, Kait ceased speaking. Jasper blinked up at her, his  eyes wide and his expression stunned as though she'd just shot him  directly in the chest.



"Goodbye Jasper," she whispered before turning around and running off.  She moved at such speed that even if he had followed her, on his bad leg  he'd never have been able to catch up.



Kait ran all the way out of the park. She didn't care that she was now  crying and attracting concerned glances from passers-by. All she cared  about was getting back to her apartment. She'd done it. She'd released  herself from Jasper, but instead of feeling liberated she felt wounded.  Her chest burned as if it wasn't Jasper she'd shot but herself.



Gasping, Kait leaned against a tree towards the edge of the park.  Stealing a quick glance behind her, she didn't see Jasper hobbling after  her. He'd just let her go. Of course he had. Wiping away some of her  freshly fallen tears, Kait imagined him heading straight back to the gym  without giving her a second thought. He'd have to find someone else to  celebrate with now.                       
       
           



       



"Goodbye, Jasper," Kait repeated the words to herself, saying them clearly and with clarity.





Chapter 28



"You did what?" Anna exclaimed with shocked delight from where she was  sat on the other end of Kait's sofa. A half-drunk bottle of wine rested  between them.



"I told him straight," Kait replayed the moment for her friend. "I wasn't going to be used anymore."



"What did he say?"



"Not much," Kait remembered and felt a stabbing pain in her chest. What  exactly had she been hoping he'd say? That he loved her, that he was  sorry? Did she expect him to fight for her? And what if he had? Would  she still have had the strength to walk away as she'd done?



"He's an idiot!" Anna insisted loudly. "An utter fool to let you just walk out of his life like that."



"Yeah." Kait nodded, but if he were the fool, why was she now feeling  foolish? Jasper had only ever been honest with her. He never told her  she was his girlfriend; he didn't tell her a load of lies just to get  her in to bed.



"Kait, you did the right thing," Anna reached over and squeezed her  friend's hand. "He was making you miserable. No man is worth that."



Kait closed her eyes and sighed. When Jasper wasn't making her  miserable, he was making her happier than she'd ever thought possible.  She'd scarified those moments and for what? Because he wasn't willing to  be her boyfriend? The more wine Kait drank, the more uncertain she felt  about what she'd done.