Mason:Inked Reapers MC(74)

Timmy baited the crowd, revealing his bright red gum shield which  already made it look like he was bleeding profusely at his teeth.  Perhaps he soon would be. Kait felt a knot form in her stomach. Timmy  darted around the ring like a ping pong ball, raising his hands to the  crowd encouraging them to scream even louder, whilst Jasper remained in  his corner, stoic and ominous.



The crowd reached fever pitch as Timmy was told to go to his respective corner. And bell rung, and the fight commenced.





Chapter 54



Jasper had heard of Timmy. He was a hard and fast fighter. He was more  accustomed to bare knuckle fighting than gloved. He was a fierce  opponent and not someone to underestimate.



After the bell had rung, both men approached the center of the ring,  bouncing on their feet, ready to dart out of the way of a punch. Jasper  swiped first and missed, his hand connecting with empty air. He silently  cursed himself as he drew his fist back in. Timmy narrowed his eyes  menacingly at him. Jasper threw another punch, and Timmy expertly leaned  away from it. Before Jasper had drawn his arm back in, Timmy came at  him throwing quick, powerful punches. His fists connected with Jasper's  chest first, knocking the air out of him and then travelled up to his  jaw and his nose. With a sickening crack, Jasper heard it break before  he felt the rush of warm blood which followed.





Chapter 55



Kait clamped a hand to her mouth and tried not to cry. Despite her seat  being some way from ringside, she could clearly make out the torrent of  blood now gushing from Jasper's nose. But all he did was wipe at it with  his wrapped knuckles and advance back towards the center of the ring.  He was taking a brutal beating, and Kait wasn't sure that she could  watch.



"Duboix's going down!" Some of the crowd fearfully prophesied. Kait  willed them not to be true. Jasper could come back from this. But his  shirt was now soaked with his old blood. Surely it was over for him.





Chapter 56



Timmy threw several more punches. They connected with Jasper's chest,  and he could barely breathe. But somehow he remained standing; he had  to. If he went down now, it would be all over. The shouts of the crowd  became a distant droning, and he forced himself to focus only on Timmy.  The red head was gearing up for another punch. Jasper wasn't about to go  down like this. He could feel his knee aching, burning in protest as he  forced his entire weight upon it. It was now or never. He needed to  floor Timmy and quickly as his body couldn't last for any more rounds.



As Timmy came at him, Jasper moved with such fast fluidity that no one  could have seen his maneuver coming. He moved on to his back leg and  kicked repeatedly at Timmy. Three, perfectly timed kicks which landed in  his chest and then his jaw.                       
       
           



       



Panting, Jasper dropped his legs to the ground just as his bad knee gave  way. He toppled to his knees breathing hard and clutching at his bad  leg, but thankfully Timmy had fallen first. He fell backwards, coughing  out blood from where Jasper had dislodged a tooth when he'd kicked his  jaw. With the air so sharply knocked out of him when Timmy hit the mat,  he was unable to get back up.



Jasper remained on his knees as the referee counted to ten. It seemed to  take forever. Jasper was wincing in pain, trying not to let the crowd  see the agony he was in. But his knee was ruined. His decision to end  with some kicks hadn't been the best one he'd ever made. Hopefully it  had been enough to grant him victory.



The referee tapped the mat beside Timmy who still couldn't get up.  Jasper had won. The crowd went wild, and some even started to boo,  probably because they had hoped it would last a few more rounds so that  they could get their money's worth. Jasper knew that he needed to stand  up, to address his fans, but he couldn't. His knee was too damaged to  take his weight. He shot Carl, who was nervously poised by the ring a  pained look. Seconds later, Carl was climbing in to the ring and  kneeling down beside him.



"Is everything alright?" He asked the question straight into Jasper's ear.



"No. I've blown my knee and can't get up." Jasper hung his head. He knew  that this wasn't what Carl wanted. Jasper was supposed to be doing a  victory lap at present, relishing in his glory. Instead, he was about to  be stretched out of the ring like the broken fighter he really was.



"Okay, stay there," Carl nodded solemnly at him before standing up and  gesturing for a medic. The waiting paramedics hurried up in to the ring.  One of them went to tend to Timmy whilst two focused on Jasper.



"I can't get up," he explained to them, "it's my knee."



"Okay, we'll get a gurney," the paramedic nearest to him decided. Jasper  groaned both in pain and in humiliation. He could just imagine what  people on Twitter would say about him leaving the fight like this.  People would speculate that he was done, that his days of competitively  fighting were over.





Chapter 57



"Come on, get up," Kait urged Jasper as he continued to remain on his  knees in the ring. He had won, the announcer had told the crowd as much,  so why wasn't he celebrating? He should be jeering at the crowd and  smiling in triumph. Instead, his blood stained face was contorted in  pain.



Panic tightened Kait's chest as she saw the paramedics go over to him.  Clearly something was seriously wrong. Blinking back tears, she told  herself that at least he was getting medical help. But how badly was he  hurt?



Moments later, he was being stretchered out of the ring. He kept his  gaze away from the crowd, and Kait let a solitary tear fall down her  cheek. Was he ashamed of his exit or just in an insane amount of pain?  Either way, Kait knew that she needed to get to him. He surely needed  her now more than ever. She started to weave her way out of her seating  aisle. She could hear people gossiping about Jasper throwing around  terms like ‘past it' and ‘worn out.' It was all she could do not to turn  around and remind them that Jasper was a true champion. She thought of  all that she'd learned about him online. He'd overcome so much adversity  to get to where he was, and his fans were already turning on him. How  fickle people could be. But not Kait. She would be there for him no  matter what. It wasn't even the fighter she cared about; it was Jasper  Duboix the man who she had fallen for  –  the guy who would risk his own  safety to protect a stranger in distress.



Kait was hurrying towards the backstage area of the venue. People were  already filtering out towards the car park in their hundreds, and she  had to move against them like a salmon struggling to get up steam. She  had to get to Jasper. She had to know that he was alright.





Chapter 58



Jasper was perched on the end of the sofa in his dressing room, his bad leg raised up on a nearby foot stool.



"Hospital!" Carl said the word as though it were venomous. "The  paramedics want to take you to hospital. The press would have a field  day with that."



"I'll be fine," Jasper insisted with a grimace. He knew what a visit to  hospital would mean  –  X rays and numerous tests and perhaps doctor's  orders to stay off his knee for a few weeks. Carl would hate that.



"Do you know how it looked out there?" Carl gestured madly towards the  closed door of the changing room. "You're going to be a laughing stock,  Jasper!"                       
       
           



       



"I won," Jasper said behind clenched teeth. "That was what you wanted, right? A win?"



"But a winner walks off the stage like a champion!" Carl insisted, his  cheeks bright red. "You were stretchered off as if you were the one who  had lost! It doesn't look good, Jasper. It doesn't look good at all."



Closing his eyes, Jasper tried to distance himself from Carl's anger.  The pain medication the paramedics had given him had started to work,  and he was beginning to feel blissfully numb, the pain in his leg now  just a dull ache.



"If your leg is bad, you throw some well-placed punches," Carl was  prattling on even though Jasper had ceased listening. "You don't leave  yourself vulnerable like you did. You were reckless, Jasper, and it's  going to cost you."



"Can you please leave?" Jasper parted his eyes to glare at his agent.  He'd had enough. He wanted to just be alone with his thoughts for a  while.



"So now you're pushing me away?" Carl poked a finger at his own chest. "I'm the only person on your side!"



"I'm tired, and I have a headache."