"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.
Chapter 73
Jasper felt woozy from the pain killers he'd been given at the hospital. The cut above his eye had needed an impressive six stitches. Not that he could feel any of them. He was blissfully numb as he sat sprawled out on his plush leather sofa watching the football highlights on the television. Kait was curled up beside him reading a book, her hair falling over her face making her appear even more angelic than usual.
Lately they'd been spending more time at his apartment, which made sense as it was considerable larger than Kait's place.
"Woah," she'd exclaimed when she'd first visited, "you could easily fit my place in here at least six times." Which was probably true.
Jasper actually liked having her there. She made the large rooms feel less empty and impersonal. At night, they curled up together in his grand bed, and each morning Kait insisted on making him breakfast. His kitchen had never known so much use. The evenings no longer felt endless as Jasper wasn't alone. Together he and Kait would watch movies, take long bubble baths in his grand tub and just relax together. It was bliss.
"How are you feeling?" Kait peered up from her book to look at him.
"Like I just did ten rounds with iron man," Jasper said with a light laugh.
"You should consider what the doctor said," Kait advised. The doctor, in his most serious voice had advised Jasper to cut back on fighting for the time being. It was advice Jasper had heard before, about how his body needed time to heal, that he wasn't a young man anymore.
But while his body wasn't willing, his mind certainly was. Jasper was determined to fell the euphoria of victory again no matter what. And Carl was right; he had people who depended on him like his fans and sponsors. People who needed him to keep on, to never give up.
"I'm not ready to bow out yet, Kait." He told her.
"I'm not saying bow out," Kait placed her book down in her lap. "I'm just saying take your foot off the gas for a bit. Why don't we go away, the two of us? Somewhere hot with white sandy beaches!"
"That sounds nice," Jasper admitted. He wanted to escape with Kait to her fantasy holiday. The thought of seeing her in a bikini aroused him.
"You got one of those little string bikini things?" He asked with a flirtatious smile.
"Jasper!" Kait sounded appalled, but the way her lips curled at the end suggested otherwise. "Trust you to instantly think of that!"
"What?" Jasper laughed, "So you're telling me that you don't fantasize about me coming out of the ocean, water dripping down my rock hard abs … "
A pillow thrown from Kait connected with his face.
"Hey!" Jasper promptly threw it back to her side of the sofa. "You want to watch it? Injured man over here!"
He gestured up to his stitches.
"Hmm," Kait eyed him with a smirk and then picked her book back up. "For such an injured man, you're a little too keen to keep fighting."
"It's all I know," Jasper told her sadly, his gaze back on the television screen hanging on the wall before them.
"Well, maybe it's time you got to know something else," Kait suggested brightly.
"I don't want to know anything else," Jasper shook his head. He was starting to feel the tightness of the stitches. His pain medication was wearing off quicker than he'd have liked. He rather enjoyed being cocooned in a pleasant numbness. "I'm a fighter, Kait. It's a label that has always suited me, one I don't want to surrender, not yet."
"What if you keep losing your fights?" She delivered the question carefully, aware of how dangerous it might be. Jasper sighed and wiped a hand down his face. He tried not to feel too hurt by her words; she was only being honest and looking out for him. But she proposed a painful truth – what if he never won again? Was this how he wanted to go out, as a loser? Wasn't it better to go out on top as a champion? But if he wanted to go out on top, he had no choice but to keep fighting, to keep getting in the ring. He needed some meteoric wins to erase his decent defeats from the minds of his fans and those in the industry.
"I can't keep losing fights," he told Kait, his voice brimming with determination. "I can't go out this way. I need to get back on top. Then I can think about my next step and those white sandy beaches you mentioned."
"Okay."
"And until then," Jasper was leaning across the sofa, reaching for her, wearing his most flirtatious grin. Kait wiggled out of his reach though she was smirking playfully. "How about we go in to the bedroom for a throw down of our own?"
"Why go in the bedroom?" Kait purred the words, and Jasper he feared he might melt. "We've got a perfectly good sofa right here," she was seductively running a hand up her own leg.
"Urgh," Jasper groaned with longing. "Get over here."
Chapter 74
"We need to talk," Carl's expression was stern as he stood in Jasper's kitchen, leaning against the pristine counter top.
"Okay," Jasper shrugged, his skin still damp from the shower he'd just taken. "Then let's talk."
"It's about your finances."
Jasper grimaced. He'd never been good with numbers. He'd always relied on Carl for that side of things. His job was to win in the ring; it was up to Carl to make the numbers balance at the end of the day.
"What about them?" Jasper wished he was back in bed lying bedside Kait as her eyelashes gently fluttered as she dreamed. But Kait had left early for work, leaving only the sweet scent of her perfume behind.
"It's not looking good." Carl told him flatly.
"How so?" Even though Jasper had been losing fights, he still got paid for competing; he was just missing out on bonuses given to the victor. But surely those losses weren't enough to affect his financial situation?
"I had Event Sports on the phone this morning."
"Okay."
Event Sports were Jasper's biggest sponsor. They'd supported both him and his career ever since his first big win. The money from the sponsorship deal had bought him his apartment and two of his fancy cars.
"Jasper," Carl smoothed a hand nervously across his temple.
"What? Just spit it out."
"They're not looking to renew your contract."
Jasper slumped down on to a nearby stool feeling as though he'd just been shot in the chest.
"Are you … are you serious?" Jasper clung to the counter top beside him to prevent him from crashing to the ground with shock. Jasper Duboix was the face of Event Sports. How could they not renew his contract?