Mason:Inked Reapers MC(83)

"Well, let's be different."



"Is everything okay?" Jasper squeezed her shoulders a little too tightly. "Oww!"



"Sorry," Jasper released her from his grip. "I'll go and see what I've got."



Kait followed him through to the kitchen. When she'd looked through his  cupboards, she'd struggled to find much food she could cook. There were  eggs and bread, and that was pretty much it. She kept meaning to go  shopping and stock up his cupboards for him, but each time she was with  Jasper, she ended up getting distracted from such tasks.



"I could whip us up an omelet," Jasper suggested as he stuck his head inside the cool of the fridge.



"Eggs." Kait said flatly as she sat down on a stool.



"Huh?" Jasper leaned back to peer at her.



"I said, good," Kait smiled at him. He never normally wanted to cook,  and it was hard to get excited about an omelet when her taste buds were  craving pizza.



"You sure you don't want to just order a pizza?" She asked hopefully. "It can be my treat."



"No," Jasper snapped as he slammed the refrigerator door shut. "I just  want to do something different; it's not about money or anything."



"I never said it was," Kait told him coolly, surprised by his outburst.



"Okay, well then, good." He was turning on the stove and reaching for a  frying pan. He had to search through four different cupboards before he  eventually found one. Kait thoughtfully chewed her lip as she watched  him. His shoulders were tense, and his brow was permanently furrowed.  Something was clearly bothering him. Perhaps he'd had a bad day at the  gym, but she didn't want to press him for answers. She was well aware  that his current string of losses made any talk about training a sore  subject, and she wanted them to have a pleasant evening together.



"So what will you put in the omelet?" She asked with a friendly smile.



"You want something in it?" Jasper looked at her in confusion.



"Yeah," Kait laughed, "most people want more than just eggs upon eggs. Like maybe some ham or cheese."



"I've only got eggs," Jasper told her bluntly.



"Just eggs it is then," Kait rolled her eyes. "We seriously need to go  food shopping, Duboix. Your cupboards are startlingly bare."



"There's nothing wrong with bare cupboards!" Jasper told her defensively.



"Okay, Mother Hubbard," Kait teased with a smile. Jasper laughed at her and commenced making them both a pure egg omelet.





Chapter 77



Kait pushed the metal shopping cart down another aisle. She was already  struggling to maneuver its excessive weight. It was packed full of boxes  of cereal, tins of soup, and endless packets of frozen vegetables. It  was already a much larger haul than her usual weekly grocery shop, but  she wasn't buying goods for herself. These were for Jasper  –  or more  specifically for his bare cupboards. Kait had decided to help him out  and fill up all his cupboards for him. She almost giggled with  excitement to herself when she imagined his response when he found out.



She was heading down the sweets aisle. Brightly colored packaging called  out to her, and her stomach gave a low rumble of approval. Kait loved  sweet things. Especially ice cream. But Jasper followed a much more  rigid diet than she did. Whilst he could carbo-load, he rarely indulged  in sweet treats.                       
       
           



       



Kait gazed longingly at the packaged candy, wishing there was some way  she could condone placing it in her shopping cart. But there wasn't. She  was buying food for Jasper, not herself. Picking up speed she hurried  out of the aisle and away from temptation.



It was only when Kait was at the checkout that she realized that she'd  most definitely bought too much. Her cart was almost completely full,  and she'd foolishly walked over to the supermarket when she should have  bought her car.



"Damn it," Kait chewed her lip nervously as she handed over her bank  card to the assistant. There was no way she'd be able to carry all the  bags home. She'd need to go and get her car which meant leaving her  shopping unattended.



"Damn it," Kait repeated to herself as she pushed the trolley out in to  the cool afternoon air. There was nothing for it; she was going to have  to call Jasper. Reaching into her handbag for her cell phone, she called  up his details and took a sharp intake of breath.



He answered after several long rings.



"Hey, babe," he panted. Clearly he was in the middle of working out.  Kait inwardly groaned at having to disturb him at such an important  time.



"Jasper, hey. Look, I kind of need a favor."



"Uh huh."



"I'm over at the supermarket, and I bought way too much stuff," as she  spoke she cast an eye over the dozen shopping bags crammed in to her  trolley.



"I really need to go and get my car, but I can't leave the stuff unattended while I do."



"Why did you buy so much?"



"Umm," Kait looked down at her food shopping. She didn't want to spoil the surprise, not yet. "I just got carried away I guess."



"Right, okay," Jasper sighed. "I'll be there in about twenty minutes, okay?"



"Okay, great. Thanks."



Twenty minutes later, Jasper jogged over to where Kait was waiting  wearing his jogging bottoms and a hooded jumper. The sky overheard was  darkening with the promise of rain.



"Hey," Kait jumped up from the bench she'd been sat on as he came over.



"Hey," Jasper panted. He'd clearly jogged all the way over from the gym. He glanced down at the contents of her shopping cart.



"Jeez, Kait, you planning on feeding five thousand people?"



"Actually," Kait tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled brightly at her boyfriend, "ta-dah!"



She waved a hand across the plastic bags like a glamorous assistant revealing a prize in a television game show. Jasper frowned.



"It's all for you," Kait explained with an enthusiastic grin.



"For me?"



"Yes," Kait nodded. "Your cupboards were so bare that I thought I'd like, you know, stock them up for you."



She saw Jasper bristle at her words, and she instantly feared that she'd done the wrong thing.



"I don't need your pity purchases," he told her coldly through gritted teeth.



"Pity purchases?" Kait didn't understand what he was getting at.  "Jasper. I was just trying to help; I thought you'd be pleased."



"I don't need your help."



"Jasper - "



"I'm fine, everything is just fine! I sure as hell don't need you buying  food for me!" The look of disgust upon his face chilled Kait to her  core.



"Jasper - "



"Sort yourself out," he pulled his hood up over his head, turned around,  and jogged away. Kait stared after him, her mouth gaping. What had just  happened? She feebly called after him a few times, but he didn't look  back. Why was he suddenly so mad at her? What had she done wrong?



With no other options left, Kait was forced to call a taxi. She managed  to hide her burgeoning tears from the driver as he kindly helped her  load her bags in to the boot of the car. But once at her apartment  building, he only helped her with them to the door. Kait didn't mention  that the elevators were broken. It took her four journeys in total to  carry everything up to her place. With each load, her heart sunk lower  in her chest. This food wasn't meant for her, but Jasper had made it  painfully clear that he didn't want it. But why? Was she becoming too  much? Was she smothering him? Kait's vision became blurred with tears as  she wandered up and down the staircase, laden down with shopping bags  like a pack horse.





Chapter 78



Jasper didn't stop running until he was back at the gym. By then, his  chest was burning, and he was struggling to catch his breath. Sweat was  gathering beneath his jumper so he shoved down the hood to try and cool  off.                       
       
           



       



He kept thinking about how Kait had gone food shopping for him. Did he  seem that pitiful that he needed her to buy food for him? He knew things  were tight financially, but he'd done his best to conceal such problems  from her. It was important to him that Kait saw him as strong and  financially stable not weak and in need of assistance. The last thing  Jasper ever wanted to be seen as was weak.



Jasper angrily paced outside the gym, not yet ready to go back inside.  And all that awaited him in there was the equipment and the punch bag.  His trainer was already on a plane headed back to America. There was no  one yelling at Jasper, no one demanding he push himself. How was he  supposed to win his next fight without a trainer? Jasper felt as though  he was standing in quick sand. No matter what he did, he just sunk  further in to his problems.