"I know you're just trying to make me feel better."
"I'm not!" Kait declared sharply. "I'm trying to make you see sense."
Jasper tensed, and his jaw clenched.
"Carl is a crook," Kait continued fervently, "he screws over all his clients like this and leaves them with nothing, yet he always comes up smelling of roses!"
"The only person to blame for my performance tonight is me," Jasper announced bitterly. "Look, Kait, I know you don't like Carl, but the least you can do is stop talking shit about him."
The machines were beeping furiously as Jasper's heart rate began to rise in anger.
"Jasper, you need to calm down," Kait glanced fearfully at the backlit monitors around his bed.
"Then you need to stop trying to come between me and Carl!" Jasper roared, ignoring the soreness of his throat. "He's always been there for me, Kait. How could you even suggest that he'd try and harm me? Do you know how fucked up that sounds? How it makes you look to even think that?"
"Jasper, please, if you'd just hear me out - "
"Go," Jasper gave the order as a nurse hurried over to his bed to check his machines.
Chapter 99
Kait wanted to stay. She lingered at Jasper's bedside for a few moments hoping the nurse would leave, but she didn't, and Jasper refused to make further eye contact. Reluctantly, she stood up, reached for her handbag, and began making her way out of the ward. She was still shaken over having seen Jasper get knocked out, but now she was even more troubled by his complete unwillingness to see what Carl was doing to him.
"Ah, Kait." She almost collided with Carl in the main corridor. He was wearing a clean shirt but the same sickly smile. Seeing him there made her think of a quote her mother always used to say –
"Think of the devil, and he shall come."
"Carl," Kait greeted him flatly. She was in no mood for any kind of pleasantries, if there even were any to be had between them. He now knew that she was on to him and would surely be doing his utmost to remove her from Jasper's life once and for all.
"How is he?" Carl almost sounded concerned when he asked, but he failed to convince Kait. She saw straight through his flimsy act.
"How do you think?" she demanded briskly. "He entered a boxing ring sedated! How would you feel?"
"Now, now," Carl raised his hands defensively. "I don't want to fight. I'm just here to check on my friend and client."
"Right now you're not treating him like either of those things," Kait snapped angrily. "You're a fraud and a monster, and I'm going to expose you."
"Big threats for a little girl," Carl remarked, still smiling smugly. Kait bunched her hands in to fists, wishing she could go two rounds with him in the ring. She'd scratch him to pieces. She didn't think she'd ever hated someone so much.
"He trusts me, Kait," the smug smile widened. "He trusts me , always has, always will. We've been through a lot together. There's years between us. So who do you think he'll believe? You or me?"
Kait ground her teeth together and said nothing.
"Because let's face it," Carl continued, "you two were never going to last. He could have any woman he wants, why would he settle for you?"
Kait was incensed, but she knew that Carl was just trying to goad her, and she refused to play so easily in to his hands.
"It was nice to see you," she nodded curtly at him and then pushed her shoulders back, tipped her head high, and walked away. She could feel his eyes tracing her every step as she moved. It was true that Carl Santino had been with Jasper for years, that Jasper trusted him. But Kait loved Jasper, and love could conquer anything. She wasn't about to let Carl ruin Jasper the way he had done to so many so unassuming clients before.
Chapter 100
Jasper sprawled across his sofa gazing despondently at the television screen mounted on the wall. He was wearing a dressing gown over his boxer shorts even though it was three in the afternoon. He didn't feel like getting dressed. Shame clung to him like an ill-fitting coat.
When the doorbell rang a third time, he stood up with a reluctant sigh and slowly shuffled across his large open plan apartment to open it. Kait was standing there, looking impossibly beautiful in dark skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Jasper had always thought that was the test of true beauty – to be able to look stunning in even the simplest of outfits. Kait did it effortlessly.
"Hey," he grunted at her in greeting. He wasn't in the mood for visitors, as he'd told her over the phone yet here she was. Her stubbornness was both endearing and annoying.
"How are you feeling?" Kait titled her head to the side, her features soft with concern.
"Like hell," Jasper grumbled as he slunk back towards his sofa. He'd spent the last twenty four hours curled up on it, hiding away from the rest of the world.
"You look better," Kait told him gently. "There's more color in your face."
"Yeah, well I still feel wretched."
As he dropped down on the sofa, she carefully placed herself on the far end.
"I'm just glad you're okay," she whispered, her eyes glistening. "When you went down the other night, a part of me feared that … "
"That I might not get up again?"
"Well … yeah." She wiped a hand across her eyes and shuddered.
"You and me both," Jasper shifted uneasily on the sofa. "I just wish I knew what the hell was wrong with me. I thought I had it, Kait. In the first round, I was on fire."
Kait said nothing as an elephant entered the room. Jasper already knew her theories on his poor performance; at least she was having the good grace not to repeat them again.
"Then just stop," she pleaded. "Stop fighting. Please, I can't risk losing you."
"Kait, I have to fight," Jasper clenched his jaw and faced away from her, focusing on the television. "If I don't fight, I get into even worse debt than I already am. Since losing my main sponsor, it's like I've been bleeding money. Especially since no one wants to sponsor a loser."
"You're not a loser!"
Jasper gave a brittle laugh. He knew he was very much a loser – his current lack of sponsors told him that.
"Is your financial situation really that bad?" She wondered carefully.
"Yeah," Jasper sighed, shamefully lowering his head. "I never exactly planned for a rainy day or anything. I thought I had a few more years before I had to do that."
"Oh, Jasper!"
"Don't pity me," he shrugged angrily in her direction. "I got myself in this mess, and I'll get myself out of it."
"How?"
"By winning again," Jasper felt his body begin to tense with enthusiasm. Whenever he talked about winning, his inner competitor woke up, and suddenly all that mattered was victory at whatever cost.
"I know you can do it," Kait told him lovingly.
"I'm glad someone believes in me," Jasper smiled sadly at her. "I just need to put in more hours at the gym. If every round was like that first one, I'd be back on top in no time."
"Are you ready to go back to the gym?"
"Not like this," Jasper tugged at his navy dressing gown. "I'll be ready by tomorrow. I just needed time to lick my wounds."
"Jasper - "
"If it's about Carl, then I don't want to hear it, okay?" Jasper told her briskly. "You two are the only people who have my back, so the last thing I want is you two bickering."
Kait nodded and pursed her lips, remaining silent.
"Do you fancy ordering a pizza?" He asked, his eyes glowing as some of his former sparkle returned.
"Absolutely," Kait grinned.
"Do you mind if it's on you?" Jasper wondered guiltily. "I'm kind of … short."
"It's not a problem."
Chapter 101
"Oh, Kait, that's awful," Anna was shaking her head in dismay, her glass of wine momentarily forgotten.
"I know, right?" Kait shifted nervously on the sofa in her apartment where the two friends were having a drink and a catch up.
"You really think that Carl guy is behind it all?"
"I'm certain," Kait raised her glass to her lips and took a delicate sip of deep red liquid. "It's that damn drink, Anna. There's something in it that like sedates Jasper or something, forcing him to lose at a crucial point in a match."