“No,” Kait placed the drinks down and slid back inside the booth. “It is crazy packed down there though. Lots of muscly men watching some cage fight on television.”
“Ooh, cage fighting.” Anna’s eyes widened in appreciation.
“You know much about it?” Kait tried to remain casual about the topic.
“A bit,” Anna shrugged. “I dated a guy in college who was in to it. It’s a proper brutal sport, definitely separates the men from the boys. Hence why the guy I was seeing couldn’t hack it.”
“What makes it so brutal?” Kait thought of the blood she’d seen on Jasper’s face. He’d taken a beating, but he was apparently ahead in the fight, getting more crucial kicks in. If he was in a bad way, how did the other guy look?
“It’s sort of like a more feral form of boxing,” Anna explained as she took a delicate sip of her drink. “You can kick and throw more aggressive punches. Guys can seriously injure themselves cage fighting; it really isn’t for the faint hearted.”
Kait tightly clutched the stem of her glass. Jasper was already wounded thanks to her. He had a deep cut across his chest, and now he risked someone kicking him and making it worse. Why would he put himself through that? Why would he even attack those guys in the parking lot when he knew he had a fight coming up? A fight that must be pretty important if it was being televised.
“You okay?” Anna asked with concern. “Oh no, did seeing the guys fighting on the television bring back memories of what happened in the parking lot?”
Kait shook her head. It had stirred up memories of that night, but not what happened in the parking lot; it was what had come after.
“Stick to your cricketers,” Anna smiled at her friend. “Guys who play cricket are a far safer choice than any cage fighters.”
Kait grimaced at the fact that her past three boyfriends had all played cricket and had all enjoyed a private education. They were the sort of men her mother would have considered perfect husband material. And they were. They were courteous, polite with decent, stable jobs. But they didn’t make Kait’s heart race or her blood boil. With them, everything was plain sailing, and that was great, but it was also so unbearably dull.
“Why did you and the cage fighter break up in college?” Kait asked.
“Don’t you remember?” Anna arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her friend. Kait looked blankly at her. Her friend had dated so many guys over the years that it was hard to recall them all.
“It was Ashton, remember him? Scrawny with too much hair.”
“Oh yes!” A memory of Ashton flickered in Kait’s mind. She remembered that Anna had once been crazy about him.
“Like he was ever strong enough for cage fighting,” Anna declared with a sour look.
“So why did you guys break up?”
Anna’s look darkened. “He got Cindy Rogers pregnant at that party at Dennis’ house, remember?”
Kait did remember, all too well. Anna had been utterly devastated by the news. Ashton had opted to do the honourable thing and was standing by Cindy, but that left Anna standing alone. She’d skipped college for an entire week, unable to face anyone. She needn’t had worried about seeing Ashton though. He dropped out that same week, forced to take a job on his father’s farm in order to make some money for his imminent arrival.
“God, I remember,” Kait declared softly.
Anna blinked rapidly, her blue eyes now sparkling.
“His kid would be ten now. Can you believe it?”
“No,” Kait answered honestly. “That’s crazy.”
“Isn’t it?” Anna fiercely pushed a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Ashton was all over cage fighting. He even knew where all the top guys went to train, and he’d go and linger around there as if some of their ability might rub off on him. To think I used to be so hung up on that guy!”
“He knew where they trained?” Kait wondered if the gym where they trained in town would be the same one used ten years ago. Probably not, but it was still worth a shot.
“Yeah, over at that exclusive place in the centre of town with the posh name no one could pronounce. I think it relocated over to near where your offices are.”
Well that would make sense. Jasper had mentioned that he was on his way back from the gym.
“I could use another drink,” Anna declared as she stood up, even though their glasses were still relatively full.
Chapter 7
Fuelled by the cocktails in her system, when Kait got back to her apartment, she opened up her laptop and sat cross legged on her bed and began conducting a frantic search.