Follow Me (Caged Hearts Book 3) (10 page)

Chapter 37

“I don’t understand,” Kait uttered despondently, drawing her legs up beneath her as she sat on the sofa in her apartment.

“We just can’t see each other,” Jasper repeated, his voice brittle. “At least not until after my fight.”

Kait felt a large, awkward lump form in her throat which she struggled to swallow against. She had feared that this would happen, that Carl would try to drive a wedge between them. At least she’d already tampered with the sports drinks; for that she was extremely grateful as it looked like she wouldn’t get the chance to be near them again. Not until after the fight anyway, and then it would have been too late.

“Was this your idea or Carl’s?” Kait demanded angrily, already knowing who would have suggested she and Jasper be apart for the next forty eight hours.

“Kait,” she heard Jasper sigh her name on the other end of the line.

“Look,” Kait straightened and hugged her knees up to her chest. “If I’m right about him, will you walk away from him for good? Can you promise me that?”

Silence.

“Jasper?”

“If you’re right about him then, yeah, I’ll walk away,” Jasper reluctantly agreed. “But you’re not right, Kait. You just don’t like him.”

Kait bit her tongue, holding in her barbed words and all that she had learned about Carl Santino. If only it was simply that she didn’t like him, but the man was crooked and looking to bring down the man she loved. Hate seemed too tame a label for how she felt towards Jasper’s agent.

“I’m going to miss seeing you before your big fight,” Kait admitted softly, some of her anger thawing as she felt the next two days stretch out before her. She was really falling for Jasper, so much so that two days away from him felt like an eternity and made her heart ache.

“Me too,” he told her gently. “Kait?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.” He said the words so tenderly that Kait wanted to record them and play them over and over in her mind on a never ending loop. The most wonderful thing was that she knew he meant it. He wasn’t the sort of man to tell a woman what she wanted to hear; he was too noble for that.

“I love you, too.”

“I’m going to win this next fight,” Jasper promised her. “Just you wait and see. And then when all my sponsors came crawling back, I’ll take you away on holiday to somewhere with a white sandy beach and clear blue ocean.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“It will be, but only because you’ll be there.”

Kait dropped her head against her knees. She wished Jasper were there so that she could pepper his face with adoring kisses. She wanted nothing more than to escape with him to some distant tropical shore. But one last fight stood between them and their happiness.

“I know you’re going to win this next fight,” Kait told him sincerely. And she truly felt that way. Now that she’d removed Carl’s tainted drinks from the equation, there was nothing stopping Jasper was storming to victory. Unless of course Carl realized what she’d done and altered the drinks again. The thought had crossed her mind when she lay in bed unable to sleep and tortured by her mounting concerns. She just had to hope and pray that Carl didn’t anticipate what she’d already done.

“I appreciate your belief in me,” Jasper told her, his voice warm and teasingly close through the phone.

Kait imagined him sprawled out on his sofa, probably shirtless. Her body tingled with the desire to be there with him, to be able to lean her head upon his strong, broad chest.

“I’ll always believe in you,” she promised him.

Chapter 38

Kait was about to prove her belief to Jasper. It was Friday, the day of his big fight, and she’d used her lunch hour at work to go in to town. The morning had already been an eventful one. Kait had learned that she’d got the promotion she’d been working so tirelessly for. Usually such news would fill her with joy and excitement, but her feelings were overshadowed by her concerns over the fight that night.

With her promotion, Kait could now afford to buy a house and leave her apartment. Her boss had given her a generous bonus to compensate for all her hard work. Kait had eyed the check she’d been given with keen interest. She could use that as a down payment on a new house or could buy a new car. But instead, she was standing outside the booking office looking comically out of place.

In her tight pencil skirt and patent black shoes, Kait took a steadying breath and then walked in to the bookies. Bleary eyed men were leaning up against the counters which bordered the shop, their necks keenly craned up towards the wall mounted televisions showing horses streaking across a grass track.

A few of them dared to look away from the screen to ogle Kait, but their gaze soon lifted back to the horses.

With her heart hammering in her chest, Kait approached the glass window at the far end of the shop and smiled at the assistant on the other side of it.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted the acne ridden man politely. He nodded a pushed a hand through his greasy hair.

“What are you in for?” He asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

“I want to put this,” Kait slid her check through the relevant slot in the glass, “all on tonight’s fight for Jasper Duboix to win.”

The assistant snorted and picked up the check.

“What?” Kait frowned at him.

“Lady, I’m not going to tell you what to do with your money, but Duboix went down in the second during his last fight. There’s no way he will win. The odds are literally,” he had a quick check on the computer screen beside him, “fifty to one.”

Kait felt a flutter of excitement run through her. So when Jasper won, which he was of course going to—she had to believe that—she’d get back fifty times her original bet. Her mind struggled to reach the grand total which would buy a house outright along with a car and a luxury beach holiday. She started to feel slightly dizzy.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” The guy asked warily, misreading Kait’s excitement for reluctance.

“Yes,” Kait nodded confidently. “I’m sure.”

“Okay then,” the guy began processing the bet, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Chapter 39

Outside the betting office, Kait hungrily cleaned in the fresh, outdoor air. Her hands were shaking by her side. She’d never in her life spent so much money before and definitely not in such a reckless way. There was a risk that she’d never see that money again which she’d worked so hard for, but it was worth it because placing the bet meant she was going all in on Jasper, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

When she was quite certain that her heart had settled in her chest, she headed back to the office, wondering how she’d possibly make it through the next few hours at work when all she could think about was the impending fight that was going to change their lives either for better or worse.

Chapter 40

Jasper turned up the music in his ears so that it was at a deafening volume. It was the only way to drown out all the negative thoughts which constantly plagued him. In just a t-shirt and shorts, he was heading out for a jog before going to train at the gym for a few hours. It was a good way to test his bad knee which had actually starting to improve over the last few days. Jasper was daring to believe that he perhaps wouldn’t need surgery on it at all.

His feet pounded the pavement in time with the angry rap music he listened to. It had been the music of his childhood, the soundtrack to his rise from the bottom to the top. He liked the emotion that came across in rap music, the gritty determination that the artists had and Jasper shared.

As the music played, he ran with the sun warming his back. He ran all through the upmarket neighborhood he lived in and ended up at the edge of the local pool where the sunlight glistened against its vast glassy surface. Picking up speed, Jasper completed a circuit around the pool. Even then he had only just started to sweat. He went around a second time. Now his t-shirt was starting to cling to his back and he was breathing heavily. The music pounding in his ears helped keep his energy up. He briskly jogged back to his apartment building where Carl was impatiently waiting at the front entrance.

“You’re late,” Carl taped the face of his designer watch. Jasper clocked the item with surprise, wondering why his agent hadn’t yet pawned it if times were really so hard for them both financially. And if Jasper was struggling for money, then surely Carl must be too since Jasper was his sole client? The watch was easily worth several thousands of dollars even second hand.

“Nice watch,” Jasper commented as he climbed in to the car which was parked on the curb and waiting for him.

“Win tonight and you can treat yourself to one,” Carl quipped, climbing in the driver’s side of the vehicle.

“I told you to be ready for ten,” Carl announced sharply as he started the engine.

“And what is it now?” Jasper glanced at the clock on the car’s dashboard, “ten fifteen, I’m hardly late.”

“We’re on a tight schedule today, Jasper,” Carl explained, gritting his teeth.

“And whose fault is that?” Jasper threw back. “You’re the one who wanted three hours this afternoon to just chill.”

“I told you, I’ve got a meeting.”

“With who?” Jasper lamented. “I don’t have any sponsors, and you don’t have any clients except me.”

“How about I let you do your job and you let me do mine, deal?”

“Deal,” Jasper grumbled, turning to look out the window at the houses speeding by. Houses he’d previously just jogged past. He’d forgotten how much he used to enjoy running, especially first thing in the morning or late at night when it felt like everyone else was sleeping and the whole world was beautifully still.

But thanks to his bad knee, he’d tried to avoid running excessively.

“My knee is feeling better,” he commented to Carl.

“Is it? Oh, good,” Carl replied somewhat absently. Jasper frowned; he’d thought his agent would be ecstatic to hear such news. Perhaps he was just feeling nervous about the fight. After all, he had his career riding on it just as Jasper did. Win or lose, they were in it together. That’s what Jasper had always liked about Carl; he’d been with him as he rose to the top. It helped him feel like he could trust him. He just wished that Kait liked Carl at least a bit. It was going to be difficult juggling the pair of them in the future, but Jasper would adapt; he’d have to. He couldn’t foresee either of them going anywhere.

“I’m feeling really good about tonight,” Jasper added, smacking his hands together.

“Sure you’ll do great,” Carl was pulling in to the car park of the gym.

“Great? I’m going to kill it!” Jasper insisted.

“I know,” Carl turned and smiled at him, but there was a sadness in his eyes which Jasper hadn’t seen before.

“Everything okay?” He wondered anxiously.

“Yeah,” Carl shook himself, and the sadness was gone. He was back to his old, sharp self.

“Are you okay to spot me for a bit?” Jasper enquired as he climbed out of the car.

“Absolutely,” Carl grinned enthusiastically, “anything for you.”

Chapter 41

Kait held her breath as the lights went down in the arena, and the two fighters were introduced in to the ring. People were cheering louder for Jasper’s opponent, already discounting him as a has-been. It pained Kait to hear. She just had to keep telling herself that Jasper was about to turn it all around. She was once again on the front row on the opposite side of the ring to Jasper. She sat there tightly crossing her fingers.

He looked powerful and determined as he stepped in to the ring wearing bright red shorts and a matching helmet. As he banged his gloved hands together, he revealed his impressive muscles. Jasper was ready. Kait could feel the energy radiating off from him over to her. He’d been training aggressively and it had all been for this moment – for this chance to reclaim his rightful glory.