Mason: Inked Reapers MC

by West, Heather

  Smiling Kait stood up, all thoughts of investigating Carl and his mysterious drink now abandoned. Jasper’s words made her feel special. He wanted her there with him, wanted her ringside cheering him on. She was finally in the coveted position of girlfriend, and she loved it. It almost felt like a shame to taint it with all her suspicions about Jasper’s agent.

  “I just need to wriggle in to some clean jeans, and I’ll be right over.”

  “Mmm,” Jasper murmured on the other end of the line.

  “What?”

  “Just picturing you wriggling in to your jeans, that’s all!”

  “Jasper!” Kait was blushing profusely.

  “Hey, it’s a good mental image,” Jasper defended himself with a light laugh.

  “I’m not sure it is,” Kait countered, “but I’ll be at your place soon.”

  Chapter 91

  “Feeling ready, champ?” Carl asked, leaning against the kitchen counter as Jasper hung up the phone.

  “You bet,” Jasper was brimming with energy. He had to bounce on the spot just to stop himself from climbing the walls.

  “Shall we get going then?” Carl suggested, straightening.

  “We’re just waiting on Kait.”

  Carl checked his watch and released a sharp intake of breath.

  “We’re cutting it pretty fine.”

  “We’ve got hours yet,” Jasper waved a dismissive hand in his agent’s direction.

  “If you say so,” Carl narrowed his lips in to a tight line.

  “Yeah. I want her to head over with us,” Jasper insisted with a nod.

  “Well, you’re the boss,” Carl noted with a twinge of sarcasm. “While we wait, help me load some of your energy drinks in to the car.”

  With a reluctant sigh, Jasper agreed, and Carl opened up the fridge to pull out the cooled beverages, all in plain plastic sports bottle, the liquid clear.

  “Where are these from exactly?” Jasper turned over one of the bottles in his hand, scrutinizing its contents.

  “You don’t need to worry about that,” Carl brushed off the question as he walked past him towards the front door.

  “Just answer the question,” Jasper said tightly, remaining by the refrigerator and not following Carl.

  “Jasper, you trust me, don’t you?” Carl’s gaze was level.

  “Of course.”

  “These drinks are the best money can buy. They keep you hydrated and energized. What more could you want?”

  “Kait just seemed suspicious of them; that’s all,” Jasper explained quietly.

  “How long have you known her?” Carl asked. “Six months?”

  Jasper shrugged. It was around that, but he didn’t want to give Carl the satisfaction of being right. Carl loved being right. It was one of his less admirable qualities of which there were admittedly many.

  “And how long have you known me? Over ten years.”

  Jasper could only nod in silent agreement.

  “Trust me, Jasper,” Carl insisted. “I’ve led you this far and have never steered you astray, have I?”

  “I trust you,” Jasper walked towards the door, clapping Carl on the back as he passed him by.

  Chapter 92

  The drive over to the venue had been tense. Kait hadn’t expected Carl to be there, but he’d suddenly become Jasper’s shadow. Whenever Jasper went, Carl followed. It was starting to get more than a little bit irritating. Kait would have liked to have been alone with Jasper before his big fight, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

  The car slid in to the already busy car park of the venue. At the far end, a huge poster had both opponents giving steely stares out towards the spectators as they walked in. Jasper’s muscles glistened and bulged on the poster as he stood with his arms folded. He looked like a Greek God rather than a mere man.

  “Urgh, I hate those promotional posters,” Jasper protested as he looked up and clocked his own image staring down at him.

  “They bring in the money though,” Carl countered. “Sponsors love a winner, especially if he’s photogenic.”

  And Jasper was definitely photogenic. Kait felt a surge of pride as she looked up at the poster and realized that it was her boyfriend staring down at her. How many women would come to the fight and admire him, wishing he was theirs?

  “I can’t believe how busy it is,” Jasper commented as the car passed across the car park and headed around the back of the building, away from the gathering masses of fans.

  “People are keen to see you get back on top,” Carl explained with a smile. He was almost rubbing his hands together. Kait was starting to see how Carl only saw Jasper as a commodity - a way to make money.

  “Is your knee feeling better?” Kait asked Jasper with concern.

  “Of course it is,” Carl quickly answered for him. “He’s Jasper Duboix, he’s more machine than man, and he’s going to own it tonight!”

  With the car parked, Jasper and Kait climbed out and headed straight for the dressing room, leaving Carl to collect up items from the car.

  “Is your knee really okay?” Kait whispered anxiously as they walked hand in hand, finally having a moment alone.

  “Yeah,” Jasper nodded. “It’s feeling much better.”

  “Good,” Kait gave his hand a squeeze. “All I care about is that you’re okay, remember that?”

  “I know, sweetheart,” Jasper softly kissed her lips as they reached his dressing room door. A laminated piece of card bearing his name had been crudely tacked to the door.

  Jasper was busy stretching when Carl walked in, laden down by numerous bottles of his infamous sports drink. Kait leapt off the sofa and hurried over to him.

  “I bought Jasper some water,” she gestured to the branded bottles lined up on the side which she’d discreetly shoved in to her handbag before leaving her apartment. “He doesn’t need the sports drink.”

  “Of course he needs the sports drink,” Carl said tersely as he pushed past her.

  “But I read online that the electrolytes can interfere with his pain medication,” Kait stated factually. It was a lie, but Carl hopefully wouldn’t know that. He frowned as he placed down the sports drinks.

  “Is that true?” Jasper ceased stretching and looked up expectantly at his agent. “I don’t want to take anything that could interfere with my pain meds.”

  “It’s not true.”

  “It is,” Kait quickly insisted, grabbing a bottle of water and passing it to Jasper. “You should only drink water with the medication you’re on. It said so online.”

  Satisfied with this response, Jasper popped the top of the bottle and began drinking from it.

  “I’ve never heard that,” Carl scoffed.

  “Better to be safe than sorry though, right?” Kait gave him a sickly sweet smile as he glared at her hatefully.

  Chapter 93

  Kait’s seat for the big fight was on the front row but on the opposite side of the ring of Jasper’s corner. Around her, people were already taking their seats. The air buzzed with excited energy.

  The parting kiss Jasper had given her still tingled on Kait’s lips. Her heart hammered nervously in her chest as she thought about him preparing for the fight just a few feet away from her and the gathering crowd. With the lights still up, she could take in how large the venue truly was. Normally she was up in the higher seats, away from the action. Here on the front row, she risked being splashed by any sweat and blood that was spilled.

  Looking around, she spotted a nervous looking woman who was presumably the girlfriend of Jasper’s opponent placed on the other side of the ring. She had dyed blonde hair and kept glancing around anxiously. She appeared to be just as worried as Kait was. The thought of potentially seeing your other half get beaten up was a most unsettling one. Kait doubted she’d ever get used to it.

  As she sat waiting for the fight to start, she glanced at the flyer she was now holding which had been on her chair. It was a smaller image of the poster outside. She smi
led at it briefly before tucking it inside her handbag. It was something she knew she’d ultimately cherish. She was proud of Jasper. He worked so hard to be on top. His enthusiasm was definitely contagious. Kait wanted him to win his fight more than anything – she knew how important it was to him. She’d never had a clear dream like Jasper had. She wanted to do well, own a nice home, and have a strong career, but those were aspirations, not dreams. Jasper’s was a dream, and he’d had the strength and conviction to go after it. In Kait’s eyes, that already made him a winner, no matter what happened out there in the ring that night.

  Almost all of the seats were filled when the distant doors to the backstage area opened and Carl came out, wearing his crisp white shirt and suit trousers. But he was holding something neon colored. Kait felt her stomach sink when she realized he was gripping the sports bottles containing his mystery drink. He headed straight for Jasper’s corner of the ring and removed the waiting bottles of water that were there and replaced them with the sports drinks. No one questioned what he was doing. Of course they wouldn’t – he was Jasper’s agent. But Kait wanted to question him. She got on her feet and shouted out his name. But her voice was drowned out by the drone of noise all around her.

  Kait shouted as loudly as she could. “Carl! Stop! What are you doing?” But her efforts were in vain. She thought of running around to the other side, but the burly guards placed at the four corners of the ring made her realize that it wouldn’t be so easy. With her lungs burning, she sat down and quickly fumbled for her phone. She’d have to call Jasper. There was clearly something about those drinks, something she couldn’t trust. Carl was willing to risk challenging Kait’s claim over the damage they could cause when mixed with Jasper’s pain meds – but why? Why was it so imperative that Jasper drank them?

  Jasper’s phone rang out and eventually went to his voice machine.

  “Damn it!” Kait grumbled in anger. She was too late; he was probably already heading for the ring. As if to confirm her fears the lights in the arena dimmed and the crowd roared with excitement.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” a loud voice boomed over the loudspeaker, but Kait couldn’t focus on what they were saying. She could only think of the sports bottles and what they might contain. What pained her was that she could see no feasible way of getting to them before Jasper did. Might he also suspect something and refuse to drink them? She could only hope so.

  As the announcer welcomed Jasper’s opponent to the stage, Kait knew without a shadow of a doubt that Carl Santino couldn’t be trusted and worse, that he was probably looking to ruin Jasper just like he had with all his other clients and his strange sports drinks were somehow a part of that.

  Chapter 94

  Jasper could feel the adrenaline running through his veins. He was pumped up and on fire. As the announcer called his name and the crowd roared, he knew he could do this; he knew that he could win. He couldn’t even feel his bad knee which was wrapped with a supportive brace.

  Knocking his hands together, Jasper was ready. He bounced from foot to foot, unable to keep still. The hum of the excited audience further fuelled his energy. This was his moment to reclaim his status, to prove to the world that he wasn’t done yet, that Jasper Duboix still had something left to give.

  “Fight!”

  The first bell rung, and Jasper leapt at his opponent like a wild cat, throwing punches which landed with deadly accuracy. All the other fighter could do was try and remain standing while he took the blows. Jasper clamped his teeth against his mouth guard and kept punching. His arms felt like powerful springs which just kept releasing. He felt like he could go all night.

  Another bell rung. The first round was over, and Jasper was ahead on points, but the way he was performing, his opponent would be knocked out before too long.

  “That was amazing, Jasper, just brilliant,” Carl approached his corner of the ring as Jasper dropped on to a waiting stool and used a towel to try and dry up some of the sweat which was running down him in rivers.

  “Thanks,” Jasper replied breathlessly.

  “I knew you could do it,” Carl was patting him on the way as though he’d already won. “He’s basically all yours for the taking now.”

  Carl passed a plastic sports bottle up in to the ring. Jasper raised it to his mouth and drank heavily, too dehydrated to even glimpse at it. Once he was in a fight, he ran on auto-pilot. All of his behaviors were learned and tactical.

  “That’s it,” Carl commended him, “you’ll need all your energy to finish this guy off.”

  Chapter 95

  “Jasper, no!” Kait was screaming to be heard over the roar of the crowd. Jasper was on the other side of the ring, drinking down the sports drink Carl had given him. Kait felt the knot in her stomach tighten with each sip he took. She kept screaming and waving at him, but it did no good; it was like he was completely spaced out and unaware of his surroundings.

  “Dammit,” Kait eventually had to admit as she sagged back down in her chair and the announcer declared the start of the second round. As she watched Jasper stand back up and approach the center of the ring, banging his fists together in an intimidating way, she felt sick. She sensed that something terrible was about to happen and there was nothing she could do to stop it; all she could do was watch.

  Chapter 96

  With each step he took, Jasper felt the energy seep out of his body like water down a drain. He suddenly felt exhausted. Gone was the excitement, the adrenaline. In its place was never ending fatigue. Jasper felt like he’d looked down a well and the limitless darkness he saw had somehow invaded his body.

  “Come on,” he urged himself with a brisk shake of the head. Was one round really all he had in him? He’d been training harder than ever. Surely he could last longer than this?

  But as a punch connected with his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs, Jasper realized that one round was truly all he had to give. He did his best to avoid his opponent’s punches and kicks but his own movements were slow and sluggish. Each time he saw a punch coming, he was unable to move out of the way in time. He heard his own bones crack as powerful blows connected with his cheeks, shoulders, and ribs. He was utterly powerless to do anything other than take a beating. Soon, even remaining standing was an effort.

  “Just don’t drop,” Jasper thought to himself. Because if he dropped in the second round it really was all over. He’d go from being a has-been to a joke.

  Gritting his teeth, Jasper weathered more blows, but his body was beginning to crumble beneath him, like a cake that hadn’t been cooked long enough. His opponent delivered a sharp right hook, and Jasper went down. First he staggered back, noticing his own blood splattered across the mat. And then he dropped. His knees buckled, and he fell to the mat like a defeated giant. Before he closed his eyes, he saw the crowd on their feet, yelling and jeering. Were they happy or mad? He couldn’t tell. As he slid into darkness, the arena became still and silent.

  Chapter 97

  “Jasper! Oh God, no!” Kait was crying, one hand hovering over her mouth in horror. Jasper lay on the mat of the ring, his eyes closed.

  “I’ve never seen someone go down that hard,” the person behind her noted sadly to their companion.

  “Jasper!” Kait had to get to him. She pushed towards the burly security guard, and instead of holding her back, his stern face crinkled with pity. He let her pass and hurry towards Jasper’s corner of the ring where Carl was already poised to help escort him back to the dressing room.

  “What the hell happened to him?” Kait demanded shrilly.

  “He lost, that’s what happened,” Carl replied tersely. He was on his phone and seemed distracted.

  “It was that drink!” Kait reached for his shoulder and spun him around to face her.

  “You’re hysterical,” Carl told her, his eyes narrowing.

  “He’s unconscious!” Kait gestured madly towards the ring where paramedics were now bent over Jasper.

  “He’ll be fine,”
Carl shrugged. “Fights get knocked out all the time. We’ll give him a precautionary MRI, one night in hospital and he will be right as rain.”

  “You’re a monster!” Kait spat through gritted teeth.

  “How about you go and tend to your boyfriend instead of arguing with me?” Carl suggested in a sickly sweet voice. Kait wanted to tell him to go to hell and to slap the smug smile off his face, but she needed to be with Jasper. With a terse sigh, she left Carl and went to check on the man she loved.