Free Me (Caged Hearts Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 31

Kait was carrying a fresh mug of coffee over to the sofa when her phone chirped to alert her to an incoming message. With a roll of her eyes, she picked up the device, anticipating she’d find another gushing message from Anna all about how she was so in love with Robert. Instead, Kait almost dropped the green mug she was clutching when she saw that the message was from Jasper.

Her hands started shaking so madly that she had to lower the mug before she could read the message. Kait could hear the sound of her heart beating in her ears as she opened the message and held her breath.

I just had a brutal day at the gym. Can we talk? Xx

Kait starred at the message for several minutes, trying to decipher what Jasper meant. There was nothing to talk about, was there? And what did he mean by brutal day? It didn’t surprise her if he was struggling at the gym given the state he’d been in when she last saw him at the park.

Ten minutes passed, and Kait was still holding her phone, looking at the message Jasper had sent her. She knew what would happen if they met up. She’d take one look at him and forget about all her anger and indignation. She’d fall in to bed with him and wake up the next day to find him gone, and the same painful cycle would just repeat itself until she had the power to walk away. Kait was too tired to enter in to such a charade. Jasper didn’t truly want her, he had told her as much. He was only reaching out now because she’d wounded his pride. Perhaps he just wanted to be the one to tell her it was over.

Biting her lip, Kait promptly deleted the message and then picked up her mug of coffee and resumed watching a film.

Chapter 32

Picking himself up out of the ice bath, Jasper shook. The intense cold had numbed some of the pain within his muscles but not all of it. He could feel the bruises which would soon bloom covering most of his body.

With a gasp he was out of the bath and pulling on his favourite sweat pants and hooded jumper. They offered little comfort to his now frozen skin. He’d spent all day at the gym at Carl’s behest. He’d worked so hard he feared he might tear some of his muscles. But miraculously, he had remained in one piece. Now he was back at his apartment, alone and soon to be asleep. The prospect of resting was a delicious one to contemplate. Jasper barely had the energy to drag himself over to his bedroom and his king sized bed adorned with sumptuous sheets and pillows. Laying down, it felt as soft and wondrous as floating on a cloud. Jasper could already feel his eyes drooping, but something prohibited him from dropping over the edge in to sleep.

He reached for his phone which was just beside the bed. He had numerous Twitter updates and a message from Carl, but that was it. She hadn’t replied to him. Kait had ignored his message. His heart tightened in his chest, and Jasper winced at this latest pain. Why hadn’t she gotten back to him? He’d basically apologized for what had happened. And he’d asked to talk; it wasn’t like he’d insisted they get together and partake in more bedroom antics. Her silence told him everything. She had meant it when she had said goodbye. He’d managed to push her far enough that she wasn’t willing to come back.

Clutching his phone, Jasper contemplated sending another message. Should he just say he was sorry? He wanted her there with him. Not because he was horny, but simply because he wanted to hold her. She’d looked upon his scars with such tenderness. She didn’t view him as a monster, at least she hadn’t then. She saw beyond the muscles and the championship titles through to his true strength at his core. She understood what he’d overcome and admired him for that. He liked the way he looked in her eyes. But his insistent drive had killed that. Now she couldn’t even reply to a message from him.

Despite his tired limbs Jasper was unable to sleep. He lay amongst his pillows with his eyes wide. He had not anticipated that he would care this much about Kait. He thought that it would be straight forward, that he’d let her go as he had so many girls before her. But now the thought of not seeing her anger, of not holding her terrified him. It terrified him more than the thought of never getting back in the ring, of never hearing the roar of a euphoric crowd again. Somehow Kait had managed to sneak in to a place Jasper kept fiercely guarded: his heart. And as that realization sunk in, he feared that he’d already burned the bridges between them, that it was too late to make amends.

But as his eyes finally closed, Jasper clung to the hope that all was not lost, that in Kait’s eyes, he wasn’t yet past redemption.

Read on for an excerpt from the next instalment Break Me!

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Chapter 1

“Kait…Kait!”

Kait jumped in her seat as her eyes snapped wide with attention. The smartly dressed men and women gathered around the grand meeting table were all directing their gazes at her, waiting intently for her to speak.

“Um…yes,” Kait began to flick through the papers placed on the table before her.

“The figures for the last quarter were our strongest yet,” she began, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt.

Marie, who was sat beside her, placed a hand on Kait’s arm and leaned close to whisper to her.

“We’ve already been over the figures for last quarter. We need to talk about projections now, Kait.”

Kait nodded and shoved some of her hair out of her face.

“Yes,” she replied briskly. “Yes of course.” She spotted the piece of paper with the correct data and took a deep breath. “We are all extremely optimistic about projections for the rest of the year.”

The people around the table leaned back in their chairs and commenced listening to her report.

Kait breathed a sigh of relief when the meeting finally concluded. She began gathering her papers as people dispersed from the room, eager to grab a much needed cup of coffee.

“What was that?” Marie was standing beside her, patiently waiting instead of leaving. Her neat eyebrows were knotted together, and her shoulders were tensely gathered by her neck.

“What was what?” Kait innocently blinked at her.

“That-” Marie gestured back towards the meeting table. “You totally spaced, Kait. You can’t keep dropping the ball like that, especially if you want to make your fixture in these development meetings a more permanent one.”

Kait’s cheeks burned with understanding. “I’m so sorry,” she uttered nervously. “I lost my focus. It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not,” Marie said sternly as she folded her arms across her chest. “When you look bad, the company looks bad. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Okay, good.” Marie left and took her cloud of vanilla perfume with her. With a sigh, Kait dropped back down in to her chair. The meeting had been crucial. Her team had been prepping for it for weeks. Yet in the middle of it all, she’d allowed her mind to wander. And she had of course been thinking about Jasper.

Kait held her head in her hands. It had been a whole month since she’d last heard from Jasper and an impressive twenty four hours since she’d felt compelled to check his Twitter page. Shouldn’t she be getting over him by now? Instead, he was pretty much all she could think about. She remembered how amazing it felt to kiss him, and her body would tingle as though being caressed by thousands of fireflies.

“I’m over him,” Kait told herself firmly as she stood back up and smoothed down her pencil skirt.

“I’m over him,” she repeated as she walked out of the meeting room, but sadly her voice lacked the conviction she’d hoped it would have.

Chapter 2

Kait found that the nights were the worst. She’d sit alone in her apartment and see Jasper everywhere she turned. She was still waiting to hear about the promotion at work. Her life felt as though it had been bizarrely put on pause, and she was unable to go forwards or back. She just had to wait. And wait for what? Did she expect Jasper to send more flowers, to offer more dates? She’d received that one text from him and then nothing.

It didn’t help that Anna was all loved up. Gone were the girly nights out that Kait surely needed. Each time she called Anna she was either with Robert or about to go and see him. And when they did meet up, Anna was so buoyed up with new found love that Kait would leave seething with jealously, and she hated to feel like that. She wanted to only be happy for her best friend. And she was; she truly was. She just wanted some happiness for herself.

In a bid to kill time, Kait ran a long, hot bath. One change which had come about since her initial meeting with Jasper was that she no longer worked late. She had told her boss about the attack in the parking lot, leaving out the part where a handsome stranger saves her. She just said that the men with the knife got spooked and fled but it had shaken her up and she no longer wanted to work late.

To both Kait’s surprise and relief, her boss completely understood, and now she left the office at the same time as everyone else. This was both a blessing and a curse. It meant that Kait was more rested and felt less frazzled and wrung out. It also meant that she was spending more time at her apartment. More time dedicated to pining over Jasper.

Lowering a hand, Kait checked the temperature of the water. It was just about right. Removing her robe, she got in and gave a sigh of contentment as she slid beneath the scented bubbles.

She’d bought in a glass of wine to enjoy whilst in the bath along with a book. But after having several sips of the wine, she put down her book and reached for her phone. Before she could talk herself out of it, she looked up Jasper’s Twitter page. There were numerous comments referring to a recent fight of his. From what people were saying, Jasper had taken quite a beating in the ring despite being the victor.

Woah @J_Duboix that look rough but congrats on the win bro!

You’ll be sore tomorrow @J_Duboix but think how sweet victory tastes!

Next time you might not be so lucky @J_Duboix

Kait was intrigued. The last big fight Jasper had been in he’d barely won. Were his struggles in the ring becoming a regular thing? She thought of how badly beaten up he’d seemed in the park. He needed to stop pushing himself. It was getting crazy.

A quick internet search on her phone pulled up a detailed account of the fight from a sports journalist who was there. It made for grim reading.

Several times throughout the tense match, I feared that reigning champion Jasper Duboix might not get up. His blood was streaked across the ring, and he’d lost two of his teeth during the last round. But showing the grit and determination which only a true champion can possess, he pushed through and managed to secure himself another crucial victory.

Kait felt cold despite the warm water around her. Jasper had basically had his teeth knocked out during his last fight. How powerful must a punch be in order to do that? Her teeth chattered fearfully, terrified to just imagine such an impact.

“Jasper, what are you doing?” Kait muttered to herself as she read more about his latest fight. People were quick to speculate about why he wasn’t showing his usual prowess in the ring. Many believed he’d simply lost his touch and that his time as champion was drawing to an end. This pained Kait. She knew how much his career meant to Jasper. He’d be devastated if he was to lose it, and despite all that happened between them, she wanted Jasper to be happy. If victory meant so much to him, she hoped he would always win, but it seemed he was dangerously close to experiencing grave losses or worse: an injury he just couldn’t come back from.

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