Read Online Break Me (Caged Hearts Book 2) by Heather West - Free Book Online Page A

to end with some kicks hadn’t been the best one he’d ever made. Hopefully it had been enough to grant him victory.
     
    The referee tapped the mat beside Timmy who still couldn’t get up. Jasper had won. The crowd went wild, and some even started to boo, probably because they had hoped it would last a few more rounds so that they could get their money’s worth. Jasper knew that he needed to stand up, to address his fans, but he couldn’t. His knee was too damaged to take his weight. He shot Carl, who was nervously poised by the ring a pained look. Seconds later, Carl was climbing in to the ring and kneeling down beside him.
     
    “Is everything alright?” He asked the question straight into Jasper’s ear.
     
    “No. I’ve blown my knee and can’t get up.” Jasper hung his head. He knew that this wasn’t what Carl wanted. Jasper was supposed to be doing a victory lap at present, relishing in his glory. Instead, he was about to be stretched out of the ring like the broken fighter he really was.
     
    “Okay, stay there,” Carl nodded solemnly at him before standing up and gesturing for a medic. The waiting paramedics hurried up in to the ring. One of them went to tend to Timmy whilst two focused on Jasper.
     
    “I can’t get up,” he explained to them, “it’s my knee.”
     
    “Okay, we’ll get a gurney,” the paramedic nearest to him decided. Jasper groaned both in pain and in humiliation. He could just imagine what people on Twitter would say about him leaving the fight like this. People would speculate that he was done, that his days of competitively fighting were over.

Chapter 25
     
    “Come on, get up,” Kait urged Jasper as he continued to remain on his knees in the ring. He had won, the announcer had told the crowd as much, so why wasn’t he celebrating? He should be jeering at the crowd and smiling in triumph. Instead, his blood stained face was contorted in pain.
     
    Panic tightened Kait’s chest as she saw the paramedics go over to him. Clearly something was seriously wrong. Blinking back tears, she told herself that at least he was getting medical help. But how badly was he hurt?
     
    Moments later, he was being stretchered out of the ring. He kept his gaze away from the crowd, and Kait let a solitary tear fall down her cheek. Was he ashamed of his exit or just in an insane amount of pain? Either way, Kait knew that she needed to get to him. He surely needed her now more than ever. She started to weave her way out of her seating aisle. She could hear people gossiping about Jasper throwing around terms like ‘past it’ and ‘worn out.’ It was all she could do not to turn around and remind them that Jasper was a true champion. She thought of all that she’d learned about him online. He’d overcome so much adversity to get to where he was, and his fans were already turning on him. How fickle people could be. But not Kait. She would be there for him no matter what. It wasn’t even the fighter she cared about; it was Jasper Duboix the man who she had fallen for – the guy who would risk his own safety to protect a stranger in distress.
     
    Kait was hurrying towards the backstage area of the venue. People were already filtering out towards the car park in their hundreds, and she had to move against them like a salmon struggling to get up steam. She had to get to Jasper. She had to know that he was alright.
     

Chapter 26
     
    Jasper was perched on the end of the sofa in his dressing room, his bad leg raised up on a nearby foot stool.
     
    “Hospital!” Carl said the word as though it were venomous. “The paramedics want to take you to hospital. The press would have a field day with that.”
     
    “I’ll be fine,” Jasper insisted with a grimace. He knew what a visit to hospital would mean – X rays and numerous tests and perhaps doctor’s orders to stay off his knee for a few weeks. Carl would hate that.
     
    “Do you know how it looked out there?” Carl gestured madly