Can’t Win Me Back

It was as though Jasper was adrift in a pool of pure astonishment, and the fact that the ledge beneath

them was falling apart only enhanced this surreal feeling.

“Hurry, Alice!” he cried, resurrecting a name that had been dormant in his mind for years.

Alyssa jolted in shock. The call of that name seemed to give her a boost of adrenaline. She was able to

push herself up on the ledge at the last second, right into Jasper’s arms.

He held her close in his arms, keeping her safe.

A thunderous boom echoed through the air.

Just as the rocky ledge disintegrated and tumbled down the mountainside, Jasper deftly rolled aside,

narrowly escaping the peril.

“Fuck!” he hissed in pain when his back collided with a boulder. The intensity of the pain led to an

immediate outbreak of sweat on his skin.

“Are you hurt?” Alyssa asked worriedly, noticing how pale he was.

Jasper shook his head, his voice steady as he reassured, “I’m okay.”

Alyssa heaved a sigh of relief, falling back against his chest. By now, both were thoroughly drenched and

shivering from the cold.

“Why… Why didn’t you tell me?” Jasper asked hoarsely, gazing at her.

“What?” Alyssa avoided his gaze.

“Why didn’t you tell me that we met 13 years ago? Why didn’t you tell me you were the girl I saved all

those years ago?” Jasper asked, pain and anguish flooding his chest.

clamped in on itself.

her Alice because of that? Because he

But why now?

after 13

late now. How she wished he had never remembered.

Jasper asked, forcing

+15 BONUS

why I called myself Alice

Jasper’s heart. Of course

given her that nickname because she refused to answer when he asked. He named her “Alice”,

in Wonderland.

Jasper imagine that a seemingly

ultimately intertwining their lives 13 years later.

kept it secret for so

“There’s no need to, really.

all. Whether it was 13 years, three years, or

Jasper’s breathing hitched.

of her or in his act of saving

Yet, he couldn’t stop the guilt weighing on his chest.

for 13 years, yet he had

unlike him, who only wanted to

sorry…” Jasper croaked out. “I … really didn’t know…

would have still divorced

Though she had her regrets about him,

Alice, they’re nothing more than

to apologize, really. I should be the one thanking you.

saved me all those years ago, I never got a

properly thank you.”

wanted to know the answer to

it just because I saved you once, and

Jasper. It’s all in the past now. No point digging up a

a tender place in

getting to safety right

to be an unspoken truce between