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

But why now?

after 13

was too late now. How she wished he had never remembered.

Jasper asked, forcing her

+15 BONUS

called myself Alice when we married?” she asked

heart. Of course he did.

her that nickname because she refused to answer when he

Alice in Wonderland.

did Jasper imagine that a seemingly

their lives 13 years later. She had even married him.

for so long,

Alyssa smiled lightly. “There’s no need to, really. I never hoped you

another passerby in your life, after all. Whether it was 13 years, three years,

Jasper’s breathing hitched.

there was nothing amiss in his complete forgetfulness of her or in his act of saving her

years ago. Yet, he couldn’t stop the guilt

he had forgotten her. All

him, who only

out. “I … really didn’t know…

have still divorced me,

she had her regrets about him, she wasn’t holding on anymore.

or Alice, they’re nothing more than just names. It wouldn’t change our

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

saved me all those years ago, I never got a chance to know your name or who

properly thank you.”

did you still marry me, Alyssa?” Jasper wanted to know the answer to this. It had tortured him

saved you

It’s all in the past now. No

if closing a tender place in her heart

getting to safety

seemed to be an unspoken truce between them as they