The Last One
A.S. Kelly
Publication date: July 25th 2022
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Anya O’Donnell, and I’d like to declare myself guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.
Guilty of what, you ask?
Well, for starters, I’m guilty of lying to everyone for years; of pretending when I should have been showing them all who I really was, what I really wanted. I’m guilty of pushing away the only person who wanted to stay, convinced that, one day, he’d have left, anyway.
I told him we were a mistake.
I told him I was better off without him.
I told him that I didn’t love him.
And now I miss him. I miss his cups of tea and his stupid cheese crackers. I miss his clothes, strewn about the house. I miss the way he would watch me sleep. I miss his arms, holding me tightly each night, making me feel at home.
But now we’re both alone. And I’m scared.
I’m scared that he believed everything I told him; that he has no intention of coming back.
Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Owen McKenna, and I’m furious.
Why, you ask?
Well, because I decided to follow my heart and not my head. Because I didn’t listen to my friends or to their far-fetched theories. Because I left anyway – even when everyone was telling me to stay.
And now she doesn’t want me back. But I want her, desperately.
She’s the woman I’ve been waiting for. She’s incredibly sexy, and can make you laugh, even when you least want to. She’s never let anyone in, apart from me; and when she crumbles into my arms, it makes me feel like the only guy in the world.
But I ruined everything.
I let the L-word slip, and she panicked.
She told me things she didn’t even think – I know that. I know her.
I know that she’s scared, that she doesn’t want to take this risk. But I do. I’m ready.
I’m her exception.
I just need to make her see that, too.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than spend your Saturday night with the woman who ruined your life?”
His eyes grow wide.
“I meant…”
He rests two fingers against my lips. My body trembles beside his in anticipation.
“I want spend the evening with you.”
I shrug, pretending this whole thing isn’t slowly, irreversibly wearing away at my insides.
“Choose what you want to eat, and I’ll find a film.”
He lets go of me and walks off, leaving me feeling suddenly very alone and very vulnerable. That’s not okay at all. It was this exact sensation that made me let a man into my house – and second after second, I realise I want that man a little more.
“Is a comedy okay?” he yells from the living room.
I turn slowly to look at him, sitting on my sofa next to the blanket he uses at night, his things strewn around him.
“S-sure,” I respond, without moving.
“Even if it’s a rom-com?” he asks, teasing, and I really wish I didn’t want to smile at him, encourage him. I don’t want to start down this path with him; I want to keep being the old Anya. But I’m starting to think that version of me has decided to just disappear with no justification.
“Only if you promise me you won’t cry.”
Owen laughs, then looks at me.
And I understand.
I understand I have nowhere left to hide.
“I can’t promise you that.”
I understand that this thing will hurt me more than it could ever hurt him.
A. S. Kelly writes Rom-Com, Romantic Fiction and Family Saga.
Avid reader, hopeless romantic, lover of yoga, knitting and home baking.
She was born in Italy but lives in Ireland with her husband, two children and a cat named Oscar.
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