Last Christmas

By Marie Coulson

Last Christmas I had everything I’d ever dreamed of. The perfect place, the perfect gift and the perfect girl. And now it’s all gone. It’s lost in a sea of broken promises, lies, cheating and torn hearts. Christmas won’t be the same without you and I’m damned if I’ll let myself wallow. But how can I let go of us, when I can’t stop thinking about you? It’s Christmas time in Utah, but my mind is on you. It’s across oceans,miles away and this year, all I want for Christmas...is you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marie Coulson
• Release date: Dec 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301516209

Marie Coulson

Born and bred in Essex, England, Marie Coulson discovered her love of writing in her early teens. Beginning with poetry and song lyrics, she tried her hand at creative writing while studying for her English GCSE.It was love at first line.Unfortunately, Marie's career as a childcare and education practitioner soon took up most of her time and writing became something she only dreamed about.In the summer of 2012 she quit her job and enrolled at university, ready to start a new career as a therapist. This left her with a lot of time on her hands and on August the 20th she sat down and wrote the first chapter of Bound Together.Bound Together was a story that had been waiting three years to be written and when fingers hit the keyboard...Layla, Jared and Ollie's story was born.Look out for other books by Marie Coulson including the tantalizing sequel to Bound Together. Burning Up - Available NOW, Romantic British comedy - Diary Of A Dieter and the Bound Together novella - Last Christmas.

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Last Christmas

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 by Marie Coulson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and for review purposes.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

The use of artist and song titles throughout this book are done so for storytelling purposes and should in no way been seen as advertisement. Trademark names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.

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of this author.

ISBN-13: 978-1481179508

ISBN-10: 1481179500

Last

Christmas

by

Marie Coulson

Dedicated to the Russian Princes, Bohemian Rock Chicks, American Beauties, Canadian Queens and British Lords and Ladies that make my life worth living and my stories worth writing.

Chapter 1

Thanksgiving

The turkey sucked. No, it more than sucked. It was fucking awful. I couldn’t tell if it was the bird itself or just the bitter taste I seemed to carry in my mouth these days. But either way, I was not eating another bite of it. My mom, bless her soul, had tried her best to make our first Thanksgiving special but I just wasn’t feeling it. It had been almost two months since I’d spoken to her and it still made my guts twist.

Bitch. How did I constantly keep finding myself in this position? It was ridiculous. She doesn’t fucking want you Ollie, get over it and forget her. There are a million other women out there who would happily ride your brains out and scream your name. Why are you so hung up on this one? Because she’s her. Because she’s supposed to be with me and because even after all she’s put me through, I still love her.

I couldn’t help it. She’d made her choice and every day I got a sharp reminder that I wasn’t it. My mom shook her head as I mindlessly poked my dry, tasteless turkey around the plate. Oliver, I tried my best today and the least you could do is crack a smile for crying out loud. I snorted and shot her a sarcastic grin. She glared at me and exhaled loudly making sure I knew I’d pissed her off. Whatever.

Grabbing Patrick’s hand, she held it tightly and offered her other hand to me. I rolled my eyes but gave her what she wanted. Patrick, honey, why don’t you start us off. What are you thankful for? He gave me his usual smirk and I poked my tongue out at him playfully.

I’m thankful for Ollie. I’m thankful for my big brother. And I’m thankful for you Mom. She beamed back at him and I have to admit even I kinda felt a little fuzzy inside.

Closing her eyes, she proceeded to give her thanks also. I’m thankful for our health. I’m thankful for our home. I’m thankful for my boys and most of all I’m thankful to God for bringing Ollie back into my life. He’s a blessing I thought I’d never have again. I stared at her, not really knowing what to say. I didn’t have anything to say. We were making it work and whatever it was we had, it was functional but she didn’t come under my list of things to be thankful for just yet.

They both gazed at me expectantly. I’m thankful for my guitar. I’m thankful for my talent. I’m thankful for my friends. I’m thankful for my smoking hot motor cycle. I’m thankful that I still have my youth and I’m thankful for my rocking hot bod that I take such good care of. I’m also thankful that the soul sucking bitch is finally thousands of miles away from me.

Oliver! Mind your language around your brother. Aren’t you forgetting something else? I rolled my eyes.

And I’m thankful for this food, family, my home; insert generic sentimental crap here, blah, blah, blah. Amen

She tugged her hand away from me sharply and shoved her chair back. Throwing her napkin on the table she shook her head. I can’t win with you Oliver. I’ve tried over and over again to make you feel a part of this family but you’re so caught up in your selfish little world and the things you don’t have, that you neglect to see everything that you do. I’m done trying. She began collecting the dishes from the table and I should have felt guilty but let’s not forget that this was the woman who left me alone, at six years old, with an abusive, asshole father so that she could spend her life jacking up with her boyfriend. It was hard to feel bad for her and I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

I leaned back in my chair and watched her slam, stomp and huff between the dining room and kitchen. I really wasn’t buying into her tantrum. I had other things to think about. My cell chirped in my pocket. Sliding it out, I grinned at the caller I.D. Amy! How’s it going hottie? She giggled.

Hey rock star. What are you doing?

Not much. Just ate. What about you?

Same. Wanna come and visit? Have a few drinks?

Amy that’s like a ten hour ride and it’s one in the afternoon.

What’s your point hot stuff?

I laughed at her.

Nothing. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Okay if I stay a few days with you guys? She snorted.

No. We thought you might enjoy the luxury of Pasadena’s wonderful sidewalks. Of course you can stay.

I hung up and moved from the table. Crouching in front of Patrick, I smiled and tousled his dark hair. I’m going out of town for a few days but I’ll be back. I promise. Practice your guitar while I’m gone okay? We can pick it back up when I get home. I always made it a point to reassure my brother I was coming back whenever I went away. Maybe it was because I had my own abandonment issues. Mostly I decided it was because he reminded me of myself at that age and I hated to think he would ever feel unwanted or neglected. If he could count on just one person to always be there for him, it was me.

My mom walked in just as I was about to head for the stairs.

Where are you going? I turned around arching an eyebrow at her. Pasadena. I’m visiting Mel and Amy for a few days. Problem? She closed her eyes and sighed. For a tiny, miniscule moment, I felt bad for her. But it was a fleeting moment.

No, of course not. How long will you be gone?

I shrugged. A few days. I’m staying with them.

Reviews for Last Christmas

[uanbookaddict · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was surprised that I liked this novella as much as I did, considering that I do not like Ollie. I still think he needs to get over himself and just move on. He is back home with his mom and little brother trying to become a family with them, but he cannot escape the call of his friends at school. Drinking isn’t helping him get Layla out of his head. Having sex with every female that crosses his path isn’t helping get her out of his head. It should, shouldn’t it? After-all, she made her choice, and it wasn’t him. This novella is Ollie trying to move on with his life at the most depressing time of the year while trying to still hold on at the same time. It was a nice little treat and follow-up of Bound Together