People were laughing, drinking, telling stories that would make anyone else she knew blush. Kayleigh was listening, smiling, trying to relax into Jack Monroe's hospitable chest, but she couldn't. She just couldn't enjoy herself. Not with Marcus Burrows sitting opposite her, face ashen, hard as stone. Lips twisting as though he was sucking on a particularly sour sweet.

"And I just stood there, with just my boots in my hands, trying to hide my manhood behind them!" Jean Luc bellowed as Jack roared with laughter and Abi wiped the tears from her eyes, careful not to smudge her eyeliner.

"Oh my God! Darling, you're too much," she cried.

"That's what he said!" the man cackled, making Jack choke on his beer.

"So, what happened then?"

"Nothing. I put on my boots and strutted out of the hotel à poil. My DM's got a boost after that," he added to the group with a wink. "Even Sam Smith was impressed with my derrière."

"You're terrible," Abigail said sipping on her pink drink.

She looked pretty. Devastatingly pretty, Kayleigh thought. Even prettier than usual. She was glowing like a darn deity. It was like she knew she had won, even though she had no idea about the war that was raging around them.

Marcus, on the other hand, knew everything. In fact, he was the only winner. The champion. The only one who at least had an ounce of control over what went on. He made his choice. So why was he acting as though Kayleigh was the one who had promised him the world, and then left him high and dry without even bothering to give him a reason as to why she bailed on him yet again?

"Are you okay, Babe?"

Kayleigh jumped at the sound of Jack's soft voice in her ear. She turned to look at him and was surprised at the concern on his face. "Yes. I'm fine."

"You're pulling on your necklace so hard, the chain is digging into your skin."

Kayleigh looked down and saw that her fingers were tightly clenched around her new diamond pendant. She opened her fingers and saw the imprint the sharp stone left on her palm. Jack caressed the red skin gently and adjusted her necklace to fit just over her heart.

"You look beautiful tonight, Kayleigh," he whispered as he kissed right behind her ear.

The girl felt her face heating up and as though it was second nature, her eyes flickered towards Marcus. Her breath caught in her throat when she found he'd been watching, no, glaring at them all along. She swallowed the bile that rose to her throat and tried to look away, wanting to see anything but Abi's delicate hand slither down Marcus's thigh and squeeze his knee.

Jack pulled her face towards his, forcing her to tear her eyes away from the heartbreaking scene. Talk about jumping from the pan and into fire! The question in Jack's eyes gave away that he knew exactly what was going through her brain.

She gave him an assuring smile. "I'm fine."

Why wouldn't she be? The best man in the world was giving her another chance. A clean slate. He agreed to start over. He understood that she was in love with someone she really shouldn't be in love with. He accepted that. She accepted that. She was moving on from Marcus Burrows.

It will be easier after the wedding, Kayleigh told herself, when she wouldn't have to see him, smell him, talk to him, long for his arms around her. He will have his new wife to tend to. She will be free to live how she wanted and love who she wanted. That life was with Jack. She wanted to give her heart to Jack.

She touched her boyfriend's face and pressed her Chanel-coloured lips to the corner of his mouth. "I'm great," she told him feeling her own mouth ease into a more genuine smile.

This convinced him. Jack read her better than she thought. She needed to remember that more often. The beautiful man rewarded her with charming, mysterious smile. His eyes were bright and meaningful as he ran his tongue over his lower lip and gave her a small nod to show her that he was right there with her.

"I'll go get refills," Marcus Burrows grunted from the other side of the table.

This time, Kayleigh kept her eyes on safe territory.

"I'm good, Mate," Jack told him, pointing at his pint.

"Another GNT for me, s'il vous plaît," Jean Luc drawled.

"Right. Anything for you, Kay Kay?"

Good gosh that name! She hated when he called her that.

Kayleigh shook her head slowly, still not looking at him, and only exhaled when she felt him move away from the table.

"I'm so excited for you to meet the girls, Kayleigh. They're green with envy! You took the spotlight right off them and they hate it."

Kayleigh watched Abi set down her empty Margarita glass. That was already her third. It was about time she started speaking nonsense.

"They don't have to be," Kay told the heiress truthfully. "I really don't want any kind of light on me whatsoever."

"But it suits you sooo well, Chérie!" Jean Luc pitched in.

He was on his third drink too. But Jean Luc could hold his liquour, so Kayleigh was quite surprised that his eyes were less focused than Abi's.

"It makes me anxious."

That was putting it mildly. With the exception of that one night Kayleigh knew she needed to forget about, she hadn't been able to sleep well since she arrived in London.

"There's nothing to be anxious about," Jack replied pushing Kay's long brown hair out of her face. "This is exactly where you belong. The sooner you believe that, the easier it will get."

Kayleigh wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him even if he said the sky was green and the sea was red. She loved London, after all. Living there, working in the heart of the fashion industry was what she always dreamed of. She was sitting in a lavish lounge, surrounded by glamourous people who genuinely seemed to like her, and she was designing the most-anticipated dress of the year, for God's sake! She was thriving.

"I'm going to get that drink," she said, not knowing how else to reply to Jack's evident confidence in her.

To her dismay, Marcus was still at the bar waiting for his order. Not seeing any other option, Kay waited patiently a few paces away. She felt the tension climax and was in half a mind to go back when the man spoke.

"What are you doing?"

Kayleigh felt his confined anger in every cell of her body. It vibrated in his tone and oozed off his skin and she knew it was taking all his self-control not to throw her over his shoulder and take off with her so that she'd be forced to talk to him.

"Same thing as you," she answered trying and failing to sound like she didn't care. "Getting a drink."

Marcus heaved in a long breath from his nostrils.

"I'm not doing anything," she tried again. He turned his fiery eyes on her and studied her intensely for three strong heartbeats.

"So, this..." he said tugging at the chain dangling from her neck and dropping it quickly as though it would burn him if he held it for a millisecond longer. "This is nothing?"

Kay's fingers wrapped around Jack's necklace instantly. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hide it or press it closer to her chest for courage. "It's just a going-away gift."

Marcus laughed, but the smile never reached his eyes. "Oh? Is our darling Monroe scared you'll forget about him cause you're going away for four days? Wouldn't have pictured him for the insecure type."

Kayleigh narrowed her eyes at him. She couldn't understand how he could make her loathe him so much when she was going through hell trying to stop loving him.

"It's not unheard of, is it?" she spat back. "I've been forgotten... many times. Sometimes when I was right under their nose. People have made promises to me, quite big, life changing ones, as a matter of fact, and they were forgotten within four hours not four days."

"Maybe you should have given them a diamond to remember you by. See if that works. I for one don't think it's tactful... or effective. But hey, you never know. Some people are easily bought."

Kayleigh could have killed him. She could have taken off her new stilettos and punctured the centre of his forehead with them. But was it really worth a life sentence and a good pair of shoes?

"Something tells me that wasn't the reason-"

Marcus grabbed her elbow and pulled her close, catching her off guard and causing her to stop mid-sentence.

"Stop this, Kay. Whatever it is that you're doing just... just stop. You're only going to get hurt."

"I'm already hurt! You made sure of it. The only thing I want to do now is to forget about you."

His eyes flickered momentarily but his guard was back up in less than a second.

"You won't even let me explain?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Something in Kayleigh's resolve to stay cold and aloof towards him threatened to cave. She wanted so badly to know the reason for his change of heart. One moment they were fine, ready to drop everything and finally give their love a fighting chance, and the next moment he chickened out and she was agreeing to go to his bride's bachelorette in Paris.

No, she couldn't let him. She couldn't listen to any more of his excuses, because she knew that if she did, she'd forgive him again. She'd remember the promise of what they could be and yearn for it again. She just couldn't keep chasing dreams that so easily and so frequently turned into nightmares.

"Has anything changed since Friday?" Kayleigh asked him, trying to ignore how good his fingers felt on her arm now that he'd loosened his grip.

Marcus's eyes fell from her face. There was her answer.

"When you're ready to show me that something is going to change, maybe then I might consider listening to you. But for now, I don't think there's much to explain."

Kayleigh watched with pain in her chest as Marcus processed her words. She watched as he realised that this time, she would not give in to him. He couldn't make a fool out of her anymore. Kayleigh Moore was determined to move on.

The bartender finally returned with Marcus's drinks, and he let go of her. 

"One bourbon, one gin and tonic, one beer and a Virgin Margarita," the young man announced.

Kayleigh's brows furrowed in confusion. A virgin what?

Marcus downed the bourbon and slammed the glass on the bar before carrying the drinks to their table. Her eyes followed him all the way back and watched him set the beer in front of him, the gin in front of Jean Luc and the pink drink in front of Abi. The beautiful blond kissed his cheek as he sat down next to her and took a sip of her Margarita. Her Virgin Margarita.

Kayleigh's heart sped as her eyes locked with Marcus's.

He didn't have to explain anything after all. The look he was giving her confirmed her suspicions.

Abigail Kilton was pregnant.  

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Hey guys! Welcome back to the Kilton Series! It feels so great to get back to this crazy bunch! So, what do you think of our first plot twist?