Captivation

Captivation Part 6

It was just gone eleven when Caitlin decided to call it a night. She was going home. Enough was enough. So after saying goodnight to her uncle and her father's friends she had quickly made her way to her parked car.

Home, she sighed quietly in relief. What a night. Not exactly the fun she'd been hoping for. And not the type of experience she wanted to repeat. She was going to go home and put her feet up. And she was going to stop thinking about that aggravating man. Just put him out of her mind. Forget the fact that she had finally met a man who was not simpering and was very interesting. Even now she found herself reimagining what might have happened had they met under other circumstances. Then she banked a smile. Under other circumstances he wouldn't have come within twenty miles of her. She wasn't his type. Too straight she figured. Too bad. That had her smile growing. Trust her to find the situation humorous. A bitchy woman thought it would be hilarious to set her up. The man involved thought she was naïve. While she thought he was fit. So what was there to laugh about?

The best thing would be to try to forget the fact she had nearly had a decent conversation with a fit guy who did not pander to her status within the community. Now all she had to do was head home and forget this evening had ever happened.

But that was going to be harder than she thought. When she reached her car she noticed that all four of her tires were deflated. She looked up to the heavens and silently asked what she'd done wrong to warrant such an evening. With a kick to the deflated rear tyre she considered her options. The best plan was to return to the hall to make a phone call to the car recovery service. It was just a pity that she met her uncle on the way in to the hall for that set up another chain of events.

Caitlin told her uncle about the tyres, before she headed for the public phone that lined the vestibule. She had forgotten to charge her mobile earlier that day and it was now flat. It was at that point that Caitlin nearly started laughing, for it would appear that the fates were definitely against her today. Not only had she let her phone run low on charge, she had four deflated tyres, she had a man announce, albeit accidentally that she wasn't up to scratch and she had to face people she would rather avoid.

But things were about to get worse.

Unfortunately while Caitlin made the call, her uncle and his friends cornered Jared and Douglas in the cloakroom. Jared and Douglas, like Caitlin had decided to call it a night too. They were about to leave and were in the process of collecting their jackets when they suddenly found themselves taken to task by four elderly men. So, unfortunately for Caitlin, when Caitlin tracked her uncle down, to tell him she'd got through to car recovery team, she found Jared standing silently while four elderly men berated him. What astonished Caitlin was the fact they were making loud and somewhat defamatory accusations. Not surprisingly, a small crowd had gathered. The onlookers were listening intently as the older men systematically questioned Jared's conduct that evening and chastised him for everything and anything that came to mind!

Without a moment's hesitation Caitlin waded in.

"Ohhhh! For goodness sakes!" She cut through the latest accusation with a full measure of censure in her voice.

All eyes turned to her. Some speculative, some inquisitive, others hoping for an escalation in matters. Looked like the evening was about to get even more interesting, some thought and waited to see who would respond to Caitlin's statement.

"Caitlin. We can handle this." Tony said firmly. He had been waiting for just such an opportunity. Tony intended to make his position clear. The young man was out of line. Way out of line. They all knew about Jared's reputation. None of it was all that flattering. But more importantly, no one got away with making Caitlin the subject of gossip. Tonight, Jared had definitely stepped way over the line and Tony intended to make sure Jared knew it.