A Tormented Heart

Ch 4: A Few Choice Words

Recap:

...Why on earth should she be hurt if some random, holier-than-thou arsehole came up and spouted some rubbish at her? Why should she care for his opinion? It must be because of her father, she decided. Because he implied that her father would be ashamed of her... Her heart tightened painfully at the thought of that ever happening. Yes, she thought, that must be it.

And as for that self-righteous twat, she had a few choice things she would like to say to him...

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Which was easier said than done, Cecilia acknowledged as she stalked her prey with narrow eyes, wondering when it would be the right time to strike. So far, he had managed to completely merge himself within the crowd leaving only his dark head visible. But for Cess, that was enough. She tracked his every movement, just waiting and watching until she decided it was the right time to pounce. If she needed to wait the entire night to tell him what a rude, arrogant, self-absorbed jerk he was, then she would, gladly! But she would tell him.

"Cess!" Tom shouted loudly, startling Cess. She turned to watch him advancing swiftly in horror. "Do you finally have some time for me?"

"No, sorry, but - " Cecilia started making her excuses, as she looked around wildly for an escape. Then stopped. And swung her head back to her left.

The nerve of that man! Cecilia couldn't believe the level of hypocrisy she had just been subjected to. How dare he come and accuse her of a promiscuous nature, when he himself had half a dozen women surrounding him at that exact moment! And, unlike me, Cess noted silently, heart twisting, he doesn't seem to be in a hurry to lose the attention. Cecilia seethed, battling a multitude of emotions. Of all the chauvinistic, misogynistic and... and...just plain sexist things to do!... That was it! Cecilia had had enough. So, he thought she was promiscuous, did he? She would show him!

Turning with a pleasant smile toward Tomas Connelly, she extended her hand to him. Immediately taking it, Tom stared at it- silent for once - as if he couldn't believe his good fortune. "Papa is about to launch his speech soon, after which the banquet will be ready. Do you want to find some seats, now?"

"S..seats? You mean... for the b..both of us?" In the face of this unexpectedly remarkable progress, Tom lost all cool, and started stuttering like he had when they first met over a year ago. Since then, he had learnt to school himself to hide all nervousness around her, fearing she would not look twice at him if she thought him a bumbling fool. But now, with one smile, she had reduced his year-long efforts into nothing. Tom gathered his courage, ignoring his pounding heart, and carefully led her to nearby seats. "Of course, Cess, anything for you," his voice was soft, almost reverent. "Is this alright?"

"What?" Cecilia muttered, distracted. "Oh, hmm, yes, this will be fine, thank you." Completely unaware of the turmoil she was causing to the brown-eyed man beside her, Cecilia sat down elegantly, stretching long fingers over the cream table cloth.

Suddenly, she was aware of a tingling at her nape, as all the hairs on the back of her neck stood upright. She sucked in a sharp breath, as her cheeks flushed for about the seventieth time that night. Even without looking, she knew who had caused such a reaction. No one else, in her entire life, had made her feel like that before. The fact that such a man - with just a single glance - could, was almost inconceivable.

But, no. She would not give him the satisfaction of showing that she had noticed his glance. She turned her entire body toward the man beside her. "So, Tom, are you enjoying yourself?"

"I am now," he said pointedly, as he stared at her. For the first time, Cecilia noticed that the usual accompanying smirk was missing from Tom's face, and she wondered if she'd just made a grave mistake. She had never taken him very seriously, thinking him a harmless flirt, but now... As she looked at his face, she realised with a jolt of discomfort that his eyes were caressing her lovingly, his lips curled into a gentle smile.

For the first time, Cecilia began to have doubts about herself. Could there be a grain of truth in what Nicolas said, she wondered. Have I unthinkingly been leading these men on, when I just thought I was being friendly?

"Tom!" Cole called out. "I need you over here, mate!" Ever the loyal brother, Cole automatically assumed that Cess was in need of rescuing.

Cess did nothing to correct his assumption, even though she had been the one to intiate the conversation this time. As she thought about how she was going to use Tom as a pawn in this game with Nicolas, she suddenly grew ashamed. And all for what? What reaction did she even want from him? What was she hoping to achieve?

"I see you have not heeded anything I said this evening," a cold voice broke through her self admonishing. "I must say, I had taken you for a flirt, but not an idiot. Did you understand nothing I told you?"

Cecilia spun around to face her accuser, already bristling at his degratory tone of voice.

"And perhaps you fail to understand that you are currently stood in my house!" She spat. "Just who do you think you are, barging in on personal matters, where your help is neither wanted, nor required? There is a name for people like you, Mr Freire, but fortunately for you, I excercise the good manners to not insult our guests. You are lucky that Papa holds you in such high esteem, otherwise I wouldn't have tolerated a single moment of your presence in this house!" She finished, triumphantly.

"Indeed?" His voice lowered, to an almost dangerous level; a warning that Cecilia refused to heed.

"Yes! And I don't know where you get off, thinking you can lecture me about my supposedly promiscuous nature, when you had more than half a dozen women surrounding you - "

"Do not even think of comparing yourself with me," The cold anger vibrating in Nicolas's glacial voice, shook Cecilia to the core. "You are just a little girl - you must be, what? 21? 22? I am 36 years old. And more importantly, I am a man. I may do as I please.  You, on the other hand... you need a firm hand taken to you."

Cecilia was shaking so hard with anger by this point, words refused to come out in fully formed sentences. "You...How dare...Why!" She spluttered.

"I am warning you for the last time," he continued in his cold voice, as if she hadn't spoken. "Desist in this behaviour, or I will be forced to make your father aware of it." He voiced his threat as casually as if he were talking of the weather, then turned and walked out the door.

For the second time that night, Cecilia was left standing in the middle of the ballroom floor, staring after Nicolas Freire, thinking murderous thoughts.

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AN: Hey! Please do vote, comment and share if you like this story! Thanks :)

P.S. just a warning: the media I attach to each chapter doesn't necessarily represent what will happen in that particular chapter. It's usually just things I found that looked pretty or I thought were cute! Anyways, keep reading! Xoxo

P.P.S. I love this song from Pitch Perfect 2 - such a classic! :D